By Marlys Fox
Greetings from Athens!
No, not Georgia, not Alabama, not Ohio, not Tennessee!
I’ve probably been to each of those, in my many years of hitting the highways to see Fox Associates advertisers face-to-face!
But this time, it’s Greece. The original Athens!
I’ve returned to one of my favorite destinations, with family members, and I’m having a wonderful time. It may be that I’m back safely in Chicago by the time you read this in Fox Tales.
Marlys Fox.
We visited Olympia, the historic town and ancient sanctuary on the Peloponnese Peninsula that is known as the birthplace of the Olympic Games. As they continue to excavate and explore and recapture the original structures, and restore the site for visitors, it becomes more and more clear why the spirit of competition drives us all—in business as well as in competitive sports.
As was stressed to us throughout the visit: The original athletes had one message for us all: “We are not here to participate, we are here to WIN!”
And now let me pivot to highlight a long-time Fox who was with us in spirit, and we wish she would have been traveling with us instead: Our Tina Riley, part of our Chicago office team for the last 11 years.
Tina was born and raised to age 10 in Thessaloniki. She was then known as Konstantina Arkoumanis. Then she came to us in the U.S. with her parents and became Tina! And then she later married a handsome Irishman, Jim, and became our Tina Riley! We’re so happy to have her. She’s a star.
Tina and I have formed a group called Greek Girls Gone Wild, and we meet for drinks, dinner, and drinks (yup, got that right!). The other girls are legitimately Greek and are business associates of ours. I’m the Wannabe Greek Girl—and I definitely wanna Go Wild! They tolerate me!
So in the spirit of the very welcoming Greek culture, Tina and I say to you: Zeto e Hellas and the U.S.!
[Which is translated as “Long live Greece and the U.S.”]