“I take this seriously and work hard”
Elana Stone Anderson 2019 Distinguished Graduate of the Last Decade
Growing up in a family business, Elana Stone Anderson’s childhood is layered with memories and moments that circle around a business world that her father created. Founded in 1992 by Steven Stone, BedMart started selling mattresses in the Portland area. Despite that the store was busy growing while she was young, Anderson ’09, was frustrated when her schoolmates seemed familiar with some mattress stores, but not her dad’s. And it got her thinking about marketing.
“From an early young age, I realized the one area I could help the company was in its marketing,” Anderson said. “It would drive me nuts when people at school asked what my parents did for a living — but when I told them, they’d never heard of BedMart. However, every one of them was able to sing our competitor’s jingle.”
Anderson earned her degree in marketing, along with a minor in psychology, and set about getting some work experience before joining the family business. “I've always wanted to be a part of the company, but I wanted to be a value added,” Anderson said. “I never wanted to be thought of as a free-loading boss's kid that didn't have to earn anything.”
While on winter break her senior year working in her dad’s store, she met a couple who owned a B2B marketing agency in Portland. Before they left the store, she organized for herself a job interview with them; at the interview she convinced them to hold a job for her until June 2009. And the Monday after graduation, she flew to Reno on her first business trip with the new job. Oh, and she almost sold them a $12,000 couch.
By 2011, Anderson’s dad shared the news that he wanted to grow BedMart pretty aggressively, and that he could use her help. Anderson, with experience now from two different ad agencies, was ready to come home. Together they opened nine stores in that year, continuing an expansion effort that began as early as 2007 during the years of the Great Recession.
“Everyone has always asks what our growth strategy is, and I always answer it in the same way — we're opportunists,” said Anderson. “If the right opportunity presents itself at the right time, we go for it.”
At the same time, the company knows the importance of community, and has donated more than $1 million in mattresses to populations in need over the past decade. They partner with local organizations that help families in need, families in low-income housing, and veterans’ groups. They got mattresses to Hawaiian families who lost their homes due to heavy storms and the Kilauea volcanic eruption in 2018.
As BedMart’s vice president of marketing, Anderson and her family operate 37 stores in Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, and in the spirit of a true family business, she recognizes the importance of all the families that come together to make BedMart a success.
“There's a great sense of responsibility when what you do directly impacts the livelihood of your family — and the families of the 190 people who work for us,” Anderson said. “I take this seriously and work hard to ensure that I've earned the trust of every employee.”
If that seems to still echo the sentiments of the boss’s kid, consider that she does see it as a privilege to work for her father — because he is the best mentor she could ever hope for.
“No boss will want you to succeed more than your dad,” Anderson said. “We're very similar in many ways — I'm pretty sure we can read each other’s minds. I'm obviously a lot younger and a woman... that’s naturally going to bring different perspectives on how we market ourselves, how we think about our culture, etc., but we are together in this.”
Anderson has been recognized by Home Furnishings Business’ “40 Under 40” and is listed as one of Furniture Today’s 2018 “Women on the Rise.” The company has earned accolades from the Austin Family Business Program with an “Excellence in Family Business Award, and was named a “best place to work” in Oregon by The Oregonian for six consecutive years.
This year, Anderson is one of two College of Business 2019 Distinguished Graduate of the Last Decade Award recipients. The award recognizes College of Business alumni with less than 10 years of professional experience who have shown significant contributions to their community, their profession or the college through early-career roles, leadership and volunteer service.
Asked what she’s most proud of in her career — thus far — Anderson calls it a tough question, but has a quick answer: “I’d say that what I'm most proud of is that nowadays when people ask our employees where they work, they’ve all heard of BedMart.”
