As we look forward to experiencing, enjoying, accomplishing, and sharing great things together in 2015, I wanted to reflect for a moment on how we got here, and give some hearty thanks to — and remind our readers of — four talented DuetsBlog alumni who helped pave the way:

  1. Dan Kelly was here in the beginning, six years ago, guiding our vision of DuetsBlog and helping it become a stunning reality. As one of our founding writers, Dan consistently showered readers with his clever wit, valuable insights, and his gifted keyboard. He penned our second blog post on a topic that remains relevant (my son’s pocketknife Christmas gift left me needing a refresher to avoid confusion), and here is his farewell post nearly four years later. While he offered so many gems between the alpha and omega, my personal favorite remains I See Blue Ovals (inspired by a family road trip). You can access all of Dan’s posts in order, here.
  2. Karen Brennan was here in the beginning too, and a key contributor and founding writer. She happily wrote our fifth blog post during her self-described “incredibly slow” third trimester, awaiting the birth of her first child. Karen went on to write about the influence of Mommy Bloggers. Although there are so many fun posts to pick from, my personal favorite remains One Great Tub Deserves Another. You can access our previous farewell to Karen, nearly four years ago now, and all of Karen’s posts here.
  3. Sharon Armstrong brought a certain, distinct and entertaining flair to our early blogging with culinary gems like Don’t let them eat bonbons!, Discriminating Palettes,and Intellectual Property for Cocktails? She certainly had her finger on the pulse and the topic of the day, especially if it involved cease and desist manners. But, my personal favorite remains this non-traditional trademark classic: What is Maker’s Mark’s Mark? You can access all of Sharon’s posts here.
  4. Susan Perera was not with us in the beginning, but she contributed an amazing body of work on DuetsBlog during the nearly three years with us. As an avid soccer fan, we anxiously awaited Susan’s trademark insights in covering the World Cup. Susan actually covered a wide range of intellectual property and advertising topics, including puffery, but she is perhaps best known for her substantial work in connection with color trademark protection. You can access Susan’s previous farewell here, and all of Susan’s other posts here.

As much as we miss each of them here on DuetsBlog, we couldn’t be more proud of each of them — all four now hold impressive intellectual property in-house positions at some of the top publicly traded companies and brand owners located here in Minnesota.

Please join me in thanking our distinguished DuetsBlog alumni for their self-evident passion for brands, and their generous and valuable contributions during our early and formative years!

Happy New Year too!