Laura Jaymes

With 15 years of experience as a Business Manager and 10 years as a Retail Buyer and Planner I am highly equipped for a variety of professional positions. I am currently looking for either a remote, hybrid or in person position and either part time or full time. If in person, in the Annapolis area.

ARBORIST CONSULTING & TREE PRESERVATION Bowie, MD 01/22-1/24

 Office Administrator; Consulting Arborist

• Responsible for all invoicing, accounting, collections and customer intake via Quickbooks
• Apply for permits through Dept of Transportation and research DDOT budget plans for customers
• Take tree inventories on site; maintain ongoing tree preservation plans

Co-Founder

• Raise funds for the Laney Jaymes Foundation Research Project at Johns Hopkins University, which studies pediatric vascuolopathy and resulted in the publication of research articles
• Created awareness to consider pediatric stroke for first responders, and successfully lobbied for legislation at the state level that provided funding for this issue
• Provide grants for critical adaptive and rehabilitative equipment to children in need, maintain relationships with equipment vendors and place orders
• Host annual fundraiser for 100+ attendees 

Business Manager

• Manager of Capitol Hill pet care service & luxury home cleaning service (business sold during covid)
• Responsible for all client communications, scheduling, invoicing and collections
• Managed all human resource responsibilities including hiring, training, payroll and staff scheduling 
• Conduct employee and client surveys, wrote and published newsletters, managed supplies

Buyer and Retail Planner

• Managed planning of leased business in Kohl’s department stores worth $50/m annually.
• Forecasted sales, inventory and gross margin by analyzing current trends.
• Created and maintained financial board plan.
• Decided markdowns and promotional strategies. 
• Analyzed size/color/silhouette selling to maintain efficient inventory flow. 
• Partnered with the merchant and design teams to identify business opportunities and trends.
• Conducted weekly conference calls with Kohls’ team.
• Traveled to attend business reviews and buy meetings with Kohls’ merchandising team.
• Managed planning of Sears’ leased brand in department stores through a complete liquidation.
• Built and maintained brand assortment and inventory levels in Babies R Us leased brand.
• Trained Assistant Planners on all job functions, responsibilities, policies and procedures.
• Managed schedules with overseas and domestic vendors.
• Responsible for fits, photo shoots, production/import meetings; e-commerce; competitive shopping.
• Analyzed inventory stock-outs and challenged business opportunities.

Buyer, Soft Home Goods

• Responsible for all Buyer duties of the $90m/yr soft domestic category. 
• Purchased overseas and domestic product to maintain a balanced and progressive assortment.
• Traveled for market week and vendor appointments.
• Managed open-to-buy and financial plans.
• Trained on-air guests and hosts on product features and benefits.

Assistant Buyer & Merchandise Allocator

• Planned merchandise assortment for imported and domestic hard goods.
• Established new vendor relationships; scheduled and attended vendor appointments.
• Maintained inventory levels, open-to-buy plans, and order placement. 
• Analyzed sales, inventory productivity, and gross margin opportunities in 30+ classifications.
• Developed distribution strategies that maximized growth and maintained efficient turnover.
• Planned and distributed all purchases which sustained a logical and appealing store assortment. 

KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Kutztown, PA

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, May 2000

Major/Concentration: Marketing/Advertising

Minor: Professional Writing