Celebrating Women in Print: Elaine Scrima

Elaine Scrima, executive vice president of operations at GSP Companies

Like many who have headed the call of the print industry, Elaine Scrima, today the executive vice president of operations at GSP companies, didn’t start here. Instead, she got her start in the restaurant industry, and after a year where she changed jobs four times in quick succession, she decided it was time for a change. She answered a classified ad for what was then just GSP, who was looking for an account manager. And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

Scrima found her calling in print, and the industry is better for it. In the nearly three decades she has been with GSP, she has moved around to many positions before eventually finding her proper place in operations about 16 years ago, where she continues to impact the company positively in multiple ways.

She notes that while there have been many successes in her career, one she is particularly proud of is “being here at GSP and helping the company innovate and grow and see where it is today versus 28 years ago. And understanding the role I had in that will always be one of the highlights of my career and something I am incredibly proud of,” Scrima says.

Notably, she says it has been rewarding seeing the company go from a traditional screen printer to a fully digital one as the technologies have evolved and changed, and opened new markets, applications, and opportunities. She takes pride in all GSP's work, noting that once she was “driving around Columbus, Ohio, where I’m from originally, with my family, and pointing out all the [jobs we had printed for various retailers.] It was fun being able to say we did that. That’s all our signage!”

Taking an Active Role

Perhaps even more than her successes as a printer, though, is the work she has done — and continues to do — to advance the industry. Scrima was one of the founding members of the first iteration of the Women in Print Alliance. “It has been exciting to watch that organization unfold,” she notes. “Lizbeth [Lyons, director, Women in Print Alliance], took us over the finish line, but there were a lot of women who did much of the legwork and laid the foundation to put that in motion.”

Scrima feels particularly strongly about her work with Women in Print not, she notes, because she has personally experienced any discrimination because of her gender, but because she knows she has been fortunate not to have to fight for success the way many others have. “I never felt I had to prove myself. I only know one way to work.” Scrima says that today, there are quite a few women-owned businesses in the print industry, and it has been rewarding to see so many others overcome resistance to get there.

She notes that GSP is very diverse — Scrima jokes that in the early years of her career, “we used to call ourselves the ‘Bad News Bears of printing’ — a bunch of people with unique talents and desire to succeed!” And she doesn’t care if someone is “green, purple, man, woman — it’s do you have the talent and can you do the job? GSP is very inclusive and welcoming, and we have people with tons of experience for those just learning the industry. Tall, short, every shape, size, color, race, gender, and religion. That’s one thing I love about this company — it’s always been that way.  Very welcoming.”

Cultivating talent is something Scrima excels in, finding those who have the aptitude for a particular type of work and then mentoring them and helping them grow to be the best they can be. Particularly for women, Scrima notes, “We develop good people in operations, and [other departments] would come in and see who was ready to be promoted and can fill their positions. It used to be a running joke that they kept coming in and stealing my good people! But I am proud of that. It means we are doing something right. And I have been able to see a high number of women promoted both to other roles at GSP and outside the organization.”

So what advice does she give them to help so many find success throughout their own journey? First and foremost, Scrima notes, “My mantra is to always do what you say you’re going to do. Your word is all you have, so if you say you’ll call, do it. If you say, ‘I will get you a quote,’ give it. And if you can’t, then say, ‘I just wanted you to know I am running a little behind, but you will have it first thing tomorrow,’ and then get it done. To me, it’s always about doing what you say you’re going to do with integrity — I want people to never have to doubt my word. If you interviewed others about me, that’s what they would probably say: I don’t mince words, and I play it straight. You never have to guess what my position is on a topic.”

Other advice she has given to those looking to be successful is to stay organized, noting that it is critical to keep on top of everything, especially in a fast-paced print shop environment. She notes it also helps to create routines, especially for regular or repetitive tasks like creating reports, doing quotes, sending invoices, etc., since it can help ensure they always get done to the highest quality.

Finally, she notes, “I know it sounds clichéd, but you have to think outside the box. You have to be creative and provide customers with solutions they never thought of before — or thought they even needed. And that customer could be anybody — even your own organization. You are the customer of the next department you’re handing the work off to. No tasks mean more or less — you need them all to get the job out the door.”

And as a bonus bit of advice, she stresses having a great attitude can also be a key factor in success. “You have to have some personality and fun,” Scrima says. “You have to be able to make connections with people so they can trust you.” Allowing a little of yourself to be part of every interaction helps make you human and makes people want to work with you again.

On the Horizon

First and foremost, Scrima laughs that she isn’t even remotely interested in retirement. She still feels young, motivated, and excited about the print industry, so here is where she plans to stay, with no plans right now for leaving. “What is it they say,” she asks. “I bleed CMYK.”

But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have thoughts about the future. For the industry as a whole, she has been encouraged to see how many women have found success in the print industry, but she knows we need to do more to attract young people of all genders, races, and creeds. “That is a topic near and dear to me,” Scrima says. “How do we get more young people excited about print? Everything we touch — soda cans, candy wrappers, sofa cushions, football jerseys, etc. — none of that is possible without print, and I don’t think people make that correlation enough. The reality is that print is so much more [than books, newspapers, or magazines]. And we need to educate our young people that printing is just as lucrative of a career as any other.”

She also plans to keep working with the Women in Print Alliance, noting that while it has been exciting to see it grow from just 15 people at the first lunch event they held to more than 150 people in the room at the Women in Print networking event at PRINTING United Expo last October. “It means there are people excited about women in the industry and what they can accomplish. That event was [incredible.] I could have spent the entire night catching up with old friends and making new ones.”

She has also been attending other events, like the recent Leadership Summit held this past spring, which invited leaders from printers of all sizes and from all over the country to come together to talk about the broader issues they face and network with one another. Those types of events, where people can come together and connect, are valuable, Scrima notes, and she plans to continue to take advantage of them both as a speaker when asked and as an attendee.

“Networking is critical,” she stresses. “Attend as many events as you can. The relationships you forge are invaluable. Those are the people I am able to call or email when I have questions or to bounce ideas off of — before, I would Google it, but now, if I’m having trouble with something, I just pick up the phone and ask, ‘What would you do?’ Stay connected with people locally, regionally, and nationally. Make those connections.”

Finally, Scrima notes that the last piece of advice she would give others is not to be afraid to learn from your mistakes. “You’re going to make mistakes and fall down,” she says. “You have to dust yourself off, get back up, and keep plugging away. Tenacity is a good quality to have.”

Scrima will continue to follow all of her own advice and be a welcome voice in the print industry for many years. “I don’t want to put a number on it when I feel I should walk away,” she says. “I feel like I’m at the peak right now — I want to continue putting my mark on the industry. I am passionate about getting young people engaged, and I want to continue to explore that with PRINTING United Alliance. I want to engage colleges and universities — and even beyond that, how do you get students at the high school level? I want to help develop programs to help keep the industry growing and expanding and the people learning.”