Thirty Under 30: Jess Hardy

Meet Jess Hardy, one of the outstanding young professionals of NKBA’s Thirty Under 30 Class of 2021, in this exclusive series.

By Donna Heiderstadt

Jess Hardy

PK Brand Management

British Columbia Chapter

Growing up in Kelowna, British Columbia, Jess Hardy wanted to be a sales rep for a snowboard company. But after earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a major in Marketing from the Okanagan School of Business, she worked in sales, marketing and events before shredding her way into the kitchen and bath industry in March 2020 as a Showroom Sales Executive at PK Brand Management, the manufacturer representative for Kohler in BC. “My first day on the job was the first day the COVID quarantine was announced in BC,” she says. “I had to be very adaptable and roll with all the changes. I feel like I was learning all of the changes to the kitchen and bath industry along with everyone else who had to adjust to the ‘new normal.”

“The overall goal in my role is to drive more business to our distribution partners and take care of all of our showrooms’ needs as it relates to Kohler.”

Jess’s experience in prospecting and relationship-building is integral to her responsibilities. “The overall goal in my role is to drive more business to our distribution partners and take care of all of our showrooms’ needs as it relates to Kohler,” she says. Jess is also a CEU speaker, certified on 13 different topics, and has joined the NKBA British Columbia Chapter board, where she will sit on the Membership Committee and hopes to use her business acumen to get more people in the local industry to join.

Beyond work, Jess splits her interests seasonally, enjoying outdoor pursuits such as camping and overnight hiking in summer and DIY projects, more specifically, woodworking, in fall and winter. She is also passionate about travel — Laos and Ireland are two favorite destinations—and in the COVID era she spent 2020 exploring camping spots in her home province. In addition, Jess and her boyfriend are in the process of adopting a pug. Her ultimate must-do, however, circles back to design. “I have always been interested in house-flipping,” she says, “so I’d love to do this down the road.”