We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Regina Renda. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Regina below.

Regina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

It all started with bad customer service and a box of cheap merch that felt like an afterthought. I remember opening it and thinking, This is the best we can do? This is supposed to represent someone’s brand? The whole experience felt transactional and totally disconnected from the culture it was meant to celebrate. That moment planted the seed.

At the time, I was working at Zappos, one of the most iconic customer-service companies in the world. Every day we obsessed over making people feel like #1, yet every vendor I dealt with made me feel like a line item on their spreadsheet. So I pitched a crazy idea: What if we didn’t outsource it, what if we built it ourselves? There was no roadmap. No industry background. Just a challenge, a budget, and the green light to figure it out. That idea became Swag Source, the in-house promotional products program at Zappos that grew into a full-blown internal company.

Amazon (Zappos’ parent company) gave me the freedom to learn the entire industry from scratch. Because I wasn’t just buying merch, I was rebuilding the experience from the end user’s perspective. I wasn’t focused on products; I was focused on people… on the story every item could tell, the pride it could spark, and the connection it could create. That human-first approach changed everything. It saved Zappos tens of thousands of dollars within months and created swag people actually wanted to wear and share. My story eventually landed in The Power of WOW book, highlighting programs that shaped Zappos’ culture.

But the biggest shift came when I left during COVID. Suddenly I realized that the mindset Zappos instilled in me, connection, gratitude, service, wasn’t limited to one company. It was a way of doing business. My wife was the one who said, “You know you can build something of your own, right?” And she was right. That’s how Kick Ass Swag was born, not to sell stuff, but to bring meaning back to merchandise. To create culture in a box. To help companies welcome new hires with intention, celebrate teams with recognition that feels personal, and build branded moments that people actually feel proud to belong to.

What excites me most today isn’t the merch itself, it’s the moment a client opens something we created and says, “This feels like us.” That’s when I know we’ve done our job. That’s the exact same spark I felt at Zappos, and it’s the reason Kick Ass Swag exists.

Regina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Regina Renda, founder and Chief Branding Officer of Kick Ass Swag, a Las Vegas–based promotional products company that builds culture-driven merchandise for brands, nonprofits, and events around the world. I’m also a culture consultant, merch alchemist, proud LGBTQ-certified small-business owner, and mom of three.

My Origin Story:
Back in 2015, I was managing swag orders on Zappos’ Employee Engagement team. We were spending close to seven figures a year on branded merchandise, yet I constantly felt like an afterthought to the vendors we relied on. That frustration turned into Swag Source, an internal business-within-a-business I built at Zappos from 2016 through 2020. When COVID hit and I departed the company, I already knew two things:

1. I loved this industry.
2. It desperately needed better customer experience.

So I took everything I learned, the culture, the heart, the obsession with service, and poured it into Kick Ass Swag.

What We Do:
If you can hold it, we can brand it.
We create custom promotional products, marketing materials, packaging, apparel, tech, gifting kits, and “crazy idea” projects that most vendors won’t touch. We support everyone from local small businesses to global Fortune 500 companies. But our specialty is bigger than the product: We translate your culture into something you can hand to someone. Onboarding boxes that make new hires feel instantly connected. Event merch that people rush to grab. Recognition gifts that feel personal, not generic.

What Sets Us Apart:
We’re a small, queer-owned, family-run business, and we operate with big-brand energy. There’s no offshore call center, no bots, no “submit your ticket here.” When you call, it’s us. When you text, it’s us. When something needs fixing, I personally jump in. And yes… I’m famous for talking clients out of buying things they don’t need. Because integrity builds trust, and trust builds long-term brands. We don’t sell crap. We build experiences.

What I’m Most Proud Of:
The wild dream projects clients bring us, the ones that start with, “I don’t even know if this exists…” and end with, “Holy crap, we did that.” There’s nothing better than turning a spark of an idea into something real and unforgettable. Promotional products don’t have to be boring. They can be powerful, if you let them.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Reputation is built through consistency and honesty, two things we don’t compromise on.
From day one, our approach has been: No fluff. No overselling. No pushing stuff just to make a sale.
Just honest feedback, real guidance, and a commitment to doing right by our clients even when it means saying, “You actually don’t need this.”
I’ve literally told clients, “This is me talking myself out of a sale,” and they always laugh because they know it’s true. That transparency builds trust. And trust is everything in this industry.

People also know they can count on us. We meet deadlines. We communicate. We treat their brand like it’s our own. And we show up, every single time.
Service still matters. It always will.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

We stay connected the way real people do:
We check in. We send surprise swag drops. We call, text, email, voice-message, whatever keeps the relationship genuine instead of transactional.

Sometimes we send clients Easter eggs of Kick Ass Swag merch. Other times, we send gifts with their branding. And sometimes it’s just a message saying, “Hey, hope today’s not kicking your butt.”

We also share updates through our LinkedIn newsletter, blog, and social media, but the truth is:
Loyalty is built through consistent care, not automated campaigns.

We’re running a business and raising a family, but staying connected to the people we love working with is non-negotiable. Our clients aren’t just customers, they’re partners, collaborators, and often friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kickassswag.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kickassswaglv/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KickAssSwaglv/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginarenda/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/kickassswag