The passing of Elayne Giannatos. Celebrating our first employee and her 34 years of hard work and loyalty.

Hi Client, sadly staff member Elayne Giannatos passed away this week at age 79.

If your trademark was successfully handled by us, then Elayne had something to do with it.

Elayne was TradeMark Express’ first employee in 1992. She was the best applicant to answer an ad in the local Los Altos Town Crier for office manager.

A true “Jacqueline of all Trades”, whatever had to be done, Elayne would do it. At her own speed of course, not to be rushed. But persevere she would!

Elayne was always there weaving herself between positions in support of the greater cause, bringing every new staff member into the fold and always showing up the next day.

Support. Support. Support.

A staff member for 6 years, Dione Di Lascio wrote, “I’ll always remember Elayne for how kind and encouraging she was to me while we worked at TradeMark Express together. She would listen to me, supported my ideas, would give me advice and would make me feel valued! I’ll never forget her stories about the weather in Georgia especially when she had to power through it. She was funny, loving and brave. I hope she’s at peace now, resting and far away from that unpredictable weather”.

NOTE: In 2018 when we called to check on Elayne after the eye of Hurricane Michael passed directly over her house, she just laughed!

Every business needs a person like Elayne. She didn’t do critical legal research or trademark applications; she worked to support those who specialized. She could be characterized as the TradeMark Express “frat house mom”.

Wait, there was about a 10-year period when Elayne had her very own corner of the business. She drafted her good friend Joy and youths, we called the kitty core, to send direct mail letters every week to businesses. A thankless task they seemed to take delight. Absolutely no one else wanted any part of that endeavor. Elayne made it work.

Elayne was instrumental in setting up TradeMark Express offices in Costa Mesa, Arcata, CA and Washington DC. She helped oversee my other business and real estate ventures, (more like adventures), including Urgent Trademark, Trademark Confidence, Decade Trademark, NAME-IT and Miramark.

Some of my real estate adventures rubbed off on her. Elayne started with a clever under market “buy to own, seller financed” situation in Georgia for a 2.5 acre place in the woods. Then Elayne built up to landlord status with 3 rental houses of her own nearby.

Elayne always thought she was only child. But then just a short few years ago her daughter bought her an Ancestry.com test for Christmas. Stunningly Elayne found she had 12 siblings. Yikes!

It was fun to learn Elayne may have crossed paths with my much older brothers Richard and Phillip from 1958 to 1962 when they were all teenagers. Elayne lived in Mission Beach area of San Diego while we lived in next city south, in Ocean Beach. She’d often surf in Ocean Beach where we lived. They’d surf in Mission Beach where she lived.

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Personal and business lives sometimes overlap. Elayne was a friend too. I can still see her in the front row of my 1995 wedding in Atherton wearing the brightest red dress. When my first daughter was born in 1997, Elayne hung a surprise banner in my office, “Welcome, Jodi Michelle” it says, surrounded by hummingbird drawings. For years in between our array of nannies, Elayne babysat my 3 kids. While each took their mandatory servitude at TradeMark Express, they reported their payroll to Elayne. No time sheet, no pay.

We’ll miss you Elayne!

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Chris DeMassa, Founder – 650-948-0530

Email: staff@tmexpress.com

Web Site: tmexpress.com

Order: https://www.tmexpress.com/order-my-trademark

Creative Naming – http://miramark.com/nameit/

Zoom Anytime – https://bit.ly/TradeMarkZoomMeeting

Calendly Meeting – https://calendly.com/tmexpress/15min

TM®SM Crash Course – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gWaAJR5L18

12 Expert Trademark Attorney Network Included.

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdemassa/