Meet Maxine Clark, UGA grad and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop

The Tab UGA had the privilege of speaking with Maxine Clark, founder and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop. Maxine graduated from the University of Georgia in 1971 with majors in Journalism and Marketing.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t use the skills I learned at the University of Georgia. Communication is so important in today’s world.”

Maxine said UGA helped her learn how to communicate effectively.

Before coming up with the idea for Build-A-Bear, she worked in the retail business for 25 years. She was the President of Payless ShoeSource before leaving the company to start Build-A-Bear.

The idea came when she was shopping with her best friend Katie, who was 10 years old at the time. They couldn’t find a stuffed animal that suited her (she wanted a Beanie Baby), and just like that, Maxine decided to make some of her own as a craft project.

She opened her first Build-A-Bear store in the Saint Louis Galleria in 1997. At its opening, customers already had 25 bears to choose from.

While on campus at UGA, Maxine enjoyed spending most of her time in the Journalism school.

“The campus was my life. I didn’t have to go off campus to have a life.”

Clark took her education seriously, which has helped her to become as successful as she is.

“I loved being in the library, I loved going to school and I loved learning. I had great teachers and I owe a lot of my success to them. They sparked my interest and enthusiasm in marking and advertising and I am still in touch with many of them today.”

When we asked about her favorite UGA tradition, Maxine reminded us that many of the traditions we have today were not in place when she was attending school. In fact, one of the traditions back then was waving the Confederate flag, a tradition Clark and her friends were active in protesting against.

In her free time, Maxine enjoyed dressing up to cheer on the Dawgs on game days, participating in Journalism organizations and shopping in the many boutiques off campus with her friends.

And when we asked about her favorite late night food spot downtown, she sounded a lot like us.

“I am a junk food eater so probably Krystal, but it wasn’t that close then and we had to drive and few had cars.”