January 12, 2018

Kika Young, who has been a person to watch at Forest City Gear since she was a toddler, landed on the Rockford Register Star’s “People to Watch in 2018” list.

The Register Star started the list in 2013, aiming to highlight Rock River Valley residents who are working to make the area better through “raising awareness, striving for greatness or simply giving back to their community.”

This year’s list was a typically diverse cross-section of professionals in Winnebago and Boone counties. Among those to watch: an aspiring Olympic boxing hopeful, the new head of Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley College, one of Rockford’s few African-American attorneys, the leader of a nonprofit aimed at making men better fathers, and the creator of Stroll on State for the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Kika, who is FCG’s director of human resources and corporate administration, was included because of her desire to continue the work — to make FCG the best gear company in the world — started by her grandfather, FCG founder Stetler Young.

“It would be an honor to continue on this great legacy for my grandparents and parents,” Kika told the Register Star. “In my mind, to be able to continue on that path … the third generation would be something I would really enjoy doing.”

Kika listed her 2018 goal as wanting to consolidate FCG’s vendor base.

The old-timers remember Kika making herself useful on the shop floor — painting, sweeping, doing routine maintenance — while she was a student at Keith Country Day School and in college. She joined the company full time in 2009 after finishing her MBA. It was an honor to see the Register Star recognize the potential FCG saw in her years ago.

If you’d like to see the entire piece, go to http://www.rrstar.com/news/20171229/people-to-watch-2018-kika-young-aspires-to-continue-family-legacy.