St Pete Story - Tori of The Welcome Standard
Tori didn’t just find her way back to St. Pete, she plotted it with the determination of a homesick teenager and the charm of a future entrepreneur.
Now she’s the founder of The Welcome Standard, a company built on the belief that helping people feel at home is the secret sauce to great recruiting.
From college football to corporate hires, Tori’s always been in the business of connection but it was St. Pete, and a decades-long friendship-turned-love-story, that gave her mission roots.
Technically, I was born in Ohio but I’ve always claimed two hometowns: the entire state of Ohio (because I moved around a lot as a kid), and St. Petersburg, Florida, where I landed in fifth grade and instantly knew I was home.
I went to Northside Christian School, and right away I found my people, most of whom are still my best friends to this day. That bond made it all the more heartbreaking when, in the middle of High School at Osceola (shoutout to the inaugural year of the fundamental program), I had to move back to Ohio.
Did I handle it maturely? Not exactly. I launched a multi-slide PowerPoint pitch to my mom, complete with testimonials from friends aka co-investors in the campaign. It failed. I cried the entire drive north and made a 16-year-old vow to return one day.
And I did....repeatedly. In high school and college, I always held multiple jobs just so I could visit St. Pete 2–4 times a year. I was basically a snowbird before I could legally rent a car. It was my happy place, and I kept coming back.
Then, when I was 27, something straight out of a knockoff Nicholas Sparks movie happened: my best friend from Northside Christian elementary school, Jeremy, and I finally started dating after a mere 15-year run in the friend zone. Yes, that’s right: elementary school pals turned awkward teenagers turned full-fledged adults who eventually realized we were each other’s person all along. Our parents laughed, and a frankly surprising number of people claimed they “saw it coming.” It was the classic best-friends-to-lovers trope... minus the small-town bookstore and dramatic rain scene. Now Jeremy and I are back in St. Pete, raising our own family in the place that made us who we are.
Before starting The Welcome Standard, my career path was rooted in one thing: making people feel seen, valued, and connected to a place.
I started in recruiting, eventually becoming Director of On-Campus Recruiting for Ohio State Football. It was my job to plan high-impact visits for elite athletes and their families, introducing them not just to the school, but to the entire city of Columbus and the football program. I learned the importance of connecting talent to community and helping people see a future beyond the job description. It was a pretty cool job.
My final recruiting class at OSU just won the national championship this past January (humble brag), and as a self proclaimed “obnoxious Buckeye” I couldn’t be prouder of them.
From there, I shifted into corporate recruiting, where I got a crash course in how expensive and exhausting hiring can be. Spoiler alert: it costs a lot to bring on great people.. and even more if they leave six months later.
But the true a-ha moment came during my husband’s medical residency. As he and his co-residents navigated a high-stakes job search, I saw something familiar: competitive recruitment, negotiating leverage, and organizations pulling out all the stops to woo top-tier talent.
Except this time, it wasn’t football players being courted: it was doctors. And instead of campus tours, there were community advocates partnering with employers to show us how our lives could fit in a new city, not just our careers. It was Ohio State all over again just with a different audience. And that’s when The Welcome Standard was born
I had a very comfortable, well-paying W2 job that was flexible and remote, but something was missing. I couldn’t figure out exactly why I wasn’t satisfied with the ease of it all. Then came this strange, powerful sense of duty to my unborn daughter (7 months pregnant, perfect time to start a business?) I wanted to be the kind of mom who didn’t just talk about going after your passion; I wanted to do it. I wanted her to see what courage looked like, even if it was messy and uncertain. So, I got to work. I completed St Pete’s Council of Neighborhood Association leadership program, pitched at St Pete Pitch Night, joined the St Pete Chamber of Commerce, finally put that pricey MBA to use, and was off to the races.
The Welcome Standard was built to help recruiting and HR teams create seamless, high-touch, community-driven visits for job candidates and new hires, without adding more to their workload. The goal is to show people how their lives, families, and futures can thrive in St Pete and in the greater Tampa Bay area.
Because while hiring is hard, retention is harder. And I believe investing in a candidate’s life outside the job is what makes all the difference.
The Welcome Standard works with groups across industries: healthcare, finance, tech, and beyond to help them stand out from the pack. While others are offering a plane ticket and a dinner at a chain restaurant, we’re designing experiences that make people feel like they’re already home.
The result is your company looking thoughtful, put-together, and deeply invested in people, not just filling positions.
That is my, and The Welcome Standard’s, St Pete Story in a nutshell. I am proud to be a member of this community and its my deepest honor to help other people find their way in hopes that they can find their true home here too.
