2025 Women in Signs: Torey Rouillon

TOREY ROUILLON DID NOT know exactly what to do with her degree — Bachelor’s in Fine Arts with a core in photography and graphic design — after graduating from university. She started working for a small signshop in her northern Michigan town, where she grew to love signs. From there, she came to Detroit to be interviewed by Bob Chapa, owner of Signarama Troy | Metro Detroit (Troy, MI). “That interview went fabulous. It was like two old friends talking,” Rouillon recalls. “I couldn’t see myself working for anybody else.”

She came into a small five-person team as a front-desk assistant, helping to sell and design signs. From the information that Chapa gathered at appointments, she would design, code and manage sign projects all the way to completion. The company grew: Now the team consists of 50 people across several divisions, with Rouillon heading the National Branding division with seven project managers and three designers.

Project Underway: Torey Rouillon now leads the National Branding division for Signarama Troy | Metro Detroit, with seven project managers.

Her favorite part of the job is the ISA Sign Manufacturing Day, when students from local schools visit the company to learn about different aspects of the sign industry. “Seeing their eyes light up and getting their brains adjusted to a different career path — where they could manufacture signs and sell signs and design signs — a big part of why I do this anymore is for the next generation,” Rouillon explains. “I’m super proud of that. I’ve poured my heart and soul into it.”

She herself was part of the next generation when she first entered the sign industry in 2006, a predominantly male landscape. “I was very lucky to be able to work with Bob … He really pushed me to be the best person that I could be. He taught me to train people under me and get women into our roles,” she says. Since then she has seen more great female role models in signs and adjacent industries, as women are no longer reluctant to get into the grit of sign manufacturing.

Rouillon recently attended the Signarama expo in Paris, where she shared the Troy | Metro Detroit franchise’s stories and processes, “show them how we do things a bit differently and push them to grow and really take ahold of it, be proud of what they’re doing,” as she relates. Her advice for other sign professionals, likewise, is to not back down and to let others know that one’s opinions are valuable.

Her husband, who is French, helped translate her speeches. The reception was so warm that Sammi Fossat, a French Signarama member, nominated her for this award. As a mother of two daughters, Rouillon believes the awards are important for her children to witness, for they show that women can be recognized for their hard work and contributions within the industry.

Rouillon has made sign industry connections through the International Sign Association, getting to know people across the US and in other countries she would have not met in person otherwise. “It’s global, right? Signs are global. We produce signs that go all over the world,” she says. “It’s finding those differences and being able to learn from those relationships that is very valuable … We value each other’s opinions, where the sign world’s going and what is next.”