Adrienne L Wiley has over 15 years combined experience in wholesale and retail. She is the owner of Frolick Accessories, a wholesale line of jewelry and handbags. Frolick is carried in over 800 retailers both nationwide and abroad. Wiley is also the owner of Covet. A specialty chain of five boutiques that carry apparel, accessories, and gifts with a focus on local design. There are three locations of Covet in San Francisco, as well as a location in Palm Springs, California, and an outpost at the Ritz Carlton in Rancho Mirage, California. Adrienne is also the author of Adventures in Wholesale, a book to help prepare designers and brands to navigate the world of tradeshows and wholesale selling.
Amy Tangerine is proof that you can craft a life you love. Founder Amy Tan turned her sewing hobby into an award-winning hand-stitched T-shirt line featured in retail outlets worldwide, and developed a full-time business from her passion for scrapbooking. Fueled by an adventurous spirit and a desire to make memory keeping accessible and fun, she has taught creative workshops on every continent except Antarctica, and her online classes and YouTube videos have inspired thousands of people around the world. When she isn’t working on new designs for her signature collections with American Crafts, sharing her joy of crafting at celebrity scrapbooking events, or helping her consulting clients to reach their potential, Amy is living the other half of the life she loves in Los Angeles, California, with her long-time partner, JC; their son, Jack; and two mischievous Jack Russell terriers, Buster and Bamboo.
Anna Joyce is a professional designer, teacher and the author of Stamp Stencil Paint: Making Extraordinary Patterned Projects by Hand. Her work has been featured in print in Real Simple, Anthology, and Lucky magazines, and online on Apartment Therapy, Design*Sponge, and sfgirlbybay. A finalist in the Martha Stewart American Made Awards, she sells her work on Etsy (where she has more than 15,000 followers) and through online shops and boutiques around the country. Visit her website at annajoycedesign.com.
Ashley Nickels is a quilter, crafter, and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. She grew up surrounded by quilters—making her first nine-patch at age eight—and was designing handbags by high school. Ashley spent the first ten years of her career as a classroom teacher in Spain and San Francisco, learning the ins and outs of designing captivating learning experiences for both teachers and students. Ashley now works full time in the creative community, teaching in-person and online sewing and quilting classes, running her small handmade business, Alphabet Summer Handmade, and constantly looking to connect with other creatives. You can learn more about Ashley and her work at www.alphabetsummer.com.
Caitlin Bacher is a speaker, blogger, online course creator, and consultant for creative biz owners who want to increase sales with social media. Without any formal business training, she founded Little Farm Media in 2014 as a side project while she stayed at home with her young daughter. Within a year she grew her business to five figures a month by implementing her unique social media strategies. Sign up for Caitlin’s newsletter at Little Farm Media and get access her Facebook group: Creative Biz Owners. This group is filled with thousands of Creative Biz Owners just like you. As a special bonus, you will receive access to a ton of digital freebies that will help you nail your social media strategy. Caitlin lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her patient husband, spirited daughter, and grumpy cat. When not helping others build their creative empires, she can be found watching BravoTV, attempting yoga, and eating Twizzlers.
Caitlyn is a florist, hairstylist and creative type with a vintage design aesthetic. She has been in the hair industry for 8 years with experience in the top LA salons such as Warren Tricomi, Chris McMillan and Kristin Ess Studio. After moving back to Ventura from LA in 2013, she opened Fleur de Rye, the boutique floral, hair and design studio to combine her passions and put them under one roof. She has been featured in Lauren Conrad Fashion, Lauren Conrad Hair, Laurenconrad.com, TheBeautyDepartment.com, refinery29.com, and more.
Chelsea Foy is the maker, blogger, and adventurer behind Lovely Indeed a blog about all of the little things that make life lovely. Known for its bright, fun, friendly style, Lovely Indeed has been featured on BGH, HGTV, Huffington Post, Apartment Therapy, and many more. The Lovely Indeed Instagram feed has also been featured twice by Instagram as a feed to follow. Having resided for years in NYC, Chelsea now lives in her home state of California, where she spends her days painting things gold, oversharing, and generally making the world a lovelier place to be. When she’s not making, she’s off on an adventure with her two favorite buddies, her husband Ryan and her son Henry.
Chelsey Andrews is the Portland blogger and illustrator behind The Paper Mama. A lover of all things creative, she likes to experiment with DIY’s, home projects, photography and she is a regular contributor on the Better Homes and Gardens and HP Create blogs. The Paper Mama has also been featured in Do It Yourself, BHG, Made in Paper, Apartment therapy, and many more. Most days you’ll find her with a camera in one hand, her daughter in the other and glitter in her third hand. Wait, three hands?
Christine Haynes is a Los Angeles-based sewing author, teacher, and pattern designer with her own line of sewing patterns–Christine Haynes Patterns–which are perfect for the vintage-loving modern seamstress. She has written four books, How to Speak Fluent Sewing (2015, C&T), Skirts & Dresses for First Time Sewers (2015, Barron’s), The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction (2014, CPI), and Chic & Simple Sewing (2009, Potter Craft), and has contributed to other books, such as One Yard Wonders (2009, Storey). Christine’s teaches sewing classes both in-person and on-line, and has on-line video classes with Craftsy, CreativeLive, and Sew News Magazine. She has presented lectures and workshops at the American Sewing Guild Conference, the 2012–2015 Craftcation Conferences, and 2016 QuiltCon West. Her articles have been published in Sewstylish, Sew News, Craftstylish, and Craft Zine magazines. Christine was a featured guest on seasons 2 and 8 of PBS’s Sew It All TV show, and her work has been featured in Threads magazine, Mollie Makes, the New York Times, the New York Post, the Los Angeles Times, Martha Stewart’s radio network, LA Weekly, Daily Candy, and NBC’s Today Show, among others. Follow Christine’s adventures in sewing, life, and her love of travel on her website http://www.christinehaynes.com or on her blog at http://www.citystitching.com.
Deborah Balmuth is Publisher at Storey Publishing, a company creating books that promote creative, sustainable living from it offices on the MASS MoCA campus in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts. She feels lucky to have a job that allows her to bring her love of knitting, sewing, crafting, cooking, and country living into the office with her every day.
Delilah Snell is a workshop instructor, lecturer on environmental education, food sustainability, and small businesses, and the co-founder Dear Handmade Life. She’s also the co-owner of Alta Baja Market, a market and deli celebrating the flavors and makers above and below the US-Mexico border. She’s appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, NPR’s Marketplace, and is a frequent guest on Southern California news outlets. She currently consults on event production, small-scale food business, food crafting and is an active voice in her community of Santa Ana, California.
Emilie Coulson is a writer and editor who lives in Southern California. She has written grants for arts and education organizations for seven years. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Lucky Peach, Finesse, and the McSweeney’s publication Open the Door, and she co-wrote the musical Victory Farm. Emilie also has a small granola business called Daughter’s Granola.
Emily McDowell is an illustrator, designer, and truth-teller living in Los Angeles, CA. A former advertising creative, she launched a wholesale stationery & gift line, Emily McDowell, in May 2013; it is now carried in over 2,000 independent stores, Urban Outfitters, PaperSource, and Whole Foods. Her products have been featured on/in Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, Reddit, and Daily Candy, among many others. Emily’s work centers around universal, relatable truths and our shared human experience, in all its messy, different forms, and she feels most satisfied when her products help people feel like someone out there “gets” them. She is also inspired by folk art, nature, geometry, cultural quirks, and the crazy urban landscape of Southern California. When she’s not working, you can find her hanging out with her partner Seth, 9-year-old stepson Oliver, and 15-year-old cat Stanley, and feeling overwhelmed with guilt over not tweeting enough.
Ernest Miller is a chef, historian, educator, consultant and speaker who teaches classes in museums, schools and kitchens throughout Southern California. He has been cooking farmers’ market fresh produce for nearly a decade. He is a Certified Sommelier and Master Food Preserver. His is co-leader of Slow Food Los Angeles. He is the founder of Rancho La Merced Provisions LLC., a producer of preserved foods and preservation equipment.
Evan Kleiman has been chef-owner of Angeli Caffe on Melrose since 1984. She has been the host of Good Food on KCRW for almost 15 years. Her interest in food policy is expressed through her participation on the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, as a member of the stewardship council of the statewide organization Roots of Change and as the founder of Los Angeles’ Slow Food chapter. She co-authored Cucina Fresca, the first of seven cookbooks she has published. She’s been called the Jerry Garcia of cooking with the freewheeling improvisation she brings to the kitchen. Evan is a sought after speaker and teacher and a noted cookbook author.
Frieda Caplan established Frieda’s Finest/Produce Specialties Inc. on the male-dominated Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market in 1962. At that time, Frieda was one of very few women in the produce industry, and was the first to own and operate a U.S. produce business. She quickly developed a reputation for buying and selling new and unusual produce specialties, which includes introducing and marketing the Kiwifruit, earning her the title, “Queen of Kiwi.” The 2015 documentary Fear No Fruit details her journey, legacy and life as woman entrepreneur in the male-dominated business world of 1960s and beyond. Her many accolades include a Lifetime Achievement in Business award and being the first woman to receive The Packer’s “Produce Man of the Year” award. She is TRULY an inspiration to creative business owners!
Hannah Crum is The Kombucha Mamma, industry journalist, commercial brewing consultant, founder of Kombucha Kamp and mentor to thousands of homebrewers around the world. Over the last several years, she and partner Alex LaGory have documented the dramatic growth of the bottled Kombucha business, while helping shepherd companies of all sizes through the commercial Kombucha process. Their new book, “The Big Book of Kombucha” serves as a treasure trove of information on Kombucha brewing techniques, flavoring inspirations as well as up to date research. Want to find out what Kombucha can do for your health or your business? Visit the #1 Kombucha site in the world, KombuchaKamp.com, to learn more.
Born and raised in upstate New York, Heather Drageset moved to California in January of 1994. After relocating from the San Diego area to Costa mesa she fell in love with Yoga in early 2001, being invited by a teacher friend to attend class was all it took. After spending some time exploring the different branches of the physical practice (Hatha, Yin, Iyengar & Ashtanga) she found Vinyasa Flow to be her true calling. It was a blend of all the the calming aspects of pranayama with the powerful and strengthening aspects of asana that truly spoke to her. After practicing for 8-9 years she finally decided to attend the Yoga Works 200TT in January 2010. It was a beautiful and transforming experience and she has been teaching ever since. She is a wife and mother to two beautiful children and two rambunctious dogs. She enjoys cooking and camping, the Ocean and reading. She thrives in learning all she can about healthy living, juicing and her ever evolving personal practice. She also teaches yoga to a number of corporate clients as well as consulting and juicing for them. Her goal as a teacher is to help give her students the tools to truly sit with and in their amazing bodies, their own victorious breaths, to realize what a gift it is we all have in our own bodies. “Yoga is not for the flexible but for the willing.”
Jen Hewett is a self-taught printmaker and surface designer. Working out of her tiny (54 sq. ft.) studio in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset neighborhood, she creates work that combines the flatness of printmaking and the texture of textiles, and which is inspired by the diversity of California’s landscapes. Her work has appeared in Uppercase and Anthology Magazine, and her block printing class was featured on Martha Stewart Living’s blog. When she’s not in her studio, she can be found riding San Francisco’s less-hilly streets on her bright pink bike, walking her energetic little dog Gus, teaching block printing classes to adults, or drinking a glass of sauvignon blanc at her local wine bar. Twitter and Instagram: @jenhewett
Jen is Creative Director and the other original half of Farewell Paperie. Originally from Southern California, she hung out in Georgia for just enough time to get a real degree, a fake degree, marry a boy, fall in love with letterpress and then move back to the west coast. Jen’s background in advertising and copywriting come in marginally useful while concepting and designing snarky card ideas with Lisa. She’s a junk food junkie who enjoys running TV marathons and making funny faces at her cute-ass baby. Did someone say tater tots?
Jenifer Lake owns Sprout Studio (also at sproutstudio.etsy.com) & The Gleaner Project – a love for pretty, lovely, handmade items joined with all things vintage makes her a happy lady. She loves to create in just about all ways; she’s a knitter, a canner/jammer/pickler, a collagist, a self proclaimed image taker & maker, a clayer, & a baker, but unfortunately, just not a candlestick maker. Jenifer has been teaching in various settings for over 15 years. She’s taught at camps, workshops, studios, classrooms & to ages 5 years old to 60+. She currently is a kindergarten through 8th grade visual arts teacher in San Francisco. Even though she has a southern heart, she feels lucky to call San Francisco her home.
Karen Caplan is a specialty fruit and vegetable guru and the President and CEO of Frieda’s Specialty Produce in Los Alamitos, California. The women- and family-owned company has been inspiring new food experiences for friends, families, and food lovers everywhere since 1962, introducing more than 200 specialty fruits and vegetables to U.S. supermarkets like Stokes Purple® Sweet Potatoes, Sangria Artichokes, Habanero Peppers, Sunchokes®, and Organic Finger Limes. Karen is a well-respected leader in the produce industry, as well as a role model for women entrepreneurs, and small and family-owned businesses. Follow Karen on her blog (http://www.friedas.com/karensblog/) and Twitter (@karen_kiwi), where she inspires other business women, tastes new foods, and shares the love of her family.
Kiffanie Stahle is a photographer, fellow creative business owner, and lawyer living in Oakland, California. She’s on a mission to teach creative entrepreneurs that the law doesn’t have to equal scary. Her unique approach cuts out the legalese, so you can focus on doing what you love. When she’s not chatting law, she’s probably in her garden, her kitchen, or if it is summertime catching a Giants baseball game.
Lea Redmond is always looking for the poem hiding inside things: a salt shaker, a clothes tag, a hand gesture, a cloud. She is infinitely intrigued by the way experiences can slip from the ordinary to the extraordinary, and she endeavors to make things that hold this possibility. Lea designed the popular “sky scarf” pattern in 2008, introducing the knitting world to a new way of knitting that is especially playful, conceptual, process-based, and personal. Her book, Knit The Sky was published in 2015. Lea is also the founder and lead designer for Leafcutter Designs a creative studio best known for its World’s Smallest Post Service’s teeny tiny letters and the keepsake journal series that includes Letters To My Future Self and Letters to My Love. Lea’s grandmother taught her to knit when she was seven years old.
When it comes to teaching creatives how to build an empire, Lela Barker has a simple philosophy: beneath every successful maker lies a solid business foundation. As the founder of Bella Lucce, an award-winning international beauty brand distributed through 1,300 spas and the mind behind Lucky Break Consulting, Lela is wildly passionate about helping creative entrepreneurs bring their products into the marketplace. Drawing on more than a decade of experience as a successful maker, Lela’s magic lies in distilling complicated business concepts down to their essence, especially in the areas of product pricing, brand development and wholesale strategy. She’s seen firsthand the power of nailing down these important facets of business as creatives strive to build sustainable brands that ignite their passion, put food on the table and make the world a more beautiful place. One client recently christened her the “Mother Theresa of Makers” while another described her “as the best business decision I’ve ever made.” Lela’s products and personal story have been featured in more than ninety print publications worldwide and her “LBU: Secrets to Wholesale Success” program sells out within days each time registration opens, welcoming emerging entrepreneurs from Australia to California. She teaches frequently, from conference rooms in Austria to cruise ships in the Caribbean and mud huts in Africa and *almost* everywhere in between. When not arming makers with tactical business approaches, you’ll find Lela collecting passport stamps, perfecting the ultimate lemon meringue pie and clinging tightly to her sanity while raising four children. She believes in girl power, second chances, fab shoes and dark chocolate. Lela lives in South Carolina with her family and a small army of pets.
Fine artist Lisa Anderson Shaffer is best known for her modern fiber jewelry designs for Zelma Rose and her intricate fine art needlework installations. Taught by her grandmother Zelma, Lisa first learned to cross stitch at 9 years old and immediately fell in love with the attention to detail and slow nature of the process. With an intergenerational collection of Anderson family needlework as her inspiration, Lisa has been creating her own modern needlework for the past 15 years. As an artist she has partnered with creative companies like Etsy, ModCloth, West Elm, The American Museum of Natural History, SFMoMA, and Tiny Prints. She currently contributes to Martha Stewart Living as a West Coast Expert Contributor and Wayfair as a featured style Homemaker. Lisa holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a MS from San Francisco State University and is a 3 time California Arts Council Artist in Residence Recipient, along with an Academy of Handmade Awardee for Best Artist in Needlework. Lisa speaks at creative conferences and teaches needlework and best business practices for artists across the country. She currently resides and works in the mountains of Marin County, California.
If you had asked my 12-year-old self what I wanted to be when I grow up, I probably would have had a perfectly sensible answer. Like a circus trapeze artist or an outer space explorer. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would craft for a living. But fast-forward 20 years and I’m the owner of The Makery Craft Co, a walk-in craft studio located in Anaheim. In addition to teaching and organizing local creative workshops, planning craft parties and designing handmade craft kits, I also design for Whimsy and Ink, the handmade biz I share with my rad hubby. My work has been featured in Real Simple, Brides Magazine, Bust, The Huffington Post, Orange Coast Magazine, Sunset Magazine, in Etsy’s Featured Sellers series, and in my mom’s emails to Grandma.
Lisa Solomon is a mixed media artist who moonlights as a graphic designer and professor. She currently teaches at San Francisco State University in the Art Department. In her work, she often questions and deconstructs the meaning of identity and personal histories through the exploration of mediums traditionally associated with domestic crafts. A “happa” [1/2 Japanese, 1Ž2 Caucasian] she feels as though hybridization is consistently at play in her work. She received her BA from UC Berkeley and her MFA from Mills College, and has exhibited her work in national and international venues. In 2015, with Christine Buckton Tillman, she mounted a huge site specific installation of all kinds of objects sent to them by the public. Ordered by color, the exhibition CHROMA will be on view at Rare Device in the summer of 2016. She recently illustrated 20 Ways to Draw a Chair and 44 Other Interesting Everyday Things[Quarry]. With over 900 illustrations, it was the biggest illo job she’s ever tackled. She had a monograph of her artwork published by MIEL press in 2013, is the author of Knot Thread Stitch – exploring creativity through embroidery and mixed media [Quarry 2012]. She has also been an artist in residence at the Ulrich Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum, Kala Art Institute and most recently Irving Street Projects where she worked on a social practice project entitled The Keepsake Project. In addition to her professional art career, she has owned/run/partnered in several crafty businesses. The latest is MODify/d in which she and a friend re-purpose and upcycle garments and fabric directly from industry partners to create cute and functional objects for people, their kids, their homes and their pets. Lisa shares a home with her husband, her young daughter, a pit bull a long haired dachshund mutt , 2 three-legged kitties, and many many spools of thread. She has a lovely garden, is obsessed with polaroids, and has a kick-ass studio in her backyard that she marvels daily is hers.
Lisa is Creative Director and co-thinker-upper behind Farewell Paperie. Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA, she has a background in advertising and design and a love of color and patterns that started way back from days of making friendship bracelets and cross-stitching. She likes well-kerned type, super dark chocolate, sunset hikes with her husband, and if time allowed, she would deep clean the studio every day. On Lisa’s desk, there’s a mug that says “Professional Smartass” and a tin of mints labeled “neurotic,” which—along with the Steelers sticker on her car—just about says it all.
Marie is a mother of 3 living in Seattle and loves to craft, crochet, read, and blog! Marie has been getting crafty with her blog Make and Takes since 2007. She’s also the author of the book Make and Takes for Kids published by Wiley 2011. Marie graduated with an Early Childhood and Elementary teaching degree and taught kindergarten for 4 years. She now shares many of her tips and tricks she’s learned over the years on her blog. Marie also just started a new fabulous blog just for yarn lovers called Yarn Fix, showcasing all things yarn with DIY tutorials and yarn projects for the cool kids! She’s listed as one of Nielsen’s Power Mom 50, Babble 50 for Best Design Blog, Babble 50 for Best Mom Craft Blogs, is a hostess of the blogger pary SocialLuxe Lounge, and organized the women’s blogging relay team Eat Blog Run. Marie is the editor of Family Crafts at About.com. She has also a contributed content for Alaska Airlines, Seattle’s Child Magazine, Martha Stewart, Craftzine, Baby Center, PBS Parents, Babble, and Creative Child Magazine.
Meg van der Kruik is the Editor in Chief of Go Gluten Free Magazine as well as the blogger, photographer, and recipe developer behind Beard & Bonnet, a gluten-free vegetarian blog that celebrates food and family. Meg has been cooking vegetarian dishes for over 7 years, but it wasn’t until her son was born with a gluten intolerance that she delved into the world of gluten-free cooking. Meg’s goal is to show others that gluten-free, vegetarian living can be easy, fulfilling, and delicious! Meg’s recipes have been published in Southern Living and Go Gluten Free Magazine. Along with her husband, she’s also one half of the duo behind the award-winning eco-design studio Union Eighteen, whose recycled rugs have garnered international acclaim.
Meighan O’Toole is a Digital Strategist, working with creative individuals, brands, and companies to help develop and define their voice and build community through social media, content creation, and overall strategy online. Previously, Meighan worked in Silicon Valley as a social media strategist for Yahoo, and community manager for Wikia (Wikapedia’s community site), and WIRED Magazine in San Francisco, CA. A few times a month you can catch her hosting What’s Your Story, an interview-style podcast dedicated to the professional and personal journeys of artists. In her spare time she’s learning more about plants, diving deeper into her passion of fiber arts through sewing, embroidery, and block printing, and falling deeper in love with being a complete novice at watercolors. Meighan lives outside of Boston with her cats Percy and Sweet Bea, and her dog Stella.
Miriam Dema makes modern handcrafted goods inspired by a love of adventure and exploration. She has been producing and selling things for 15+ years with a focus on printmaking and leather craft. She also runs a successful audio rental business with her husband keeping both her creative and business brain busy on a daily basis. Miriam makes everything she sells in her studio in the mountains above Los Angeles when she’s not out hiking or prowling a thrift store with friends for inspiration or playing with her Frenchie puppy Zeus who is quite the distraction.
Molly Madfis is the blogger behind Almost Makes Perfect — a DIY and lifestyle blog that’s all about modern, clean DIYs and a sense of humor. She believes that it’s ok to mess up – and that you can get better at everything the more you do it when you don’t take yourself too seriously. Molly lives in Los Angeles with her cute husband and cute cats, instagramming a little too often, exploring the city and making cute things she can’t afford to buy. Almost Makes Perfect has been featured on Domino, Yahoo, Huffington Post, Design*Sponge, Refinery 29 and more — and has been nominated for the best DIY blog by Bloglovin’, Better Homes & Gardens and Apartment Therapy. She also runs Blogzilla Studio, an online shop that sells modern blog themes in her very little spare time.
Natalie Menacho is a co-founder of Brammble™, a modern craft kit and supply company she launched with her mom, Susan Leigh, in 2014. Their current obsession is for the meditative, geometric, Japanese stitching technique called Sashiko. Always a fan of a quick and easy project, Natalie loves sashiko stitching for its simplicity and relaxing rhythm. When not Sashiko stitching or developing new Brammble™ products in her Orcas Island studio, Natalie spends her time hiking in the woods, freelance illustrating, consulting on brand identity, and creating nature-inspired abstract art.
Nicole Miyuki Santo is a graphic designer turned letterer who has found a love for teaching her brush lettering workshops to over 200 students. She believes that less is more, that everything happens for a reason and turned her love for quotes in to selling products and posting little snippets of her life on instagram. Her wedding paper goods and lettering have been featured in Martha Stewart Magazine and on blogs Style Me Pretty, 100 layer cake and more. Nicole resides out of Los Angeles, but is an explorer at heart and is often traveling and surrounding herself with friends and good ol’ mother nature.
Nicole Stevenson is an illustrator and artist at Nicole Stevenson Studio, writer, teacher and creative business consultant as well as the co-founder of Dear Handmade Life, Patchwork Show and Craftcation Conference. Her path includes time as a street artist on the Venice Beach boardwalk, costume designer, DIY workshop instructor, co-founder of a non-profit that produced art shows benefiting charities, owner and designer of Random Nicole (an art-inspired clothing line carried at over 250 locations) and owner of craft workshop studio and retail store: The Craft Kitchen. She has a BA and MA in creative writing and is currently working on a nonfiction book about her adventures in creativity and entrepreneurship. When she’s not working, you may find her breaking up scuffles between her dog and chickens, couch crafting while watching a film she’s seen too many times to count, playing guitar with her husband, sitting in her backyard with good friends and a margarita while playing Cards Against Humanity or squeezing in time for a quick trip to a lovely place where people are scarce and trees are not.
Nik is a maker, day dreamer & potty mouth who loves cats, coffee and craft beer. She loves to create and has a passion for helping others cultivate their creativity through art in many mediums. She is the workshop manager for The Makery Craft Co. in Anaheim, Ca & runs her own small business justwastingthyme.etsy.com. She lives in Long Beach with her husband and her two awesome cats (that she can’t shut up about).
Olivia Omega is the author of Beautifully Branded: The Girls Guide to Personal Branding & Understanding the Anatomy of Brand You and the creator of #Sewpreneur, a business series for sewers and crafters presented by BERNINA of America. As a personal branding expert, social media strategist, website crafter and sought after speaker, Olivia is focused on building female entrepreneurial brands. She is a freelance consultant with over 14 years of marketing, branding and PR experience, and has a strong background in brand positioning, advertising, integrated marketing and graphic design. A creative crafter at heart, Olivia learned to sew and crochet at the age of 6 and started her first handmade business at 13. Olivia’s handmade goods have been featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, USA Today, O Magazine, Entrepreneur, Business Week, Glamour, Us Weekly, Life & Style, Parents, Pregnancy Magazine and more.
Rachael Narins is the co-founder of Chicks with Knives Supper Club, an author and a passionate and dedicated Master Food Preserver and Master Gardener. She has been teaching cooking in Los Angeles for more than 12 years. When she isn’t producing parties, panning for salt or making pickles, Rachael contributes to the L.A. Weekly and is on the Executive Board of Netiya, Just Gardens.
Rachel Mae Smith lives in Philadelphia. She loves do-able DIYS and strives to make crafting easy, fulfilling and fun over on her blog The Crafted Life. Her work has been featured on Design Sponge, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Garden, Martha Stewart Living and more. When she’s not pinning pictures, or brushing glitter out of her hair, you can find her exploring and Instagramming all things colorful.
A regular craft blogger for eHow.com, (Rad)Megan has video workshops on creativebug.com and lynda.comcovering various craft and photography techniques. She is a craft & photography instructor and writer, who has been featured on TV’s KTLA Morning News, The Doctors (CBS), TLC’s Craft Wars, and has had work featured in BUST Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Kids Crafts 123, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, MAKE and Apartment Therapy. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her loving husband, sweet baby and 500+ carnivorous plants she raised by hand.
Robert Mahar is an artist and designer who develops and teaches imaginative crafts and clever do-it-yourself projects through high-quality video tutorials and in-person workshops. The crafty content he develops and presents to his YouTube viewers, online audience and workshop attendees is often rooted in nostalgia, and his talent for reinventing old-school crafts with a decidedly modern twist has gained him a loyal following. With an education in studio arts and art history, he has worked in a variety of creative fields including 13 years as an appraiser of modern and contemporary art. When he’s not working in his downtown Los Angeles studio, Robert obsesses over vintage craft books and schemes ways to make it big as a doughnut connoisseur. Studio – Instagram – Pinterest – Twitter
Rosalie Gale makes Shower Art (waterproof art you can hang in your shower) & other curiosities under the name Ugly Baby. She owns a retail shop called Ugly Baby and La Ru in the historic Pike Place Market. She also recently acquired Monster: Art, Clothing & Gifts in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. She is currently obsessed with German board games, pattern design and free-motion embroidery.
Sarah Stevenson is the creative mind behind Red Line Design, a photographic and mixed media art studio based in Reno, NV. As a registered interior designer with 25+ years of corporate interior design experience she forged a new career path combining her project management and business background as the founder of create.explore.discoverart retreats for women and as an art and photographic brand. She is fascinated by the ways that art, design, architecture, photography, and other creative disciplines relate to each other and shares this fascination through her teaching, mentoring and creative endeavors. Her photography and artwork has been featured in numerous books and magazines including: Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way by Jennifer Lee, The Uppercase Compendium of Craft and Creativity and Mingle Magazine. Her work is available through West Elm LOCAL, Nevada Museum of Art, and small boutiques and online retailers nationwide. You can find Sarah online here: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and @redlinereno on Periscope.
Sé Reed has been a passionate small business advocate and educator since opening her first business in 2003. In 2007, she combined her small business knowledge with her background in web development and marketing to create Sé Reed Media, specializing in web development strategies and custom WordPress themes. Now, Reed helps small business owners create and implement strategies for on- and off-line business development through Sé Reed Media and as an award-winning business advisor with the Small Business Development Center – LA Regional Network. Reed speaks nationally to small business owners and consultants about small business, web development and marketing, including WordPress, ecommerce, social media, and SEO. Reed is also a regular cast member of WPwatercooler, a weekly webcast about WordPress with more than 4 million views.
Shaerie Mead is a pattern maker and sewing instructor located in Los Angeles, CA. She’s been teaching people how to sew since 2005, and up till October 2015 she owned Sew L.A., a classroom and fabric shop well know for excellent instruction and awesome fabric. Shaerie has run small businesses for her entire adult life, and is currently expanding her line of Sew L.A. patterns for garments and accessories that are geared towards learning. Her most popular projects can be seen as classes on CreativeLive, and she’s always ready for the next adventure!
Sienne Mascarenas Diaz is a Los Angeles-based Illustrator and Art Educator. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration and Art Education, and a Credential in Art from California State University, Long Beach. Sienne shows and sells her own line of goods under the name Sienne Josselin, illustrates for a variety of brands and organizations and teaches classes/workshops all over California and abroad. She has many passions including: leading the Ladies Adventure Club, camping, hiking and making music. Sienne has worked and taught with many types of groups including girls rescued from sex trafficking, at-risk suicide LGBT youth and more. Sienne hopes that through teaching and sharing her work, art can be a tool for to inspire others in creative self-expression, exploration, different perspectives and discovery in the process.
Sonya Philip has always made things. It’s the way things were done in her family. As a self-taught artist, she enjoys the freedom of exploring and stretching mediums. Four years ago, Sonya started 100 Acts of Sewing, making dresses while documenting the process. Since then she has made it her mission to convince people to sew their own clothes by teaching classes and selling patterns. Sonya lives in San Francisco with her family.
Susan Beal is a craft writer and teacher in Portland, Oregon. She’s the author of eight craft books (Super Crafty, Bead Simple, Button It Up, Modern Log Cabin Quilting, World of Geekcraft, Sewing for all Seasons, Hand-Stitched Home, and Bead Sparkle) and teaches for Creativebug, CreativeLIVE, and Pacific Northwest College of Art. She’s also the historian for the Modern Quilt Guild, and her writing and blog can be found at westcoastcrafty.com.
Susan Leigh is a freelance fiber arts teacher in the Bay Area specializing in the Japanese stitching technique of Sashiko. She also enjoys teaching needle felting, wet felting, and embroidery for beginner to intermediate students. In 2014 she co-founded Brammble™, a modern craft kit and supply company, with her daughter, Natalie Menacho. Susan’s passion for teaching is born from the joy of sharing experience and wisdom for the benefit of others. Susan adores geometric designs and loves using the Sashiko technique to create elaborate designs with a simple running stitch. When not crafting or teaching, you will find Susan listening to podcasts or lying on the couch with a good book.
Todd and Anthony of T&A Leather own one of our favorite shops in Downtown Ventura where they craft up-cycled leather accessories. They’re veteran makers with years of experience selling their goods retail and wholesale as well as running a brick and mortar shop.
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