My Next Adventure

In 2010 I went on The Martha Stewart Show and for 8 minutes, on live national television, I taught Martha how to make my polymer clay eggs. It was a surreal experience that took all my courage. I had terrible stage fright but I went through with the segment despite my terror. After it was over I felt a euphoric rush which must be the reason people do extreme sports. The high lasted for months and I can still call a little of it up now and then when I need some fuel. When I watched myself later I was astounded that you really couldn’t tell how frightened I was!


I have a picture of me and Martha posted outside my studio and at Open Studios I get to tell my crazy story to anyone who is interested. I’ll never get tired of this story. One Open Studios I was telling my story and how I had been so scared before I went on TV but after it was over I was so juiced I felt like I could have my own TV show! And the person I was talking to said “You totally should.” It turns out she was Jessica Wilson, the brand new Executive Director of Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC), Lowell’s local access cable station!

The idea felt scary and exciting. Fun and awful. I thought about it for a few weeks, ran it past family members (who all emphatically said DO IT!) and decided OK. Why not?

The whole idea wasn’t completely out of the blue. I had taken Sister Diane’s online podcasting class in preparation for starting to provide audio content to my blog followers and hopefully pick up new folks. When I saw how much pre- and post-production went into Diane’s amazing shows, I’ll admit, I got discouraged. I didn’t think I would have the time or focus to spend hours and hours on each podcast and still run my handmade business.

But a TV show, that was different! A TV show is collaborative. I wouldn’t be doing this alone, I’d have crew and resources, I’d have help! And maybe I could strip the audio and STILL offer it as a podcast! WIN/WIN.

So here I go, tonight we shoot the first episode of Makers in Business. It’s a talk show where I’ll interview makers about their work and some aspect of how they make their business run. It’s a show for other makers, for people who love handmade, and for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of running a small business.

I will post links to the show so you can view it online and hopefully I’ll be able to post the audio as a podcast.

I’m just as nervous as when I went on Martha, only now I’m the Martha! Or the Terry Gross, or the Jon Stewart. But it’s not live and I have a great group of people to help me make this the best it can be. And if nothing else, I will have tried something outside my comfort zone and that alone is worth the butterflies.