Have you ever had something happen to you that is wonderful, perfect, right up your ally and yet would never have occurred to you that it would be all of those things in a MILLION FREAKING YEARS?
Hi, my name is Loralee and I am now employed.
Let me repeat that in case you weren’t listening.
I HAVE A JOB, PEOPLE!
A job that includes an amazing array of things like wearing a totally over-the-top and fabulous tutu for a 5k in New York City during BlogHer to represent, and made on behalf of, my employers brand, writing content, giving input on website design and monetization, social media planning, going back to The Pioneer Woman’s ranch this week for a cover photo shoot for the launch of an incredible magazine in December called, Where Women Cook, and has thrust me in the heart of all things “craft and handmade”.
(I know, right?)
Let me explain.
Wait…in the words of Inigo Montoya…no, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Back in May I was speaking at a conference and I was approached by a women as I was hurrying out to lunch. She told me that she was the creator and Editor in Chief of the quarterly magazine Where Women Create.
It’s a beautiful magazine that features women artists and the spaces they create in. She wanted me to be featured in the magazine and also to come and speak about blogging and social media at a conference she was putting on in Minneapolis in September called The Creative Connection.
After I clarified that, “Uhhh…you realize I am my own product, a non-crafter and pretty much just write about things like my boobs online, right?” I told her I’d be thrilled to participate. The more I learned about her, her magazines, her company, and conference, the more impressed I became.
As we kept talking I realized a couple of things.
One, that despite it not being focused on what I do, THIS CONFERENCE WAS GOING TO BE FREAKING AMAZING. Seriously, it is. It’s one of the best put together conferences I have participated in and you cannot BEAT it for the aesthetics, people.
To quote the website, “If you are a crafter, artist, DIY person, passionate about handmade, an entrepreneur or “mompreneur” it is a must attend..”
And I AGREE.
(And if you missed it, here is an opportunity to win one of 3 fully paid trips to attend The Creative Connection).
Another thing I realized as we talked about where she saw her conference and magazine going is that I was talking to one very smart lady with killer instincts.
This is her.
Her name is Jo Packham and she is just wonderful.
I ADORE HER TO BITS.
She and I spent a lot of time talking about each other’s professions. I told her about my blog and believe I said something like, “I’ve been doing this for over 5-years, which is a fairly long time.”. Then she filled me in on her life and that she’d been in publishing for 35 years. (By the way, if you want to feel like an utter TOOL, tell someone that 5 years at any job is a long time and then find out they’ve been in publishing for 35.)
Somehow, we went from me speaking about using social media at her conference to me working for her and with her fabulous Internet Marketing Manager, Paige, as Director of Internet Operations for Where Women Create and Where Women Cook , overseeing social media of The Creative Connection ’10 and designing the internet portion and panels of her conference for next year.
I’m so excited about the work. I love the thought of helping such a fabulous community of women get and grow online and to help get these beautiful magazines into people’s hands. I am also pretty dang excited about the office I’ll be working out of a couple of times a week. It’s in a historic building and it’s this magical-holy-cow-every-inch-of-this-place-looks-like-some-amazing-design-and-crafting-antique-fairy-of-AWESOME-barfed-on-it.
I MEAN LOOK AT IT, PEOPLE!
It’s like freaking Disneyland in there.
I have NO IDEA what I would do with most of that stuff but it sure is pretty to look at.
See…er…I am not exactly “Craft Talented”. You are talking to the girl that tried to make an etched mirror with the words “I LOVE TO SING” on it for a church youth group activity that was to show off our talent. Only the “G” didn’t etch the glass and I ended up going home with a mirror that said, “I LOVE TO SIN” on it instead.
It all went downhill from there, I’m afraid. Here are some examples of “LORALEE’S CRAFT PROJECTS”:
“The Remains of the Day lunchbox” (Ala “Waiting for Guffman”. Totally wish I had one as a kid.)
“Wilbur’s Scarlett Letter collar” (Dude. My cat is totally slutty. It is completely fitting that she have a Scarlett Letter “A” collar.)
And who could POSSIBLY FORGET The 2005 holiday gingerbread bed of depression?
Considering my tactile (non) talents, this whole “I work for a company that features people who create amazing things with their hands” is just delicious irony, no?
So, yes.
I admit that I totally have no idea what I am doing in the craft world but THANK THE HEAVENS Jo doesn’t want me for that!
She wants me for the experience and connections that 6 years of having fun faffing about on the Internet has brought me.
And THAT I can totally do.
And in my book, when you wake up in the morning excited about what you’re going to work at in the day?
It just don’t get better than that.
Stumble it!
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