A Friend & Etsy Shop Owner

The owner of tutucrafts has become a great friend. We both live in a world dominated by testosterone. We are both married, and we both have boys. So, we sat down and took a little time for us girls and started chatting about her. She is truly wonderful & I would love to let you get to know a little about her.


Tell me just a little about yourself

I am on the back end of my 30’s sliding into 40 in a couple of years. Currently getting ready to include school back into my already busy schedule and hope to have my Masters in Psychology by the time I am 41 (late bloomer, but at least I will bloom). I have never had a hobby in my life and I have always dreamed of being an artist. I didn’t start crafting until two years ago this coming April. Well, except for work, that was a hobby. Of course, I had to find a business connection with crafting and after a few tries, I found out about Etsy. It has been a lot of fun! It allows me to craft and do what I love but marry the business side beautifully without losing my hobby. I am married to the love of my life, and I have amazing boys ages 11 and 3. We just adopted a cat named Rocky (8 months old), I still can’t figure out if he likes me or not.


Tell me about one totally awesome place you have travelled and why you picked this place. What intrigues you by it? What are the forces that pulled you there?

Oh, this is an easy one. Turkey! The cradle of civilization. The history, the beauty, the people are amazing! I am Turkish so of course there is the natural connection, but Turkey is so much more than that to me. Everyone that has ever visited I know has fallen in love. There are no words to describe the magic. I feel blessed that my husband is also Turkish so that really takes the magic to the next level. I would love to retire and have a stylish yet comfortable inn in Bodrum someday with my husband.


Before your Etsy shop, what did you do?

I am the Marketing Director for Plus Model Magazine. I have been in Marketing for 18 years and e-commerce for the past 8. I am a former working Plus Size Model and working with the magazine is the perfect marriage. Before my current position and Etsy, I had my own marketing and video production company, media buyer & seller, television, a heavy dose of e-commerce with a rich history and the national spokeswoman for a women’s organization. Life happened as it often does and our lives got flipped upside down. I realized I was missing out on my kids and life and working 20 hours a day for everyone else wasn’t making me happy. It is never fun to lose but as the famous quote goes, “It isn’t how far you fall, but how high you bounce”. The past year especially has been about getting outside of my box (even though I thought I lived my business life outside of the box). After losing it all I have been on this very bumpy path of self-discovery with some success and many unsuccessful attempts. I realize now that I have the opportunity to do what I love and the brand label in the back of my jeans means little to nothing to me anymore. I think this may have been more of a therapeutic answer.


How did you get started with your shop?

I created my shop in Etsy several months ago and didn’t have the time to really get involved. I turned a relative onto Etsy to encourage her to start her own business as she admired the one I did from home. In turn, it encouraged me to get active with my Etsy store… the first step is always hard because did I really think that people would like my creations enough to buy them? I have been pleasantly surprised. It really makes me feel amazing when someone features my item in a treasury or buys an item. So now I have two shops, TutuCrafts and DigitalDlite for my digital downloads.


Where would you like your shop to be in 5 years?

All my life I have had a one, five, 10 year plan. I knew exactly where my life was going and how “successful” I was going to be at it. Life happens and now I am living somewhere in “the bounce”… I want to just enjoy this experience and see where it takes me. I love the organic feel. It is like having a small cottage boutique in a Summer seaport village somewhere where people browse and on occasion buy something they like. Would I like for it to replace my income or create an income someday in the future? Of course I would, but for now Etsy is my creative outlet and It’s mine. I feel really good about that.


I hope that you have enjoyed getting to know a little more about my friend. She is a very sweet thing.

You can find her on the web:
Tutu Crafts: http://www.etsy.com/shop/tutucrafts
Digital Dlite: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DigitalDlite
Blog: http://www.blog.tutucrafts.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tutucrafts