Episode 174: Dear Handmade Life w/ Nicole Stevenson

Crafty Ass Female

Nicole Stevenson is a multi-passionate creative, middle-aged first-time mama, impostor syndrome warrior, cake and Korean BBQ connoisseur, confessional journaler, second-hand shop scavenger, deep dive conversationalist and the CEO and creative director at Dear Handmade Life.

She can't recall a time in her life when she wasn't making something.

At 24, she turned my passion into my profession when she started selling Random Nicole, her handcrafted clothing line at flea markets and backyard craft fairs, which she grew into a thriving retail and wholesale six-figure business that was carried at over 250 shops around the world.

Nicole's desire to help other creatives pursue their dream business and discover the joy of making led her away from her own handmade business and into teaching, consulting, running her own workshop studio and eventually co-founding Dear Handmade Life in 2007. Now, she connects, educates and shortens the learning curve for other creatives by sharing what she's learned through the Dear Handmade Life events, blog and podcast. She has a BA and an MA in English from San Francisco State University and a dual “PhD” in crafting to keep your sanity and badass business skills from the School of Life.

When she takes off her Dear Handmade Life “boss hat”, you’ll find her squeezing in time to write or draw, trying her damndest to make her baby laugh or hold still long enough for her to change his diaper, devouring one of the dozens of self-help books on her nightstand, trying to find something interesting to take a photo of on her morning walk in her mundane suburban neighborhood, watching Below Deck and eating the best sausage and orecchiette courtesy of her husband or dreaming of living a stone’s throw from the beach.

You can find her at https://dearhandmadelife.com/