Embracing Technology: Creating Profit & Impact with Lisa Shepard Stewart
Haley Hatcher 
I’m excited to share our next guest interview with Lisa Shepard Stewart, an author, designer, and entrepreneur.
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Summary:
I’m excited to share our next guest interview with Lisa Shepard Stewart, an author, designer, and entrepreneur who has successfully integrated a whole virtual arm into her thriving brick and mortar business, Cultured Expressions. Lisa shares her journey from a lifelong passion for fabric to creating innovative virtual shopping experiences that not only are very profitable, but foster community and connections among her customers. You’ll hear how she has avoided tech overwhelm and has created processes that work for herself, her budget, and her audience without losing any effectiveness or professionalism. You will also learn strategies for building an audience, finding your unique teaching voice, and the significance of authenticity in connecting with your students. If fear of tech (or the expense of it) is the thing that’s holding you back from starting or growing your virtual business, you really should listen in!
Topics:
The origin of Lisa’s low-tech and profitable virtual visits to her brick and mortar fabric store and how it’s lasted to the present day
Lisa’s relationship with technology and how the process of going virtual during the pandemic has impacted it (without any tech-overwhelm!)
Shopping, teaching, trunk shows, and more: the different ways Lisa uses tech in her business and why she doesn’t aim for perfection
How Lisa uses email and different social media platforms to grow and reach her audience while maintaining balance
Lisa’s advice for creatives who are at the beginning of the journey as a virtual teacher/business owner
Remaining authentic in the virtual landscape, even if so many of us have gotten used to it since the pandemic
Episode Resources:
About Lisa:
Lisa is an author, designer, and entrepreneur who has built a thriving business celebrating African textiles through her studio, Cultured Expressions. Based in Rahway, New Jersey, Lisa shares her passion for sewing, quilting, and crafting with a global audience through virtual workshops, on-demand classes, and live events, including virtual shopping. With her innovative use of video and virtual education, Lisa has made it easier than ever for creatives to explore the beauty of African-inspired projects, all while fostering authentic connections within her community.
Connect with Lisa:
Click here to read a raw transcript of this episode
Lyric Kinard (00:03.484)
Welcome guests and especially welcome Lisa. I am thrilled to announce and welcome Lisa Shepard-Stewart to the podcast today. Lisa is an author, designer and entrepreneur who has built a thriving business celebrating African textiles through her studio, Cultured Expressions. Based in Raleigh, New Jersey, Lisa shares her passion for sewing, quilting and crafting with a global audience through virtual workshops on demand.
classes, live events, lots of really amazing live events, my friends, but especially including virtual shopping experiences. She uses video in a really innovative way, including virtual education. She's made it easier forever than creatives to explore the beauty of African-inspired projects. And the thing I love about you, Lisa, is that you foster authentic,
Lisa Shepard Stewart (00:35.918)
Exactly.
Lyric Kinard (00:59.742)
authentic connections with your community. And your enthusiasm for cultural creativity are so inspiring and I can't wait to dive into your story. So Lisa, hi. It is so good to talk to you and see you again. Right? So tell me a little bit. Can you remember a little bit about how we first interacted?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (01:02.414)
Absolutely.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (01:13.166)
Thank you, Hi Lyric, thanks for having me. Always, likewise.
Lyric Kinard (01:30.206)
Do you remember? Do I remember?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (01:30.74)
Hmm. Starting out with a curve. see. How did we first? It had to be over virtual learning, I would say, right? Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (01:37.596)
I think it was, I think we met through the Global Quilt Connection, probably.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (01:42.166)
Right. So then it had to be a pandemic related kind of a thing, which I think everybody learned how to learn the word pivot at that point and had to do what we had to do to survive. So I'm sure that had to be where it was. Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (01:54.576)
Absolutely. One of the things that really stands out in my brain close to that time, a little bit after, was the opportunity to shop at your store. You own a brick and mortar place. You own a brick and mortar store, right? And you import and sell the most beautiful fabrics, but I have no way to get up to New Jersey.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (02:09.632)
I do. Yes, right behind us.
Lyric Kinard (02:20.978)
most of the time, and I was looking for something kind of specific and you mentioned you had virtual shopping experiences. So tell me how that works. This is so interesting to combine a real life in person physical experience with virtual technology in the easiest manner possible.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (02:27.522)
Yeah.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (02:44.536)
Simple, simple. I mean, I'm not a heavy adopter of technology or I use what I have to and then I learn how to use it and I kind of stay in my lane and I'm good with that. So the virtual shopping really started in 2018, which was just pre-pandemic. I had a customer and her husband came in and she's looking around. She goes, my daughter would love this. Her daughter is in, I think it was North Carolina. So she FaceTimes her daughter. They both have iPhones. I'm an Android girl, so it's going to be relevant in a second.
So she gets on, she FaceTimes the daughter, and the daughter says, ooh, get me two yards of that. And I'm thinking, ooh, interesting, you know, because I was open for maybe about a year at that point. I opened in late 2017, and I was looking for a way to connect with all the customers I already had, you know, through online and all that. And I said, well, they won't care that I have a brick and mortar. I have to figure out a way to kind of involve them. So she comes in, the daughter spends about $75 on this little, on the...
And I'm thinking, OK, I have to make this work for Android because I refuse to get an iPhone. So I found an app. At that time, it was Google Duo, but Google Meet works on both, and then also WhatsApp. And so was kind of prepared. I started doing that a little bit. I really didn't promote it a lot. I just said it has to get a catchy name, so I decided to call it Virtual Visits. Really simple. And started just kind of promoting that. And it was kind of a low amount of traffic on that, but I was just still kind of testing the idea and that kind of thing.
So here comes the pandemic and 2020, everybody's on Zoom, everybody's learning how to use it and all that. So I switched to Zoom as the main use of the selling because we couldn't have customers in the shop, know, everything was shut down, but I was allowed to come in and ship. I had about eight virtual visits a day. I mean, it was crazy. I had to go to, at that point I was still taking phone appointments, okay, let's meet at two o'clock, whatever. I had to go to a booking site.
to book the appointments because it was so much. went to Calendly, which is again another low tech kind of nice easy way to book appointments, things like that. And started using that and booking people and it just was the easy way to keep track of everybody. Everybody loved it. It seemed like they spent a good amount of money. Almost like a buffet. You see this, you see that and then you're shopping but you don't feel like you're shopping in a sense. So, you know, nice high ticket things and it was good for everybody. We had a great time. A couple of friends at a time would get onto a call.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (05:05.654)
and shop and it's like their little social hour. They're in different cities. So they get on the same zoom appointment and they shop and everybody's giggling and laughing and no, I want this, I want that. So it just developed into this whole thing. And even now with the pandemic is over, everybody's kind of back. It's still a real big part of what I do and people love the idea. Once they have the first one, they love it. They tell their friends. So, you know, and I think you can speak from experience maybe.
Lyric Kinard (05:29.534)
I can, I can. was a really, it was my first concierge and first virtual shopping live experience. So I filled out a form saying what I was looking for. You had pulled things that you thought fit the bill and they were lovely. They were perfect. You have such a good eye and an understanding of being able to hear what the customer actually wants and provide that for them.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (05:35.095)
Okay.
Lyric Kinard (05:57.158)
And then you started pulling out these other things, which was fantastic. And the thing is, this is so low tech. It is so miraculous still that we still, right? That we can see each other across distance. It feels very Star Trek to me. I love it. That we can speak face to face, but adding that in without needing...
Lisa Shepard Stewart (06:08.398)
self-moving.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (06:16.724)
Yes.
Lyric Kinard (06:26.374)
all kinds of fancy, right? You have a phone, you have a computer, you can talk to people, and you made it an integral and profitable part of your business.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (06:38.796)
It's a lot of fun. People really like it. And also they can show me things if they're trying to match up something. It's two ways. So they can say, I need this. I need some kind of something in this color, whatever it is. And we can really get a lot done. generally the color is good. It's not a problem. And things are pretty true to color, that kind of thing. So you don't really get that issue as much. So basically they make the appointment. We both meet on Zoom at the same time. And I take them around the store literally on my phone and show them everything. The other nice thing is they get to buy fabrics by the yard.
Lyric Kinard (06:44.168)
Boom.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (07:09.132)
On the website, keeping things by the yard would be impossible just management-wise and everything. So here you're able to say, I want two yards of this, I want a yard of that. So it's a nice way to see everything in the studio, things that aren't on the website, special things we have, like limited amounts of things. So people really feel like they've been here a little bit, so it's nice.
Lyric Kinard (07:29.662)
That's such a good point because people think so often that technology separates us. But in this case, it's not, I mean, the relationship you have with your customers is better, it's closer. It's almost a more intimate experience than walking into a shop because you're seeing their space and their...
Lisa Shepard Stewart (07:36.686)
Lyric Kinard (07:56.063)
There are things that they're showing you and it's reciprocal. So it's a beautiful way to create this kind of feeling and community.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (07:57.954)
Right.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (08:05.866)
It works really well. Yeah, they have a good time. I have two sisters that get on and now they they live together. They used to be in different cities. Now they're living together and they always kind of fight over the yardage. Right. Right, right. It's like, I want to you and I want to your answer. Then they get the same thing. That's really they're really sweet. But yeah, it's just that I have regulars that just whatever new mud cloth comes in, they want to see the mud cloth or new batiks come in. They want to see the new batiks. And I know who likes what so we can kind of.
Lyric Kinard (08:15.582)
No, I want that one. And you're like, hey, I have enough for both of you.
Lyric Kinard (08:24.772)
that's lovely.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (08:35.086)
and kind of give them a little hint, hey, stuff's coming in, you know. And we ship it out and it's been really fun, so yeah.
Lyric Kinard (08:42.01)
I would like to hear how you got to where you are. Were you always, how did you end up as a textile artist and seller, importer of African fabrics?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (08:57.46)
I love fabric from the age of four. I had a little, like, loosely woven blanket, and the way the yarns did this and stayed together, like the weave, I was just fascinated by it. And I don't think I verbalized it at four, but I was just like, that was my thing. So fabric forever. Learned to sew when I was 12, back when Singer had stores. Remember in the mall, Singer had actual stores. And I learned to sew. I took some sessions. I was hooked. That led me to FIT just really quickly.
Lyric Kinard (09:04.894)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (09:23.948)
I studied advertising and communications and marketing. I didn't want to study textiles as such, but you have to take some textile classes when you're there. And it was just a nice combination of things. So I always had a job in the textile sewing, what was called home sewing back then, home sewing industry, and either selling fabric, buying fabric. So I was always surrounded by it. And then my first trip to Africa was 1986 to Senegal, brought back duffel bags of fabric.
Lyric Kinard (09:38.056)
Right.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (09:51.682)
didn't have a plan, because we don't have to have a plan when we shop, right? We just acquire. So I was acquiring a lot of pieces, batiks and things. And then later on in 99, I bought my first book, African Accents, Fabrics and Crafts to Decorate Your Home. So it's 25 years since this has been out, which still blows my mind. And from there, the business just kind of started. I realized that showing people pretty fabric that they couldn't get didn't make sense. So I started selling it and buying it, selling it, merchandising.
Lyric Kinard (09:54.974)
Just do it.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (10:20.846)
And that all became like a little package. Like here's the fabric and here's what to do with it. So it just grew from there and when I tell you I never really had a real solid set business plan. So for those who are like, to have it. I think it depends on just how you work. would sit down to try and write one and it just would never happen. I just was not a business plan kind of a person. I guess because it's also, maybe it's part of the low tech personality. I don't know, but.
Lyric Kinard (10:44.126)
tonight.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (10:49.048)
things evolved and I learned at different jobs and then eventually this became it. So I still do some freelance work, but this is what I do.
Lyric Kinard (10:59.602)
Yeah, you do so many things that connect people together. mean, you've you've had the book, you write magazines. Don't you have a new issue out right now?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (11:04.28)
Okay.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (11:08.846)
This one just came out. We're shipping it this week. Fabricasm.
Lyric Kinard (11:12.67)
What a fantastic name! So appropriate!
Lisa Shepard Stewart (11:14.83)
This is number 11 and it's just a good time. it's just fun. people have, it's funny with each issue, start to ask when's the next one. So I think that's a good sign. People like it and there's no subscription because I don't want to pressure myself. So when I have time to write one, comes out and it keeps it fun. I don't do pressure. I cannot pressure myself. If it's not fun for me, I think it shows in the work too.
Lyric Kinard (11:36.604)
You know what?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (11:43.926)
If I had to force out four issues of this a year, would stress me out and would show. wouldn't be the quality I don't think would be there, you know, so.
Lyric Kinard (11:52.824)
One of the things I love about this world is there are so many different ways to do what you love. There are so many different ways to create community. There are so many different ways to be successful. And I see you as doing things your own way successfully.
Tell me what you really feel. What is your relationship with technology and video technology in particular? How do you really feel about it, Lisa?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (12:18.35)
You
Lisa Shepard Stewart (12:29.678)
You know, I feel that the tools are great. I think that if I can get a result that I'm happy with and not have to spend a million dollars, I'm fine with that. When I do have to spend money, I spend it and I learn what I need to learn. But I'm just not the person that has to have the newest and the latest and the best. Like when a phone comes out, I'm not the first in line for it, that kind of thing. I'm just comfortable with things that work. And as long as it works, you know, that's fine.
Technology, I appreciate what it does and I appreciate the advancements because eventually I'll get to it. But I just don't feel the pressure of always having to have newest and best. this whole process of going virtual with post-COVID kind of thing and keeping the business afloat and like I mentioned pivoting and all that, I'm grateful for the tools that are here. I just don't feel that I need all of them.
Lyric Kinard (13:23.526)
And this is so important though. I mean, this is the crux of the matter that you are able to build community. You are able to connect with the people you serve. You are able to support yourself and have a thriving business without the tech overwhelm. So many people think that getting into any kind of video technology or virtual
Lisa Shepard Stewart (13:25.133)
Yeah.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (13:51.374)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Lyric Kinard (13:52.506)
experiences like you offer is too much, too hard to learn the tech, too expensive. It needs to be like Hollywood slick in order to be offered to the world and you are the opposite of that.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (13:58.254)
Mm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (14:01.88)
Right. Right.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (14:08.11)
I mean, but there are tools that make you look like that without too much trouble, too. So there are some that are complicated and some that are really easy, I think. So I tend to go toward the easier ones. But, you know, it's interesting as we're even just talking now, I'm also very low gadget. I'm not Gadget Girl in my sewing either. Like my sewing room, I don't have every latest. You know, I have what I need and it works for me. And if I need something else, I'll go and seek it out or, whatever. I'm not against buying things or against using things. But I guess it's just.
Lyric Kinard (14:12.634)
Exactly.
Lyric Kinard (14:27.474)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (14:37.26)
I'm just at this level and it works for me. So whatever works for you, think you have to figure out and then just be comfortable with it and do the best you can do with it. Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (14:44.688)
Absolutely. And there is something lovely to be said about simplicity. Simplicity finding the lowest workable, well, not searching for the lowest, but finding the easiest workable technology and going with it without worrying, without stressing that it isn't enough.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (14:51.39)
Hehehehehe
Lisa Shepard Stewart (14:58.449)
Hmm.
What works for you.
Lyric Kinard (15:08.548)
I would like to hear about how else you use virtual technology in your business. I know you teach.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (15:16.032)
I teach, I do trunk shows and lectures. I did a lecture last week for a guild in Virginia. Pretty much set it up here and I hang the quilts and take each one down and talk about it.
Lyric Kinard (15:25.886)
Can you walk us through how you do the tech? And you're talking about a virtual program that you gave. You're in New Jersey. The Guild is in Virginia.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (15:28.696)
how I
Lisa Shepard Stewart (15:40.526)
Virginia. So I set up, well this particular one will use my Zoom account, so depending on if you're working with GILS, sometimes they have their, you know, rules of the way they like to do things, so you figure that all out in your contract that you've done ahead of time and all that. I usually take a deposit just to, you know, hold the date and they're used to that. So the day comes, I generally will get on 15 to 20 minutes early, so I'm on my laptop, which is what I'm using now with you.
Lyric Kinard (15:46.718)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (15:59.025)
Of course.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (16:06.326)
And I usually have a second camera for closeups. I can hold something up so there's a second camera that would be kind of here. I can switch, right, switch cameras back and forth. On Zoom, it's easy to switch back and forth. You just kind of click which one you need. And I know there are things that maybe make it smoother, but again, I'm not at that point that I feel I really need to. Yeah, I mean, I think for what I do, it's fine. And people are happy. They can see well and all that.
Lyric Kinard (16:13.348)
next to your workspace, right?
Lyric Kinard (16:26.206)
It's not necessary.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (16:34.85)
I have really good overhead lighting already, so I haven't really needed to do spotlights. And I see setups when people have the light and it looks like a whole, like a real studio studio. And I guess they kind of need that. I have really good, strong, like kind of task lighting overhead. I do have a spotlight on this new camera that I have on the, I have an external camera from my laptop. So there's that camera and the second one for closeups. I just kind of, again, toggle back and forth. I try not to go back and forth too much, so I talk and then I, when I have to go to a closeup.
Lyric Kinard (16:37.341)
you
Lyric Kinard (16:54.3)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (17:03.822)
I don't want it to be like a constant thing because it's just distracting. So I'll kind of structure the class where I can, or the lecture, usually lectures I don't use closeups, but more in classes, know, hands-on workshop. So I'll try to structure the class where I can be up here for a while and then come down, stay for a while, and just kind of think through how much I'm gonna be back and forth, because I think that's distracting a little bit.
Lyric Kinard (17:14.152)
You
Lyric Kinard (17:25.544)
Do you share slide decks or pre-recorded videos in your workshops or lectures?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (17:31.052)
Sometimes I'll do a slideshow, just images. So I have an electric called All About Ankara. Ankara are African prints like these. And they have an interesting history and the meanings of them and all that. So I have a slide deck that goes with that where I pull like maybe eight of the more popular ones and I go through each one and talk about those. So that's just a share screen on Zoom, really simple. And that's smooth enough. You're just back and forth.
Lyric Kinard (17:50.142)
Right. People... Right. And that's a lovely thing and advantage of virtual technology. You could have a live trunk show and you're up at front of a crowd and showing these things, but only the first row really sees things up close. But with virtual technology and sharing a close-up photo, everybody has a front row seat.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (17:58.979)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (18:06.689)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (18:12.622)
And even with the close-ups, you can still zoom in very simply and not make a whole big techy thing about it. You can zoom in and say, look at the stitching or look at whatever it is, the block, and zoom back out. And it just has a nice look to it. And you can also choose whether you want to be a thumbnail and keep the video part going or whether you want to be the whole screen. So things like that, I don't consider that to be complicated at all. I mean, those are nice, simple little touches that make it look a little more polished.
Lyric Kinard (18:17.47)
Right.
Lyric Kinard (18:21.182)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (18:41.32)
without again having to learn every term and keep on top of things. And last thing I want is to have to like follow people on Instagram or something to get tips. I don't have time. just...
Lyric Kinard (18:51.774)
You mean you are the CEO of everything in your business and you don't have time.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (18:55.95)
Something like that. Yeah, I just... And also, you you're on screen so much. I have to really just kind of cut, like, how much am I gonna be... How much more can I really do on screen? It's a lot.
Lyric Kinard (19:03.667)
Great.
Lyric Kinard (19:08.498)
and simplify it, right? And it's still effective. know, just having a Zoom account. One thing I heard you say is you have good task lighting, but it's built in, so you don't really have to add onto that. That's usually the first thing if somebody is not in a space with good lighting, it's easy. It doesn't have to be huge box lights.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (19:13.698)
Exactly.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (19:18.54)
I do.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (19:28.707)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (19:34.012)
but just make sure that the people who are seeing you through a screen have good lighting and you do built right in. And then it's just computer and zoom, little camera hooked up to the side.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (19:43.374)
Yeah, second camera, maybe a third, depending on what's going on. So I have little tripods from Amazon. Sometimes I'll set up the third, if there was a third camera or whatever it is. And it's really just pretty simple. I I kind of don't stress over it. And once I see it, I feel like it looks right to me. It's not super polished because it's not editing, it's live. So once I get on camera and I check my, check the...
Lyric Kinard (20:05.234)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (20:12.15)
Check how I look or whatever. Just kind of go from there. Because people are interested in what you're saying too. They're not really, they're not coming to generally to criticize what you're doing. They're coming to learn. You know, you're the authority, you're the expert. They want to hear what you have to say. And if you can just say it where it's neat and clean and you present it well, then I think that's the main thing. Which again can be done very easily. know. Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (20:34.706)
That's exactly it.
We forget sometimes when we're faced with a camera instead of a room full of people that what we're here for is to connect with people. We're not talking to technology, we're talking to people and that's what they really care about. Could you have ever imagined early in your career what you are doing now with...
Lisa Shepard Stewart (20:44.408)
then.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (20:55.288)
Mm-hmm. Right. Right.
Lyric Kinard (21:06.022)
with technology and how you're reaching your audience on a different scale than just the people who walk into your shop.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (21:13.71)
I didn't really have any idea, I think that's part of why I never, there was a long time I really didn't even want a brick and mortar. It wasn't really of interest to me. So 2017, there were a couple different things going on that made me kind of change my mind, just different things in the community and in my personal, you know, my work life, things like that. So again, like I said, when the women first came in with their husband and the daughter bought merchandise.
I was always trying to think of ways to connect with the people that I already had a base, you know, and had a connection with. And how are they going to be interested if they're not visiting Broadway, New Jersey, like, you know, and it's near New York City, but that's not enough of a draw for someone to come all the way across the country. So I always wanted to do virtual classes because they were a thing before COVID. You know, they just blew up with COVID, but they were always a thing. They were kind of there.
And it was always in the back of my mind, I really want to do virtual classes to connect with, you know, my existing base and grow the base that's not local. And so COVID was like the kick in the butt that I really needed. Like, okay, if you don't do this, you're not going to be working. So let's get it together. Cause I was always like, that'd be nice. I really want to do it. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the place up and running and, kind of get it moving. within that first year, like I said, I opened late 2017 and then 2018, the customer came in that kind of inspired the whole virtual visits.
Lyric Kinard (22:20.67)
for all of us.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (22:39.342)
So I just kind of felt like, okay, I'll get to it. You let me just get settled. And the store traffic really isn't a lot unless people are coming. It's more like a destination. People know that I'm here. Not so many browsers just walking in because it's a very specialized kind of thing. It's sewing and quilting and not everybody's doing that. So I knew I couldn't rely on that, which is probably why in part I never really wanted a store so much. But I couldn't keep teaching at my house in the basement.
and only promote the classes to people that I know, because after a while they're like, okay, Lisa, we got it. We've done the class, we've seen your basement, we're good. Right, so at some point it's just like, what else can I do? So I thought having a more public space, I could reach more people, that whole kind of thing. So yeah, the technology, again, in large part due to COVID, that was the push that really got me going in it. I was headed in that direction, but I was on the slow road and this put me in the fast lane, like you have to do it now.
Lyric Kinard (23:13.31)
You have to expand at some point.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (23:38.094)
you have to learn it and all that. And then I did some pre-recorded classes, the on-demand ones, and I had a local videographer, and I was able to, I got some grant money, because you know how...
Lyric Kinard (23:47.376)
on a second. froze for a second. So let's go back to.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (23:50.946)
You are freezing. Yeah. Are we back? You got a little pixelated. don't know.
Lyric Kinard (23:54.62)
Yeah, yeah, you froze, I froze. I'm gonna switch over to ethernet from Wi-Fi, which I should have done to start with. I think we're good now. Yeah, I think we're good now. Go back to after, now I'm trying to remember. You spoke about the first customer coming in, expanding your customer base. Let's go to where you are.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (24:04.726)
Yeah, you're image guide.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (24:21.806)
Bye.
Lyric Kinard (24:25.138)
where you are now in moving forward.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (24:27.072)
OK, so I know what I was saying about that I was also on demand classes were a thing. So I had a videographer come in and I received grant money because the grant money was big, the local, the county and the town were giving us, the businesses grant money. I used some of that to hire a videographer and then I did my first on demand classes. And so again, more technology. And then she brought her own lights because she, as a professional, she just brings all her stuff.
But she was even impressed, like, we don't need a whole lot of lighting. You have really good lighting. So I was glad for that. But that was her end of the technology. I really didn't have to worry about that too much because she did the editing. She did all that kind of thing. So I never really had to touch into that kind of stuff. But yeah.
Lyric Kinard (25:10.13)
Yeah, there's all different ways to do this. People can film and edit everything on their own and you brought in somebody to do the parts that you weren't interested in learning. Perfect.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (25:19.742)
Exactly, exactly. Because I actually, I intended to hire her to show me how to edit. And I was like, what am I doing? Just do the whole, how much to do the whole package? Come in, know, film it, give me a nice pretty little, you know, file and I don't want to even deal with it. So we did that. You know, captions, the whole everything. It was nice. So it was nice to be able to support her business too and support mine and keep mine afloat with the grant money. That was great.
Lyric Kinard (25:45.426)
That is another really, really important thing. If you understand, if you think about what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, what you love to do, what you really aren't interested in doing as a business person, if you can focus your time on the things that you love and farm out the rest of it, you have more time to do the things only you can do in your business, right?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (25:48.035)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (26:00.728)
Okay.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (26:06.806)
Exactly. Right. And more mental bandwidth too, because to keep all of that in your head, it's just more than I wanted to deal with. time and just the mental space, I was like,
Lyric Kinard (26:18.748)
and what has been the result of having on-demand classes.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (26:24.112)
it's been good. have a whole separate website. I use Podia. I started using, what was the one that went out of business? can't, Coursecraft, I think it was. So I was a Coursecraft refugee and found Podia. Everybody was scrambling for a different company. I landed on Podia. I liked them. Again, they're pretty low tech, easy to load your classes and do what you have to do and get in and get out kind of thing. So it's been good. think I have about six or seven classes. I have a couple of just replays of live classes and I have some that are more polished.
Lyric Kinard (26:27.016)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (26:30.759)
Yes, it was.
Lyric Kinard (26:35.742)
Right.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (26:52.834)
professionally, you on demand kind of thing.
Lyric Kinard (26:53.662)
And on-demand virtual workshops are the kind that somebody can pay for, sign up for, and they just get the content. Do you give them long-term access to it?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (27:01.698)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (27:06.114)
They have access indefinitely. can always just kind of log back in and look at the videos again or that kind of thing. So yeah, I don't really limit it. Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (27:13.906)
Right. How do you reach your audience? How do you let people know about the virtual workshops you have and about the virtual shopping experiences you have?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (27:24.59)
Mm-hmm. Well, I've done an email for like ever. I've probably been doing emails for like many, many, many years. So I just keep growing that list. I use Instagram and Facebook, you the usual kind of things. I'm not on TikTok. I don't intend to be. Whether it survives or not, just don't. Again, how much headspace do you have? know, so I do kind of what I feel comfortable doing. So I do a lot of posts on those platforms and my emails.
And tonight I'm doing, I mean, this wouldn't be anything, but I do a little virtual events like sip and sows. I did a midnight sip and sow virtual. And that came about because I was posting something at like two in the morning and some friends that I know to be local, like in the New York area, commented right away. And I'm like, what are you doing up? What are you doing up? So I'm like, if people are up, maybe I should do a midnight virtual sip and sow. So I've done a couple of those. They will go from 10 PM to 1 AM Eastern.
And people really hang out till the end. we're either just making, either I'll teach a little quick project or we'll just kind of do show and tells or hang out and sip, you know, whatever. If I'm doing a class, it's paid. Tonight is free. Tonight is just, it's just the, this is the Serenity edition. Serenity ending in T-E-A, because I have this Serenity little thing, little recipe.
Lyric Kinard (28:31.496)
Do they pay to show up?
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (28:44.03)
Nice.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (28:47.33)
And it's been so cold here. I was gonna call it the Frostbite edition, but that didn't sound as inviting. So I called it the Serenity edition. And this one I'm not teaching is just drop in, know, chit chat, whatever, like stay warm together kind of thing. So just community building kind of thing.
Lyric Kinard (28:50.43)
You
Lyric Kinard (29:01.884)
and it's virtual via Zoom.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (29:04.632)
Yes, ma'am. Easiest thing, and I just sent out a link and you know, it's great. Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (29:05.566)
All right, so.
Lyric Kinard (29:09.726)
It is...
Zoom is such good technology and easy to use for most people. There's lots of other online platforms, but especially in the creative world that we live in, Zoom is just easy technology. I've used lots of other virtual meeting platforms and for the kind of work we do, for teaching, for interaction, for building that community, it's just easy for our people to use.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (29:18.446)
Good
Lisa Shepard Stewart (29:27.362)
It is.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (29:31.618)
Mm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (29:41.198)
Yeah, I had also done a live event. called it Fabricasm Live based on the magazine. And it was a two day event and I had speakers. used Hopin. I don't know you're familiar with Hopin got bought out, but it was a company called Hopin and they do like a, it's more like a real studio. You can bring people in the backstage and you bring them on. you know, so we had guest speakers and panel discussions, things like that, all based on African fabrics. A lot of my friends kind of helped me out, did that. So that was a...
Lyric Kinard (29:46.834)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (30:05.79)
So it's like a virtual conference summit kind of thing.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (30:10.56)
Yeah, yeah, like a two day kind of conference. had, you know, the schedule and everything and that was fun.
Lyric Kinard (30:14.172)
And is Hopin used inside of Zoom or a whole different platform? Okay.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (30:19.146)
No, it's a different company altogether. Yeah. So I kind of had to learn that. So that was one instance. That was what? Late 2021, I think it was, or 22. But that was the instance where I had to really kind of learn technology and get all my speakers. We had to kind of make appointments and just do a run through and, you know, that kind of thing. And it went well and it was cool and everything, but I didn't, I don't want to spend my time like that. So if I did another one, I'd probably just, again, hire somebody to really run it and I would just do the fun part. So.
Like I said, it was fun, but other things were happening so much, the virtual visits, and I just kind of didn't go back to doing another one, but I would. I mean, it would be nice to do. And at this point, I might just do one in person as opposed to a virtual conference.
Lyric Kinard (31:03.646)
Well you had a pretty large community and reach with your magazine and your books outside of your geographic area before you even started the brick and mortar business.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (31:13.742)
Right. Right. And that was why I had to find a way to connect with them, because I said they're not going to care that I have a brick and mortar if they can't get here. So the virtual visit was great, because now they feel like they can be a part of it. Or sometimes when they do come and visit, and they've actually seen it, they're more comfortable doing the virtual visit when they go home, because now they've really seen and touch and feel everything, and they kind of know what to expect when they get it.
Lyric Kinard (31:39.528)
How do you think most of your new community members find you?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (31:44.396)
I like to try and ask them, it's funny you ask me that, because I try to, especially when it's an email, like, by the way, how did you find us? Google search and yeah, Instagram, just kind of, I don't think there's any one overwhelming or overarching kind of thing I can point to, this gets me a whole lot. There's just kind of people from all over, know, so. Word of mouth.
Lyric Kinard (32:04.752)
And you don't spend a lot of time on marketing strategy, do you?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (32:11.758)
I do. Well, that was my major, so I have to feel true to my major. Yeah, but it kind of comes more naturally to me. Some people really struggle with the marketing. I like that part, as opposed to heavy technology. like the, you know, kind of figuring out what to do, what people are going to want, and testing different things. And then I also do the sojourns, the trips. So we do travel, African fabric-related travel. So we'll go and do workshops or sightseeing, you know, things that are related to African textiles.
Lyric Kinard (32:13.278)
so tell us about that. Tell us a little bit about that.
Lyric Kinard (32:22.366)
Okay.
Lyric Kinard (32:42.352)
If you were to chat with somebody who is really interested in starting their own virtual teaching business, they were creative, they say they wanted to teach how to do, say, modern quilting with African fabrics, and you were their mentor, what kind of things would you tell them about building and finding an audience and using
Lisa Shepard Stewart (32:51.886)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (33:11.688)
virtual technology.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (33:13.996)
I think before you even find the audience, have to know what you're offering and know why it's unique and how it's unique because there are so many teachers doing so many things. And even if it is unique, it may not stand out as being, you you have to kind of package it in a way that it shows that it's very obviously unique. So some kind of way, differentiate yourself and learn from people that know people like you, you know, that do a lot of the training on the techie stuff that I couldn't.
advise anybody. mean, because it's again, I'm doing the low tech, the lower end of it. And don't be intimidated by the technology. Again, find what works for you. You don't have to do everything. You don't have to be on every social media platform. Because like I said, refuse to dust even before TikTok had issues. I'm just like, I'm not doing another one right now. Keep it simple. Keep doing what works for you. You don't have to do everything. If a guru tells you, you have to do this and that.
Lyric Kinard (34:03.442)
Just keep it simple.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (34:10.894)
they're probably just selling that particular package. Right. It's just like, I don't really have to do that. So, but really know what your niche is so that you can market to those people. think that's it. So you can't market to people blindly and not know what you're be exactly know exactly what, you, you know, what you have to offer and your strengths and all that. And if your strength is virtual learning, virtually is some people are have a problem with it. So maybe
Lyric Kinard (34:12.83)
What motive do they have?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (34:41.24)
Try to, if you find that you have customers that want what you do, but they're not virtual minded, of, not, I'm not gonna say dumb it down, but simplify things for them so that maybe it's a one click process for them to get into something and, you know, just kind of look at it, look for, yeah, yeah. Cause I have some customers that are great customers, but they will not get on virtually. Like tonight when I do my little sip and so, they just don't do virtual. I don't know if it's, could be an eyesight thing because you're on the screen.
Lyric Kinard (34:55.903)
Think of the customer experience and make it easy for them.
Lyric Kinard (35:07.558)
be on Zoom, but not on a virtual thing.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (35:10.54)
Right, but whatever I'm, they'll do sojourns with me, they'll buy the magazines, they'll buy fabric, but virtual, it's just not their thing, you know, so.
Lyric Kinard (35:17.15)
Right. I think it was interesting what you said about knowing that you have something unique. I think that really intimidates a lot of people and they think they have to invent what their teaching has to be unique.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (35:32.18)
Your delivery has to be unique. Maybe then. Yeah.
Lyric Kinard (35:33.988)
Exactly. It's about, well, I honestly think it's about having a unique relationship with your customers. I can be teaching the exact same thing as the person next to me, and there's enough students for both of us. And different students will communicate with us, and we will communicate in ways that work for each of us. And that's part of the uniqueness. It's, you you don't have to...
Lisa Shepard Stewart (35:43.672)
Exactly.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (35:49.198)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (35:53.07)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (35:57.794)
Right, right.
Lyric Kinard (36:03.55)
have a patent on something.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (36:06.03)
Yeah, you can teach half square triangles and make it appeal to someone that maybe it wouldn't appeal to otherwise or, you know, I mean, so you have to find.
Lyric Kinard (36:12.444)
It's about being your authentic self and finding the people who connect with you specifically. And this tool that we use, these screens, these cameras, these websites, social media, whatever it is, I think it, in my experience and with all the teachers I've worked with, being your authentic self instead of trying too hard to be something you're not is much more effective.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (36:22.99)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (36:41.39)
Exactly. It's easier. It's easier on you. It's people, and people can kind of sense, you know, I mean the people that resonate with that are going to find you. So it's more fun for you too. I mean if you can't be passionate with it, then maybe you'd find what you are passionate about, whatever is the technique or a fabric type that you use or whatever. You have to be passionate, you know.
Lyric Kinard (37:01.822)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you kind of have to love your people too. You have to realize that you're bringing a gift to them and making their lives happier in order for that authentic connection to come across. I mean, there is a thing with the screen. There is that layer of separation. I mean, we're seeing each other shoulders up. It's so funny when I travel and meet somebody from the neck down for the first time.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (37:06.925)
Right.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (37:12.408)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (37:17.771)
Exactly.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (37:28.878)
Well that's what they look like. It is weird. Yeah, it could be very surprising.
Lyric Kinard (37:29.854)
that I've known forever. But there is a level of you have to be a little bit more and it's not a little bit more fake, it's a little more of who you really are in order to reach.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (37:42.915)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (37:47.042)
little more animated or something. Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of weird. But I think that again, going through COVID where everybody had to use Zoom, it wasn't even about teaching or classes, people just had conversations. And if not for that, people wouldn't, you know, wouldn't be talking to anybody for days and days, especially people that refuse to leave the house for whatever reason, you know, that kind of thing. So now that we've gotten used to it.
Like I know early on that I was always gonna do virtual even after the pandemic ended the next day, I was still gonna do virtual just because it's easier and I just feel like it works for me. So.
Lyric Kinard (38:21.118)
Very good. If you could look back on with the wisdom that you have now 10 years ago and talk to yourself and say, here's one thing I want you to know that will make your life easier as a business person or one thing, anything. What advice would you give to your past self?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (38:36.191)
wow, that's a good one.
business-wise. Mmm.
Lyric Kinard (38:44.476)
or let's go life-wise as well.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (38:46.53)
You know what? I don't...
I can't honestly think of anything without sitting here for like five minutes. And it's not to say that everything went smoothly or I wouldn't change anything, but just the way it's gone overall is good. And even the parts that weren't so great got me to the better parts, if that makes sense. So I don't know that I could say, well, if I knew something else different. I mean.
Lyric Kinard (38:54.589)
Ha
Lyric Kinard (38:58.897)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (39:14.238)
That's it. That's a good thing too, though, to understand that the parts that aren't so great aren't always not worth going through. That's a backwards way to say that you learn something through them and they get you to places that you didn't know were possible or you didn't know you could go to.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (39:34.414)
Exactly. Exactly. And my, the business has grown so gradually. Like I just kind of go at that pace that is comfortable for me and I develop new things as I, like my litmus test is I can't be the only one who'd love to do this. Let me plan a trip to Santa Fe and do Indigo Dying. It's like, okay. And people are like, yeah, we want to go too. So a lot of it is just so much things that I enjoy that I don't know that I could even tell myself to do anything different.
Lyric Kinard (39:50.11)
Hahaha
Lyric Kinard (40:00.03)
Mm-hmm.
Do you plan very far into the future?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (40:07.072)
I used to more, like August used to be my month to kind of plan for the upcoming year and like what I want to do. And then because the summers used to be a little bit less busy for some reason, and now the whole year just stays busy. I don't know what, like how that happened. now I don't really get that, I don't really have that built in time. I have to like kind of squeeze time in to try to plan things. And I'm doing more. So it's harder to plan more when you're not taking that time to plan. So it gets a little difficult to do that. But.
Lyric Kinard (40:23.134)
Success.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (40:35.884)
I need to, because now it's almost the end of January already, like what happened, right? So, I think you froze.
Lyric Kinard (40:43.546)
Yeah, both of us did for a bit. Don't know if it's my internet connection or yours. But nothing we can do about either one right now.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (40:55.79)
No, you froze on my, your screen froze for me for a second. And that's why I stopped talking. I was like, she's not hearing me. Okay.
Lyric Kinard (40:59.014)
Likewise.
Yeah. Let's, hey, editor, let's not record this part. What, I should have thought of this ahead of time. What is some fun off-topic question that you would like me to ask you? Like, what is your, what are you reading? What is your favorite book? What is your favorite tea? What is your favorite drink?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (41:19.502)
Ha
Lisa Shepard Stewart (41:25.928)
man, well can tell you about my-
Lyric Kinard (41:26.91)
or if you could go anywhere in the world or what is your favorite place to have traveled? What one of those questions should we ask?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (41:35.309)
I guess favorite, I mean, I don't know, I go to Ghana, but that's kind of, you it's just so, I don't know, what were the choices again? My favorite tea?
Lyric Kinard (41:46.394)
just dessert? Do you like desserts? Do you have a good recipe for something? What's your favorite thing that you make? Do you cook? Okay, let's let me ask that question.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (41:49.13)
I do. I do dessert sometimes.
I have recipes sometimes in the magazine. Sometimes I'll do recipes.
Lyric Kinard (42:01.51)
Okay, Lisa, here's completely off topic. Do you cook?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (42:04.907)
I do cook.
Lyric Kinard (42:08.222)
What is one of your favorite things that you cook?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (42:14.262)
You know what I've recently been doing is, between myself and my friend Michelle who works here, we are like cookie monsters. We just love cookies, right? So in an effort to try to be more, a little bit more, I guess, healthy with them, I vowed to only eat cookies if I make them myself from scratch. Doesn't always work. Sometimes you have to run out and just get a cookie from somewhere. But I've been doing that a lot. So I've shared a couple of cookie recipes, like one, there might be one recipe in each Fabricasm, and they come out once a year, so it's not a whole lot of cookies.
Lyric Kinard (42:42.907)
Hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (42:44.322)
But like this one is my new one. It's called a coconutty cookie. And it's like, if you like kind bars, it's like a kind bar. It's mostly just nuts held together by honey and a little drizzle of dark chocolate. So simple kind of, and I'm thinking it's more healthy than, know, like an outside cookie.
Lyric Kinard (42:49.0)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (42:54.472)
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (43:01.256)
Sounds delicious. So with the addition of chocolate, it's all good.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (43:08.064)
always little dark chocolate, a little sea salt. So it's like a kind bar. just, you know, it's really good. So that recipe is in there. I cook probably about the same amount as I used to, but I find like I'm doing quicker meals because I just just time wise, you know, I like to cook enough food to bring here to the studio and not have to eat really, you know, from the restaurant soup all the time and just try to save some money. And like I said, I think it's healthier to cook for yourself. So I do I do kind of make myself cook when.
Lyric Kinard (43:10.75)
Mm.
Excellent.
Lyric Kinard (43:38.302)
Good. And one last question. What do you love about your life right now?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (43:38.518)
even if time is tight, you
Lisa Shepard Stewart (43:48.726)
I love a lot. I love most of it. love a lot. just turned 60. So I'm just like, wow. mean, just, you one of those hallmark numbers, you're like, it just feels different than what you thought it might or whatever. So I'm enjoying everything. I still love my work. I always said I would do this until it's not fun anymore. And there's no signs of that. Thank goodness. So I'll probably just, I don't know if I'm going to retire or what that sounds like, but.
Lyric Kinard (43:51.9)
Yay!
Lyric Kinard (43:55.645)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (44:11.67)
I just love the work and the ability to do what I like and have people react to it and they like it too, and you know, to varying degrees sometimes. But just fun to be able to experiment and you know, my husband, he's busy with his work, so we both kind of understand that when we're up at two in the morning working and that kind of thing.
Lyric Kinard (44:27.07)
Online with your friends at two in the morning. What part of your business do you just look forward to doing?
Lisa Shepard Stewart (44:32.151)
Yeah, so.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (44:40.046)
all of it. I look forward to the the sip and sows, things that bring people together because I see that I just see the real connection in that and that's a lot of fun. I love going to Ghana to source my fabrics and find new artists and I have people there that are like family now and it's just I want I intend to spend more time. I went to Ghana three times last year so I'm ramping that up and I'd like to be there a little more often so you know we'll see how that how that plays out but
Lyric Kinard (44:41.271)
that's fantastic.
Mm-hmm.
Lyric Kinard (44:50.622)
Sounds like the community is a really big part of it.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (45:09.922)
Just being able to do all that kind of stuff that I love and have other people enjoy it and have some kind of impact on them, I think that's the best part. And that's across all the activities, the travel and the shopping and everything else. So it's fun.
Lyric Kinard (45:25.372)
What a joy it is to have found something that you love to do and bring other people along for the ride, right? Lisa, thank you so much for spending this time with me, for talking to our audience and for sharing the joy and the wisdom and the beauty that you have to share with your audience, with the rest of us.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (45:31.404)
Yes, yeah, it's blessing, yeah.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (45:39.406)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Shepard Stewart (45:45.976)
Thank you Lyric. I had a good time as we always do. Likewise. Thank you.
Lyric Kinard (45:49.028)
It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Take care.
Categories: : Podcast