Tamra Malaga, founder and driving creative force behind Vera Plum, is a designer living in Los Angeles.  Her whimsical graphic designs for infant and child clothes are bright, original and appealing, and she is growing her company while continuing to create adorable designs.  The multi-talented Tamra is also a performer, writer and producer as part of the Josh and Tamra Show.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

 I started my career in 1999 as a graphic designer in New York City.  I designed graphics for the creative services and marketing departments of broadcast networks, on projects such as posters, postcards, media kits, branding, trade ads, web graphics, package design, and apparel promotional items. I had the privilege to work for many top shows like Saturday Night Live, and major networks including HBO, Food Network, A&E, History Channel, WNET  CourtTV, Comedy Central and Troma Films. 

As a designer, I wanted to expand my creativity, so I took a huge pay cut and landed in high fashion, at Aeropostale, in New York City. My boss, the creative director, became a huge mentor to me. He taught me the ins and outs of the fashion graphic world from trend shopping and designing to production. I fell in love with the process and found great success, moving up to senior graphic designer. A year later I had the opportunity to work for clothing companies such as Ecko Red, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hanes, Old Navy and the Gap, designing top seller graphics, trend shopping around the states, and loving every moment of it.

I had tons of great ideas for tshirts and accessories but,I was very limited as to what I designed for the corporate clients, since I had to design within the brand limits and their trend reports. So, in my spare time I had friends come over my Sunnyside, Queens apartment for “Craft Night.”  Everyone brought a fun craft project they wanted to work on like painting, sewing, or beading necklaces. During craft night, I designed a bunch of out-of-the-box style graphics and I applied them to baby tshirts and onesies.  I got great feedback from my friends and so, Vera Plum – my own company was born. I’ve been hooked ever since. 

2. What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

My biggest joy is when people express to me how much they love the items they purchase. I am happy that they are excited to buy them as a gift for someone special, or have their children wear a tshirt or onesie I designed.

My biggest headache is that I am a one-woman operation. I do everything from designing, PR, website maintenance etc.  I wish I could multiply myself. I also wish I had a bigger budget. The eceonomy is really bad right now.

3. Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

I spend it trend shopping, searching for trade shows, and filling orders.

4. What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without? 

I am very grateful for my web designer Nicole from 368 Design. My business would not be as successful if it wasn’t for her amazing talent. 

5. What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

It’s going to be a long, long, long educational journey and enjoy the ride!

Shannon Manning is a writer, producer, and performer. She has written and produced for TV news and weather, the Chicago Bulls, LifetimeTV, Fuse, Kraft, and more. She helps manage the Charles Mingus nonprofit organization and touring bands, is webmaster for Pathetic Geek Stories, published and edited Pipe Up! Magazine, was the Corporate Cash Manager for a major multinational newspaper and internet company, and recently helped create a web and stage show with Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show. She has taught, directed, and performed improv at Second City, IO, Upright Citizens Brigade, Magnet Theater (which she also co-founded), and Drinkytown, and has performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

After a recent stint as New Media Deputy for Obama for America, she returned to developing her artist collective/production company Sparkle Television, which launched a music/comedy/art webshow called Beauty Love Truth in April.

 1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

I’ve always been a DIY-type - this is my fifth company. First was a computer/video animation company with my mom, then two companies with my sister - one creating weather graphics for TV, and another as one of Chicago’s first web design companies. I came to New York and, ten years after falling in love with improv from studying with Del Close in Chicago, co-founded the improv school and venue Magnet Theater.

I currently freelance on TV projects; producing, directing, shooting, and editing webshows and pilots; sometimes acting; and, trying to put all these experiences into Sparkle Television to produce comedy, music, drama, and art for art’s sake! It’s a way to work with people I admire and with whom I share creative goals.

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

My favorite thing in the world is to see someone develop or build on an idea of mine, or to watch someone that I’ve taught, promoted, or worked with find success. My own accomplishments always leave me immediately thinking, “Ok, cool, but what’s next?” That’s the freelance/entrepreneur default mode/psychosis…always hatching the next plan, looking to the next project.

Most of my projects rely on collaboration. That’s a joy and also a challenge. Working with other people inspires me, and makes me accountable for my time, ideas, and integrity.  Working with talented people makes me step up! I also like to take the reins on a set or project, and create a beautiful, efficient machine with a happy team that feels proud of their work and the final product.  Creative people often thrive with structure. When they are in a safe and trusting environment, they can just focus on their work.  Creating that environment is always a challenge.

The biggest challenge in collaborative efforts is to clearly define your role, so your role does not get defined for you, and you don’t get stretched too thin! I am great at stepping into multiple roles, and welcome input and change; but then I have to step back and make sure I’m on my right path and make sure communication stays open and honest. And if it’s not working, and obstacles seem insurmountable, I have learned not to spend too much time trying to fix it. It doesn’t have to be dramatic (the band is breaking up!), it’s just the nature of collaboration.  There’s always another idea, project, opportunity, even if I have to create it myself.

 3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

I try to focus on spending time creating rather than consuming online. I like to use productivity tools like Bubble Timer to keep me focused.  43 Folders is also a great productivity-meets-creativity blog.  I use social networking to see what friends are up to performance-wise. Mediabistro, Freelancer’s Union, and LinkedIn are great sites and communities for freelance issues, professional development, political activism, and job postings. I also like Cynopsis - it’s fun to gawk at the money that’s getting tossed around to executives in the latest gold rush to monetize the web and creativity.

My latest trick is to work on my own priorities before even checking email, and to avoid being immediately responsive to every email or phone call. It was hard at first, but this way I get to choose which things get done first instead of technology doing the prioritizing for me.

4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

The internet on/off button.  There’s so much information, entertainment and interaction available, I have to be vigilant and step away. I need to recharge with real face-to-face community and activity. I need to go to live music, theater, comedy, and political meetings, to remind me why I live in New York!  I need to get my news from professionally edited newspapers and magazines without user comments, and I need to write with pen on normal paper.

But then I have to turn the internet back on because it is a constant reminder that there are no gatekeepers anymore; that there is nothing to prevent anyone and everyone from creating and publishing and, yes, even monetizing your own creativity. You don’t need a stage, a camera, or any technical abilities, as long as you have good ideas and friends who believe in them and also in you.

5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

“I must Create a System, or be enslav’d by another Man’s. I will not Reason & Compare; my business is to Create.” -William Blake

I love that quote because “reason” and “compare” do not usually get a bad rap in business and management, but they are great hindrances to creativity.  So is relying on old systems or paths, especially when they are broken or littered with unnecessary obstacles.  On a practical level, I discovered it is helpful to work in two different roles: one the Big Picture, thinking, planning boss, the other the efficient loyal employee. The boss writes everything down, from top level goals, objectives, processes and priorities, to clear tasks for the employee. If I’m feeling inspired, I can just write or plan or jot down my crazy ideas without judging the practicality because I know that my employee will try to make it work (she’s great!) And if I’m not feeling inspired or having doubts, I can just tick things off the list and trust that the boss knows what she’s doing (she’s great!) It took a while to learn that when you work for yourself you have to have discipline, but when you are creative worker, you also have to learn to listen to yourself so you’re not forcing yourself to work counter-productively.  That goes for the real people I work with, too.  Always trust them, always communicate, always treat them like poets and geniuses (so said Del Close); then, together you can overcome any obstacle and create whatever system is needed.

Banned by the US Catholic League for her dirty ditties and ribald jokes, controversial New York musician Jessica Delfino combines a host of quirky videos and instruments, from the flying-V ukelele to the rape whistle, with her own smart and edgy brand of comedy. She has performed in many festivals such as the Montreal Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Dublin Comedy Festival, NY International Children’s Film Festival and more. She has written songs for the documentary “What Would Jesus Buy?” and has had her music videos featured on YouTube and Myspace.  Visit Jessica’s Wikipedia entry to read her extended bio.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

I had a very funny Italian family and we watched a lot of movies and stand up comedy together. Later in life I met a comedian who told me that women couldn’t be comedians. That combo platter pretty much sealed the deal. I also heard that my great grandmother (my grandfather’s mother, but she was also pretty great) was a very ribald woman who told dirty jokes all the time, so it may even have been beyond my control. I might have been forced into this line of work by nature and genetics. Thanks a lot, DNA!!

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

Biggest joy - appreciation for what I do, from peers I love and admire and from miscellaneous weirdos alike.  There is nothing like hundreds of people in a room laughing at something I wrote, or someone I have silently admired for years from afar emailing me to say they love my work.

Biggest headache - flying. I cannot WAIT for the instant teleporter machine to hurry up and be invented already.  (What is this, 1954?  Where’s the damn insta-porter?)

3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

Watching videos on YouTube (mostly old Chaka Khan and other music videos) and dicking around on Facebook.  It may sound like I’m just horsing around but I actually get a lot from those sites.

4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

Mac products have really changed my life. My MacBook is an amazing piece of machinery, and my iPhone makes me feel like I’m super-organized even when I’m not. With those two tools, I can run my whole business anywhere in the world.  Of course, the technology is useless without my guitar, my flying-V ukulele and my rape whistle and other instruments with which I use to kick out the jams. But ultimately, a pen and piece of paper is really all I need.

5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

Welcome to your vampire lifestyle. You are going to be busting your ass every second that you’re awake for many, many years to come. The Catholic League will denounce you, Youtube will ban and remove your videos, and industry people and peers will try to sabotage you. But then other surprise people and heroes and great shows will keep you going. You are going to fall into bed like a baked potato around 2 or 3 AM every night. You are going to have to fly a lot. But now that I think of it, someone did tell me all that. And I did it anyway. 

Aimee Davison is an actor and model hailing from Montreal’s West Island.  She studied at the University of Calgary and has been acting and modeling commercially for the last decade.   Always creative and entrepreneurial, Aimee’s modeling career has not been limited to corporate clients, like Lise Watier, French Dressing Jeans and Avon: her self-produced artistic fashion editorials have been published in Maisonneuve Magazine.    

She created Fashion Ambush in the Fall of 2008 as a means to connect the average man or woman with major fashion labels and the experience of editorial photography.

1.   How did you get started doing what you do?

 After working as an actor and a model for nearly a decade, I decided to take my fate into my own hands and start my own web series.  I realized that I had a previously untapped passion for production, so I came up with a series idea, saved up and shot the pilot in September 2008. 

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

My biggest joy is performing and interacting with the people that we ambush on the shoot date.  I love getting out there and making my show happen.  I’m a go-getter and a people person! 

My biggest headache is not knowing if the series will attract viewers.  I need an audience for my show, so I can keep producing more videos.

3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

I usually check my series, Fashion Ambush, on YouTube (several times a day) to see if my numbers have gone up.  I usually celebrate at the 5 view increase mark!. Other than that, and against every artistic grain in my body, I have started writing in HTML to maintain my website.  We are sitll in beta, but man, it is a lot of work to change even the smallest thing.  Maybe I should have listed that as my biggest headache!

4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

I couldn’t do without my partner, Eric and my production team, Moonday Productions.  They have stood by me through all this and continue to help to build the project.

5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

That I would need to have the patience of a saint and the dedication of a monk (albeit a very fashionable one!)

Erika’s crafting career started with her scrounging gems inside a dumpster for her amazingly creative grandfather.  How creative, you ask?  Well, when she was only 4, he made her a working miniature ferris wheel made solely from trash and a few screws, nuts, and bolts. His creativity - combined with her mother’s amazing skills as a stitcher and stained glass artist - means that Erika has crafting in her genes. You name the craft, Erika’s probably tried it, but her true craft love is embroidery. She’s been stitching since she was 8; two years ago, she discovered the fun of working with wool felt. In 2005 Erika began my imaginary boyfriend, integrating her love of classic crafts, laughter, and whimsy into her home decor and personal accessories.

How did you get started doing what you do?

I’ve always made things, but the business itself started in 2005 when I decided to take a break from the acting career I was pursuing.  Still wanting to do something creative, my roommate, Cindy, suggested I sign up as a vendor at the first Bust Magazine Craftacular.  I didn’t even have a name for my business!  But I applied on a lark and actually got in.  That show went so well that I decided to do more shows and to start my web shop on Etsy.

What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

Biggest Joy: Having an idea and watching it come to life, and then selling.  I love looking a piles of log pillows  and robot softies when they’re all done!

Biggest Headache: Making the same thing over and over.  It’s the other side of having a successful product.  Sometimes it feels as though I’ll never make anything but log pillows ever again!  I’m not complaining, I love them, but since I’m the manufacturer and designer I often find that the manufacturing takes away from the design time.

Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

You mean Television Without Pity doesn’t count?  I spend most of my business time at Etsy.   It’s where my shop is located but they also have a great community and great resources.  I also visit The Switchboards, which is a great resource and message board for all sorts of creative women.  The mix of experience there is really helpful.  Other than that, I love checking out other craft and design sites like Design*Sponge, Craftzine and CraftStylish, [Disclosure: I blog for CraftStylish but I do love to see what my other contributors are up to] to see what’s going on in the craft world.

What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

Oh there are so many things I can’t do without!  One thing?  I suppose it would be my super patient and understanding housemate who doesn’t complain about the piles of craft all over the house and who picks up the slack for me when crafting isn’t quite paying all the bills.

What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

That it’s more than just making things.  That the business part is hard and confusing and always challenging.  I don’t think I have ever really mastered the business of my business, it’s an everyday learning process.

This is the first in a series of brief interviews with women who run their own show.  Enjoy!

Shaun Landry is the Artistic Director of the longest-running African American Sketch Comedy and  Improv ensemble, Oui Be Negroes. She is also the producer of The San Francisco Improv Festival and founder of The SanFrancisco Improv Alliance. (an improvisational resource, talent pool and production company for Improvisational Comedy) She is on the board of directors for The Next Stage Theater in San Francisco and on the Artistic Associates Board of The Chicago Improv Festival.

1.     How did you get started doing what you do?
It was really out of being miffed. My last day job once asked me (because they knew I had a comedy company) to perform at their holiday party.  When I asked them, “So what will you pay our actors,” the Human Resources person said, with a straight face,”Well, one would think you would do this gratis because you work here.”   I said no.  They brought in a theater company, who they paid quite a hefty sum, to perform.  I quit before this party and started my company, which books actors and actresses not only for these types of parties, but for educational and theatrical touring as well.  It is amazing how sheer indignation can be an incredible motivator.

2.     What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?
My biggest joy:  Being able to do what I love (acting and producing) for a living.
The biggest headache: There is a joke among the producers – “The hardest part of producing? Producing.” The double changes, the booking of actors and rebooking of actors, the triple emails to people who forgot the first time around.  Those are headaches in any theater world, but headaches I don’t mind.  I have not had the headache yet of an unhappy client.  That is a joy amongst itself.

3.     Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?
I find actor boards, Facebook and other company entertainment sites for resources (IMDB, etc).  I also do a lot of reading of the news (CNN, local Sfgate.com and others) to stay informed about the world, as my company and I have to parody it. 

4.     What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?
Outlook, Gmail and Google - I cannot survive without email and research.  Also, my husband.  He makes sure I do not lose my mind and is my grounding point. 

5.     What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?
There are a lot of “The Dubious” in entertainment.  More than what you already knew!