About Kayden:

I'm Kayden! I'm a coffee-fueled and dad-joke-filled creative. I'm a fan of spreadsheets, climbing the occasional mountain, iced coffee (year round!), anything wood-related, and don't even get me STARTED on sushi.

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I graduated from the nationally accredited Graphic Design program at the College of Saint Rose with a BFA. Throughout my career as a Graphic Designer, I worked in an agency, a newsroom, and on marketing teams for global companies, which gives me a strong sense of designing for a wide variety of industries.

Throughout my career as a craftsman, I have worked in flooring production, construction, a cabinet shop, and a countertop/table production shop. These experiences give me the skills and problem-solving capabilities that allow me to bring your vision to life with tangible materials.

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My wide breadth of experience has given me the foundation to methodically apply what I have learned to my design, woodworking and signmaking processes. Attention to detail, problem-solving, and considering how people will interact with the final product are a few things I take into account when working on projects.​

Follow along with Kayden on his Website  or Instagram.

My woodworking and art have always grown out of functional needs combined with my desire to be in motion. Each piece I create explores the natural lines and contours of the wood, allowing it to come alive with textures, lines, colors, and shadows. 

I use sustainably harvested local wood and non-toxic finishes to make art and custom furniture for homes and businesses.

You may find her on her Website and on Instagram.

Ellie Richards is a furniture designer and sculptor interested in the role the furniture and domestic objects play in creating opportunities for a deeper connection between people and their sense of place. Ellie looks to the tradition of both woodworking and the readymade to create eclectic assemblage, installation, and objects exploring intersections of labor, leisure, community, and culture. She has traveled extensively to investigate the role play and improvisation have on the artistic process. Her work, both furniture and sculpture, has been included in exhibitions at the Mint Museum; Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design; SOFA Chicago; and the Society of Contemporary Craft. Most recently Richards was awarded Windgate residencies at the Center for Art in Wood, and in the wood/furniture design programs at San Diego State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Additionally, she maintains an active teaching schedule sharing the fundamentals of woodworking and artistic practice with a breadth of audience including appointments at Yestermorrow Design/Build School, Appalachian Center for Craft, and Haystack Mountain School of Craft.  She is currently a resident artist at Penland School of Craft 2020-2023.

You may follow along with Ellie on Instagram and her website.

Follow along with the Podcast on Instagram.

One evening Kellie was in need of a bow tie for a special event and decided to design and make her own. Out of pure insanity - and a love for autonomy - she continues to design and create handmade bags, wallets, aprons, ties and other accessories including a handmade all natural fabric wax that is available in retail stores nationwide.  Kellie intentionally created a business that doesn't cater to gender, it caters to people.

You can find and follow along with Kellie on Instagram and her Website.

Phoebe is a studio woodworker from San Francisco, CA, currently based in Evanston, IL, who makes site-specific sculpture using traditional furniture making techniques. She was born in California to Taiwanese-American mathematicians, and grew up navigating hybrid identities. She continues to explore hybrid identities as a queer artist of color.

You can find Phoebe and follow along with her on Instagram and her Website.

Pottery by Osa grew out of her kitchen in New Orleans in 2015 and has since expanded to a full sized studio space at her home in Florida. She took her first pottery class at the age of 34 after playing in various punk bands for about 15 years. Punk isn't about longevity or technique, it's about urgency and primal expression. Being in bands and making zines helped her build the confidence to share her creative projects with others without worrying if they were good enough. By the time Osa discovered clay, she feels she was looking for a challenge. She wanted the chance to work on something for a sustained amount of time and become skilled. With her new ceramic practice, she decided she would prioritize pleasure, follow her intuition and avoid overthinking.

You can find and follow along with Osa on Instagram and her Website.

Prior to joining the mainstream maker movement, Tamara spent a decade in corporate engineering where she was pivotal in creating Women in Leadership mentorship programs.  During this time she noted a lack of women so in 2015, she transitioned full time to outreach in hopes of inspiring more young women to pursue S.T.E.M. careers.  It was during this time that she was given the opportunity to battle it out for a chance to join the Mythbusters legacy where her lifetime as a tinkerer and collector of skills landed her as the only female finalist and 2 x MVP winner.  Since then has become one of the leading female science hosts and engineers on the Science Channel lending her talents to Scijinks with Johnny Galecki, Mythbusters 2.0 with Brian Louden and Jon Lung and most recently on Mythbusters Jr. with Adam Savage.

You can find all of the things Tamara is up to and follow along with her here.

Joyce Lin is an artist and designer passionate about making furniture and sculptural objects that deconstruct material, form, and the ever-shifting relationship between humans and their environment. Joyce currently lives and works in Houston, TX and was a 2019 artist in residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

You can follow along with Joyce's work on Instagram and her Website.

Sandy has enjoyed design and making her spaces her own for as long as she can remember. She started Ellee Home with a vision to build a small and mighty community for real people in their real lives. She creates spaces, objects and content to inspire that community with all things home and decor, lifestyle, and anything they are up for talking about.

You can Sandy on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and her Website.

Gourd bowls are an integral part of the culture of the people of the Northern region of Ghana, where Trustina comes from. They are used to serve anything from refreshing water to palm wine. In her work, she views each gourd as a face or a body, taking note of its natural shape, blemishes etc. Trustina then assumes the role of a make-up artist, emphasizing the beauty that already exists through techniques like dyeing, highlighting, shadowing, trimming, carving and impressing. Slowly, the design reveals itself.

You can find Trustina's work and follow along with her on Instagram and her Website.

Karoline is a passionate prop maker working in Berlin, Germany. She started with an apprenticeship position at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Where she had the chance to produce various sculptures and props for different projects such as theater productions, music videos, movies and various private commissions.  Karoline learned several sculpting and painting techniques and now works out of her own studio where she collaborates with highly talented and inspiring creatives from painters to composers.

You can find and follow along with Karoline on Instagram, YouTube and her website.

DQ Flowers is a new woodworker and turner living in Florida. DQ grew up expressing her creativity through writing and photography. She stumbled upon woodworking through YouTube. Upon discovering the world of woodworking and makers on YouTube she found herself binging this content until deciding to give it a try herself. She now refers to it as her therapy, where she is learning and healing one cut at a time.

You can find and follow along with this budding woodworker and turner on Instagram.

Amanda grew up in Texas and was influenced by her grandfather and father, who are both woodworkers. Watching them restore antique clocks with the greatest attention to detail, seeing them rebuild antique furniture and create furniture out of the garage while growing up was an inspiration. With her father's guidance, Amanda began trying small projects and soon fell in love with the process of working with her hands. She moved to Austin, to take the woodworking courses at Austin Community College, where she received her Woodworking Certificate. There she had the opportunity to learn under two great craftsman, Michael Colca and Philip Morley. After completing courses with them, Amanda completely fell in love with furniture making and design. It was at that point that she knew she had found her calling.

You can find and follow along with Amanda on Instagram.

Chelsea Van Voorhis is a woodworker, designer, and veneer artist focused on creating fashion forward pieces with social and political commentary. She uses traditional woodworking materials and techniques to make non-traditional pieces.

You can follow along with Chelsea on her Instagram and her website.

Follow along with the podcast on Instagram. 

Raised in the Sierra Nevada, Cascades and Northwest Coast, Anna has always been surrounded by views of massive mountains, big trees, and rushing rivers. A family hobby of carving scenes from the days of fishing, hiking, bikes and adventure onto pieces of found wood eventually morphed into the art work and designs you see here. After a mountain bike crash resulting in a broken shoulder in 2010 rendered her unable to ride for a summer, she gave painting a stab and it's been an awesome journey ever since.

The wood used is primarily salvaged or reclaimed. Anna’s wood shop is home to a lot of saw dust and spent sand paper. Much of it is local timber and barn wood rescued from building renovations, trail projects and carpentry, then meticulously sanded, oiled and cured. There’s a story and history connected to the Pacific Northwest in every piece. 

You can find and follow along with Anna and her artwork on Instagram and her website.

Irene Wei is a pith flower maker and furniture designer whose work is deeply rooted in community and culture. Irene received her BFA in Furniture Design and a Concentration in Nature Culture Sustainability Studies from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has previously worked as a woodworking instructor at a maker space where she also made furniture on commission. In 2019, she was an Emerging Artist winner at the Philadelphia Furniture Show.

You can find and follow along with her furniture work on Instagram. You can find her Pith Flower work here.

Based in Toronto, founder and principle designer, Daej Hamilton started this company at 22 years old. Luxuriating in her 11th year of woodworking, her pieces reflect the timeless, mid-century, modern aesthetic. Using some of the finest woods, her work is designed and hand crafted to compliment form and function.

You can find the original episode on YouTube.

You can follow along with Daej on Instagram and her Website.

Karla is a Mexican designer and woodworker currently living in LA with her wife. Karla grew up in Mexico City and went to school for business administration. One night, she just started sketching and designing furniture and other items. She had always loved wood and how warm and cozy it is. So, she decided to find a school for woodworking.  After school she shared a shop with a friend and eventually found turning. Now she turns bowls and platters, creating collections with texture and color.

You can follow along with Karla on Instagram and her Website.

Lacey is a wife, mom of 3, works full time, and now she is DIY-ing her life. During this last year, while spending so much time inside her house, she started noticing things she wanted to change or add. After diving into the school of YouTube, she dove right into the deep end of making and doing it herself for all her projects around home. Now her husband is happily adding to the "honey do list" and she is happy to continue to grow her skills.

You can follow along with Lacey on Instagram and her Website.

Sylvie started building at age six, at the Eli Whitney Museum where she made circuses, catapults, rockets and robots. She actually started working there as well. She did receive a BFA and MFA and spent some time working with a mentor to build a couple of houses from the ground up. She has spent time as a visiting artist, teacher and researcher at many schools and universities. Currently, Sylvie maintains a studio practice making furniture on commission, production work for online sales, and sculptures. 

You can follow along with Sylvie on Instagram and her Website.

Laura lives in the Metro Detroit area with her husband, kiddos, cats, bees, tortoise, vegetable garden, books, and (depending on the season) some monarch butterflies in various stages of development and/or some neonatal kitten fosters. She has a B.S. in applied ecology and environmental science from Michigan Technological University. Before she was a writer and stay-at-home mom, she battled invasive species and researched turtles. It was fun, but writing is better. 

You can learn more about Laura and find her work on her Website.

Host of Remodel Your Life Podcast, Camille Finan talks to women working in the trades and breaking down barriers in non-traditional careers. Her 35 years as a carpenter gives her a unique insight into the world of construction and design. Her goal is to inform and educate people about the wonderful opportunities of working in the trades for women and girls. She also coaches women on how to make a living from doing the work that they love to do. 

You can find Camille online on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Sarah is a wife, mom, metalsmith, and entrepreneur. She worked in jewelry design and sculpture for over a decade after graduating from art school. When her first son was old enough, she started letting him play in the studio where he had access to all of her tools. This is where the idea for Maker Monkey Workshop was born. She enjoyed watching her son grow more confident and capable with every strike of the hammer and wanted to give that to other children.  In addition to growing confidence, she has a desire to get kids to feel the sensitivity of an artist as much as the strength of a builder without categorizing either as being exclusively masculine or exclusively feminine.

You can follow along with Sarah on Instagram and her Website.

LEAH WAS BORN AND RAISED IN MONTAUK, NEW YORK IN 1987. SHE RECEIVED HER BFA IN FINE ART SCULPTURE FROM ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY IN LATE 2012. WHILE THERE, SHE EARNED THE DISTINCTION OF BEST EMERGING ARTIST. IN FEBRUARY 2013, HER JEWELRY WAS FEATURED ON THE RUNWAY AT MERCEDES BENZ FASHION WEEK IN NEW YORK AS PART OF A COLLABORATION WITH FASHION DESIGNER, TERESA FIELD AND TEXTILES DESIGNER, JAMES THAI. HER WORK HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN METALSMITH MAGAZINE AS WELL AS IN CAST, A COFFEE TABLE BOOK FEATURING ART AND OBJECTS MADE USING HUMANITY'S MOST TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS. IN 2016, HER WORK WAS PART OF A FEATURED EXHIBITION AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF METAL. SHE CURRENTLY LIVES IN OAKLAND, AND WELDS OUT OF HER STUDIO IN OAKLAND, CA. 

You can follow along with Leah on Instagram and her Website.

Ashley is the furniture maker behind Shallow Creek Woodcraft, based in Southern PA. Ashley is a wife and Mom of four, balancing a passionate pursuit of the craft with family time. A self-professed woodworking book nerd, lover of laughter, and deep appreciator of her maker/woodworking/artist peers. She is currently enrolled in the Northwest Woodworking Studio Online Mastery program and takes private commissions.

You can follow her growth into the fine side of woodworking on Instagram.

Mariam is a wife, mom of 3, construction project manager, interior designer, wooden sign maker, and so much more. I think it is fair to say what drives Mariam is a drive to continue to learn and create. She shares this drive with her children, doing crafts together, and it shines through in her work.

You can follow along with Mariam on Instagram. 

Althea has a passion for creating that started at a very young age and has only grown. She has a degree and background in sewing and fashion design. Althea eventually found her way to woodworking. She enjoys learning something new almost everyday. She spent a few years refinishing vintage furniture and then eventually branched into designing and making her own furniture pieces and custom large scale built-ins for clients.

You can find and follow along with Althea on Instagram and her Website.

Karen is a professor in the art department at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where she has been teaching all levels of Woodworking and Furniture Design since 2004. She holds a BA in Studio art and an MFA in Furniture Design. The furniture and sculptural objects she designs and builds have been exhibited across the US.

You can follow along with Karen on Instagram and her Website.

Kelly Parker is a woodworker and furniture maker whose work is all about transformation and discovery. Kelly first started woodworking when in High School as an art elective. She then went on to get a degree in Biochemistry and spent 18 years as a chemist. Eventually she made the leap out of chemistry and back into woodworking. She is largely self-taught, though she has completed some programs in woodworking and furniture making.

You can follow along with Kelly on her Instagram and Website.

Consuelo, a Guatemalan-born functional artist and welder has a goal to empower women personally, creatively and economically through welding. She established the Latinas Welding Guild as a non-profit organization in 2017.  Having seen first hand the struggles of the Latino community, she formed the guild to create a space of equal access and education for women, particularly minority women, in what is a heavily male-occupied field. The Latinas Welding Guild exists to help low to moderate income Latinas and non-Latina women gain access to welding skills and certification preparation.

You can follow along with the Guild on the Website and Instagram.

You can donate to the scholarship program here.

Born and raised in New York City, Sophie received her BFA in Sculpture and Drawing from SUNY Purchase College, and her MFA in Furniture Design and Woodworking from San Diego State University.  She has exhibited her work across the country, and has been fortunate to receive several grants, fellowships, and residencies to help advance her career. Sophie makes furniture out of steel and wood, but predominately out of steel. In fact she mimics wood to make her steel furniture look like it has been created out of steel.

You can follow along with Sophie on her Website and Instagram.

Wu worked as a furniture maker for 5 years in New York City prior to receiving her MFA in Furniture Design from Rhode Island School of Design. An injury in the woodshop, hours of reflection, and a passion for both movement and making is what crafted the creation of her company, Work in Use. Wu is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Sculpture Department at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

You can find and follow along with Wu on Instagram and her Website.

Sarah is a maker of fine furniture and other wooden objects. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, she studied architecture at Princeton University and fine woodworking at The Krenov School of Fine Furniture. Sarah was the 2015 recipient of the John D. Mineck Furniture Fellowship, through The Society of Arts and Crafts and used the funding to support the creation of "A Workshop of Our Own", WOO for short, a space where women woodworkers and makers can come together in a supportive enviornoment.

You can find and follow along with Sarah on her personal Instagram and Website, as well as the WOO Instagram and Website.

Amanda is a Mom and Apprentice Luthier near Nashville, TN. In her childhood, she did sports and gymnastics. She did not play any instruments. She was introduced to instrument when she decided to learn to play the violin as a way to get one of her children to learn to play the piano. Through playing the violin she learned about luthiers. She was instantly fascinated with the process. A change in her employment allowed her to pursue this new love full time.

You can find and follow along with Amanda on Instagram.

Rachel is a teacher, student and woodworker. Originally from California, she now lives on the East coast with her Wife. Though she was a creative child, she did not have much exposure to woodworking outside of her middle school shop class. She revisited woodworking as an adult as a means to find a hobby that could keep both her mind and body busy. Though it was not necessarily love at first sight, she has grown to really enjoy woodworking, especially the idea of mastering a skill before moving on to the next. 

You can follow along with Rachel on Instagram.

Estrapala Woodworking is owned by wife and wife team, Sara & Marika. Sara has a position as a research faculty at Mizzou and Marika currently stays at home with their toddler. When they are not occupied with life they love to spend their time in the woodshop. While they both have separate interests in different types of woodworking their styles compliment each other when they chose to work together on projects. Sara is fascinated with the beauty of natural wood specifically burls. Sara also has a love for ornate boxes. Marika is sharpening her skills on the lathe and also enjoys making cutting boards and scroll saw projects. 

Most of the pieces made are custom orders but they do have a small inventory on hand from time to time. 

You can follow along with Sara and Marika on Instagram and their Website.

Alicia Hylton-Daniel was a paralegal studying to take the LSATs in the winter of 2002 when a house fire caused by a faulty fireplace to her new Durham home changed everything. The infuriating process of dealing with less than honest insurance claims folks and mostly "good 'ol boys" contractors compelled her to take her career in another direction. She decided interior design would be a perfect fit and went back to college to get a 2nd degree. After college she worked for a design firm, working mostly with commercial clients. During her time within firms, she became a licensed general contractor. She now owns her own design and build company, Hylton Daniel Design. She has been featured in magazines and has even done a couple build-outs for the HGTV show: Love It or List It.

You can find and follow along with Alicia on Instagram and on her Website.

Taji is a wife, project manager, woodworker, carpenter, and DIY enthusiast. She spent her childhood and early adulthood really trying all the things, searching for that "thing" that would be her creative outlet that would feed her soul. Buying her first house with her husband is what really sparked the desire to make things that could furnish their home. She started with a work table and then moved straight into designing and building their dinning room table.  She has found that making excites both parts of her, that logical math side, and the creative side.

You can find and follow along with Taji on Instagram, YouTube and her Website.

Nickole is a wife, mom of four, maker, and soon to be shop owner. While being a stay at home mom, Nickole got her start in the world of making with "Mom with a Saw". That was the first time she got to experience making an income from something she made. It was a sense of freedom. Mom with a saw lasted for a while, but it felt too limiting. From there, Nickole moved on to getting a laser and really being able to work with so many more materials and making so many more things. She has grown that business, Repnmyhood, to a point of being able to open her own gift shop in 2021.

You can find and follow along with Nickole on Instagram.

Skye is a self-taught creative with a DIY spirit and passion for bringing her clients' wildest ideas to life. Sawdust & Glitter is her creative outlet for all things art, craft and design. Skye has always been crafty, and after grabbing an Architecture and Construction Science degree, she hasn't slowed down. She really goes for it all including woodworking, painting, consulting, and custom memorabilia for all occasions. Construction manager by day and DIY crafter by night, she is designing and creating a life she loves.

You can follow along with Skye on Instagram and her Website.

Lauren is a wife, mom, and woodworker making beautiful jewelry displays. Lauren fell in love with the scroll saw in her 7th grade wood shop class. Then after college and working for some years in the financial industry, she felt the pull to get back to more creative work. With the push of a career counselor and a successful experiment of becoming a one income household, she took the full leap into turning her love into her work. Now she is a stay at home parent and she runs her business during the hours her boys are in school.

You can find and follow along with Lauren on Instagram and her website.

Naomi is the artist, designer and maker behind Overlook Woods. She fell in love with woodworking while studying at Pratt Institute and realized that is what she wanted to do for work. Naomi makes all sort of woodworking goods from furniture to spoons to jewelry and many other home decor items. Through woodworking, she is also continuing a family legacy of industry in New York. Her grandfather was a fashion designer during the Garment District's heyday. She is proud to be carrying on this tradition.

You can find and follow Naomi on Instagram and her Website.

Alicia is a wife, mom, designer and artist. She has really been a designer and artist her whole life. She gained an appreciation for great craftsmanship from her father as a kid. She ended up going to art school and working as a graphic designer for several years. Now you can find her either in her workshop getting covered in sawdust or collaborating with a client on how to enhance their space where they live, work or play.

You can find Alicia on Instagram and her Website.

While working full time and commuting into the city, Anastasia knew she needed an outlet for all of her creative energy. She has been a creator as long as she can remember. From making custom pillow cases at the age of 12, to screen printing movie tees and crocheting bikini tops, she has always had a passion for making things from scratch.

Her love for woodworking started in grade 9 shop class. She left with the dream of being a carpenter but was told it wasn't a job for a girl. After she met her husband, his dad took them into his shop and showed how to use the tools. That was when they created the first Burnt River Wood Co. project and it has just grown from there.

You can find and follow along with Anastasia on Facebook, Instagram and her website.

Sarah is a wife, mom, teacher, woodworker, and all around maker. She enjoyed making and being creative as a kid, when she was not diving into sports. She turned again to making as a way to doing something physical and creative as a contrast to all the other things she does. It started with a closet makeover and she has been hooked ever since.

You can follow along with Sarah on Instagram.

Lexie is a furniture maker from Tennessee. She has a bachelors of fine are with a concentration in wood.  She is currently participating in a residency program. Lexie's work has been featured nationally.  The way she approaches furniture design is from a place of curiosity for nature. She sketches her designs with focus on forms and lines that bring her joy, leaving figuring out how to make it work in the furniture until after she is happy with the overall form. 

You can find and follow along with her and her work on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and her website.

Based in Canada, Pooja Pawaskar is the Indian-born artist behind Whirl & Whittle. Crafting wooden and ceramic pieces which celebrate the inherent beauty in each object’s peculiarities, Pooja chooses to embrace blemish in her works and herself in a world which relies heavily on flawlessness and statics. Her work is grounded in the belief that the world around us and the things within it are unique rather than imperfect.

Growing up in a multigenerational home in Mumbai, India, Pawaskar was introduced to woodworking at a young age by her grandfather, a formally trained carpenter and model maker. She spent many of her days observing him make furniture and hand-carved pieces. His love for design and grasp of technique captivated her and bled into her own practice. Driven by a fascination with design and art, Pooja studied architecture at Mumbai University; however, it wasn’t until her final year her passion for building furniture was unearthed. This realization inspired her to shift gears and apply for a furniture design program at the Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2014, she relocated to Savannah, Georgia, USA, to pursue her passion for woodworking and furniture. After the initial cultural shock, Pawaskar recognized that this was what she was waiting for. Surrounded by avant-garde technology and excellent collaborators, she used the following two years learning and exploring her passion for the handmade.

Upon graduating in 2016, Pawaskar began her career as a furniture designer at Stylex Seating in New Jersey—an opportunity that brought her incredible growth but left her craving for handmade pieces. On weekends she would work on honing her woodworking skill at a communal workshop in New York City. In 2019, Pawaskar relocated to Canada and decided to pursue her passion of becoming an artist. In late 2019, she registered her business, and Whirl & Whittle was born.

You can follow along with Pooja on Instagram and her Website.

Meera is a wife, mother, and former opera singer turned woodworker. Meera's first passion was singing and opera. However, after becoming a mother she realized that the life of an opera singer and one of a mom do not always fit well together. After leaving opera, she soon discovered woodworking after tackling her first project doing an ikea hack. She found a woman owned workshop in Los Angeles and started taking classes, and the rest as they say is HERstory.

You can follow along with Meera on Instagram.

Sarah is a wife and  wood artist living in Idaho. She is a master with the scroll saw, creating huge pieces of landscape art from pictures sent to her by customers. Each piece is hand cut and hand sanded and meticulously put together into a masterpiece. Sarah defines herself as an artist obsessed with power tools.

You can find her and follow along with her on Instagram.

Emily is a wife, mom of two (soon to be three), architect, math teacher, and oh, a DIYer and woodworker as well. She is also a self proclaimed power tool enthusiast and always covered in sawdust. Emily has always been creative and into crafting, but it is only recently that she got into home remodeling and woodworking.

You can follow along with her on Instagram and Facebook.