About Talia Whyte

Posts by Talia Whyte:

Advice on Craft Business Selling

As many of you know, in addition to all the work I do in journalism and digital marketing, I also find time to run a bespoke handbag business called Vanguard Design.  It started out as a passion project for bag making many years ago and evolved into a part-time business.  While I get most of my business through online sales, I do sometimes appear at craft fairs, as well as handbag trade shows with my collection.  I get asked questions sometimes about what makes for a successful show table display.  I am no expert, but I have done this enough times that I can share common mistakes I see with display tables.

  1. The number of products – I see this more at craft fairs, which attract hobbyists who want to sell their handmade items.  Some people go over the top with the number of things they sell, which can hurt the bottom line.  I went to a craft fair in New York City last summer, and I saw this woman who had a table with 20 different knitted products on it – mittens, hats, scarves, bags, beer covers, rugs, baby clothes, sweaters, blankets, coasters, etc.  It was literally the Wal-Mart of knitted everything.  What made it worse was that everything looked mediocre; like she didn’t even hide the tails on some of the items and she used mediocre yarn.  I get the urge to try to sell a wide variety, but you can’t be all things to all people.  It would be better to sell two or three products that you can make really well then to sell 20 items that are subpar.  For example, my friend Cynthia only makes scarves and shawls, and she always sells out of them.  All of her products look fabulous because she has mastered making them and uses the finest yarn.  With that said…
  2. Developing Your Niche – When you are selling too many products, it gives the impression that you lack an identity for your craft and business.  You can’t be a jack of all trades. Instead, you should focus on developing your niche craft that you are passionate about doing.  Again, referring to my friend Cynthia, some of the best craft sellers know who they are and have a defined product for a specific audience.
  3. Unique Selling Point (USP) – If you are going into the craft selling business, you must find your competitive advantage.  I make crochet, structured fabric, and leather bags because not many people sell those things at fairs.  When you sell something unique, people will also remember you.
  4. Price Variety – Don’t price everything on your table at $100!  Most people can’t and won’t spend that type of money, especially if they have never purchased anything from you before.  When you are just entering the craft selling business, you are developing a relationship with potential customers.  New customers will likely buy lower-priced items first, and then if they like your work, will spend more in the future.  It is a good idea to have a price range.  I would much rather make $100 off of items costing $5 or $10 than not to sell that one for $100 item!
  5. Presentation is everything – I hate to go to craft fairs to see beautiful handicrafts presented so poorly on a display table.  You have to think about what would attract customers to your table, such as how the items are presented, using props, having price tags on everything, making use of attractive colors and designs, etc.  Think of it this way, would you go to a department store that has its products thrown all over the place or no color and style coordination? No! So, put some thought into your table.  Don’t forget to have proper signage and business cards so people will remember you after the craft fair.

Learning From Generational Knowledge

,

I stumbled upon this great conversation from 1971 between Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin. This has been a crummy Black History Month filled with blackface, nooses, racist newspaper editors, and Jussie Smollett.  But this conversation between two literary legends is a great way to end the month on a high note.

I won’t say anything else; just watch it.

Why You Should Care About Real Hate Crimes

, , ,

Based on all the information as of today, Jussie Smollett is trash.

I have been closely following the curious case of the Empire actor. Smollett, who is black and openly gay, claims that he was attacked in what is being called a hate crime.  According to him, while he was out getting food at a local Subway in Chicago during the polar vortex at 2 AM a couple of weeks ago, two men assaulted him with a noose and bleach and screamed: “This is MAGA country.”

At first, like most people, I was angered by his alleged attack, but when I started thinking more about the incident, it began to make no sense to me.  Then I started seeing YouTube videos here and here by gay, black men who openly questioned his narrative.  Then I heard Smollett was going to be interviewed by Robin Roberts, and I thought I would finally get the story straight from the victim.  I really wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.  But after viewing the interview, I was more confused than before.  There were no suspects, no witnesses, no video surveillance, and no credible evidence.  Smollett’s version of the story that he wants us to believe defies basic logic and common sense.  Then the whole story started to fall apart over the weekend with the arrest of the two Nigerian brothers.

I really don’t want to believe someone would make up such a story.  Making up hate crimes in these times not only emboldens Trump supporters, but it also undermines real hate victims.  The next time a person of color or a gay person who is not as rich and famous as Smollett is really assaulted, they might not be taken seriously.

If Smollett did lie about this incident, it shows that he is a psychopath who really doesn’t care about black and LGBT people, and who doesn’t mind putting them in harm’s way when it is convenient for him.  With this said, just because Smollett doesn’t care about real hate crime victims, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.

According to a new Human Rights Campaign report, 2019 Black and African-American LGBTQ Youth Report, 30 percent of black LGBTQ youth have been physically threatened because of their LGBTQ identity, including 41 percent of black transgender and gender non-conforming kids.  2018 was one of the deadliest years for transgender people, especially trans women of color.

I remember a couple of years ago I was watching a TV program about cold cases.  There was one segment about this black woman in Louisiana (or Mississippi… I don’t remember) who was found dead in a shallow ditch outside a small town after someone complained about a foul smell.  The police figured the woman had been in the ditch for at least two weeks based on the state of her decomposed body.   They did an autopsy and found out quickly that she was biologically born a male, based on the typical scares of someone who has had gender reassignment.  They couldn’t identify the body and the woman didn’t match any recent missing persons’ notice.   The autopsy also revealed that the woman was killed by multiple gunshots and was possibly raped.  There was no DNA of her potential killer found on her body or in the vicinity of the ditch.  There was nothing on or near the body to positively identify the woman.  After some time, the woman was buried in an unmarked grave, and her case has sat cold for the last ten years.  How sad is it that this woman was possibly so ostracized and invisible in her community that her body wasn’t identified and no one claimed or acknowledged her in both life or death.

I say all this to point out the realities of what hate crimes look like in America today.  For Smollett to take advantage of the real fears oppressed groups in this country have to deal with is outrageous!  If anything good comes out of this, maybe we could all take real hate crimes more seriously.

Book Review: Looking For Lorraine

,

I recently read Imani Perry’s new book, Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry.  This is the first book in a long time that gives a comprehensive look into the life of the black playwright.  It is packed with essays, photos, and letters that have been never seen publicly before.

Although her life was cut short by cancer at the age of 34, her play, A Raisin in the Sun, has left a lasting impression in black history, and in particular black theater.  A lot of her theater work was informed by her social activism, starting with her brief time in Mexico, where she immersed herself in the intersection of the arts and activism.  This was followed by her time in Harlem writing for Freedom, a social justice newspaper founded by actor Paul Robeson.  During her tenure there, she wrote about the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, women’s rights, and how racism, classism, and imperialism negatively affect people of color around the world.  I think it is also important to note that there were other great women reporters working at Freedom during Hansberry’s tenure, including Vicki Garvin and Alice Childress.

On a separate note, according to this book, Nina Simone, one of Hansberry’s close friends, was a lesbian apparently.  It is news to me, but I guess this was common knowledge?  The book also delves into Hansberry’s homosexuality based on some of her incognito writings for The Ladder, a 1950s  lesbian magazine.

The book also goes into detail about the infamous meeting Hansberry had with Bobby Kennedy in 1963, which I wrote in detail about recently.

I highly recommend the book, as well as the documentary, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart.

«< 66 67 68 69 70 >»