Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:03 The
Speaker 1 00:00:03 Free.
Speaker 2 00:00:22 All right. Welcome to the Frame Center podcast. Um, so today me and Scott are joined by, uh, two very interesting people. Uh, we got Bridget and Marcy from Living Crew Magazine. Um, we have recently started, uh, you know, kind of formed a partnership that I think we'll touch on a little bit, uh, with them, with the magazine. And, uh, I'm really excited to have 'em in. They'll add some interesting, uh, stories and, uh, we can, you know, hear all about the magazine. So, Welcome.
Speaker 3 00:00:52 Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having
Speaker 2 00:00:54 Us. My pleasure. I, you know, you guys have been up. We were gonna, Marcy, you were gonna be on once before when Handover days.
Speaker 4 00:01:01 Yeah. With the start of this program
Speaker 2 00:01:03 When we started. You know, I think that was when we were real early, but I think, you know, we've gotten a lot better. I was waiting
Speaker 3 00:01:08 For
Speaker 2 00:01:09 You, letting us, letting us mature a little
Speaker 4 00:01:11 Bit. That's a good call. Good call. Get all the bugs out, then come on the show.
Speaker 2 00:01:14 Um, but, you know, so, you know, you've been in the shop for the handover days when we had that out exhibit. Um, you know, I personally, I think the magazine's great. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I'm not a woman, but, uh, Good. But it is, you know, a kind of female based women telling stories. And, uh, now how'd you guys end up putting this whole thing together?
Speaker 3 00:01:34 You want me? Yeah. So we actually, the name of our company is called The Waiting Room Media. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:01:39 I know Living
Speaker 3 00:01:40 Crew is first. Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah. <laugh>. So,
Speaker 4 00:01:42 Living Cruises our first, first
Speaker 3 00:01:43 Product and the waiting room is where Marcy and I met at, uh, the waiting room of our kids Karate Dojo.
Speaker 4 00:01:50 Oh. Oh, that's where it was. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:01:51 That's the Karate Dojo.
Speaker 3 00:01:53 Where is it? In Kingston. Kingston. Thur and Marshall. Th Smart th Yep. Yep. Shout out to Sensei Allison <laugh>. Um,
Speaker 2 00:02:00 I feel like they were, they have a place around the corner here, too, in P Yes, they do. That's right. Okay. And so it it's just a different branch of it.
Speaker 3 00:02:07 Yeah. Yep. That's exactly right. We've actually both been in that waiting room too. <laugh> nice. Um,
Speaker 2 00:02:11 And that guys on Big Karate. You, you were, you know, you weren't taking the classes, You were just waiting. Well,
Speaker 3 00:02:16 She, she did train me in some kickboxing classes. Nice. Yeah. So she's, she wasn't my son, but she was my instructor. I guess. That's, Yeah. But she's wonderful. And we always enjoyed being at the Dojo, but you know, when you're waiting for your kid for class, you tend to just sit there and read a book or make small talk. You've been there <laugh>.
Speaker 4 00:02:38 I got an 18 minute, 10 year old, so, Yeah. I've,
Speaker 3 00:02:40 Before nobody tells you that's part of the job. Parent days,
Speaker 4 00:02:44 The amount of, I don't remember that being a part of the job when I was a kid, and I don't remember the <laugh>. Yeah, no. Never saw that part. No,
Speaker 3 00:02:50 It's true. No, that's true. I don't think the kids, I don't think we exist when the kids don't see us <laugh>.
Speaker 4 00:02:55 Yep. We're upside outta mind. So what
Speaker 3 00:02:56 Doesn't, Yeah. But we would sit out in the waiting room and make small talk, and then one day we stopped making small talk
Speaker 5 00:03:05 One day. Um, I, I walked in, I think it, I think it was me who walked in and Bridget in the seat. I sat down next to her. She said, How are you? And I don't know what had happened that day, but I just, and there was something about the look on her face or whatever it was. And I just said, I'm not good <laugh>. I mean, and I, I thought that the, there was no other answer to that type of question. Hey, how are you? I'm great. How are you? Yeah. And I don't know what it was. And she said, What happened? And the next thing I knew, it was an hour long class, and I just kept talking and talking and, um, it kind of started from there. But what was interesting is I went home and I was almost ashamed. I was embarrassed. I was, was like, I cannot believe I just told that woman
Speaker 4 00:03:54 To open up and trust someone else that you have only met small talk. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:03:58 That's awesome. That woman, I know
Speaker 2 00:04:00 <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:04:02 And I did, I, I searched for her on Facebook that night to send her an apology note and, and I was gonna buy her flowers, thanking her the next time in karate class. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, instead she, I walked in the next class, I had my head down, um, and she said, So what happened with my, And we just went on from there. And it was, it was pretty life changing for me. Seems like a normal everyday type of thing. But it was, No, it's, it was amazing.
Speaker 4 00:04:33 Trust is a big thing. You, to be able to trust somebody to talk about all those things, you know? Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:04:37 Do you have a therapist background? Bridget <laugh>?
Speaker 3 00:04:41 Yes. Because I have two daughters,
Speaker 2 00:04:42 <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:04:44 And I've been married 25 years, so, Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:04:47 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:04:49 No, but it's, um, I felt the same way. It was really nice to be so vulnerable and, and unedited with someone. Um, I also knew I could also quit the Dojo if I didn't need to
Speaker 2 00:05:03 Go. <laugh>,
Speaker 4 00:05:04 This is not important. We don't ever have to come back here again. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:05:07 We're gonna go to the other location now,
Speaker 3 00:05:10 <laugh>. But it was, it was really, it was almost like, what are we gonna talk about this week kind of situation. Yeah. Um, That's
Speaker 5 00:05:17 Great though.
Speaker 3 00:05:18 Uh, from religion to politics, to child rearing to parents, and Yeah. We both have sisters. Yep. It's, it, it's, it became some, Well, you can see what it became. Yeah. And, um, Covid hits and, you know, of course they're doing virtual karate. Uh, and one day, and I
Speaker 5 00:05:39 Had no social life because of Oh God. Yeah. Because there was no karate.
Speaker 3 00:05:43 And I was so grateful I didn't have a social life anymore. <laugh>, I'm very introverted. Marcy's the extrovert. Um, but we went, my daughter and I went over to Marcy's house, so she and her son could play. And, um, we, Marcy's husband brought the space heater out to where we were. We stayed six feet apart, bundled up, cuz it was winter. And, um, I don't know, two hours later, we, uh, were planning out the magazine that we were gonna create and nine or 10 months later, the first issue came out. Okay. That's how simple it was.
Speaker 2 00:06:18 That's awesome. Was there a much, like, did you both have backgrounds working in magazine? I mean, I'm, you know, I, I can tell that you, you know, I know that you have design, you know, designer, you have someone that can sell. Yeah. You seem to know what you're doing with this seems pretty good. But you both had magazine backgrounds
Speaker 5 00:06:34 Surprisingly, um, you
Speaker 2 00:06:36 Know, had this come up in the conversation. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:06:38 <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:06:39 It did. And I think, you know, when it comes up in the conversation, it becomes part of the bond that you have with somebody. Um, Bridget was a former editor in art director for magazines, and I sold advertising. Yep. Okay. My whole career for, uh, first for radio, and then for a trade magazine mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it, it naturally came together. We said, every woman should have this opportunity in this, um, format. This a place to tell their story. Um, that's just unedited. That's their story. This is the way it happened to me. No one else telling their story for them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then we were like, wait a minute, their own voice. We really do that because we together are this match and we go together and we could actually do this. And we remember going to bed that night and, you know, going to bed. And my, I'm like, Bill, I think I just launched a magazine today,
Speaker 4 00:07:37 <laugh>.
Speaker 5 00:07:38 He's like, Excuse me,
Speaker 4 00:07:40 <laugh>, are you sleeping already talking in your sleeping <laugh>?
Speaker 3 00:07:46 Very matter of fact, I think it the same thing too. Yeah. To my husband. So Marcy and I gonna do a magazine. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Speaker 4 00:07:53 <laugh>.
Speaker 5 00:07:55 It's
Speaker 2 00:07:56 Good to have support. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:07:58 <laugh>,
Speaker 5 00:07:59 I think the next morning they, they both realized what they, in their sleep, maybe it was good timing on our part that they both half asleep.
Speaker 4 00:08:06 You broke a Tim at the right time. Yeah. Didn't have to drop the bombshell. That's
Speaker 3 00:08:10 Right. That's right. But we were living proof that what we wanted to give our readers. Yeah. You know, we, we developed a light in life, solid, you know, lifelong mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Friendship. Mm-hmm. Based in authenticity. And so knowing, you know, we were just saying, you know, it's so hard to find someone's story that's not canned pr or written by someone else. Whenever I hear somebody else write an article and say, So and so felt this way, and then decided to, But how do you know Yeah. That they tell you. Cuz if they did, I wanna hear it in quotes.
Speaker 4 00:08:45 Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:08:45 Exactly. Um, don't, don't take their story
Speaker 4 00:08:47 Edited filters changed to fit the, uh,
Speaker 3 00:08:51 To fit their style
Speaker 5 00:08:52 Guide.
Speaker 4 00:08:52 Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:08:53 So we have, uh, that's where the second half of the pink chair logo comes from. Um, you know, when we talked to our logo designer, we said, you know, we met in a waiting room, this name of our company. Yep. Each chair would be appropriate. But
Speaker 4 00:09:07 Also, Yeah, I was wondering where that came from. How the pink chair design was the, uh, you know, the icon that you're gonna be known by, So, Yep.
Speaker 3 00:09:14 It's, uh, it's our Nike Swoosh.
Speaker 4 00:09:16 There you go. Exactly. I like it. <laugh> and,
Speaker 2 00:09:18 Uh, seems appropriate. What about the much more comfortable living crew? Where did that, where did that come out of
Speaker 3 00:09:24 That is, um, okay. So we're, we're talking about authentic and raw. I'll be honest. Yeah. There were 35 other contenders before this one. Sure. Yeah. Every single contender before this one was trademarked or copyrighted as another magazine for women about storytelling. Okay. Whether or not they've existed, doesn't matter. The fact is if they got there first Yep. 35. I think at one point we went through the alphabet. Right. We did.
Speaker 5 00:09:50 We did.
Speaker 3 00:09:51 Um, we did, So when we were talking about the format where, you know, it's from your seat, you know, it's first person perspective mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's about life. It's about living real, living raw. Yep. Crew, the way we spell it is French, uh, meaning raw.
Speaker 4 00:10:08 Oh, okay.
Speaker 5 00:10:10 Yep. And then I also liked it that it was a crew. I mean, it is like a double
Speaker 4 00:10:14 A grouping among Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:10:16 Yeah. And then I started going, You can become part of the crew. Live this way. I like it be this way. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:10:22 <affirmative>. So. Well, I think that that's great. I mean, you know, when I, I say marketing respect, we first talked, I mean, like I, you know, Jen, uh, had brought home and I was just, I mean, this is, this is like, we're not as selective. We don't, you know, only deal with women, but we women make up a big part of our audience. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, Cause I think it sometimes some guys are a little bit more intimidated to make design decisions. I mean, not that they're, they're not plenty qualified and we have plenty of, but it just seemed like they'd hit a big part of our, our demographic seemed like very, uh, very like a big crossover. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, you know, and I also, um, it was sat on the, on the counter for not the counter or the coffee table. And Jen was really excited talking about you guys, you know, from some networking events and that great.
Speaker 2 00:11:11 You know, like, you know, and, uh, I just was like, this is what I want to be a part of. I mean, we've kind of transitioned here mm-hmm. <affirmative> quite a bit mm-hmm. <affirmative> as far as, um, you know, how we advertise and trying to go towards a little bit more of a higher end market. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or, you know, make it, you know, make it more about, you know, our skill set and like how what we do. And we've also lucked out. Cause we have like a, you know, very talented, uh, you know, social media guy, Very talented photographer who can help put together those type of ads. And like going to print ads is the transition I want to make. And just like, here we are.
Speaker 5 00:11:51 I mean, a print ad for frame center for it has to be fabulous. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about framing prints, framing art. So, um, the transition onto the page is beautiful. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> the way that you have done it. And it's, it's, we're proud to have it in our, it just matches in the pages and goes with the flow. Yeah. Um, but what you've done with your social media and the way that you've gone more of a lifestyle type of advertising route, it's fantastic. You people, I think are really feeling like they're part of what it is that you're doing every day day. Yeah. And I would take your puppy home if I could, because anything, any advertising with a puppy. Yeah. It's like, that's, that's the best telling
Speaker 4 00:12:41 You. We need the dogs of the frames to the calendar. We need to have that and all meet up. There's enough of us that have 'em. We'll just bring 'em all in. I'll buy
Speaker 2 00:12:47 It. Yeah. We're gonna have to get Mandy back. She hasn't been in, in a while. She's getting a little bit bigger. But she, I was gonna say also more destructive. She
Speaker 5 00:12:54 Must be full puppy at this point, but getting to know, um, what you do behind the scenes. I mean, I just brought home, um, a piece of artwork that is part of my family. The person who painted it has passed away. That one of the few paintings that we have left of hers. Um, but, so I wanna hang it, but in my mind it's like handing over an heirloom. Yeah. And so to have seen what goes on in the background mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative> watching you and what you do, um, and who you're associating your business with is really big. It creates a trust of me to be able to say, I'm handing this over to you. We want
Speaker 4 00:13:37 That. Yeah. We want people to be comfortable with when, when they come in here, they don't feel like it's just a, another corporate business that, you know, it's just here to take your stuff and get it out and get it back to you. You know, we've had plenty of people who have asked us, like, you know, I know it's not easy, but you mind if I take the piece back home with us afterwards? And it's like, Yeah, we'll double check all in measurements. We'll get everything set up. Whatever's comfortable for you. It's, it's just getting it done the right way. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:14:00 Yeah. We, it's important. We have a great team. You know, I mean, Scott, we, you've been there with us for about
Speaker 4 00:14:05 About eight years. Almost eight
Speaker 2 00:14:06 Years. Yeah. Um, you know, I mean, Mark, Dina mean 20 plus. I mean, it's the same people. And I think that in some places, I mean, you wanna bring something, you're gonna send something out in the mail, like some of these online places. Like where's the accountability? You know, I mean, this, you know, the building is, I had a conversation with my father earlier. He was talking about someone that was looking for a deposit from him for a project ages ago. And it's like, you don't think I'm gonna pay, like I own this. You know, we own this building, we own this business. You know, we've been here for a long time. There's accountability. You know, like you, you don't have, you worry about a deposit. I could give you the deposit. Like, how do I know you have anything? Like, you know, there, you can come and make an attachment or do something if you want to come after me. Like how give you the money, you disappear. You know? But it, I think that accountability, uh, not that there's any reason for to be accountable, but like, I think that trust falls into customers and it's
Speaker 3 00:15:01 Appreciated. We're, we're learning that, I think in our company too. I mean, we're only three issues out. Yeah. Yeah. And we have advertisers from our very first issue. Sure. So we had to sell a concept. Marcy had to sell a concept. That's her lane. Yeah. <laugh>. Um, and so it says a lot when you go to people, women entrepreneurs, women business owners, and say, We have this idea that I think is going to take off. And do you want to invest in that with us? Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and for the overwhelming response to be, um, Yes. On me up <laugh>, um, from the, from the get go Yeah. Is very telling about our mission, having a place that, you know, is isn't very much needed right
Speaker 4 00:15:45 Now. Yeah. People believe in the idea of it. You know, and that's, I'm sure also trusting you with the stories that they want to tell when the things too. That's another part of it. You know, it's a, like you said, it's a little bit of bearing your soul in these, these magazines. It's to trust you with, to write and have the articles out in a way that will represent them properly. And like you said, not cookie cutter and filter it all out to the point where it's basic information that doesn't really mean anything is important.
Speaker 3 00:16:12 And it's, it is, you know, to your point, it, it does mean a lot to our readers. And the reason we know that is because they're, they're calling us. They're texting us, they're emailing us. Yes. Uh, every single issue, um, in the every month between the issues. Uh, we had, uh, one of our storytellers said that someone came up to her at a soccer game and said, I saw your story and I was really impacted by it. Wow. Um, the art, the art, I mean, you're telling stories through art as well. We have that entire section, uh, which is sponsored by the Frame Center. Yep. Um, and there are so many stories in every picture that we put in there too. And we do that because we know that some of our storytellers do better with a paintbrush or a camera than they do a pen or pencil. Yep. Um, and their stories are just as valid and necessary to put out there. So, um, we know that there's a void out there for women mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, they wanna see themselves, but they don't wanna be the one to put their story in. Yeah. So once they see other women telling a story similar to their own
Speaker 4 00:17:15 Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. It opens it up for other people to experience the same thing.
Speaker 3 00:17:19 That's right. They
Speaker 2 00:17:20 Experience the, the same thing. Right. Or they Right. Oh my gosh. I mean, I, the feedback that you get from the people when they're telling the story, they feel like they're you.
Speaker 3 00:17:28 Yeah. They're seeing themselves. They're, they're connecting with the storyteller. And there are a few times where we've heard that, um, there there's some stories that a reader hadn't thought about it that way. Yeah. Hadn't considered that perspective. So, you know, as far as our mission of creating solidarity and empathy, I think that we're
Speaker 5 00:17:48 Really hitting the nail in
Speaker 2 00:17:50 The head with both. Yeah. Yeah. It's all, I mean, like I said, I, I'm thrilled about our, you know, partnership and like, and that, that approach and print ads to me are, they're tricky cuz do you know if you get a response and it's like, to me it's like, well I don't even care. Like, does it, does, it doesn't matter cuz this is a group that I want to be associated with. Like, very Marcy's been a pleasure to have over, We had the pink chairs here that were big hit
Speaker 4 00:18:16 Every, they were a big hit during the handover days. A lot of people loved, they wanted their pictures. And I remember that was working overtime during that <laugh>. Yeah,
Speaker 5 00:18:24 It is, it is fun to get people there. You know, an interesting thing about print here point David, is Yeah. We're all very hyper focused on social media. Yeah. And I can see, you know, exactly how many people clicked through. Yeah. And absolutely. Who doesn't want that? You're spending dollars. Yeah. And they're hard earned dollars. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:18:46 You get instant gratification of knowing that your article me or somebody saw it. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:18:49 Yeah. We do it also, we just did an entire review of our traffic on our website. Yep. And who you have to, it's today's world. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I do think that the print part, the, the billboard part mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the, I don't know, tv, but that's the getting the logo to resonate in your mind that is placing your brand in conjunction and in places that your end user Yeah. Would wanna be. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you're incorporating your business into the fabric of that person's life. I hate that. That was cheesy fabric. <laugh>. Is that like an ad campaign? Magic notebook? Is that cotton or something? Yes. It's,
Speaker 4 00:19:36 It's, I was like, had to think of that myself
Speaker 5 00:19:38 That I watched the commercials and not the TV shows. That's
Speaker 4 00:19:40 The marketing side. Marketing side. That's
Speaker 5 00:19:42 Okay. <laugh>. But, you know, there's so much, especially, and I love this evolution. Um, I sold advertising for 20 years, but the evolution now is where is this company giving back to? Yeah. I'm buying one, giving one, or I'm the X percentage of each sale. I believe that the end consumer is really tired of having those ads thrown at them. Yep. And where you place your brand in support or in their life. It makes a difference. Now.
Speaker 2 00:20:11 I, I think it, and so our whole campaign that we've been pushing lately is like, we're supporting local artists, but at the, with the flip side being like, we've been supported by and we are supporting them. Yeah. And again, like, advertising with you guys, like maybe we don't, I would assume we're getting a good, great response, but even if we didn't, I'd be like, happy to be advertising with you guys because I like what you're doing. I like Right. The mission's, right. So it's like, oh, it's not like a you're donating, but it's like you're, you're a part of something and like it's, you know, the dollar spent are going to help you guys get to next level. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I mean, people have options too, like as far as coming to a frame store too. Yeah. I'm sure you can find a frame.
Speaker 2 00:20:52 I don't think it's gonna be as good as ours. But if you're, you know, but if your bottom line is like, I need this 16, 20 frame a black frame and you don't notice the difference. Maybe you are better off buying it online, you know, but you can come in here and take it off the shelf and you can, uh, support our business. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and in turn support the local economy. Cuz we, when we support things like, are these online companies, you know, helping, uh, your fundraising for your, uh, your organization, are they donating to these causes? Um,
Speaker 3 00:21:24 Look at how far back this goes. You know, we're talking brand association and affiliation is something that obviously we're all dealing with today. Um, whether it be sneakers or apparel, you, you don't wanna be associated with something that doesn't have a good reputation. Yep. But that isn't new. Um, it feels like it's new to a lot of people, but think of what, what are some, these are really bad examples. Maybe cheesy examples, but actually good examples. Go back to remember the movie, The Fabric of Your Life. It's the fabric of my life. <laugh> and I'll actually, it's, it's, it's one of my favorite movies from the eighties. Does everyone remember Mr. Mom? I
Speaker 4 00:22:04 Do.
Speaker 3 00:22:05 Mr. Mom. Vaguely. Yeah. It was, uh, um, Michael Kee, Michael Ke and, and Terry. Terry Gar. And she, uh, worked for an ad company. Scooter Tuner. Yes. And do you remember what their thing was?
Speaker 4 00:22:18 The tuner with a heart.
Speaker 3 00:22:20 Tuna with a
Speaker 2 00:22:20 Hearts a movie.
Speaker 4 00:22:21 I'm the movie guy. Sorry. I'm the resident geek and movie guy. No,
Speaker 3 00:22:24 And it's good that you're gonna like
Speaker 4 00:22:25 This. Have that movie. I'm Blueray and DVD at
Speaker 3 00:22:27 Home. <laugh>, you're gonna like this next one though. Okay. You ready Scott? So, speaking of tuna, let's fast forward, um, a few years later and we're at Lethal Weapon. And what does the whole family scream when their dad starts eating
Speaker 4 00:22:41 Tuna? They can't eat tuna.
Speaker 3 00:22:41 Yeah. You can't eat that.
Speaker 4 00:22:43 They're catching the dolphins in the net. Right. Only Albacore saves. Right. So now I can go through that one.
Speaker 3 00:22:47 It's just coincidence. That's tuna. But my point is that even back in the eighties, it was, you can't have that in the house because I don't want people to know that we eat something that destroys the environment. Yeah. You can't have this because, or or you do want this particular product in your house. Cuz when you see this in your house, you know that we're supporting, you know, Americans trying to beat the recession. So brand affiliation is something that is not new, it's just that we're seeing it. On the flip side, we, we see companies trying to disassociate themselves with certain brands
Speaker 4 00:23:18 Ahead. Oh my God. How many people draw people so fast lately? Cancel, cancel, cancel. Just got drop from, what was it, Adidas and several, many, many billions of dollars. Many.
Speaker 3 00:23:28 But um, you know, and that's the point I was trying not to say cuz I wasn't sure if we
Speaker 4 00:23:32 Should Well, I can edit that out. But really it's, it's, I don't think he's gonna come for us. Although he could. You never know
Speaker 3 00:23:38 What I, my I'm
Speaker 4 00:23:39 Trying to make, it's, it's a good thing of saying going, they went too far and there's accountability now for a lot of things, things and having yourself associated the right way with the right group people is very important. Especially when it's newer
Speaker 3 00:23:51 <laugh>. And that's what I'm saying is that you're not, we're not just a vehicle to put your ad in. We're, uh, we're you're trusting us with your reputation as well when you put your brand message in our pages. Yep. We have just as much of a responsibility mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative> to make sure that we're not offending. And Marcy will tell you that we have spent countless hours with our advisory board. Oh yeah. Um, making sure that our style guide is constantly evolving. Um, you know, I'll share Marcy, Marcy and I have been talking about this a lot. Um mm-hmm. I just went to see a seminar with, um, Stuart t Chung, who was great friends with Desmond Tutu and, um, fought alongside him during a apartheid. And one of the video clips that he shared with us was an interview where someone has asked Desmond Tu Archbishop Tutu, what, what? You must be exhausted. And he said, It's the big stuff that I can, you know, fight. You can see these big things that we can fight
Speaker 4 00:24:56 The stuff coming at you.
Speaker 3 00:24:57 Yeah. But it's the little nuances that start to eat away at you. Like even just saying, I'm non-white, I'm not non anything. I'm not a non mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, you know, and, and I, I went, oh my gosh, I gotta put that in our style guide. Yeah. You know, it's, it's making sure that we are being responsible with our words. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> responsible with our messages that we're being inclusive and, um, passing that responsibility on. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I have a lot of discussion with my readers about the responsibility of being a reader. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, we can only go so far and it's up to the reader to take the torch from there and read responsibly and not be destructive with
Speaker 4 00:25:33 It. Oh yeah. Heck, the paranoia for me just trying to write an email to somebody, sometimes I have to reread it five or six times just to make sure I went through, I said everything correctly and didn't say, Oh no, we gotta change that. That's not gonna go for a while. That could be mistaken. That could be taken wrong and you don't mean anything by it. That's why text is dangerous versus speech, You know, there's inflections in speech that aren't there in text, you know,
Speaker 3 00:25:52 So I, you know, I think that you speech can be just as dangerous Oh yeah. As you don't And it shouldn't be a paranoia. Yeah. It should be. And that's what, you know, we're trying to do is,
Speaker 4 00:26:00 The last thing I wanna do is insult anyone <laugh> or make anyone angry after what I said. But again, things get taken out. It's,
Speaker 3 00:26:07 And it's about intention. It's all about intention. There's no intention in saying something that may come land wrong on someone else. But it's the dialogue that comes out of it and the changes that are made from that. The little, the little nuances, the little reflections
Speaker 4 00:26:20 And tones. Yep.
Speaker 3 00:26:21 Um, those can make a big difference. And I don't know how we got on this discussion. Yeah. Marcy's laughing at me.
Speaker 4 00:26:27 She's, I'm not, It's the fabric of our lives.
Speaker 2 00:26:29 Well, I'm curious about the, so you guys have an advisory board, like now, how did, like, how did it evolve from the two of you being in the, you know, in the waiting room to like a whole team? Cuz you know, I see, like, I see that I've seen at the beginning and actually Laura's Yeah. She does some copyright for, for us for Yeah. Amazing as well. You know, coincidentally, I'd already been talking to her before I'd even met. Yeah. Uh, just another one that Jen threw my way. She's like, I, I told her I was looking for something, you know, my support team at home. And she was just like, they do
Speaker 5 00:27:02 Good things.
Speaker 2 00:27:03 And she was just like, I think that this person, like, I think I'd, I'd run into some issues with some people I'd tried to work with before. Not, like, not, not, it's just not good. It wasn't a good good, uh, back and forth. Good. Yeah. And she was just like, I bet you if you talk with Laura, like, she's like, I think she's like right up your alley for somebody that will understand what you're trying to do. And
Speaker 5 00:27:24 The the power of of people is, um, it's mindboggling to me because really all of this started in one of our very first stories was, um, I have a bad back. I was on a massage table, I was making conversation. The woman was hurting me while she was trying to fix my back. And I was like, you know, but it's like, you know, just saying whatever I could. And I said, I'm starting a magazine and here's what it's about. And she said, I have a story to tell. I've been looking for years for a place to tell it. To have it Yeah. Super personal mm-hmm. <affirmative> that happened. And then she introduced us to the next person who introduced us to the next person. And I think I was floored and I knew that we were not that we were going somewhere, but that we really had something special or needed. We, we were introduced to La Haja Farha mm-hmm. <affirmative>, who is the
Speaker 3 00:28:30 Vice president of DEI at the Washington Post.
Speaker 5 00:28:33 Oh wow. And we were asked her to come aboard as in our advisory capacity to make sure that we were serving Yep. Everyone And she overwhelmingly like with passion was like, Yes. Yeah. And I was like, I had the chills from as the toe. Yep. And so that's really the majority mm-hmm. <affirmative> of how people have come to us and, and we do feel like people have come to us. Yep. Which is amazing. Yeah. It, it's an honor. And to say working with somebody who is Vice President <laugh>, I imagine most. Yeah. You know, there's a certain point where I'm like, you know, imposter syndrome, whatever it is. Really,
Speaker 3 00:29:13 Really. And we have Barb Chan, who is the founder, um, of Cool Looks, which is a fashion app mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but also, uh, a software tool, DEI software tool for Fortune 500 companies. And she's in, she's an extraordinary human and she has come to us with a perspective that is irreplaceable and, and unique. And uh, we have Alicia Kelly, who is a premier social media and PR and communications manager for, um, the nonprofit side of the South Shore. Many different associations. So we have this powerhouse Yeah. Uh, that covers every aspect from social networking to style guides and, you know, just general communications management. Yeah. And they have come in handy. Very important. Yeah. I don't think that we realize the enormity of, um, the need for advisors from across the board for some of these stories.
Speaker 4 00:30:09 Oh, sure. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:30:10 Um, so it, it's interesting cuz I, I'm listening obviously, but to bring it back, it's, it comes back to expression communication, putting things out there. Right. Which is what an artist does. Yeah. Which is the world that you are in, which is now the world, you know, expression of your thoughts, of your ideas, of your beliefs and how powerful those are. Because when you start sharing and you start expressing yourself, you really do touch more people than you ever realize. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So a piece of artwork that you just might think, Oh, I was doodling. Yeah. You have no idea what the power is of what that piece of art can do. Words. And, um, we had this conversation at dinner last night, surprisingly that we, my husband and I were like, we think the downfall of society is actually the computer. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they serve a fantastic purpose. But you always have a glitch. You're always fighting with it. You're anger level in when somebody's misinterpreting your words. Um, I typed in all caps by accident as the cap. I mean, I didn't even realize it. And really it's just
Speaker 4 00:31:27 You put a period at the end of your sentence. Are you mad at me?
Speaker 5 00:31:29 Yeah. Exclamation please. How
Speaker 4 00:31:31 Many I double spaced Didn't put a period there. I'm sorry. Yeah. It's things like that. It's
Speaker 3 00:31:36 Stop shouting up. Right.
Speaker 5 00:31:38 But I didn't open my mouth.
Speaker 4 00:31:41 <laugh> <laugh>. Yep. Yeah. It's, it's, it's amazing all the little dominoes that have to fall in line for everything to work out correctly. But it sounds like from what you guys have, you have a good, you know, network of people that helped make this a success.
Speaker 5 00:31:53 So it, it kind of, interestingly enough, so sitting here, um, you know, it's Dave, it's women and people like Dave's wife who saw some something connected with it. And again, that, that thought from even an advertising stand became a fan. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think that when you become a fan of something Yep. You, um, years and years ago, gosh, I can totally date myself. My first job out of college I had was required to read a book by Dr. Sears and it was called Raving Fans. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> overall premise. It's been 20 years. So gimme a little bit of leeway here. Yep. Sure. But people are more likely Right. To talk about this awful experience that they had if they walk into a store like, Oh my God, the worst person was so rude. And that's the dinner conversation. Yep. The thought process was give such amazing service or give somebody such amazing, an amazing experience that they have to talk about it. Yep. Create a raving fan of your business. Right. Yep. And it's almost like that just by doing that you create your own marketing campaign. Those people become your, you know,
Speaker 2 00:33:08 It's funny, I just started listening to this book last night,
Speaker 5 00:33:12 Unreasonable Hospitality, The remarkable power giving people more than they. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:33:16 Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:33:18 Funny going back to this Dr. Sears is quick read. Maybe I can't <laugh>.
Speaker 4 00:33:24 It's the basis for that one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:33:26 I mean, that's the whole thing. I mean, I've only started, I don't even, I was downloading a couple books last night and I didn't even, I don't even know where this one came from. Yeah. I'm, you know, sometimes I just get on to listen, you know, cause I'm not as big of a reader. I like to, you know, listen. Yep. Um, you know,
Speaker 4 00:33:42 You're on the go a lot though.
Speaker 2 00:33:43 So that, and uh, you know, I like to look at pictures mm-hmm. <affirmative> in visual,
Speaker 4 00:33:48 Visual and audio.
Speaker 2 00:33:50 But yeah, same thing. I think that like that Yes, very true. That that, I mean, and again, that's something we're trying to do here too, is like when you come in, part of it is an experience. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think, you know, when you guys touched on like the social media, like seeing how things are done, you know, finding a group that you want to be a part you want to be a part of. Yeah. Um, I was worried you guys wouldn't even let us advertise since, you know, <laugh> since, you know, you know,
Speaker 5 00:34:15 Because you were
Speaker 2 00:34:19 I trying to, to find, trying to find, I'll get that. And I think, you know, we sent, you know, one of your events, you know, Dena went too, you know, cause we, we have women that work here too. Not me. They don't wanna be, they don't wanna run a podcast with me at
Speaker 4 00:34:32 School. Yeah. They don't wanna come up here and talk ever. I
Speaker 5 00:34:33 Why <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:34:34 But yeah, I think that, uh, teach that service going to the next level and like blowing people away. Not to take away from your story, but like, people are like the spreading like the word of like what a good job people do here or like what a good experience they had when they come, came in. You know, that's, it's hard to, hard to do. I mean, some people do leave positive reviews, but
Speaker 4 00:34:55 I often ask the people when they walk in, you know, if they're brand new, especially we had several today. It's like, how did you, you know, find out about us? Was it, you know, Google? Or was it, you know, And I'd say a lot of time it's more word of mouth. Yes. And which is the best form of compliment I can think of. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and somebody recommended took the time to recommend and think of us to send someone else here. And we've got families that have come, you know, the, the kids of the parents that came here, you know, in the eighties and nineties are now coming here with their kids' stuff and their things. And it just, it keeps it going. Which again, I think says a lot about how we treat people here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, we got people that come in looking to work with specific people cuz they know they can trust. They don't have to talk about anything. They can just, they'll catch up. We know their grandkids. We know that. It's a nice thing when somebody comes in and they don't go for a handshake, they go for the hug, you know, <laugh>. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. So yeah.
Speaker 5 00:35:43 That's, I don't wanna make it sound too business like, because I know you, but every person who walks through your front door Right. Is a potential marketer mm-hmm. <affirmative> for your business. Yep. And, and you wanna provide good service. And that's the primary. But there's secondary. It's the ripple effect. Yeah. And so same thing, right? You, you read something and you it, Oh, whoa. Like, it, it's different. It made an impact. You want, um, to have that wow factor you wanna create. Um, and it's interesting, 20 years later, I still go back to that raving fans. Yep.
Speaker 4 00:36:17 It made an impact.
Speaker 5 00:36:18 It, it absolutely made an impact. And I will, um,
Speaker 2 00:36:21 Download that one for
Speaker 5 00:36:21 Flavor for that. That it was my first job out of college was at Jordan's Furniture. Yep.
Speaker 2 00:36:26 Oh,
Speaker 5 00:36:27 <laugh>. And they took, they made f who makes furniture an experience. Yeah. I mean they, they did that. And that was required by every single employee to read when you started.
Speaker 4 00:36:38 Talk about an advertising company or place the markets differently, How many people have a 3D motion, a furniture companies, they have a 3D motion ride. I was Jerry Bloop
Speaker 5 00:36:47 And mom for a period of time. <laugh>
Speaker 4 00:36:51 The ice skating rink at a furniture store. I mean, these aren't things that typically you think of. I'm actually, you know what, we have an ice skating up.
Speaker 5 00:36:57 Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:36:57 <laugh>. Yeah. If I can to think of it. Yeah. You guys haven't
Speaker 4 00:36:59 Seen it
Speaker 2 00:37:00 Take
Speaker 5 00:37:01 A
Speaker 2 00:37:01 Bag. That's how we had the podcast. You know, we going back and see who can shoot on
Speaker 4 00:37:06 <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:37:06 Yeah. No, I think, I mean, but you know, oddly enough, like that's like, I mean that's something that I, you know, started doing like during Covid like social media thing. Yeah. Which was a lot of that wasn't even crossed over. A lot of it was just my, you know, you know, my, my own like Facebook thing shooting just like Claude and my mm-hmm. <affirmative> had advised me to like start doing live videos. Like we gotta do. Like, and you know, I don't know. I mean, I didn't think people were that excited about frames, but maybe they are. But I loved watching I shooting like, and it's just fun. And not to mention like, I, I think of the, you know, like who you wanna associate with this and that. It's like, I don't know. I mean, if somebody thinks that me shooting hockey buck that my business or like having fun is like something that they want to deal with.
Speaker 2 00:37:51 Like, I wrote this, I wrote this note earlier this morning mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like, I don't know if I wanna deal if, if that bothers them. Like, I don't know if I want deal with them. You know, like, you know, I mean, I'm not that I'm trying to be selective in who I deal with, but I certain that why we do enough business that like, I don't want deal with people that are pain in the ass and ruin my day. Like, I want to come here, I want have fun. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I want to spend some time outside shooting hockey bucks. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I want, you know, want people to have an enjoyable experience. Now, I don't know if it's probably a bizarre thing and I think I struggle trying to explain it to some of the people that work here cuz they don't all play hockey or, you know, but I think that they realize I'm having fun. Yeah. And, uh,
Speaker 5 00:38:31 That's your thing.
Speaker 2 00:38:32 Yeah. And plus not to mention how many other frame stores have, uh, a hockey ri out back. It's very true. I
Speaker 5 00:38:38 Shoot line, my, my marketing brain is creating your next marketing campaign utilizing frames and hockey because you need to have all different size frames out on that rink. And you need to be hitting the pucks through the frame.
Speaker 2 00:38:50 Oh, we already have, we have 'em tied up in the corner. Oh,
Speaker 5 00:38:53 <crosstalk>. Oh yeah, that was right on.
Speaker 2 00:38:56 Yeah. Either, can either of you shoot a
Speaker 5 00:38:58 Hockey bike? Absolutely not.
Speaker 2 00:39:04 We had some, we've had a couple, like, people shoot and they've, you know, it's been, we've had to hold back on the footage. I, we've out of one that I thought that was gonna be it's
Speaker 4 00:39:13 Creative. Actually
Speaker 2 00:39:14 Do. And that's thought we were gonna end serious injuries. <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:39:17 Are you, are you recording all of these?
Speaker 2 00:39:19 So
Speaker 5 00:39:20 Elizabeth,
Speaker 3 00:39:23 I tell you, every single night I fall asleep to America's Funnies video.
Speaker 4 00:39:27 I was just gonna say, we need to get the rights to the Benny Hill music and then just make a blooper reel of some
Speaker 3 00:39:33 Be great. Well, I happen to know someone who's married to a musician who could probably do a jig.
Speaker 4 00:39:36 Oh, there we go. But uh, see that's what we're missing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:39:39 Guess some of this over to who's doing it now? Alfonso Rivero.
Speaker 5 00:39:44 Yes.
Speaker 4 00:39:45 Yeah. Yep. Trust me, I watch it every Sunday with my kids. I get asked every Sunday is a new one out. No,
Speaker 5 00:39:51 I think it's important to let people know who you, who you are. Yeah. And, and I love that about business. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> now mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I, I feel like there's this aversion to the big box. Yep. And, and the online. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it was great. It had, it went up. It was, And now, and I don't know if it was because of C mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I'm, I'm prob not that smart to be able to figure it out. Yeah. But I do know that coming out, we're all, I feel like we're all looking for personal connection. Yeah. Yes. I wanna know who I'm
Speaker 4 00:40:25 Buying something from.
Speaker 5 00:40:26 I know
Speaker 2 00:40:27 People, I mean it's, I think it's kind of like still in the, in the sense of accountability. Right. Like it, I mean in one of the good things about, you know, this store and like one of, we have like a lot of different personalities and we have a lot of, um, like, it's kind of like a, everyone's a little bit different, but if everyone was same, the melting, same, like, it would be like, right now we can only deal with these type of people. Like we have multiple people that come in. Like someone might want work with Scott and like, it might, he might have a great experience like helping them and there might be a lot of fun for 'em. Whereas like if I ended up with them, it might have been like, Oh Jesus, do I, like, I got something else I gotta do. And then a certain point, like, it's like, right, well I'm, you know, I'm helping these, this many people. Like, so having different personalities, different tastes, you know, you know, cuz everything's so subjective. It's, I think it's important. Um, and getting to know like people through their social media, through stuff, just how they like see what they, what they like to pick out or like what they have at their own home. You know, I think that helps, you know, you know, personality and then taste wise too. So
Speaker 5 00:41:32 Definitely.
Speaker 2 00:41:33 Yeah. Yeah. Some insight to, you know, some of the, to me I'm going, I'm going very hockey centric, you know, <laugh> and, you know, trying to, you know, trying to, you know, push it onto everybody else here. You know,
Speaker 5 00:41:44 You're gonna like the official p puck framer. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:41:48 I get some tell you,
Speaker 4 00:41:49 We, we deal with a lot of Yeah. Sports materials to get framed and things like that. And it does help that we do know someone who <laugh> Yeah. Knows about these things. And we, you know, I just brought in today we had somebody, or say here say all starts to blend together after a while, uh, but brought in their kids was at Cooperstown, brought in the jersey and the baseball and the baseball bat and the whole thing. We're framing it all up. But we've had, you know, different teams from different, you know, uh, professional sports. There's a lot that people want to have and it's a good memory to keep. Yeah. So in knowing a little bit about that, it's not a bad thing, you know? That's right. When in doubt I go to Dave on that kind of stuff. If it's a movie or if it's a guitar.
Speaker 2 00:42:26 Oh yeah. We a ton of guitars. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I actually, I'll Yeah. I'll show you some pictures,
Speaker 4 00:42:31 Guitars, symbols, Drum,
Speaker 3 00:42:32 Drum bell. You can't listen to this until
Speaker 2 00:42:34 After
Speaker 6 00:42:34 The holidays of New Year.
Speaker 2 00:42:36 Yeah. Oh yeah. No,
Speaker 4 00:42:37 We put this on a delay until after Christmas. Is that what we're saying? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:42:40 Yeah. We've done, we've done a ton, ton of, We had one guy who used to bring in, you know, like guitars regularly and, and, uh, so Mark's, uh, you know, so you
Speaker 5 00:42:51 Have somebody who's had experience.
Speaker 2 00:42:53 Oh yeah. Mark, I'll show you some of the pictures of some of the ones he put
Speaker 4 00:42:55 Together. 20 plus years, he's done it A little bit of everything. And when I'm in doubt, I go to Mark on things like that. Mark and d they both have been doing it for so long. They've seen a little bit of everything. So, And he's, I
Speaker 3 00:43:04 Know you're gonna go down there and find out is Bill, who's been that regular customer,
Speaker 6 00:43:08 You
Speaker 2 00:43:09 My wife. But it's funny how it works
Speaker 5 00:43:10 Showing up on my wall
Speaker 2 00:43:12 Because he's like a musician too, you know? And like, so he, I mean, I'm sure he like kinda, I'm sure it's an enormous pain in the ass to do 'em. But Yeah. I'm, yeah, I think that's like one of those things you're proud, like when you're done. Like we have pictures of a, that's even before social media. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:43:26 We get the photo albums.
Speaker 2 00:43:27 Yeah. Like
Speaker 4 00:43:28 Digitize those somehow and get those in there for the records. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:43:30 Yep. Um, yeah. But like, some of those are just, they're pretty incredible. And we were lucky enough to have a guy who was just, you know, apparently very wealthy and liked collecting, uh, guitars from people, you know, like Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like, uh,
Speaker 5 00:43:44 They're, they're pieces of artwork.
Speaker 2 00:43:45 Yeah. Oh no, absolutely. It was the whole show at the mfa that was the art of the, the art of the guitar art, the instrument. That was, that was, yeah. That was a, it was a cool, cool exhibit. Oh. Every single, I mean, there's so much
Speaker 4 00:43:57 Everybody else's,
Speaker 2 00:43:59 Like the magazine is are like, everything is in that. I'm like, I think that that's one of the other reasons why our partnership has been great too. Like that whole section of the magazine. And like, I mean, that was on, You're like, Well, I think this is what you're through
Speaker 5 00:44:12 Fred. We, Dave and I, he emailed and I have to tell you, it was one of the first emails of the type that I had gotten where somebody said, I would would like to talk with you about advertising. I was like, I think I started crying maybe. But, um, I, I was like, Let me come and see you. And you were like, I'm not that difficult. I'm like, No. Yeah. Like, I'm trying to give you this. And I was, but it was like, again, like, what can we do to partner? Let's find a way to do things together. And, um, I just, I I wanted to meet cause I wanted you guys to be part of what it was that we were doing. Mm. Um, and sponsoring the arts section, the, just a movement was so natural.
Speaker 2 00:44:55 Yeah. No, it was
Speaker 5 00:44:56 Great fit. You know, It, it felt so good to be able to say that there was such a synergy between the two. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:45:05 <affirmative>. Yeah. No, I, like I said, thrilled three totally be a part of it. I like the covers are cool like this. So this next,
Speaker 4 00:45:12 The work on those are
Speaker 2 00:45:13 Great. This one's a, a mosaic.
Speaker 3 00:45:14 Yep. It is a mosaic of the pink chair. Yep. It's always gonna be a pink chair. Yep.
Speaker 2 00:45:18 Yeah. Which
Speaker 4 00:45:19 Is great. I love that. Yeah. And then they have a three dimensional sculpture on this. The, was it the first one or the second one? The second one. The second one.
Speaker 2 00:45:25 Is that the one that's,
Speaker 3 00:45:26 That's framed here? Yeah, that's actually a three dimensional sculpture of, uh, the pink chair made from pages of the issue before. Oh, that's cool. So ai
Speaker 5 00:45:35 And then the first issue, I asked someone who was a friend of mine who I knew was a painter to paint it. And then it turned out that she comes here. And again, it was like that community thing.
Speaker 2 00:45:49 Yeah. I always say the name wrong, Shauna or
Speaker 5 00:45:52 Shana? Sha Sha. And, um, it was just,
Speaker 2 00:45:55 I hear it. Right. So like, yeah. <laugh> then I can't remember. It sounds
Speaker 5 00:45:59 Differently. It's spelled differently than it, than what you would expect it to. Um, but yeah, this cover is Ellen Bernstein. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, she lives in Situate mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And she just has, has talent. She's again, a local artist who's never, you know, I don't think gone out with her artwork. And so it's also a pleasure to give as I'm sure you know, new artists and opportunity to put their work out there.
Speaker 2 00:46:26 Has that been a, like have you had a lot of people approaching you? Oh, we have with like,
Speaker 3 00:46:32 We have, um, somehow we got listed on Duo Trope, which is a, a portal, uh, listing for storytellers of all mediums to reach out and submit their work. And so we have, I think we have up to, are we at issue number five covers already spoken for? Oh, wow. Um, we have, uh, well of poetry short stories. Yes. Um, I was so excited to have Claude in this issue. Um,
Speaker 2 00:47:00 Yep. We're very proud of that. We're proud.
Speaker 3 00:47:03 It's incredible work. And it also started this new, um, thing that we're doing where we're gonna choose an artist each month, each month to curate the entire art section. Yeah. Oh wow. So Claude put together this entire art section. The next person will be curating the section. Yeah. Who, who better to decide what's worthy of the theme in art than an artist themselves. Yep. So, um, that, that will be really fun to
Speaker 4 00:47:30 See. And you should get some nice broad different types too, depending on the artist, cuz they're gonna gravitate towards one type or type of setting. That's right. So you'll get a nice spread if you spread it out between multiple artists. That'll be nice.
Speaker 3 00:47:41 Yeah. My, my dream at the is to one year, um, put out a book of all of the, just a moments of the previous year in, um, Coffee Table style.
Speaker 4 00:47:54 That's a great idea.
Speaker 5 00:47:55 Cosponsored by the Frame Center. Cosson. <laugh>. I think
Speaker 2 00:48:00 We're already signed up and you, I think if we, you know, we'd love to, you know, I think, you know, I mean even like the gallery space, like doing something down the road. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm, you know, getting you a frame copy of the, there'll be another, uh, you know, pink frame. You know, I think that's like something to Absolutely. You know, it's fun like to see the evolution in like, just to like, you know. Yeah. I mean, you have to build that legacy. Right. It just takes time, you know? Right.
Speaker 5 00:48:28 We met upstairs here. Sorry. That's okay. And, and I was envisioning, you know, the pink chairs, I was envisioning events already and it was, it's just great. The possibilities are
Speaker 2 00:48:39 Endless. Yeah. And I, you know, I think that that the art driven part is like a great fit for us. It's, I'm glad that, I don't think I'd be as excited about a printout if I just called someone up and I was like, All right, can I put an ad in your magazine? And it was like, Yeah, it's $500 this much and this is what you get. And it's, you know, having it be like a significant part that's tied into like what we do is so awesome. And like, the idea of you guys having something upstairs, working that up that I think would be, you know, amazing and mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So do I, and hopefully we can bring some sort of connection where it doesn't sound like you're needing any help finding artists to,
Speaker 3 00:49:16 But it's a fun teamwork project, isn't it? I mean, it's like you just said, it's it's legacy. This is, this would be, you know, the ladies with the pink chair and the guy with the hockey in the back of the frame shop. You know, that's our legacy is, is storytelling, art, and other,
Speaker 2 00:49:33 You know. Yeah. I mean, it's funny cause I, like, I started the whole thing when I was sending people frames too, which another thing is like, Yes. I think is like, pretty awesome. Friday. Friday Triple
Speaker 5 00:49:44 Brilliant.
Speaker 2 00:49:44 It was, you know, it's fun and like, to me, like pushing it, I think it was past like two, three years. Like, like it started
Speaker 4 00:49:53 That was a covid project.
Speaker 2 00:49:53 Yeah. So it was like, Oh yeah. And like in my mind, I'm like, I can't wait to be able to say that I've been doing this for 10 years, Like, you know,
Speaker 4 00:50:00 Milestones. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:50:01 And some weeks it's a pain in the ass and like some weeks I have to like,
Speaker 4 00:50:05 I gotta run upstairs and get that done. Yeah. And then other
Speaker 2 00:50:07 Times, some weeks I've had to like break week put, but like, I'm not gonna get to 10 years tomorrow. It's just like, just gonna do it for 10 years. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, like, I have no plan on stopping. You know, like, and it's like in, in, in, it's gonna be like honestly such a, like, it's a fun ride to get there. And like, to think I've been doing it for like three years is like, it's like, wow, this is pretty crazy. He gotta buy too. You guys
Speaker 5 00:50:31 Are having solid comes,
Speaker 2 00:50:33 You know, the, the re drives my, drives my father insane. Cuz he is like, see, like, wouldn't give away any anything, you know, <laugh> like, what are you, what are you doing? You know, like, like I think he's, I think he's seeing it d differently, you know? I see. You know, and like to like partner with you guys and just send, you know, We'll hopefully this one will be received before anybody is listening. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But like, you know, to like, get involved with other people and like, to, like now, like I have a source, like every month somebody might end up with a free frame with their, you know, with there. Mm-hmm. But, you know, with their artwork on your magazine, it's like, it's, it's cool. Yes it is. Um, and I, it, you know, and again I said that's just like you, you're gonna build, you know, I know it's gonna be a legacy. I know that I'm, you know, nobody's gonna be giving away free frames for 10 years except for me. Cuz like, I'm the only one
Speaker 5 00:51:25 Gonna get there. They're still gonna be doing it 20 years. Oh. I said 20 years. I
Speaker 2 00:51:29 Started sending, like, I sent kids, the kids free friends. It's just like, it's, Yeah. In some weeks it's challenging cause I'm like, Oh, I've already sent this press in a frame. Like I don't really know if I care. You know? And then I have people that help me, like Jen and uh, you know, a couple other friends and one of them actually wants to come on the podcast and talk about, uh, some of the people that like, you know, some that he's helped me a ton. Like he thinks it's like, yeah, he gets it. Like what my vision is. And like he gets it and understands like the, there is a slight marketing angle to it and, you know, um, you know, but he understands like what I'm doing. Like these people call him and thank him cuz like, you know, I write in the notes like, you know, Ross told me you <laugh>, uh, I should send you this. And it's very, uh, I'm excited to get him on the podcast soon too. Absolutely.
Speaker 5 00:52:19 To
Speaker 4 00:52:19 Talk about, you guys got ideas of people you want us to send stuff to always drop us a line of things. If you want us to
Speaker 3 00:52:23 Include a number that I
Speaker 2 00:52:25 Would
Speaker 3 00:52:26 Give you and I would, I
Speaker 4 00:52:27 Would, we would love to get outside our normal group and expand this even bigger would be great.
Speaker 3 00:52:31 So, And I would listen, I I would be sitting there waiting for the podcast to drop where you bring some of the past recipients on and talk
Speaker 2 00:52:37 To them. Yeah. No, I mean I think it's, you know, I mean, you know, I mean some of the people you know, that we've had on have sent frames to, I mean, and people seem to really like it. That was like a great, You're
Speaker 5 00:52:46 Creating rating fans.
Speaker 2 00:52:47 Yeah. <laugh>. I give them, I mean that's the, I mean, I don't know. I mean, to me it doesn't even matter. Cause like some of the letter, like the timing on things have been great and like some of the, the feedback I get just makes me feel so good. You know? And like that, like you were saying earlier, it's just like you, you're supporting someone. I'm able to send people free frames because I have enough business coming in. What supplement selfishly makes me happy, you know?
Speaker 5 00:53:09 Yeah. But you're also, it's the whole idea of giving back mm-hmm. <affirmative> that we're, thank God, you know, the world is moving towards Yep. That's, that's within your control. That that's what you can give back. Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And the fact that you're three years in and you're three years is a long time that you've, you've dedicated and that's a lot of product. Yeah. From, you know, and it's, it makes a difference. Yeah. It really makes a
Speaker 4 00:53:36 Difference. Yeah. How nice is it to get an unexpected package in the mail nowadays? Yeah. Most of the time you just get bills. So, you know, to get a nice little package parcel that makes your day is, is a nice thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:53:46 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. I'm gonna get a count at some point and see how many See
Speaker 4 00:53:48 What you're at.
Speaker 2 00:53:49 Yeah. Cause I like, I wish I, I wish I had counted that like every one of 'em too. Cause there's like significant ones like numbers that would be fun. But like, I'm just going on time now.
Speaker 4 00:53:58 God, how many Facebook lives do we have to go back and watch?
Speaker 5 00:54:03 As long as the dog's in them. I will, I'll watch everyone and count them for you. There you
Speaker 4 00:54:08 Go. See that's all we,
Speaker 2 00:54:10 We sent out a dog one
Speaker 5 00:54:11 This week.
Speaker 2 00:54:12 It's fun, you know, in getting people to get involved and like, you
Speaker 4 00:54:15 Know, that's it. We work with a shelter and we put a different puppy in it each week. And that's what we can do. We can help the shelters too.
Speaker 5 00:54:20 That's right.
Speaker 2 00:54:22 Yeah. So, I mean, I think that we're all, you know, I think you guys are building the legacy and I'm glad to hear you. A lot of people lined up to Yeah. Yeah. To, with the art. A lot of stories that people want to tell.
Speaker 3 00:54:34 That's right. That's our, that's our give back. There you go. You know, that's our legacy and our give back. I think. I do think that what we're putting out there mm-hmm. <affirmative>, creating empathy and solidarity is a, is a gift. Um, it's, you know, it's,
Speaker 4 00:54:48 It's three magazines down thousands to go. That's right. You
Speaker 3 00:54:52 Know, our kids are gonna have a lot of work when the Empire, it gets turned over to them. There
Speaker 4 00:54:56 You go. That's, that's also something to think about though, going the next
Speaker 2 00:55:00 Generation. Yeah. We'll see. Hopefully
Speaker 4 00:55:02 It influences them in the right way and it makes them better people in the growing up. That's, that's, that's how I like to look at it. Me too. You know? Cuz this, this issue's called what Connections is it is what
Speaker 3 00:55:12 We're, this is the connections issue. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:55:14 So, so is each one, each one will have a theme. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:55:17 We, we, we theme ours on, um, identity, relationships, community and advocacy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, advocacy was really great issue too. Some of the things that people are doing to help mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:55:32 That's great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:55:33 And the connection with Claude was a good one.
Speaker 3 00:55:36 Oh my.
Speaker 4 00:55:36 See. Connections all around
Speaker 3 00:55:37 Rolled, you know, uh, once I got to know Claude more, I got, I was, I'm feeling like a little bit like celebrity, um, crush here. I got to meet his mother and interview.
Speaker 4 00:55:50 Oh, we haven't even, I haven't met your mother yet. Geez.
Speaker 3 00:55:54 She is strong. She's soft spoken. I just, I, I don't know how those two things work together, but they do so well. Um, and she's, she's, she's beautiful. She in every way. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and I, I want to talk more and more, but her story's coming out in the identity issues given away. You need to go to living crew.com/subscribe and read it for
Speaker 4 00:56:16 Yourself. Good luck.
Speaker 3 00:56:17 Thank Yeah. Check that box.
Speaker 2 00:56:20 Well, glad you know, I'm glad to like, you know, know. I mean, that's like another thing. It's just nice to see too. Like, you know, I got the magazine yesterday and opened it up and saw CLA stuff. I was excited for him. Excited to be like a, a, you know, kind of like a bridge to, you know, for you guys to get interacted in introduced. Yeah. But I'm sure you guys are having, like you said, one after the next, somebody's reading the story. Somebody's, you know, somebody reads the magazine and they're like, tell somebody else knows that somebody else has a story that they need to get out. It just, I think it's, you know,
Speaker 3 00:56:50 And it's all over the country. So it's not just South Shore,
Speaker 4 00:56:52 Not just logo. That's another good thing to know. Yeah. It's not just about this area. The
Speaker 5 00:56:56 Stories worldwide.
Speaker 3 00:56:57 The stories are fantastic and I'll do it. Uh, not so shameless plug on our next issue. Um, yesterday I spent another hour with country music singer Simone Reyes, who has a story like none other. Um, she's an amazing person. Um, Google her, if you don't know her already, listen to her music. Um, she worked for Def Jam Records in Russell Simmons. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> when it was first Yes. Um, launched. But if you asked Simone, who is Simone, she would say, Oh, I'm an animal rights activist in vegan mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I don't think anybody, I like her. Yeah. See <laugh> and then she's, you
Speaker 4 00:57:36 Know, musician afterwards.
Speaker 3 00:57:38 Musician. And that's not how she classifi. Executive producer. So, um, it's the way people identify their, their themselves versus what we know about them is exactly what the identity issue is about. That's awesome. I was just so thrilled to speak with her and learn more about her. And I think everybody else.
Speaker 2 00:57:53 Yeah. It seems like you guys get some pretty big names.
Speaker 3 00:57:56 Everybody's a big name in our book, but it was really nice to be introduced to her. Yeah. Yeah. Because it was, it, it was nice to have that, um, to get that connection mm-hmm. <affirmative> on our pages
Speaker 2 00:58:07 And, and your the, you know, I don't know that much about magazines, but they, you know, they, the base of the people that you're, that are subscribing, they're all over the place. I mean, I assume the South Shore is a little bit stronger cuz uh, yes. Because you guys are here. And
Speaker 5 00:58:24 So we're, we are hoping that it's organic growth. We're here in our backyard. We're we, um, we want our community to know that we're here. Um, you can subscribe anywhere. Yep. Um, but yes, the majority, if not the bulk. And, um, I was laughing a lot of the out of state subscribers are family. <laugh>. <laugh>. Yeah. <laugh>. Hey, they're
Speaker 4 00:58:45 Supporters. The first person's gonna support you on that. The,
Speaker 5 00:58:49 So the advertising right now does go in, in is South Shore, but as a, we're, you know, little by little. Yep. You know, the circles on the map might
Speaker 4 00:58:58 Go, Hey, the holidays will come. People maybe travel with a magazine, bring it with them to family. That's right. And then it branches off into somebody else.
Speaker 2 00:59:03 Yeah. I'm sure that the stories that people, you know, I mean, cuz everyone is, you know, you know, spreads out and, you know, hopefully, hopefully the timing will work perfectly as you guys hit a national thing. We'll be at the level of being able to ship national.
Speaker 4 00:59:17 Right.
Speaker 3 00:59:18 <laugh> we are looking
Speaker 5 00:59:21 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:59:23 You know, being that online commerce, you know. Yeah. We're getting there. I got, I got a social media guy who's working on web, working on websites now too. <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:59:34 And I dunno if that's my choice. <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:59:38 But we are, we are looking for salespeople. Yes.
Speaker 5 00:59:41 Oh yeah. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:59:42 Another shameless plug. Thank
Speaker 4 00:59:44 You. No, no, that's good.
Speaker 3 00:59:44 If you need that's three boxes I've checked off. How many more do we have?
Speaker 5 00:59:47 You're aren You better than I am. Yes. I am actually looking, I'm looking for someone, uh, to
Speaker 2 00:59:52 Help. Yep.
Speaker 5 00:59:53 So,
Speaker 2 00:59:53 And people that just find, uh, you know, someone that's interest can just, uh, email through the company. I
Speaker 4 00:59:59 Was gonna say, do you have a contact?
Speaker 5 01:00:01 Uh, Marcy. M a c i living crew. C r u e.com.
Speaker 2 01:00:06 Nice.
Speaker 3 01:00:07 Since you seem to be everyone's everything, if you would also like to come work for Living <laugh>, you can add
Speaker 4 01:00:16 Social
Speaker 3 01:00:18 Social media. Yeah.
Speaker 2 01:00:20 How is it, Is it, now you guys, the social media that you guys do kind of is tied into the magazine too. Like I is it, so is you guys have a, a whole plan of attack on, on how you do that? Or are you just,
Speaker 4 01:00:33 It's just poaching ideas?
Speaker 5 01:00:34 Right now we're flying by the seat of our pants. Actually admit that with social media. Um, we just, we are working on the print solidifying it, like just really honing in on it. We know social media is there, we put it out there, but it's really all focused on the content.
Speaker 4 01:00:51 Social media changes and, and evolve so quickly too. It's hard to keep up with it. So it's good to have your base be your, your the print, be your base, and then branch out from there later on. Yeah.
Speaker 2 01:01:01 Yeah. We're trying to figure out way, you know, how many
Speaker 4 01:01:03 Things it's changed since we started doing it too,
Speaker 2 01:01:05 So Yeah. How, you know, how many pictures of in-home stuff compared to how many videos of me shooting hockey pucks compared to like how many? Yeah.
Speaker 4 01:01:13 What's the golden ratio or
Speaker 2 01:01:15 <laugh>. Yeah. How many have a dog and I, But yeah, I mean, trying to like figure that all out. Cause you know who you wanna represent yourself as and like, you know, you know who you are.
Speaker 4 01:01:25 We need a puppy sitting in the chair
Speaker 5 01:01:26 And they take a lot of time.
Speaker 2 01:01:29 Yep.
Speaker 5 01:01:31 Just throwing out as now on the other side Yeah. It takes a lot of time to create a real or whatever, you know, all these things and it's up there and then it's gone. Yeah. But you spent four hours or whatever creating it and it's, it's tough to, you know, everyone says they're gonna commit, you know, two days of every month and I'm gonna create all of them at one time and then schedule them, but like Yeah. It just never happens. Yeah.
Speaker 2 01:01:57 Yeah. But we'll have the living crew, living crew real be up later, later this week. <laugh>
Speaker 5 01:02:04 Don't do that. <laugh>,
Speaker 4 01:02:07 That's the one.
Speaker 5 01:02:09 My mother would be horrified.
Speaker 3 01:02:11 Although I do find sometimes this is helpful in me teaching my children good music. Um, my my 10 year old was in the seat next to me and she was singing a song and I looked at her, I said, How do you know the song? This is like 1981. I think it was like David Bowie or something. She's like, What do you mean this is a, a Zoomerang song? Oh gosh. Like whatever you wanna call it. I don't care. The fact is that you're learning good music from, from the social media. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna give it one Brownie point <laugh>, because now my daughter knows, I think it was David Bowie a half of a brownie point on that <laugh> <laugh>. Although I should have been the one teaching her who David Bowie was in the first place. So maybe Yeah. We'll, we'll deduct half a point. Yeah. <laugh> <laugh> <laugh>.
Speaker 2 01:02:59 Well, awesome. Is there anything else in the magazine this month that, uh, Yeah, we'd like to talk about or feature?
Speaker 3 01:03:05 Every single story.
Speaker 2 01:03:06 Every single story, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 01:03:08 Yeah. Yeah. Um, I also, I will point out that this month was really, this, this particular issue was interesting in the, the way that the connections even to each story. Um, two of the stories that are in there came to us, uh, about by women who had survived breast cancer mm-hmm. <affirmative> and how their give back to the women fighting after them both were about fashion. Oh, okay. Um, one woman created a shoe line poppies with purpose mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, uh, a percentage of the proceeds of these shoe sales go to fund breast cancer research that are is research done by women. And another woman took her experience and made a jacket that, um, can accommodate all the drains and surgical tubes
Speaker 2 01:03:53 Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 01:03:53 After surgery, so that you can get out of the house and go get your life back mm-hmm. <affirmative> without having to worry about the drain. So it was interesting the, how both those stories came in connecting fashion and, and give back and cancer Yeah. Survival, but also two stories about friendships. Um, two young women known each other their whole lives, got each other through, you know, up every up and down that life throws at them. Um, and then to older women who were the other women's age when they met Yep. In a shopping mall food court. And they live on opposite sides of the globe, but they kept their friendship stronger and stronger by Penn Pen and air mail, 10 pounds. Yeah. And so it was interesting to see those two stories that came to us about friendships. Yep. So, um, that is the connections issue really brought a lot of the circular, um, connection
Speaker 2 01:04:48 To now is it just you two that sit down and decide these are the stories that are going in? Or is that part Yeah. So that you, what's the role of the advisory board? They like, you know, um, you, when you're, when you're ready to, when you like have a draft, is it then you bring
Speaker 3 01:05:04 Yes. Uh, well we, we use the advisory board more often than you'd think. Um, because we are asking women to be authentic and vulnerable and some of the content could be a trigger to some of our readers. So we run it by that. Sure. Yep. Um, also we wanna make sure that we're putting it out in a way that's not offensive, that considers everyone's perspective that it's inclusive. Um, and, uh, that the language is, is not taking away from the message. Interpret
Speaker 4 01:05:33 It correctly. Thank you.
Speaker 3 01:05:34 Yeah. Um, the messages are important and sometimes the words can get in the way. So that's where our advisory board comes in. Everything from a short story that may not resonate or land well on some of our readers to an article that could be controversial. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So Yeah. They, they, they're called upon quite often. Yeah. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 01:05:54 No, it's interesting. I mean the whole, the the whole idea I guess said, you know, magazine ad ads are kind of a new to me. Um, you know, some of the ones we did in the past were kind of put together the not great, now we have something, I think the combination of like the, the, the, the outlet for to go out and like the know, the, having the right team to help put, put together ads. And I'm sure you guys put the play a big part in that as well. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, people want to advertise with you guys. I, the other thing I thought about your magazine that was really well done was just like the, the ad placements. Not like some other things I've seen in the past where it's just like page of ad, quarter page ad, everything's put in well mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, you find good, good spot for us with what we're our tie into that business. I I'm sure that some ads probably, um, you know, fit to stories too. You know, that's
Speaker 5 01:06:49 All
Speaker 2 01:06:49 Bridget, all Bridget <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 3 01:06:51 Well, I just think that, you know, if you're gonna make your ad stand out, put it on a page with a lot of words, which we hear
Speaker 5 01:06:56 A lot.
Speaker 3 01:06:56 It's very wordy. Yeah, it is. It is. It's stories. But yeah, that's, um, we're, we're here to get your ad attention mm-hmm.
Speaker 5 01:07:04 <affirmative> as a talent of the ads becoming or, or almost looking like they're part of the content. Yep. So you're not skipping over like, Oh, there's a page of ads ski. It's, you kind of go, it flows. So you're reading through the ads as well. Nice. Um, as part of the content.
Speaker 2 01:07:23 Yeah. Well that's important, right? You want people to get, you know, I mean you want someone to advertise with you, you want them to have success. Right. Exactly. Like that's, that's important and
Speaker 4 01:07:32 Yeah. And the proper ad in the right places, it's important. Like you said, if someone's having say was a problem with weight issues or things along those lines, you're not gonna put an advertisement for Bob's Taco stand Exactly. On the same page with it. It really doesn't fit the idea, the motif,
Speaker 7 01:07:45 You know, but Yep. Um, yeah.
Speaker 3 01:07:49 Association, Can you talk about that? Yeah.
Speaker 2 01:07:51 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. I mean, is that part of the, the idea too? Like who you, who you approach to?
Speaker 5 01:07:57 So Yeah. I, I, I, um, I mean we need advertisers. Yeah. Everyone needs, but yes. Um, when I'm out and, and pushing out instead of it coming, I want to know that the products feel like a connection and are gonna resonate, resonate with the readers because again, we're going for success. Yep. So yeah. You know, I'm not gonna
Speaker 4 01:08:21 A reason behind the marketing as well as, you know, the pre you go for towards the marketing is not just at random, you know? Yes. Didn't just,
Speaker 5 01:08:27 I have a terrible example, but like, I wouldn't, you know, somebody for erectile dysfunction may wanna spend money, but it's just not gonna resonate with the audience. So Yeah. That's a tough call and totally inappropriate statement. And I'm sorry. Right,
Speaker 4 01:08:40 Exactly. There's enough of those commercials on tv.
Speaker 5 01:08:42 Anyway, <laugh> couldn't think of a different example. No,
Speaker 4 01:08:46 No. It's a good one. You
Speaker 5 01:08:47 Can, editing can just capture Oh, sure. Yes.
Speaker 4 01:08:50 Insert hatch here.
Speaker 5 01:08:51 Edit that. I know about editing. I know. Yeah.
Speaker 2 01:08:57 Well, awesome. Um, so one of the things that we try to touch with everybody, you know, when they come on the Frame Center podcast is we like to ask 'em about something that you guys have framed at your, your at home and what it is. And then we, the
Speaker 5 01:09:11 What's on your wall
Speaker 2 01:09:12 Question, What's on your wall question. Um, you know, much like you guys telling stories mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I have this like, theory in my mind that like, for selling art and for people having stuff framed on the wall, like there's a story behind all that stuff. Um, it's one of the things that I want to do that we're, we are working towards is like doing, I wanna start at my house and like tell stories about like, the significance of the paintings or, you know, that I have purchased or, and even still more than that. It's like any, I feel like every frame, like it has a story. Like there's, there's something behind it and it makes it more interesting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and that's what we're trying to push is like original art or things that have meaning to them and you know, what is that meaning? And I, I think I'm gonna do like a series and I'm gonna tell a story behind all the, the pieces I have. And maybe it's interesting to people, maybe it's not, I don't know, I
Speaker 5 01:10:04 Think it
Speaker 2 01:10:05 Would be. Um, but you know, and then I kind of want to like, go into the next step and like have like, go to people's houses, kind of like have this like MTV cribs thing. In my mind it is just like the, about just the artwork, you know, kind of like a specialized thing and like have people tell the stories of it. Cuz you know, you see like kids artwork that's so, you know, and like it's significant old change photo paintings that like, at my house that I like that I bought. And like, there's that tag with the artists. Like I wanted the mm-hmm. <affirmative> and explain why I like 'em. I think thinking like it gets people potentially into that mindset of buying art or like being, not being afraid. Like kinda like explaining why I like something mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then well, yeah. I mean that's right. Or you know, I like it cuz of this, you know, and then it starts more conversations. Um, maybe more people talking about art and what they like about art turns to more people's buying art. Yes. Yeah. Um, I'm not even sure where I was going with all this.
Speaker 5 01:11:04 What's on their wall? What's on Oh,
Speaker 2 01:11:06 What's on your wall? Yeah. So you guys are gonna tell the story behind you or your
Speaker 5 01:11:09 Paintings? Sorry. Um, I have a lot of my wall. Yes. But
Speaker 3 01:11:12 I, I think my favorite is uh, a paint. It's not even done actually. Um, No, cuz it's not framed. You wanna know what's framed, what's not done. I will tell you really quick what's not done is a collage project that my, uh, 10 year old and I were work are working on together. Yeah. Um, using her old artwork from preschool that every mom feels guilty about throwing away <laugh>. I have a huge 30 gallon. Why
Speaker 4 01:11:37 Isn't it on the fridge anymore?
Speaker 3 01:11:38 Yes. Yeah. Well I put it all away and now we rip it up and make it into collage of, of the ocean. So that's beautiful. But I think my grandmother's quilt, a section of my grand great grandmother's quilt is probably my favorite piece.
Speaker 2 01:11:51 It's funny you say, talk about tearing up the stuff we had, uh, Karen Cass on. Yes. And she like, I love her work. Yeah. So they, we were, she came on to talk about, uh, like a certain project. She had had some stuff upstairs and then, you know, she got connected to this, uh, guy who was a customer of ours. Yeah. And she ended up doing like three a commission for his place in Boston.
Speaker 3 01:12:15 I went to that opening. Did
Speaker 2 01:12:17 You go? Oh gosh,
Speaker 4 01:12:17 The common threads.
Speaker 2 01:12:19 Oh,
Speaker 3 01:12:19 That was amazing.
Speaker 2 01:12:20 And, but, but some of the, you know, she was talking about how like some of the stuff she used was like, cuz her stuff is like a collage type stuff was like old paper, old
Speaker 4 01:12:30 Sewing patterns
Speaker 2 01:12:30 And things like that. There were like tissue, you know. Yeah. Some, some of her daughters, uh, who was also like a textiles. Textiles. Like some of her stuff kinda got weaved into the, uh, the whole
Speaker 3 01:12:40 Thing. It was incredible. And I'm with Claude. The, the first piece was definitely the one that I still <laugh> picture in my head. I have it memorized. Yeah. She's, she's amazing.
Speaker 2 01:12:49 Yeah. She's, she's great. And I think she's another, I mean, people keep coming in here and they're, I've been in here and there. I'm like, Hey, I'm like a, I'm like a spokesperson for you guys cuz there's, you know,
Speaker 4 01:12:59 I said word
Speaker 2 01:12:59 Of mouth was in, I was like, you should, this is a magazine you advertising Like Karen. I'm like, you should reach out to these people cuz like your stuff is like great. You probably you like,
Speaker 3 01:13:08 And no pressure on you Karen. But I did send you an email about issue number five, <laugh>. Did I get close enough to the mic for that one? Yeah.
Speaker 4 01:13:15 Yeah. Lemme just turn the volume up a little and No,
Speaker 2 01:13:19 And it is fun to see like some people you'd, we know like seeing, uh, I was like, I got a mental thought, but seeing her Yeah. Her hers on the cover was really cool. Um, I was excited to send her like the frame. Yeah. And, uh, you know, seeing artists like in Connections is, is awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 5 01:13:42 That's, It's great.
Speaker 3 01:13:44 You have good stuff on your wall too. Oh my gosh. Some of it's not entirely framed yet, but the one you got of your, your aunt, the abstract. Yep.
Speaker 5 01:13:53 Um, I just, uh, just got a picture that I remember being in my grandparents' bedroom, so I remember their whole lives, it being in their bedroom and it looks like a sketch and it's a sketch of a sleeping woman mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it was just always in her bedroom, bedroom and it was so peaceful and being in their home was peaceful and safe. So, um, she just passed away, um, at 98. Yeah. Um, but that was one of the things which I actually need to reframe. Yeah. Because it was hanging in her house for so long. But again, going back to what we talked about. So here's might mean nothing to somebody else. Yep. But here's this piece that's now in my bedroom. Yep. That's so peaceful. Who do I hand it over to? Yep. I want it to be somebody who is going to think of it as being a special as I do. Do you know anyone?
Speaker 2 01:14:47 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, we're gonna, we're gonna take good care of it when the time comes. Yes. Well I think it was awesome having you guys in. That's amazing. I you have, you know, you know, fun conversation. I think. What do we
Speaker 4 01:14:59 Go? We're at almost an hour and 20 at the
Speaker 2 01:15:01 Moment. Oh my God. And they, they kind blast through. Um, I think you guys would be great to have come back on at some point, especially when we have the, uh, other issues The Living Crew exhibit up here at some point. Thank you, you so much. And if you guys, this is amazing. And when you guys are ready to get into podcasting too for, uh, Living Crew, you know, feel free to come use the uh, Frame Center studio for sure. I think that I talked to Melissa about she the kind of do it, she, I know she's gonna try to do an event here too for Oh,
Speaker 5 01:15:29 She is Girl Gang at some point, like, Oh Girl Gang. Oh, that would be fantastic. Girl
Speaker 4 01:15:33 Gangs Easy show up. We
Speaker 2 01:15:34 Can get you guys off. We, I'll have spies here. Yeah.
Speaker 5 01:15:37 <laugh>,
Speaker 2 01:15:38 She said Dina and Elizabeth. That one
Speaker 5 01:15:40 <laugh>.
Speaker 2 01:15:41 But yeah, Scott can give somebody a rundown on how to use the equipment.
Speaker 4 01:15:45 Yeah. Elizabeth's already got, has used it a couple times, so she's, she's pretty good about that kind of stuff, so
Speaker 5 01:15:51 Yeah. It's, Well thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 01:15:52 Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for coming on. It's a great conversation. Anyone who's interested, uh, living crew.com, you know, reach out to you, find, find the, uh, the right sources if they're interested in that sales job or the advertising with you, or just finding out how to subscribe to the magazine
Speaker 5 01:16:09 Or telling your
Speaker 4 01:16:10 Story's well organized website. I used it this morning.
Speaker 5 01:16:12 Thank you. C r U e.com.
Speaker 2 01:16:15 Yes. Well, Scott's a master of this sort of thing, so he'll
Speaker 4 01:16:19 Him.
Speaker 2 01:16:19 Oh, Alexa.
Speaker 4 01:16:20 Keywords, All the different things that we need to get everything.
Speaker 5 01:16:25 If you do misspell it, c r e w it'll still go to our website. Yeah. But don't tell. Okay.
Speaker 8 01:16:31 Right. <laugh>. It's important. Awesome.
Speaker 2 01:16:34 Scott's gonna take us out
Speaker 4 01:16:36 Everybody. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 01:16:39 All right. See ya.
Speaker 9 01:16:51 Yeah, see ya. See ya. See ya.
