Maker to Marketplace Boot Camp Series

You’ve got a product, craft, or artistic work — now how do you sell it?

For many makers, the answer is a combination of three important sales channels: Rent table space at a local fare, get your items listed on an online platform like Etsy, or figure out the world of wholesale relationships and distributions for retail placement.  

In our Maker to Marketplace Boot Camp, entrepreneurs get the inside scoop on breaking into and maximizing sales through each. Over the course of three 30-minute sessions, you’ll hear insights from expert entrepreneurs who do it every day.

After 90 minutes, you’ll walk away knowing how to tell your brand story and sell your goods online, via wholesale, and at markets and fares.

Digital Sales

Nicole Lewis is the founder and creative force behind Art 2 the Extreme®, home of The Original Rainbow Crayon®. A former elementary art teacher turned creative entrepreneur, Nicole pioneered the personalized name crayon and began selling her handmade crayons on Etsy in 2007, nearly two decades ago. Since then, her colorful creations have been featured by TODAY, Good Morning America, NPR, CNBC, Forbes, People, Martha Stewart, Magnolia Journal, and more than 200 national and international media outlets.

Beyond building her own brand, Nicole is passionate about strengthening the handmade community. She has served as an Etsy U instructor, speaker, educator, and peer mentor, sharing nearly 20 years of firsthand experience in e-commerce, brand storytelling, media, and creative entrepreneurship. Through Art 2 the Extreme, Nicole continues to prove that a small handmade idea can grow into an enduring, nationally recognized brand.

Wholesale

Kei Tsuzuki is the owner of Kei & Molly Textiles, an Albuquerque textiles studio known for hand-printed dish towels, totes, and other home goods with a folksy, international style. Originally from Japan and raised in Canada, Kei brings a background in textile printing to the business she co-founded in 2010 with Molly Luethi, a fellow mother from their children's elementary school. Molly retired at the end of 2023, and Kei now leads the studio with her team. What started as a small line of kitchen linens sold at a school holiday bazaar grew into a business that ships to hundreds of stores nationwide, alongside its own retail shop and online store.

Kei holds an Executive MBA from the University of New Mexico's Anderson School of Management, where she graduated as valedictorian. She has printed for designers including Jonathan Adler and Denyse Schmidt and has shown the company's products at the New York International Gift Fair. Her studio employs trained artisans, immigrants, and refugees from around the world, who recieve stable wages and support for their education and leadership growth. Its wholesale reach gives Kei a firsthand view of what it takes to move handmade goods from a local workshop into retail placements across the country.

In-Person Markets

Enchanting Soap Collections is an Albuquerque bath and body company founded by Roberta Easter, who learned to make soap from wild-foraged ingredients using techniques passed down from her grandmother in Placitas, New Mexico. Her daughter, Chrystal Trykoski, joined as a business partner in January 2022, and together they've grown a soap business into a full line that includes tattoo salves, body scrubs, skin creams, and lip balms, plus a soap dough sold through the Explora Science Center and Children's Museum of Albuquerque. The company is certified through NM True and as an NM Made Manufacturer.

Roberta and Chrystal employ women who are marginalized, justice-involved, or in recovery. ESC is a DreamSpring client and a WESST incubator tenant, and earlier this year, they were one of nine businesses picked from a national pool of 120 to pitch at the Airport Minority Advisory Council's Runway to Success competition in St. Louis. That led to an invite to showcase and sell at the 41st Annual AMAC Conference in Maryland, one of the biggest exposure opportunities the company has had. Closer to home, they sell through pop-up markets and fares, in addition to their online store and local retailers.

Bonus: Download our free guide to making your own market-day packing list, and see exactly what Enchanting Soap Collections uses! 

Discover personal stories and practical insights on how to get traction for your small business in these three important sales channels.