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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ Emily Kitturah ] My name is Emily Kitturah Westenhouser, I'm the owner of Umbrella Girl Productions, um it
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}is a craft business that I sell handmade goods uh through and also I teach uh art and 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}sewing classes under. So it encompasses quite a bit. I am orginally from Lancaster, Ohio
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}um I grew up there, um I spent the first 18 years of my llife there. Graduated from Lancaster High School
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and moved to Columbus to go to Columbus College of Art and Design. I graduated in the year 2000
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}with a fine arts degree, and I majored in textiles and sculpture.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}While I was in school, I worked in three-dimensional illustration, so I really got into
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}puppetry and other sculptural works like that. Um I
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}work as an artist as well as a crafter um after college. Um I started my business
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}um about 10 years ago and I found a need uh to be
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}self-employed at the time. I had been working just a regular 9-to-5
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}job and it wasn't fulfilling, so I decided to branch off and become um self-employed
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}entrepreneur, and uh found that that line of work really resonated well with me. 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}Um, my first craft fair was Comfest. I shared a booth with four other
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}women. And I just made a bunch of things that I wasn't sure if people would like them
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}or if they would sell, but they were all things that I personally used in my everyday life and brought them to the festival
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and they soldÐmuch to my amazement. And I got some really great feedback
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}from some of my customers and, and friends, um, who saw my work and encouraged me
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to continue on with that line of work. And my business kind of snowballed from there.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}Where I kept doing more and more shows, and testing out products and
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}just changing up what I make based on what people needed. Um, my business philosophy is to 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}handmake things that people will use in their everyday life. Not just something that people are gonna buy and sit on a shelf
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and look pretty. I want things to be useful and help them. And so I've constantly 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}been changing what I make according to what people need
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and I what I feel like making as well. Um sometimes I get bored making thousands and thousand of one object.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}Um but I've found that I'm very good at production work, where I have made several thousands
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}of um various things. One of the products I've made the longest has been hairscarves
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}that ladies purchase and tie into their hair. And I lost count at about 4,000 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and that was about 6 years ago, um so, I know I've made
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}so many more since then, um, and I stopped trying to count. Um I also make
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}stationary sets. And I know I've made thousands and thousands of cards. And it's really
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}really fulfilling to me to know that I'm supplying people with things that brings joy
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to them, um, and they use for special occasions. Um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}the cards that I make, a lot of people will come back and tell me that you know they landed a job because they bought some of my cards
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and they were really beautiful, and they sent them as thank you notes after an interview, and they felt it gave them a leg up um in
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}getting that job, or I had a friend purchase a hair scarf from me that she uh wore when she gave birth
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to her second child. And I used to make handbags, and I had a friend buy a bag and take it Europe and travel Europe with it
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and it's just an amazing feeling knowing that something I've made has travelled the globe. Um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I also teach. I started teaching, um, I'm not sure of the exact year
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I know I was around 23 or 24. The Wexner Center gave me my start in teaching
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and um I responded to a want ad--they were looking for docents. And I entered into their docent
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}training and they were really thrilled with the work I did and um suggest that I was really good with
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}children, and they wanted to train me further working with kids. So I um trained a little more with them
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and started leading elementry school-age children through tours of the museum.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And I it just grew and grew from there, and they hired me to be an assistant teacher in their summer youth workshops.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And I did very well again, they said, and the next summer they hired me as a teacher for
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}one of their summer youth workshops. And I've been able to teach for a number of arts organzitions
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}in and around Columbus. I taught for five years in Lancaster at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I have taught again for the Wexner Center last summer. I taught um I've taught for 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}the McConnell Art Center up in Worthington since they opened a couple years ago. I now currently
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}teach for Purple Dog Art Studio in New Albany, um, I teach for Wholly Craft! I teach sewing classes
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}as well as art classes, and I teach at a sewing store in Clintonville called Sew to Speak, um, and I
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}worked for the Greater Columbus Arts Council as well. Um I taught at a Boys and Girls Club teaching afterschool art
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}activities to inner city youth. And that was really intensive training that I received several years ago
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}through, with them, where I took classes with them, and it was a really incredbly experience and very rewarding.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}Um now, I focus mostly on teaching 50% of the time
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and the other 50% running my business selling handmade goods. I'm now in a lot of stores so I 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}supply a lot of small businesses with product and that keeps me pretty busy.
[ interviewer ] so how
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}when did you start doing art and craft? 
 [ Emily Kitturah ] When I was a little girl
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I grew up, we're very poor and I had very--I had toys but I didn't
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}have as many toys as a lot of the other kids in the neighborhood. And um I just remember drawing
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}my mom giving me crayons and pencils and paper to draw all the time, and I drew
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}almost non-stop, and when I was about 6 or 7 I started showing an interest in
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}her sewing, my mother always sewed. And she let me sew tissues because um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}she didn't wanna let me loose on her fabric scraps. And so then I started making clothes for my dolls
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}but also these sculptural objects. And, um, I spent a lot of time outdoors playing with my sister
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and I would build these crazy tree houses out of stuff that I found in the yard
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and it was just, I was always making things. 
[ interviewer ] and so um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}can you talk about, or talk about a story of that experience of going to CCAD, which is a very
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}structured, um, sort of way, can you talk about maybe a story or an experience involving maybe
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}the literacy involved in that, in that shift. 
 [ Emily Kitturah ] um, my sophomore year, 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}well freshman year, you do foundation studies where everything is very structured, every freshman there takes the same classes
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to get you all on the same page. And then sophomore year you pick a major, and I picked
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}fashion design because I had always sewn, and I was very inetrested in entering into that
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}realm for a career. And my instrcutor, her name was Brooke Hannon, um she was
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}a great instructor, but she was very, very structured in how she taught
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and everything we made had to be, had to look like it was factory-produced, and also have to follow
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}formulas and worksheets that she gave us of how to produce the specific pattern
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}pieces and how to produce the item. And um it really um 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}kinda of woke me up to not being able to create just for the sense of creating, and
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to create ina fluid manner. Like I had to follow like set directions and um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}be able to make things that didn't look handmade according to
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}her structure in the classes, um. 
[ interviewer ] um so
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}how, um, how would you describe the type of reading and writing you were expected to do
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}um while you were working on your Bachelor's degree?
 [ Emily Kitturah ] we did very little. It was spent
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}mostly uh working on our art skills, whether painting, drawing, sculpture,
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}um, we took English class and we took some history classes and 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}they, they were I don't wanna say that they weren't given as much weight but
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}it, it never seemed like they had as much weight uh to them. Um I did grow a lot
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}in my writing while I was there because I had some instructors whose names escape me um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}that had really taken the time to sit down with me and work on my writing. Um and
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}that helped improve that. When you write you undergraduate thesis, it's very loose.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}Um they give um just so many pages that you have to write, um, it's not
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}as formal of a thesis as many other college students have to produce.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ interviewer ] so um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}when you said, you said you decided to start your own business 'cause you wanted to do something more fulfilling, um, can you tell me about that process
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}did you just like jump right into it? Like how did you figure out how to, how to create your own business?
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ Emily Kitturah ] It was a huge learning curve. um, I had been working at a small business--I worked at several after I 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}got out of college, and um, I had been working at one small business that I was working very regular
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}hours, uh, but it was a small enough place that I was able to see how the business owner structured her business
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and ran it, and um, I when I had that moment where I realized that I needed
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to do something different. I uh quit my job and didn't work for about 18 months, and
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I spent those 18 months coming up with all the things that I felt I needed to learn
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to uh effectively run a business. I studied enough tax things to get myself started
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}so I could use, um, so I could pay sales tax and get all the numbers and licenses
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}that I needed, and um, I taught myself HTML coding so I could code a website because
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I couldn't afford to hire a web designer, and I worked
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}on learning how to repair sewing machines because I felt that was essential
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}also to start a business where I'm producing goods, to be able to repair my own tools. And
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I also worked on a lot of art work at that time too because I was really trying to work through
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}um you know my thoughts on, you know, running a business
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}that is a little more creative, but also um finding myself as an artist post-college, where you're not
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}given asisgnments, and you're not told you have to do this. Like I wanted to see where my art would
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}go at that point. 
[ interview ] can we go back to you said you taught yourself HTML. How did you go
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}about that process? 
[ Emily Kitturah ] uh through books there was--I found some, I did a lot of research in trying to find, spent a lot of time
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}at the library looking at web design books. And I settled upon a couple books that I felt were 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}really helpful. One was more for, geared towards beginners, and another was
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}a little more advanced. And they both had essentially the same information in it but written a little 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}the beginner's book was written with a lot more um detail, and the more advanced book was written more to some
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}body who would know a little HTML. So I felt like they would be good stepping stones for me, um, and 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I just went and read the books and went step-by-step through the books to build the website
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and write the code for it. And I had a lot of great resources online too that I was able to find and 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}tools. 
[ interviewer ] so before that had you done anything like that involving
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}technology?
 [ Emily Kitturah ] not at all. I took one computer class at CCAD because it was such a new
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}field when I was there--I graduated in 2000--and not everyone had computers, um,
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I didn't own a computer when I graduated. I used the school's computer lab to type up my papers. Um I took one
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}class that did an overview of Photoshop and some now-obsolete design programs
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and I learned just enough to probably get myself in trouble
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}with the programs. Like I didn't learn enough to be able to confidently do much with them but
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}that was the extent of my computer skills. I um by the time I taught myself coding
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I had an email account and, you know, could naviagte a computer, but I at the time
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}had a very barebones Photoshop program that I was using and.
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ interviewer ] how would you then, um, what, what role would you say that technology plays
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}in your business? 
[ Emily Kitturah ] It's, at first, it didn't as much, but
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}it's really grown in 10 years to play a more important role and I've been
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}fighting it, actually, I've been not, I've been very hesitant to 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}make the leap to putting my business online. Like I've always had a website that would direct my customers to 
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}shows I was doing or stores that carry my work, um, but I only recently put up
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}a webstore. I, and most people I know who are in the line of work I am, they've had webstores
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}for years and a good portion of their income is generated through online sales. Um
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}now with Facebook and Twitter having that online presence and conversation with your
[00:16:30.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}customers and keeping them excited about what you do has been really challenging. It adds a whole other
[00:16:37.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}element to the job that I do. And um it's something that is very important
[00:16:44.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}but I've not found myself as interested in it as the production end of 
[00:16:51.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}running my busienss. 
[ interviewer ] okay, so um do you remember learning how to read or write? 
[00:16:58.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ Emily Kitturah ] I do, yeah, um. I, I'm left-handed and
[00:17:05.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I, my earliest memory in kindergarten was my teacher was right-handed and she actually taught my dad
[00:17:12.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}in kindergarten, and so um it was a big deal that I had his kindergarten teacher. And my father's
[00:17:19.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}also left-handed. And her method of teaching left-handed students how to write
[00:17:26.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}was she would put a pencil in our right hand and have us copy the mirror image of what we were doing in right hand
[00:17:33.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and it was a really great way of teaching kids how to write um
[00:17:40.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I've talked with many other people who are left-handed who were taught by right-handed teachers
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and they write in a very awkward manner and don't hold their pencils 
[00:17:54.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}quite, they, it's just, just weird they just hold their pencils in what looks like 
[00:18:01.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}comfortable manner to me. And um, so she, she was great um and
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I, having a really long name, um I got lots of practice
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}writing. I remember we had to write our name five times
[00:18:19.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}a week, and so we had an activity where we had to write our name five times on this paper 
[00:18:25.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and when you got done, you were rewarded by getting up and getting to play with the toys. Well the kids that short
[00:18:31.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}names always got done quickly, and I never got to play with the toys because I was always the last one
[00:18:37.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}done. And, um there was one kid in the class who had a longer name than I did and we
[00:18:43.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}would race to see who would get done first. But we always
[00:18:49.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}like neither one of us ever finished in time to play with the toys. And I would argue it with the teacher
[00:18:55.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}but I also um have good memories of of learning how to cut with scissors, too. I cut
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}right-handed 'cause my teacher didn't know how to teach to cut left-handed
[00:19:07.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}right--in a way that worked for me. And so I ended up learning how to
[00:19:13.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}cut right-handed. And um, when I went to first grade, I had a teacher
[00:19:19.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}who was very particular about how I held my pencil, and she thought I needed
[00:19:25.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to hold it in a more, I felt, an upside-down manner. And she would have us write our names
[00:19:31.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}again and she would have me turn my paper inthis really weird, awkward manner and hold the pencil really
[00:19:37.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}awkwardly, and it go to the point where I was turning the paper so much I could write upside down.
[00:19:43.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And it was just a really weird like, being a child
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and not quite understanding, but knowing what I was doing probably wasn't right
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{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}um and that my teacher was just showing me something that I would not be doing later in life.
[00:20:01.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}It didn't make sense to me that I was having to write upside-down.
[00:20:07.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}So I, I have very distinct memories of those, um, I remember reading a lot, um, as a kid. I have very distinct memories
[00:20:14.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I was always going to the library uh with my mom and sister and checking out books
[00:20:21.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and just I was always in the summer reading uh programs they had and I just remember
[00:20:28.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}spending my summers just reading. And there was one summer that I had chicken pox for most of the summer, and I just remember
[00:20:35.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}being in bed and devoring books, like 'cause I was trying to get better, and I was trying to get well, and just having tons of books
[00:20:42.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and just reading that whole summer.
 [ interviewer ] do you remember any of those books, do you remember--or did you have a favorite book?
[00:20:49.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ Emily Kitturah ] I don't remember any of them, and yeah. I, I
[00:20:56.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}really don't. And I know I still have some books in my parents' basement in storage
[00:21:03.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}but I don't. I remember reading a lot of like mystery books
[00:21:10.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}like Nancy Drew-type books, um, yeah, and a lot of art books.
[00:21:17.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ interviewer ] do you read much now? 
[ Emily Kitturah ] I wish I had more time to read. Um I
[00:21:24.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}was actually tlaking with some friends not too long ago, and I, we were trying to remember like the last
[00:21:31.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}books that we sat down and were able to read cover-to-cover, and I have not been able to sit down a read a 
[00:21:38.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}book cover-to-cover in many, many years because my business has encompassed so much of what I do.
[00:21:45.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And, um, there's a few, like I garden, and so I typically am thumbing through gardening books
[00:21:52.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}for tips. I'm also repairing an old house, and um I
[00:21:59.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}thumb through a lot of home repair books. And I've been reading off and on
[00:22:06.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}a series called Foxfire. It was from, I believe the 70s, um a teacher started
[00:22:13.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}it with his high school students documenting the disappearing Appalachian culture, um
[00:22:20.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and it's been a really fascinating read. There's, I have editions one through three
[00:22:27.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and then seven. And I like how the chapters are broke down so I can just 
[00:22:34.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}read a chapter and it's a story of one family or one person, so that way I don't have to really devour
[00:22:41.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}the whole book all in one sitting. 
[ interviewer ] so what do you think is appealing about that series, beyond 
[00:22:48.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}the fact that each, it's like uh, it sounds like individual like bite-sized stories, right?
[00:22:55.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}[ Emily Kitturah ] Mmhm, yes. 
[ interviewer ] um what else do you think is appealing about it?
[ Emily Kitturah ] I like reading about stories of sustainability.
[00:23:02.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And I think that's somehting that our culture has lost a lot of, um, of being
[00:23:09.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}able to rely upon your own skill-set, uh
[00:23:16.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to make things or repair things or even just the simple act of cooking
[00:23:23.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I think there's a lot of people that haven't learned some basic survival skills and being able to read 
[00:23:30.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}stories of when people didn't have stores that they could just go down the street to buy something when they needed it.
[00:23:37.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And they has to hand make it from scratch, um, it's really impressive to me. I, I really enjoy reading 
[00:23:44.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}things like that. I find them inspiring, um, to try to be
[00:23:51.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}more sustainable myself. Uh, and as a sewing teacher I really strive
[00:23:58.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to um teach my students to be more self-sufficent and to not have to rely upon
[00:24:05.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}if a button falls of something, they just throw it away and go buy something new, um, that they
[00:24:12.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}can repair it and sew that button back on and not have to just throw something in the trash and go you know buy
[00:24:19.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}something brand new to replace it. 
[ interviewer ] So um why
[00:24:26.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}Columbus? So you moved here for CCAD, why did you decide to stay and sorta make 
[00:24:33.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}your life here? 
[ Emily Kitturah ] Um my family is from Lancaster, and I've wanted to be near them, um
[00:24:40.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I briefly thought about moving away and did a short job search
[00:24:47.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}to see if I could find something, just within the United States, and I even looked overseas and
[00:24:54.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I just decided that I wanted to nearer to my family, and I felt like this was home. I travelled
[00:25:01.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}a little bit, and everywhere I went, it didn't quite feel like home to me. The Midwest just
[00:25:08.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}it, when I'm back here after travelling, I just, I feel like I belong here.
[00:25:15.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}And um, I do a lot of shows, and I've travelled uh around the Midwest, different even parts 
[00:25:22.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}of the Midwest to Milwaukee and Madison and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati 
[00:25:29.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}and Indianapolis. And we I go visit those cities, they're still very Midwest but 
[00:25:36.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}they've just not even felt like home to me. And I just, I really
[00:25:43.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}enjoy Columbus and I enjoy what it's grown to become because it's changed a lot since I got out of college and
[00:25:50.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I feel like there's more and more opportunties for young people, especially young people in the arts here
[00:25:57.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}I know when I first got out of college there wasn't a whole lot, and it's been really exciting to see how many people
[00:26:04.00]
{font:Arial}{size:14}{Plain}{textColor:65535, 65535, 65535}are you know making opportunities for each other.
[00:26:09.86]