Marlo Miyashiro (a.k.a. IMakeCuteStuff) has been in the retail and wholesale handmade craft industries for over 20 years, creating and selling her work to over 200 stores across the country and abroad. She is a jeweler by trade, crafter of sewn things, teacher of techniques and mentor / arts business consultant for emerging artists.

Jamie Marie Chan is a college educator, fiber artist, and co-owner of Urban Fauna Studio. She is also founder and director of the indie craft show Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco. Jamie produces her own line of fiber craft kits, teaches art to children, contributes to publications such as Craftzine, Indie Craft Gossip, and was a founding member of the SF Craft Mafia.

Lauren Venell is an independent toy designer, artist, and small business consultant from San Francisco, whose Sweet Meats plush toys can be found in stores all over North America.  She runs Biz Miss, a small business blog for creative professionals, and teaches small business workshops around the Bay Area.  Lauren is also a contributing “Biz Lady” for design*sponge, and the Indie Business columnist for the Bazaar Bizarre SF blog.  She is very excited to be part of the organizing team for CCE!

Garth Johnson is a studio artist, writer and educator who lives in Eureka, California. In addition to maintaining the website Extreme Craft (www.extremecraft.com) Garth’s writing has been featured in museum catalogs, magazines and books worldwide.

Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood is the producer of the CraftSanity podcast, an interview show about art and craft that she started in January 2006. She blogs and publishes craft tutorials at CraftSanity.com. She has been a print journalist for more than a decade. She left her newspaper gig in 2009 to become a freelance writer and continues to write a weekly art and craft column for The Grand Rapids Press and do weekly craft segments on a local morning TV show. 

Moxie is an artist, fiber pusher, and genuine human being with a lot of experience selling her work in large and small venues along the west coast. With obsessive attention to organizing and a rare talent for interpersonal communication, Moxie is also the President and Director of Vendor Relations for Urban Craft Uprising, Seattle’s largest indie craft show, now in its 6th year.

Cathie is an Emmy Nominated television host, book author, lifestyle expert, inventor and handcraft designer. Her bubbly personality and enthusiasm for all things creative makes her a winner with audiences worldwide.

She created, produced and co-hosted more than 100 episodes of the HGTV & DIY lifestyle show Creative Juice. She also created and hosted the Emmy Nominated mini-series Witch Crafts.

Becky Stern (sternlab.org) is an artist, tutorial maker, and Associate Editor for Craft (craftzine.com) and Make: Online (makezine.com). She has a background in design & technology from Parsons the New School: School for Design and enjoys freely sharing projects online through
excellent documentation.

At the age of 33, Lisa Congdon took a crack at making art.  She quickly became a household name amongst the art and craft communities.  Eight years later her resume is quite impressive to say the least.  She has shown in numerous cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Portland. Her story and art + design work have been featured in countless print magazines and art + design blogs, including 7×7 Magazine, ReadyMade, Country Living, CRAFT, Australia’s Real Living, Decor8, design*sponge, Daily Candy, Juxtapoz, Flavorpill San Francisco, Stitch, Venus and Bitch.