When Martha Stewart Calls. (Part 1)

” Whenever Martha Stewart Calls…I listen”.

These words were aptly spoken by the CEO of J. Crew, Mickey Drexler, during last years American Made Awards.

So… when Martha calls, I listened, too.

This year the Martha Stewart American Made celebrated it’s 5 year birthday!

ROC Paper Scissors was invited to be a part of this years American Made Summit at the MSLO Headquarters in NYC. I was asked to participate along with what were about 50 other makers in representing the American Made brand.

Those are the moments, when your brain starts running at the speed of light: making plans, and trying to figure out if it is even possible to pull everything together that I would need in order to make this trip. Remember guys, along with working our online business from home,  I am currently homeschooling my son Jonathan with everything that comes with his Senior year: lesson plans, reviews, dual enrollment, testing, quizzes etc…. we run a pretty tight schedule here. Despite the busy schedule we always find time to have a little fun and smile.

We also needed to make sure we could juggle the care of our youngest with special needs. My husband is my superhero. We always work as a team when it comes to Christopher’s care. During my prep for the trip Christopher fell ill and was home a whole week which considerably changes the pace of how I work – I’m talking “interrupt driven”…all the time. Something I’m sure all moms with ones who are little or can’t fully fend for themselves understand to a “T” 😉  I am so greatful for my husband taking over even more responsibilities to support my “prep” time.

Any changes in Christopher’s routine, results in a fairly monumental adjustment to the daily logistics. My guys stepped in to fill in for mom while she was gone. A special shout out to my neighbor Mary Lou who most graciously brought dinner every night while in NY, to my guys. So blessed to have a neighbor like that…I mean really, just when a gal thinks she has it all with the guys I have in my life and God gives me neighbors like MaryLou, who loves them just as much. The gratitude just dosen’t end.

 

 

First a little history for those who are new to ROC Paper Scissors and my journey with American Made.

I have participated every year in the American Made movement attempting to win the Audience Choice Award. It was up to nominated businesses and selected finalist’s, through out the country to use social media to garner enough votes to win such a coveted award. Every single year we worked really hard at this…. r-e-a-l-l-y hard.

 

Despite the fact that we never won, I was encouraged by  Martha’s wisdom in suggesting that it was better to participate not necessarily to win but rather to be seen.That has proved to be the smartest advice she could of given me. I was encouraged by the way so many of you, year after year, voted daily for our business, supporting me the whole way through.

Local news media got in on it. Local and Nationally syndicated TV came right alongside us cheering on their locally nominated business.

 

 

 

With the help and support of community, family and friends ,we found ourselves frequently “trending” on the American Made contest voting polls.

Every year  I was very gratified that ROC Paper Scissors ranked highly on a National level. It was a community effort to try an obtain the 10th spot among 9 other honorees selected by the editors at MSLO to be among the 10 honored businesses every year.

This year things were done differently. There was no voting for an audience choice award winner. No profiles to create, no voting to solicit.

This year we were invited to be a part of the American Made Summit to represent one of the many curated businesses under the American Made brand at the request of Martha Stewart and her amazing team.

( photo credit- Jocelyn Santos)

The experience was something I will not soon forget. It was very exciting to see so many of these wonderful people I have grown to know and love dearly ( including Martha, of course). It was very much like a family reunion. With the last broadcast season in 2012, I was so gratified to see that the friendships made during my visits to the show as a guest, did not end at that time.

Let me share with you, some of my favorite pictures because words can’t quite express the love I have for so many of these wonderful people  that God has allowed me to get to know.

Next post (Part 2) all the amazing scoop and photos of my visit!

…just wait…

I have some great stories to tell 🙂