Crissy runs the ‘Business & Marketing Tips’ column.  She is a writer, teacher, and speaker with a big passion for entrepreneurship and the DIY movement.
She started her own business as a freelance writer and marketing assistant while living in Alaska. (yes, Alaska.) It was during this time that she realized how many other people in their 20s and 30s were looking to become self-employed, and how little information was being targeted to them.

In the summer of 2007, she launched IndieBizChicks.com, a website that provides business, marketing, and publicity info to “women who’d rather work for themselves, than work for the man.”

Crissy has been interviewed and featured in local and national media, including Fox Business, news channel WEYI, the Peninsula Clarion, CraftZine.com, and WAHM 2.0, just to name a few.
She has also been on a guest on several podcasts and radio shows, including The Mary and Heather Show, Internet Marketing Strategies, Results Radio Show, Women Wise Marketing, and The Cereals Podcast On PNN.Com.

Crissy is also the founder of ‘the Indie Biz Chicks Conference‘, which focuses on providing women the education and tools they need to start and grow their own businesses.

She is the self-proclaimed “world’s best aunt,” still listens to punk rock, loves having crazy adventures with her sister, makes a lot of cookies, and even though she loved her time in Alaska, she is kinda happy to be back home in the Midwest again.

Erika runs the ‘Try Handmade Picks’ column and will be showcasing the wonderful and talented Artisans we have on Zibbet.  If you’re featured, you should feel proud, as Erika has a keen eye for quality handmade products.  The ‘Try Handmade Picks’ column will be a great one to visit regularly, especially when shopping for yourself or a loved one!

Erika is the founder of TryHandmade.com and is on a mission to get people to move away from shopping at big box stores, and back to the more intimate and personal world of Handmade.  She started Try Handmade as a blog in mid-2008, and it has now grown to an entire network of sites devoted to spreading the word about the amazingness of Handmade.

She says… I find it wonderful and awe-inspiring that there really are people out there making so many things which we can choose instead of mass-produced dreck. Whether you buy handmade new items, or upcycled / recycled / repurposed, you’re doing the planet a favor, and you’re helping to support an artisan. What could be better than that? New factories will get built with or without our help, but being able to encourage and support artists, artisans, crafters, and hobbyists is a dream come true.

Erika lives in Palo Alto, California with her husband Craig, kids Henry, Ed, and Charlie, and her dog Molly.