Interview

1. Tell us a bit about yourself?

   My name is Marilyn Godwin-Smith and I create jewelry that I feel speaks of feminine beauty and romance.  I am in my early 50’s and I live in Marietta, GA, just outside of Atlanta.  I have been here for 15 years and love it because the people are friendly and we have flowers year round; I am originally from Arkansas.  I have a lovely grown daughter, Ginger, who lives in Raleigh/Durham, NC.

2. Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?

   Unfortunately, I am currently unemployed like so many others in the United States.  Career wise, I work in the field of telecommunications and computer tech support.  I am a problem-solver and in retrospect I find that my creative side helps my technical side tremendously.

3. What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?

   I love jewelry, I love color, and I love when my boyfriend sees what I’ve just made and says “Wow, that’s really great!”.  My favorite things are the color pink, pearls, lace, glass, flowers, antiques, and animals; all of which comes out in the jewelry I create.  

4. Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?

   I look up to the president of the United States, Barak Obama.  I feel he is a man of strong character and values who is fully and equally committed to his job, his wife, and his family; something you don’t see very often.  (I’ll leave the politics part out.)

5. What other passions do you have in your life?

   My daughter, my boyfriend, my pets, the Gourdie Girls (you know who you are), solving technical problems, being open minded, helping others, finding peace and happiness and the rewards that go with them.   

6. What do you like most about Zibbet?

   The colors!  I like that the primary color of the site is green.  (Green is the color of nature.  It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility.  It also suggests stability and endurance.)
   
   I love how my shop looks, the colors are awesome!  I feel it says a lot about who I am as a person and an artist.
   
   I really like how the sales mode works, that I can put items in more than one category in my shop, and that the site appears to be relatively bug free.
   
   

7. What ‘new’ things would you like to see added to Zibbet?

   I know that a global editor and importer are already in the works as well as forums.  With the exception of a forum category for promoting, I would like to see the forums closed to the outside.
   
   When creating a new listing, I would like to be able to automatically promote the item to places like Twitter and Facebook just by clicking a box.

8. How do you promote your work?

   Business cards, posting in forums on Artfire, Twitter, and Facebook.
   
   

9. How would you recommend other Zibbeters make the most of Zibbet.com?

   There are some great options when setting up shop.  Make your shop interesting and inviting.

10. In the future I'd like to be...

    ... able to run around freely in a huge bead shop and grab everything I like... and keep it... for free of course. :)
    
    ... able to spend time in person with the Gourdie Girls (you know who you are) just talking and creating.