Darcy Miller, CELEBRATE EVERYTHING!
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[2:17]I'm here today with Darcy Miller, who's the founder of Darcy Miller Designs.
[2:21]She's the author and illustrator of celebrate everything, fun ideas to bring your
[2:24]parties to life, and also our wedding scrapbook.
[2:27]She has been an editor at Martha Stewart for 25 years, including as editorial director
[2:32]of Martha Stewart-Weddings for 23 years.
[2:35]And now she's editor at large.
[2:36]She collaborates with chasing paper, Lennox, graphic image, Francis Valentine, Maison
[2:41]Labiche, Amazon, George Shankuff Cakes, and many other brands.
[2:45]She was recruited by Serena Williams to make custom goody bags for Meghan Markle's baby
[2:49]shower.
[2:50]She currently lives in New York with her husband and three daughters.
[2:53]Welcome Darcy.
[2:54]Thanks for coming on the show.
[2:55]Thanks for having me.
[2:57]Your book Celebrate Everything is so great for so many reasons.
[3:00]The visual part of it, the idea that you just have to celebrate life because you never
[3:04]know what's going to happen next and you might as well.
[3:07]I just love it.
[3:08]I love everything about it.
[3:09]So I'm so excited to talk to you about it.
[3:10]Well, thank you.
[3:11]Can you tell now that I've summarized it?
[3:13]Can you talk a little more about what it's about, how you ended up illustrating and putting
[3:19]it together and just hold the whole backstory of this book?
[3:22]Great.
[3:23]I've always loved to celebrate.
[3:25]And for me, celebrate is less about actual parties, but more about just celebrating people
[3:31]you love.
[3:32]And it can be a big party, like a 50th birthday or an anniversary party or wedding, but it
[3:37]can be as something as simple as making the breakfast table festive of Valentine's Day.
[3:45]And so over the years, my mom is super creative, growing up.
[3:50]She always was making Halloween costumes and making our birthday invitations.
[3:55]And so growing up, it was just part of me that I had parents who spent the time and to
[4:02]do something that was appreciated and it was a way of showing a token of your love and
[4:07]affection.
[4:08]And so when I was a kid, I started to make things and make things for people.
[4:14]I actually had a party favorite business when I was in seventh grade.
[4:19]And then I used to take earrings and poke them into like a little picture of me and sell
[4:24]them.
[4:25]There's a store on 80 third in masculine.
[4:26]It was called stone free for kids.
[4:28]Maybe it was like 80 first.
[4:30]And I just go to the bead store and sell earrings and so if I was always making these
[4:34]things at a party favorite business, I went to University of Pennsylvania.
[4:39]And I did it there.
[4:40]And then when I graduated, I said, you know, I've heard, like, well, you have to get
[4:43]a real job before you do your business.
[4:47]You know, you should get some work experience.
[4:50]And I actually had like a handful of interviews.
[4:53]I interviewed with Anna Winter, if you existed.
[4:55]Wow.
[4:56]I interviewed with this new magazine called Martha Stewart that was just launching.
[5:01]And it had, you know, I looked and I was like, oh my gosh, I can die Easter eggs for
[5:06]living.
[5:07]I, this is it.
[5:09]And I started there, you know, in 92 and did kind of a little bit of everything.
[5:14]And over the time there as a stylist, I really love the entertaining stories.
[5:19]And I, so I continued to throw parties.
[5:22]I did it at work, you know, I styled Easter stories, basketball stories.
[5:26]And then was always entertaining on my own.
[5:30]And the whole time I was entertaining, people would say, you should write a book.
[5:33]I love your parties.
[5:34]I'd love to see them.
[5:36]And I was full time, you know, at March to refer many, many years.
[5:39]I am now that are large there.
[5:41]And I finally decided that how can I share all these parties?
[5:45]And I know that, you know, many people said to me, you know, do it as a website.
[5:51]Just put them, you know, figure a way to do it digitally.
[5:55]But for me, I'm a book person.
[5:58]And I felt like I really want to put them in a book.
[6:00]So that's how, that's kind of how it happened.
[6:04]And, you know, it was a combination of a lot of parties that I really threw my daughter
[6:09]sister's name is Daisy.
[6:10]So a Daisy birthday party, a Martha, I threw a 70th birthday for her.
[6:14]It's a bunch of real parties.
[6:16]But then it's really, really packed with tons of tons of service and ideas.
[6:21]And, you know, for me, what was really important is that people get it, it inspires people
[6:27]and then they can do a whole party or they can take one idea or they can take no ideas,
[6:32]but inspires them to do something else.
[6:35]And as I said, it's very much about, I think the title says it all, celebrate everything.
[6:41]You know, and there's a page, there's a spread in the beginning of the book that has
[6:45]like reasons to celebrate.
[6:46]And it has, you know, obviously birthday anniversary, but it's like, you know, you lost
[6:50]your tooth, you know, you got a new job, you quit your job, you know, like whatever.
[6:56]And, you know, there's a lot of negative things in the world.
[6:59]It's nice to, you know, appreciate and celebrate, you know, take time to celebrate.
[7:04]Love all that.
[7:05]I feel like one of my bigger expenses is like paper goods because I feel like any holiday
[7:10]or occasion.
[7:11]Let's get fun plates and put them out for breakfast, like the whole, like why not?
[7:15]Like Oscar, you know, movie books and let's get valentance with, like you said, and it's
[7:19]so fun.
[7:20]It's just so fun to inject a little bit of like whimsy into the everyday chaos.
[7:25]Definitely.
[7:26]And I think that like, you know, your point about just adding, you know, the Oscar plates
[7:32]isn't for me, it's really about creating traditions and creating memories and that, and
[7:38]again, not that that paper plate is, you know, that's a material thing.
[7:44]But for my kid, like for me, I remember my mom doing these things, little things are
[7:49]writing little notes or tying a ribbon on my napkin or whatever it is.
[7:54]And I think I really do feel like my kids appreciate it.
[7:58]And if anything, what brings me joy is sometimes this morning, actually my daughter wanted
[8:03]to go to school early.
[8:04]She's like, it's my teacher's birthday.
[8:06]I'm in charge.
[8:07]We're going to surprise her and, you know, and she had, you know, had some, God knows
[8:13]what was in her knapsack party hat stuffed in there.
[8:16]But just for me, the fact that she wanted to like, you know, make the effort to celebrate.
[8:22]So on a teacher who does so much for them.
[8:25]And I felt like, okay, I've done a good job.
[8:28]She said, I go party for a teacher.
[8:30]You know, and again, no matter how big or small, just showing a little appreciation goes
[8:35]a long way.
[8:36]So sure.
[8:37]And your book is so great with not, I mean, there's a bazillion ideas in here.
[8:41]Like, I was going through with my kids and my daughter's like, oh, I want to do the sleep
[8:44]over party.
[8:45]The other one's like, I want to do the spa party.
[8:46]And some are more, you know, run of the mill, but some are just so fun.
[8:50]And just like, so many ideas in here.
[8:52]I was like, oh my gosh, like I've been wasting all my time with like other events.
[8:56]They're so creative.
[8:57]Well, it's fun.
[8:58]Thank you.
[8:59]And it's funny.
[9:00]You say that because when we were doing it, we're like, wait, should the party just
[9:04]be for part of the part, you know, should the book be just four parties that we break
[9:08]down because within just the swim party, there's different food ideas.
[9:13]I love that.
[9:14]I love that.
[9:15]There's like the swim party could almost be toned, but I would never think to put a Swedish
[9:21]fish and then full of gumballs.
[9:23]Is that right?
[9:24]They look so cool.
[9:25]I've like, you just have the most creative ideas.
[9:27]Well, thank you.
[9:28]And I have to say that for me, I just wanted to pack it in so that there was so many
[9:32]different options for people.
[9:34]And I also felt it was important to have different levels of take away.
[9:39]So some things are a little more crafty, some are like anyone can do.
[9:43]And even when there's an idea, like there's one, speaking of the pool party, there's one
[9:48]swimming pool, blue donuts, swimming pool.
[9:51]Yes.
[9:52]That was so cool.
[9:54]You are given the choice.
[9:55]You can buy donuts.
[9:57]You can have custom donuts made.
[9:58]You can also get to.
[10:00]It's regular donuts and put a little dye in some frosting
[10:04]and make them blue or put sprinkles.
[10:06]And so it's really hoping to give other,
[10:09]to jumping off point for other people to celebrate.
[10:13]And so, you know,
[10:14]even just your like 50 different kinds of confetti.
[10:16]I'm like, oh my God, how did she come up with all these things?
[10:20]It's amazing.
[10:21]Wow.
[10:22]And just visually, like the photography in this book,
[10:23]it's so aesthetically pleasing.
[10:26]It's so fun and you just can't help but feel
[10:29]like joyful when you read it, right?
[10:31]Well, thank you.
[10:32]Fullers and I do think that that's hopefully the mood
[10:36]and the feeling that I can help inspire another people.
[10:40]And as I said, you know, I really love to entertain.
[10:43]It's something that I grew up with
[10:45]and it's something that I'm doing with my kids
[10:48]and is a big part of kind of my life.
[10:51]But no matter who you are, like the, for me,
[10:55]I love it when like we'll post something on Instagram
[10:58]and then I'll see how people have interpreted it.
[11:00]And, you know, or people will say to me,
[11:03]well, I'm not a crafty person or I don't normally do this stuff
[11:06]or, you know, I don't, I'm so new,
[11:09]I always buys a card, but I just saw your Valentine thing.
[11:12]And it was so easy, I just printed it out.
[11:14]Like, I didn't even have to like buy anything so easy.
[11:18]So I feel like I like, I hope that that little,
[11:21]there is a lot of confetti on the cover,
[11:23]but that little spark of joy sparked another people.
[11:26]Totally.
[11:27]Tell me how your editorial experience sort of played into this.
[11:31]Did you look at this as if it was amazing?
[11:33]Like, you must be looking at things in a certain way
[11:35]after all these years in the, in the magazine world.
[11:37]Yeah, I mean, I think that it was probably,
[11:40]obviously the magazine experience
[11:43]such a much dirt weddings and helps to figure out
[11:46]like telling a story and do you want how to's?
[11:49]And what are the details and, you know,
[11:51]what's the pacing of it?
[11:53]Given even that I had all that experience,
[11:55]I would not say that it was a smooth road to get it done.
[11:59]You know, as you can help in the book
[12:00]is more as more kind of person.
[12:03]So there was a lot to figure out
[12:05]and how I could get it all in.
[12:07]And, you know, and how you divide it up at one point,
[12:11]you know, it was gonna be, you know,
[12:13]A through Z of parties and like an idea for A
[12:16]and idea for B.
[12:17]Like, there were so many different ways to break it up.
[12:20]And you could do this next, you know.
[12:21]Exactly.
[12:23]I don't know.
[12:23]I don't know if my kids will still be talking to me
[12:26]if I do another book.
[12:27]I will say that it was a lot of work.
[12:30]How long did it take to put it together?
[12:32]Well, when people say how long did you work on the book?
[12:35]I'm like, I've lurked on the book all my life
[12:37]because it's like all the tips and ideas
[12:40]I've been like, you know, kind of, that's been building.
[12:44]But I actually probably spent like,
[12:47]maybe two years actually working on the book.
[12:51]And, you know, because as I said, a lot of them,
[12:54]I also wanted to be so packed with information
[12:58]that when I show you an anniversary party,
[13:00]I was like, wait, but then I went all the sources.
[13:02]But then I went the recipe.
[13:04]And so I was like going back and figuring out.
[13:08]And, you know, even when I knew it,
[13:09]I knew that for the source guide,
[13:11]there might be an Etsy company
[13:13]that no longer that person's not doing it.
[13:15]But I figured it's still better to give everyone
[13:19]all the sources.
[13:20]And if a handful are out of business, you know,
[13:23]or don't make that product,
[13:24]at least it's pointing you to a company
[13:27]that you can look to for other party hats
[13:30]or for other customized chocolates.
[13:32]And because I think for me,
[13:34]a big part of my brand and what we do at Darts Mode designs,
[13:38]it's inspiring people, but also bringing in
[13:41]all these amazing experts and sources and ideas
[13:45]and that are out there.
[13:46]And it's for me, like people say like,
[13:49]oh, thanks for sharing.
[13:50]I'm like, what do you mean, thanks for sharing?
[13:51]Of course, I'm gonna share that half of it.
[13:53]Great that I'm showing you, you know,
[13:55]like this cookie with a photo on it,
[13:57]but don't you wanna know?
[13:58]Yeah, I want you to know that, you know,
[14:00]great Etsy person or that you can get these right on Amazon
[14:04]or, you know, because sometimes when you're talking
[14:05]about the fishbowl, there's that one favor
[14:07]that looks like a fishbowl, though the blue candy won't
[14:10]coming, you know, which is great for a centerpiece.
[14:14]But sometimes people don't realize easy,
[14:16]like you could literally click on Amazon
[14:19]and have that in five, but you could have that favor
[14:21]here tomorrow, you know,
[14:23]but people sometimes look like, oh, this looks so good.
[14:26]How could I do it?
[14:27]Where is it from?
[14:28]So it's important to me to share all those sources.
[14:30]And vendors.
[14:32]And tell me about how you transition
[14:34]from being magazine editor to your own brand
[14:37]and your own, like, cause now you're like a thing
[14:39]of yourself.
[14:40]No, it's true.
[14:41]Okay, mom.
[14:45]Well, as I said, I have always in me been, you know,
[14:49]celebrating and, you know, even I was for my high school
[14:55]and I would shape and I, they just making some photo booth
[14:58]props for some, you know, an event that they're doing.
[15:02]And one of the teachers said to me,
[15:04]oh, these look just like what you made
[15:06]for a way you made the 12th grade.
[15:08]I don't even remember.
[15:09]I guess I made a field day teacher and she's like,
[15:12]remember you had the posters that you had on the front.
[15:15]I was like, no, I don't remember anything.
[15:17]So I feel like I have been doing it,
[15:19]but I will say that, you know,
[15:20]as Martha Stewart as a company has grown and evolved
[15:25]over the years and, you know,
[15:27]there was a transition when the magazines went to Meredith
[15:30]and there was a little bit of a shift in, you know,
[15:33]some people stayed on some people went on, you know,
[15:35]did other things and it was kind of a good natural
[15:39]time for me to, you know, move on to do my own thing.
[15:43]And I feel lucky because I still get to dabble
[15:46]and as that are at large,
[15:47]I still get to have my toe in the wedding's world.
[15:50]What does that mean, editor at large?
[15:52]I always see that.
[15:53]Well, I think it depends,
[15:55]there's probably a lot of different kinds of editors
[15:58]on largest for me.
[15:59]I just still have a presence.
[16:02]Oh, you know, I'll have a column and an issue
[16:05]or I bring some ideas or depending on doing appearance,
[16:09]so I think it's different wherever,
[16:12]but obviously Martha Stewart weddings my baby.
[16:15]So it's nice to be able to still, you know,
[16:19]be involved in some way and all the, you know,
[16:22]the team at Martha is so talented and, you know,
[16:25]there are many of us for many years.
[16:27]I mean, you know, this is the 30th anniversary
[16:31]of Martha Stewart living.
[16:32]And I had dinner recently with two of my, you know,
[16:36]friends from Martha and, you know,
[16:38]we were saying like, we've known each other for 30 years.
[16:42]That's crazy.
[16:43]You know, we've all had, you know,
[16:45]gone married, had children, you know,
[16:46]like gone through good times, bad times.
[16:49]So it's nice to still, you know, be connected to that group.
[16:53]And a lot of my, you know, kind of co-workers
[16:57]and I don't even want to say co-workers
[16:59]because I feel like Martha Stewart was a family
[17:01]or like a, you know, it was a team,
[17:05]but a lot of them in different ways I still work with,
[17:08]you know, even ones who are not at Martha,
[17:11]who I was mentioning, a landing gauge
[17:14]before to you has a book Lucky and Love
[17:16]and, you know, we work together.
[17:17]And so it's made a lot of friendships too.
[17:20]That's so nice.
[17:21]And you're doing all these collaborations now
[17:23]with different companies.
[17:24]Yeah.
[17:25]I mean, I think that for me, you know,
[17:27]the brand really launched with celebrate everything.
[17:30]And then I've spent the last couple years,
[17:34]that was three years ago.
[17:35]So I've been just kind of spending the last couple years
[17:39]starting to build the brand and like all things
[17:42]figuring out, you know, kind of what it is,
[17:45]prioritizing, you know, I kind of was lucky
[17:48]because so many opportunities just, you know,
[17:50]felt, you know, kind of came to us
[17:53]and everything from, you know, merchandise.
[17:57]I curated a love shop for Bloomingdale's last year
[17:59]and so produced everything from, you know,
[18:03]Lennox, China, and Estee Lauder, you know.
[18:06]So, you know, we've done everything from that
[18:08]to, you know, sponsored content.
[18:11]We did it for eBay.
[18:12]We did a satellite media tour,
[18:14]but how you throw a royal wedding
[18:16]and giving people ideas.
[18:19]And really though what the thread through all these
[18:21]different projects and opportunities
[18:23]has been inspiring people to celebrate everything,
[18:27]whether it's through the Instagram,
[18:28]through Pinterest pictures, through TV segments.
[18:32]I did a segment with Ryan and Kelly.
[18:34]The Kelly wasn't there that there's Elizabeth Banks,
[18:37]but I did a segment on the show about, you know,
[18:39]kind of kicking off the holiday season
[18:42]and cocktails, although I did not tell them,
[18:45]I will tell you, I actually don't drink,
[18:47]which was funny, everyone thought,
[18:48]I had not that I'm against it.
[18:50]I just like, actually, I'm not a big drinker,
[18:53]but my husband thought it was funny
[18:55]that I was mixing cocktails in a clock in the morning.
[18:59]So, you know, it's been fun to have these partnerships
[19:02]and we have a really fun chasing paper,
[19:05]which is a removable mall decal line
[19:09]and we make frames, again, inspiring you
[19:12]to be personal, like their decal frames
[19:15]and you can put your kids art in it.
[19:16]You could put a nail and hang your keys in it.
[19:19]It's an easy way, whether you're in a college room,
[19:21]a kids room, an office, or you're having a party,
[19:24]if you were having a birthday party
[19:26]and a location, you're not allowed to hang anything
[19:29]on the walls.
[19:30]You can just put these decals, tape some pictures on.
[19:33]We have a window, a view of Paris, a view of New York.
[19:36]We have a bunch of different fun decals,
[19:38]so that's one collaboration.
[19:41]And for the month of February,
[19:42]we have a Georgetown Cupcake collaboration.
[19:44]So much.
[19:45]Okay, so the cupcakes were so good.
[19:48]They were so cute.
[19:49]The bottom, I mean, everything,
[19:50]like all of your presentation is just like,
[19:53]whoa, amazing.
[19:54]And fun, and I will say that one of the things
[19:56]about the brand is the attention to detail.
[19:59]And it may be.
[20:00]He is something as I grow my brand that I may need to let go of a little more, but it's
[20:07]always, for me, it's that attention to and that other little surprise.
[20:11]So when George Town said, oh, we would love to collaborate on this cupcake and I said,
[20:17]great.
[20:18]And then I was like, can we personalize the box?
[20:20]Can we put a sticker on it?
[20:21]Can the sticker have foil?
[20:23]Can it be multiple stickers?
[20:24]I mean, you know, I do think that when you're receiving a gift, you, whether you're a design
[20:31]or a person or not, it just, that little extra detail kind of makes a difference.
[20:36]Totally agree.
[20:37]Just make the thoughtfulness, right?
[20:39]It's the whole, it makes you feel good, it makes you feel like people took the time.
[20:45]I like to think so and as I said, I see in my kids that they, you know, they'll say,
[20:53]it's this person's birthday.
[20:55]Like I want to, I'm getting a group together, we're doing this or, and it really, for
[21:00]me, because it's really about, you know, doing things for people you love and making them
[21:05]feel good and doesn't have to be, you know, your husband, it could be your tall
[21:12]walker, it could be your door man, it could be your, you know, your yoga instructor.
[21:19]You know, making sure you show appreciation for, you know, people around you and creating
[21:25]the memories.
[21:26]That's true.
[21:27]That's true.
[21:28]I mean, that's what life is all about.
[21:29]And actually one thing that is in the book, and I don't know if you've read every word,
[21:34]but one big thing for me is this idea of DIT, I just read every word.
[21:39]Thank you very much.
[21:40]Yes.
[21:41]I'm looking around, you know, this office here is saying, oh my God, this is amazing.
[21:45]I'm having trouble focusing, because I just want to like look at all the books that you've
[21:49]read, but I have not read every single book, every single word in the whole room.
[21:52]I have not, I have a lot of books I would have really liked to know.
[21:55]You really have really impressed.
[21:57]I want to like go fill up my bookshelves, although I do have a lot of party books, but
[22:02]I think that for me, DIY, when we were putting the book together, and I was, you know,
[22:07]talking to, you know, the writer about kind of what the essence of it, and I kept
[22:11]on saying, it's really about creating memories with people that you want to create them
[22:18]with.
[22:19]And so, you know, whether it's your girlfriends for Galantines or, and so that's where
[22:24]DIT came, which is, yes, there is a lot of DIY, there's a lot of things that you can
[22:30]projects that you can make from the book, you know, a kiss crown where you just cut out
[22:35]a paper crown and take lipstick and kiss it, and then that could be, you know, a centerpiece
[22:40]it could be, again, a Galantine, it could be a bachelorette hat, forget the tear, but
[22:45]more than it being, or on top of it being DIY, this idea that DIT and do it together, and
[22:52]that finding these little things, whether it's finding some tradition that you do, and
[22:57]for it could be making a playlist, for everyone, it's different.
[23:00]Some people are crafty, people, some people like to cook, you know, you know, I love
[23:03]the idea of, you know, one person told me that they have a tradition that the dad,
[23:09]the kid, always makes their birthday cake the night before, and that's like, they
[23:13]summing them, they like, look, like a cookbook, and they figure out what it's going to
[23:17]be this year, and you know, not that it's like anything elaborate, but it is this, it's
[23:22]part of their childhood of baking these cakes, which I love.
[23:27]I'm like, oh, it's too late to start that, like it's 16 and 14 and 11, I better get going,
[23:33]but I do think that this year, we sent a digital invitation out, and for my 11-year-old's
[23:39]birthday, and she said, well, mom, are we going to make something and send it to?
[23:44]Like, and for her, it wasn't that she cared about the invitation itself.
[23:48]It was like the process that, like, we draw it, and then we get some stickers, and we
[23:53]put some confetti in it, and it's just this process of this project that we do together.
[23:59]And so, again, I felt like, oh, I've done a good job, like, the fact that you like,
[24:05]was actually missing making the invitation together to me was a good sign.
[24:10]I was like, we can make something else.
[24:12]Let's wait for them.
[24:14]So I know you can buy a lot of the things on your website, but if somebody, like, do
[24:18]you do parties, like if somebody was like, I want you to do my party, would you?
[24:22]I mean, I'm not a party planner.
[24:23]I know.
[24:24]I leave that too.
[24:26]I do a handful.
[24:27]I do more partnered or corporate kind of favors only because I'm not set up to be doing
[24:34]one-off favors.
[24:35]And like, the time, you know, when someone will say they really want, I'm like, it will
[24:39]be really expensive, which doesn't, you know, make sense for most people.
[24:44]So, like, occasionally, I'll just, you know, something on a bigger budget event.
[24:49]And I would love to.
[24:50]And, you know, because I love the challenge of so-and-telling me, like, oh, my kid loves, you
[24:56]know, this is the dog, but they also love soccer, like, you know, I love that challenge.
[25:01]Actually, I did for Dylan Dryer, I was from the today's show.
[25:04]They had a baby shower for her, and they asked me to help with some details.
[25:08]So I was like, okay, she's, you know, does the weather, but she likes sports.
[25:13]So I ended up doing this page, which was really cute, which was a newspaper that you
[25:17]filled in.
[25:18]And it looked like the weather said, it had the weather section, but it was at the sports
[25:21]section.
[25:22]So I do like that, you know, making a personal, and I try to have the website have as many
[25:29]of those ideas as possible.
[25:31]And then we have an Amazon shop.
[25:33]So when we do all this party stuff, you can just go Darcy Miller, Amazon, and you can
[25:37]see where I get my canisters, where I get my candy, where I get, you know, as I said,
[25:42]all for sharing all my sources, that's what, that's part of, you know, what you're
[25:46]here for.
[25:47]So.
[25:48]And what, what is coming next to you, do you think you'll do another book?
[25:51]As I said, I have to think about my relationship with my family before I do another
[25:56]book.
[25:57]No, because it was a lot of work.
[25:58]I would like to do a lot of work.
[26:00]I'm taking this little bit of time right now to try to get organized as a small business.
[26:07]You know, I've over, I've worked with so many talented people, both, you know, outside
[26:14]cookie bakers and David Stark, the vent designer, to amazing freelancers who've worked
[26:20]within my team.
[26:21]And I have, you know, a handful of a lean group of amazing young women who have worked
[26:26]with me over the years, but I don't have a lot of full time people.
[26:31]So I'm kind of taking this little moment to try to get organized and hire an assistant
[26:38]and hire, you know, all the things that, you know, when you're a startup, you want to be
[26:42]conservative about it.
[26:44]But then you get to the point that you need to, you know, put in the infrastructure to
[26:49]actually grow at a faster pace.
[26:51]So, and then I have a fun collaboration coming up the summer with the minions.
[26:57]Oh, you'll have to look out for that.
[27:02]Very cool.
[27:03]Yes.
[27:04]And that was super exciting project and I'm excited for that.
[27:07]Do you have any advice to someone who's trying to embark on a book like this, a project
[27:11]like this?
[27:12]I mean, my advice for people who tell people not to do a book is, yes, do it.
[27:17]Because it is, I feel like a fun project and I would say my only advice is like, and
[27:23]not that, from my experience, that like, you know, talk to people, get advice, you know,
[27:30]every book is different, you know, kind of do your research, you know, like for me,
[27:35]I actually didn't really look at, I mean, I know what's out there.
[27:39]I love all my friends' books in the space, but, you know, I kind of took it, I always
[27:45]take everything I do at the point of view is, what do I really want?
[27:50]What if, okay, if I'm having a party, what do I really want as opposed to, you know,
[27:54]kind of what's been done, you know?
[27:57]And so, again, I approached the book with, okay, well, I would want pictures of parties
[28:02]and I wouldn't wear this stuff as from, I don't want to know.
[28:05]So my advice along the way, and so, and sticking to kind of your vision, obviously
[28:12]with the help of a good editor, every book publisher, you know, that I work with Harper
[28:16]Collins and, you know, it was great to have my editor to like bounce things off.
[28:21]I'm like, should the parties be split up or do you think it's great to have that partnership?
[28:26]But at the end of the day, there were some things that like, I stood on it, which is
[28:31]maybe why I took a little longer, but I'm glad that I did.
[28:35]Well, thank you so much for having me.
[28:37]Well, thank you.
[28:38]I mean, I just want to know, you know, I love your podcast and I love listening and I love
[28:43]your, you know, kind of joy and passion for books and, you know, in this digital world,
[28:49]you know, I just love, I love that you love books.
[28:53]Thank you.
[28:54]Me too.
[28:55]So, thank you.
[28:56]You're welcome.
[28:57]Thank you.
[28:58]You've been listening to Moms and Have Time to Read Books with Zippy Owens.
[29:01]Please make sure to sign up for my newsletter at zippyowens.com to get more updates about episodes
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[29:09]Again, today's episode has been sponsored by my collaboration with Page One Books and Hampton's
[29:14]hand poured.
[29:15]Please check out the book box bundle, retailing on page one books.com, also available on
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[29:22]Please check it out.
[29:23]And thanks again for checking out WeFoundTime.com for this week's five new essays.
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[29:32]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound for the Sound Editing.
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[29:40]music.
[29:41]Thanks for listening.
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[29:44]Have a great week, everyone.