Meet Jennifer Balletto | Owner of Create it & Art Educator
We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Balletto and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jennifer, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I’ve always thought of myself as someone who does NOT take risks. However, as a business owner, I think nowadays it’s a risk just having a small business! Taking risks over the past eighteen years of owning my studio has seemed to pay off.
In 2008, during the recession I almost lost my business. I had taken a month long trip to Kenya, a once-in-a-lifetime trip with my two Kenyan friends. When I returned at the end of October, I was upside down; owing rent, payroll and utilities which I didn’t have enough finances to pay off. Upon realizing this, I ran a half-off everything sale for one weekend. I made just enough to pay everything off and kept going.
During that recession every business was hurting. So, I decided to partner up with local restaurants to host an event called ‘Dinner and a Dish’, where customers eat food catered by a local restaurant and then make a fused glass dish. It was so successful I held the event every month for over five years and had restaurants calling to ask if they could cater for my event!
I’m also taking risks every year, by changing things up. One year I introduced seasonal camps for kids as well as summer camp. Then in 2018, when succulents were all the rage, I made a ‘Build Your Own Terrarium’ area, where customers start with gravel, soil and then plant and decorate their living artistic terrarium with tiny mushrooms and light-up gnome houses.
I think I made my largest risk during the pandemic. I knew nothing about e-commerce, but I photographed everything pottery piece we had and added it to my website on a ‘shop’ page to sell to-go kits so we could make it through the shut-in days of Covid. It worked great once the word got out people could buy online and pick up. We were even shipping items out of state with acrylic paints so they didn’t have to be fired! From there, we’re offered an ‘After School Art Program’ where kids could come after the ‘Zoomed’ school and have some artistic, fun time in person with other kids. This idea came from parents asking if we could extend summer camp throughout the year because their children were stuck at home and still not in school. I find when I listen to my customers and my community the risks, seem to pay off.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Since I have always been an employee I never set out to own my own business. I never went to business school or study business or marketing. I had my first job at thirteen and worked at various types of businesses. So I would say I did not take the ‘easy’ route to owning my own business. I had a lot of hard, painful and costly mistakes along the way. However, from each mistake I learned a lesson of what I wanted and what I needed to change.
I went from teaching fused glass classes part time in a pottery store, to full time teaching, to sharing the rent with the pottery store for seven years. Half the shop was my shop ‘Glassfuison Studio’ I called it, and the other half was pottery painting. After seven years I was so busy I planned to move to my own location. Then the pottery owner said she wanted out and I bought the pottery business. I didn’t know the first thing about pottery! I went to every pottery convention and class I could attend so I could master the business and keep it alive as well as have fused glass. Sadly, after the pandemic we no longer offer walk-in fused glass as I can’t get enough materials to keep it going.
I quickly learned after a few years, I could complain about a bad situation or I could take action to change it, get rid of it or live with it. I started to step back and focus more on my customers and what they wanted and needed, shifting to make my customers happy became easier. I started to listen and ask customers what they wanted or if they complained I’d ask how would they like it to be different. I also found listening to my staff was incredibly helpful. I mean, after all they were working customers just as much as I was and maybe they had a different point of view.
When I started to hold monthly meetings was when my employees really shaped into a team. We were bonded and we could meet and check-in with each other. We talked about our ‘wins’ for the month and what we needed to change. My employees all have a say in my business and we vote on most of the decisions made for the studio together.
This connection between my team and my customers reflects my brand. I was born with congenital heart disease and art was a way I could participate in school because I could not do sports. Each year in school I took art instead of PE, so I learned how to work with all kinds of mediums to create art work. I learned at a young age I was different than most of my friends and it taught me to show kindness to the kids who were also different in school. I carry this same belief into the brand of my studio; all are welcome because art can heal and connect you with others. Art was the way I could control things and express my feelings during times I was not in control having open-heart surgeries at ages thirteen and fourteen years old.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
To start out, I would take my friend to Willowood for breakfast. It’s a cozy place in the small town of Graton with great food. In the summer time it’s always a fun time to float, kayak or canoe down the Russian River, but make sure to wear plenty of sunscreen! Sometimes after a long day of kayaking or floating down the river, you’re ready to eat after burning off calories paddling. A great ‘come-as-you-are’ place after being all day on the river is The Russian River Pub. There is a huge outdoor dinning area and it doesn’t matter if you are in your bathing suit and shorts, just make sure to have shoes on! Dogs are even welcome.
I really love to be outdoors so a nice drive out to the beach to hike the ‘Sea to Sky Trail’ at the Jenner Headlands is a nice thing to show off our coastline. On the hike you can look through a telescope to view the marine life on the beach. After a long hike, when you don’t feel like cooking Sonoma Pizza Company, in Forestville has great pizzas for take-out. They have gluten-free crust that you won’t believe it’s gluten-free!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would most defiantly not have a business if it was not for two groups of people; my incredible local community and the amazing employees I have now and had over the eighteen years! Over the eighteen years I’ve had the joy of watching my customers transition from being pregnant, to having their child in my camps and then having their siblings in camp years later! Sometimes those campers grow up to then become my employees! I love being apart of these children’s lives and getting to know their families and friends.
Along the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the most talented and driven young ladies, who go on to do great things after they leave my business. I had my first job when I was thirteen working at Sanrio Surprises in the Santa Rosa Mall. The manager of the store took a chance on hiring me at such a young age and it taught me to hire people who are younger and eager as well. I’m so grateful to my first manager for teaching me young people deserve a chance to prove themselves in the work field.
Website: getcreateit.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/createit.seb/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-balletto-b00ba080/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glassfusionandpotterytoo
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/create-it-sebastopol?osq=Create+it
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
