I have told this story before, but it's worth retelling. In July 2008, I got an e-mail from a lady in California, singing the praises of a talented friend in Ohio who she felt should be teaching her workshops in our store. With a little research, I learned that Michelle Zindorf lived in West Alexandria (about 30 miles from here), could do magic tricks with a brayer and had a legion of blog followers who called themselves "Zindorfians." That did it for me -- I loved the way Zindorfian rolled off my tongue (try it yourself).
So we contacted Michelle and set up a workshop in our store -- her first held outside of California. It sold out in days -- participants were coming from Kentucky, Arizona, New York -- and Canada. But we still hadn't met her -- or so we thought. Stampaway in Cincinnati was a week or so after we contacted her, and Michelle made a trip down to see her first rubber stamp convention. She came up to me and introduced herself, and we spent 15 minutes or so trying to figure out how we knew each other. It wasn't clear until I made a random comment about Waynesville (my hometown) being about the same distance from Dayton as West Alexandria -- Michelle stopped me and said "Waynesville -- do you know Mark Bradstreet?" And then we knew -- Mark is an accountant and Michelle used to work for him, and I have known Mark and his family since I was a kid. Our little print shop used to do printing for Mark's firm -- Michelle placed the orders and I delivered them. And 15 years passed before our paths crossed again.
We have had at least a dozen of Michelle's brayer workshop in our store since. Every one of the beginner workshops sold out in advance, and lots of those students came back to take advanced workshops. Karen and I told Michelle often that she needed to quit her job and go out on the road and do workshops. Then last spring she got downsized and the decision was made for her. Within a few weeks, she had a national tour set up that ran well into this year.
But at the same time, Michelle became a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, and Stampin' Up came out with new policies last September stating that their demonstrators are not allowed to teach with non-Stampin' Up products. Michelle tried, but they wouldn't make an exception for her other than to let her teach the workshops she had already scheduled. So unless something changes, this past Saturday was her last appearance in our store. Michelle is our friend and we wish her well.
Zoe and I wandered into what used to be the empty storefront next door (we have taken it over -- until we come up with a better idea, it's being called "Marco's Too"), and this nice lady said "You have a camera -- great! You can take our pictures!" So I did . . .
The view of the Zindorfians from the perspective of their Fearless Leader . . .
And a view of the Fearless Leader from the perspective of the Zindorfians . . .
Another angle because I know I missed a couple of students from behind Michelle's shoulder.
And a couple of looks over theirs . . .
If you're new to this and want to know what all the fuss is about, check out Michelle's blog at http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com
I've been a Zindorfian since you introduced it on your blog/e-mail last year. Her blog is truly addicting :)
ReplyDeleteLove to you all at Marcos. I will miss teaching there, but you just try and keep me out of that fabulous store! Huge Hugs!
ReplyDeleteMichelle Zindorf