Designing Women

Filming video segments for the Gift & Home Channel this weekend was a very rewarding project for me - for several reasons. First, I love the synergy that results when talented and creative people work together on something...and believe me, everyone involved in this was talented beyond measure. (I'm around the corner in that shot, but it's the only one with the whole crew in it so I wanted to use it!) My thanks to Mr. Deb for snapping shots during the filming.

From the crew of Peak Video Productions - Jim, Robin, and Rick - to GHC Executive Producer Brittany Lund (all shown above), and the women entrepreneurs whom I interviewed as part of the videos, this was a group of professionals. We had a short window of availability to shoot: 2 hours for six clips is only 15 minutes of filming time per segment. We are talking FAST paced here! It was seamless, easy, and fun, thanks to all of the people I mentioned above. You've seen photos of my shoot with the Farm Chicks, Teri & Serena...let me show you what else we did!

I truly enjoyed the opportunity to showcase some women entrepreneurs who are outstanding. Each of these women excells in not only the design of products, but the presentation of them. And since that was our focus for the videos, they were shoe-ins for a feature. Tammy Gilley, shown above during filming, creates every single product that was for sale in her booth. She also created an impromptu backdrop from pleated paper - and that was perfect for our video! You'll find Tammy's creativity at http://www.tammygilley.com/.

Next to Tammy's booth was Heather Bullard's 'Present Past Collection'. Don't be surprised if that name sounds familiar to you - Heather writes & photographs for Romantic Homes magazine, and has a very popular blog. In her online boutique, she sells romantic vintage style home decor & personal accessories. She is a darling gal, very professional, and you can see more of Heather's enticing displays at http://www.thepresentpast.com/.

Next to Heather was Bari J. Ackerman. Bari designs and manufactures a line of personal accessories - purses, belts, handbags, small cases, wrislets - that are absolutely breathtaking. Inspired by vintage styles but completely fresh and hip, Bari's designs & products appeal to a huge market demographic. She's already received quite a bit of press! For more info on how you can order Bari J's products for yourself or your shop, visit http://www.barijonline.com/.

Tammy, Heather, Bari J, and I, along with a bevy of other talented women entrepreneurs, are members of Women Take Wing!, an online community. That's how I first met them, and now that we've met in person I have even more appreciation and admiration for the businesses they are building. They are each smart, talented, creative, beautiful, and kind.... being surrounded by them all weekend was an inspiration. Ladies, thank you all for your participation and support in this project.

The videos are now in post-production, and should be available for viewing on http://www.thegiftandhomechannel.com/ by mid-July. As soon as I get word that they are up, I'll post the links here. The segments will be on-demand viewing for years to come!

All photos property of Debi Ward Kennedy 2008

all rights reserved, reproduction or use prohibited without express permission.