We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Diane Davis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Diane below.

Diane, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I am a renaissance woman. When I was in school, my teachers, except one, labeled me as a girl they couldn’t encourage. At home, I was picked on by my siblings and suffered abuse from my parents. But in my spirit, I knew there was something special about me. I didn’t believe in what people said about me. Being the good student I was, my college was paid for by my brother who dropped out and went into the Navy.

After college, I worked in fashion merchandising for a year and one of my neighbors suggested that I become a flight attendant and I did. I worked for Trans World Airlines for 26 years. After retirement, having a hard time adjusting to 9 to 5 life as an accountant, I moved to LA from Atlanta and discovered background acting. I studied fashion design in the evening at LA Trade Tech and my crochet design business started in 2004. From there, I moved to New York and have become successful as a “bit actor.” People will remember me as a overcomer. I did it by grace of God and Jesus Christ.

Diane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I make money as an actress, but design as crocheter which consumes my acting money. When I graduated from college, I moved to San Francisco and lived my brother and his wife. At that time crochet was enjoying a resurgence, so she and her friends had a Crochet Club and I joined. At 14, my mother bought a new sewing machine and I started sewing. Sewing stirred up the craftsperson in me and I loved it. Crochet became a new love. For years, I bought books, practice stitches, made doilies, and even quit for five years. When I started again, I have never stopped.

I created my first crochet collection in 2004 and tried to sell it from the free spots on Venice Beach. The vendors there gave me hard time after they saw I was making money from my hats. Long story short, a store keeper came and took pictures of my displays and the next I knew the police approached me and told me I had to break down. The free spots, which I won in the weekly lottery, was for only people who did photography, art, religion, and political cause. Crochet was not considered art. I went around to other markets and did okay. Then in 2010, I moved to New York City.

My creativity is went up in New York because of the inspiration from what I saw in the City. My first hat I designed in New York was the African Tutu. The first place I set up in New York was in the community room at Old St. Patrick in SoHo. A lady who had boutiques in SoHo and on Madison Avenues, approached my displays and pulled off 5 of my hats and asked for a deal. I was so impressed with her I sold them to her for $20 a piece. She sold them in her stores for $125 each. That was when I began to respect my designing. A fellow vendor told me I was selling my hats for to low a price. I took a class at the library on how to price my designs. When I started selling at 77th and Columbus, I learned about smartphones and being able accept credit cards. Soon after that, I built my own website on Wix and it was tweaked by a man on 5R. www.dpearldaviscrochetdesign.com

I was first online with Etsy in 2008, when that site first started. Let me say, I have not been very successful online, because I don’t work at it like I should. I’m 73 now, it seems to me that I can never do enough to get the online presence that others have. Right now after receiving a notice from Meta, that I have to set up a check out on my Facebook business page and Instagram or be disabled then my attitude is disable me. I prefer the terms at Etsy and rather work at selling directly from my website. Etsy advertises too!

I have considered closing down my website, but I keep buying yarn and keep designing new and more creative pieces. So maybe I will try a little harder at marketing on my website and shutdown my Facebook business page and socialize on Instagram.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I retired as a flight attendant, I decided to go back to school and study accounting. Once I started working in accounting in Atlanta, I was good at it, but did not want to make $10 and hour (Proverbs 16:18). So, I spent my retirement money on my mortgage and bills. In November of 2002, my car had been repossessed, I was in forclosure, my brother sent me some money to move back to St. Petersburg. I put my stuff in storage and moved to LA. Youth is everything in LA and I had a hard time even getting a temp job in accounting.

I moved into a dorm in a hostel in Hollywood and when one of my roommates saw I was trying to work told me what I could do to not be homeless. I took her advice. and lived in two transitional residences, a section 8 building and finally after learning Quickbooks for free, I got a permanent job and moved into a bungalow community on Adams Blvd. My biggest mistake in LA while having that job is not going to the auction and buying a car.

Eventually, I became freelancer working as a Quickbooks bookkeeper, student at LA Trade Tech, vendor of my crochet designs, and a background actor.

When the opportunity came for me to move to New York, I took it. But the lady, who was a childhood neighbor, that invited me to come to and take over her apartment in the Bronx, decided she did not want to move to Atlanta, asked me to leave. I left some of my belongings with her, moved into a convent for two weeks, then went to the Brooklyn Women’s Shelter. Everyday I was there, I got up showered got dressed, had breakfast and went to look for a job. After 9 days, my social worker stopped me and told me the executive board would like to meet me on the 10th day. When I met with them, they ask me about my goals. In the end, the executive director told me, “we believe we will hear about you someday.” They moved me to the Upper West Side that night, one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Manhattan. I am still here down the street from the transitional residence. New York City has been good for me.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I do sell from my website, www.dpearldaviscrochetdesign.com and Etsy. There were times I would take classes at the library and SCORE to learn to build my online presence, but I think I need help. I just posted my latest idea on Etsy to do custom make knitted socks. I am going to spend more time on these two sites because Meta wants to me set up a check out on my business page and Instagram. I don’t want give them a percentage of sales and I find the navigation on my Facebook business page is confusing. I still post new collections on my website, but I know I need to do more to sell more. My website is financed by the money earned for acting.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dpearldaviscrochetdesign.com
• Instagram: @dpearldavis

Image Credits
Diane Genorris Davis