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

Alright, Karina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

We were growing rapidly as an event after our start in May 2019. And then came March 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic so we had to stop hosting all events. It was then that we took a risk and pivoted to hosting a virtual version of the market on Instagram live. Then in September of 2020 we took the biggest risk and started hosting events in person again. We wore masks and every vendor had sanitizer on their tables. It was such a difficult, uncertain time. It was nerve-wracking but it ended up being such a great decision. We were able to provide a space for our patrons to have some semblance of normalcy in a lower risk environment and a way for makers to earn some income after months of not being able to vend.

Karina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After about 3 years of participating in local makers markets selling my embroidery, with help from my husband and business partner Alton I started Market on Florida. We wanted to create a market that was truly vendor centered, and that is one of the many things that sets us apart. We make a point of highlighting and promoting every single vendor who participates in our events and on the day of the event we go above and beyond, even assisting the vendors with their setups. I especially love how it’s helped us meet the most talented, wonderfully creative folks and together we’ve been building this incredibly diverse, inclusive community.

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

I spoke a bit about this earlier when I mentioned our pivot from hosting events in person to hosting virtual markets in March of 2020. As a new business that could have been the end of us. A big part of the appeal of markets is getting to interact with the makers and artists, so we had to find a way to recreate that online. And Instagram live allowed us to do that because we could have each vendor join us for a few minutes and do a presentation and answer questions in real time from the folks watching at home.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

For me it’s always been a deep love and reverence for anything made by hand, a connection to the past, and a love of the sensory experiences that make life worthwhile. Whether it’s art or a delicious meal. Showcasing the talented makers, artists, food vendors and vintage sellers we work with is what drives me. Similarly when it comes to my embroidery (@in_stitches813) I’m driven by that love of handmade things, that connection to the past, along with desire to shatter preconceived notions about needlework.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/market_on_florida
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themarketonflorida/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100063716823621/
• Other: My embroidery Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/in_stitches813/

Image Credits
Mia Evedith