Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Salena Baca. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Salena, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope the educational tools and resources I provide will help to pass crochet through the generations in better hands than we found it.

Salena, 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 learned to crochet at the age of 5 and haven’t put my hook down since! I’ve published over 300 patterns, authored 7 crochet books (and counting), taught 2 courses with Craftsy (so far), and helped to launch quite a few crochet enterprises through the years.

This work didn’t come easily; In fact, my own lack of crochet knowledge and skill is what lead me to launch a full-blown career and the American Crochet Association. I struggled learning what the basics were, how to read patterns, or even making crochet projects that looked even and skilled. I couldn’t quite find all the answers I was looking for in a straightforward way (like, from zero to ten – that’s just how my brain works), so I began sorting through what I learned and created lessons and courses others could easily use to build their crochet knowledge and skill.

If you want to learn how to crochet, build your skills, sell your finished projects, teach, write patterns, or just make straight edges and count stitches properly, the American Crochet Association can help.

I am dedicated to helping crocheters to help themselves, so that crochet can be passed through the generations in better hands than we found it.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

People are important to me, and I want to operate a social media presence that builds relationships and helps people to know, like, and trust me and my brand. I feel the best way to accomplish this is to add value to the lives of others, so everything I post must fit into one of three categories: entertainment, information, and community.

I’ve used social media since 2009 and building a community space has always made the most sense to me. I don’t think there is anything quite as good as a Facebook Group for this purpose, and I assure anyone interested in connecting on social media joins us there after finding one of the following:

Entertainment: Memes on Instagram and Facebook.
Information: Articles and cheat sheets.
Community: Ask questions and share information.

Because I’m most comfortable with a Facebook group, it is a very natural space to encourage others to participate there. To be a space where engagement is encouraged, you must be engaged and engaging.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There is a difference between persuasion and manipulation.

Having an online presence, and using digital marketing tactics, can be difficult to navigate – especially since the online world is so new and we’re learning, growing, and changing every day.

I’ve worked for entities that sought to manipulate my community (the crochet world), and those tactics were very hard for me to spot at first because they seek to appeal to and exploit emotion.

I heard somewhere that marketing tactics are either pushing or pulling people in a direction. Manipulation aims to push and persuasion to influence and pull.

People are important to me, and I strongly believe that any product or service I offer should add value to the lives of others. If that is true, then I can build trust in my community because their lives are truly better after an experience with my entity.

Start by adding value to the lives of others, and solving problems for them. Then, you’ll be able to persuade them into trusting you with their time and money and manipulation will not only be obsolete, it will be unnecessary.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.americancrochetassociation.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/american.crochet.association
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCrochetAssociation
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AmericanCrochetAssociation
• Other: https://americancrochetassociation.blog/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanCrochetAssociation

Image Credits
Salena Baca, Salena Baca Crochet