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A Colorful Conversation with the Fabulous Dionne Woods
227 Plays5 days ago
Dionne Woods, the creative force behind The Turquoise Iris, is a passionate Motivatarian who inspires others with her boundless creativity and infectious joy. As an artist, mentor, and community builder, her fearless journey has transformed humble beginnings in hand-painted furniture into a dynamic array of canvas art, wearable pieces, heirloom journals, and luxurious velvet fabrics—all imbued with her signature storytelling and vibrant energy.
At the heart of her work is an unwavering commitment to empowering others on their creative journeys. By championing her four pillars—Creativity, Connection, Confidence, and Curiosity—Dionne guides artists and entrepreneurs in crafting lives and businesses that reflect their true passion and purpose. As the founder of The Turquoise Iris Journal, a celebrated print publication spotlighting inspiring artists and their stories, she has built thriving communities through membership groups, coaching programs, retreats, and her engaging podcast.
Whether painting, teaching, or speaking, Dionne remains dedicated to inspiring others to create boldly, connect deeply, and fully embrace their artistic potential. This is a conversation between great friends who connected through creating and sharing their joy.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Rebloom Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome to Rebloom, the podcast where we explore the power of change, rediscovery and living with intention. That's right. We're your hosts, Lori and Jamie, two friends who really love a good story about transformation.
00:00:16
Speaker
In each podcast, we're going to chat with inspiring guests who've made bold pivots in their lives or careers. They've let go of what no longer serve them to embrace something more authentic, joyful and true to who they really are.
00:00:31
Speaker
And the best part, many of them reconnect with passions or dreams they discovered as kids. It's about finding the seeds planted long ago and letting them bloom again.
00:00:43
Speaker
So if you're ready for real conversations about reinvention, purpose, and following your creative heart, you're in the right place. Let's dive in and see what it takes to rebloom.
Welcoming Dionne Woods
00:00:57
Speaker
Our listeners are in for the biggest treat today. This is ah motivating conversation, ah authentic conversation, and one that i can't believe it's taken us this many episodes to get to our beautiful friend Dion. my gosh, Laura, this was amazing.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah. And what i really loved was, Because, i mean, I've known Dion, but I've not really known Dion. And in this conversation, I think we got to learn a lot more about her and her struggles and how those struggles led to some things that were far more beautiful and and turning things around, like, you know, one day being shy and scared and fearful. And now she's like...
00:01:49
Speaker
doing it up yeah yeah women and you know, she really shows us the possibilities of how you can transform yourself if you just face your fears.
00:02:01
Speaker
If you face your fears and you just take that step forward. So for our listeners, this is one you do not want to miss. Thank you.
00:02:11
Speaker
Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Rebloom. This is going to be a wonderful conversation among friends. Hi, Lori. How are you? hey Jamie. We get to talk to our really good friend today. I'm very excited.
00:02:29
Speaker
We
Dionne's Creative Journey
00:02:30
Speaker
are. We're talking with our friend Dionne Woods, who we have known for several years now. And she is just a light of inspiration. And we cannot wait for you all to meet her.
00:02:45
Speaker
And let us just welcome her. Hello, Dionne. How are you? am better now than I was just a few minutes ago because I get to see your lovely faces. Thanks for having me on today, ladies.
00:02:57
Speaker
And you can't see her, but she always looks like a beautiful movie star. Like always. She does. She looks like a rock star right now. She does.
00:03:09
Speaker
yeah Well, let me tell everybody just a little bit about Dionne, but I want her to tell us her story. But she is the creative force behind this beautiful magazine called The Turquoise Iris.
00:03:22
Speaker
She is a passionate motivatarian, which I love. um And she really helps to inspire others, other creatives through creativity, connection, confidence, and curiosity.
00:03:36
Speaker
She's an artist. She's a mentor. She's a community builder. She started out by painting furniture and she's flourished into ah canvases, wearable pieces, heirloom journals.
00:03:50
Speaker
And she even has a luxurious collection of velvet fabrics that are infused with her beautiful style of storytelling and vibrant energy.
00:04:00
Speaker
um I'm going to let her do tell her more of her story. But Dionne, thank you for joining us today. Absolutely. Thank you so much. So um just a just a quick, just to jump on that. Thank you for for for saying all of that. and It almost sometimes makes me tired.
00:04:18
Speaker
I know. Watching while you do makes me tired. Yeah. You're a dynamo. I just, um I feel like You know, the scariest thing I ever did other than become a mom is start the Turquoise Iris.
00:04:32
Speaker
And the reason I have a name like that, and it's not just Dion Woods, is because when when I first started my Etsy store in 2010, you had to give it ah kind of a name. And I was just following suit with like Miss Mustard Seed. And, you know, people in the industry who were working on furniture, they had like this other name.
00:04:53
Speaker
So I took... a name I knew that would be incredibly inspirational with my grand, my grandmother and my mother's middle name, that's Iris. And combine that with turquoise and put this together for the turquoise Iris, because turquoise is like the color that makes my heart skip a beat to this day.
00:05:12
Speaker
Yours and mine and Lori's too. we both, we, are absolutely. yeah Isn't it? It's just like the, the fluidity of the ocean and the and movement of water and the energy that's involved in that. So, um,
00:05:25
Speaker
From, you know, from from starting with my furniture and you know what I was doing, which going full circle, when I first started my Etsy store, I was finding things like silver trays and things that I just thought would be kind of a cool piece of decor. And I would flip it, um put it on Etsy and, you know, mark it up four times.
00:05:46
Speaker
But the one time I did a piece of furniture, And I priced one high ticket item and it sold to a lady in Louisiana and I'm in Oklahoma city. That was actually the instigator. I want to say it was because I've always known I was an artist, but it's not true. I have not known I'm an artist.
00:06:04
Speaker
Um, that thing that sold. And then I had the struggle of figuring out how do I ship a piece of furniture across the country? Is that even doable in 2011, 12? Um, and ruined that.
00:06:15
Speaker
Um, and i ruined that piece of furniture by spray painting it. And I kept shipping and went through the process of putting antiques on trucks and figuring out how to do that.
00:06:34
Speaker
And i even used the bus, like the, you know, your Greyhound bus for three years. I loaded furniture in my car, drove it to the bus station when they were in between buses.
00:06:45
Speaker
So it wouldn't be, you know, as dangerous, I should say, and loaded pieces of furniture on the cargo underneath the bus just so my customers could pay lower shipping. Oh my gosh.
00:06:57
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. If you want to do something, you just figure out a way. Okay, so this is this is my part normally on the podcast because I'm fascinated by this. Jamie knows what I'm going to ask.
00:07:10
Speaker
I do. I do. i I am always curious about your childhood and what what you were like as a kid and were there seeds that led you towards...
00:07:24
Speaker
initially painting furniture? Or even was there something before that? i know' I don't know your story prior to your furniture painting business. And so I'm i'm curious to learn about that.
00:07:37
Speaker
Sure, absolutely. I've lived in Oklahoma City my entire life. My it's a big city, but my high school is just down the road. um So my parents, ah my mom and dad divorced when I was five. And between that the 10 years they were married, they lived in seven homes.
00:08:00
Speaker
So you want to talk about the original flippers, like DIYers, that was my mom and dad. So we were on the news, or not on the news, but on the cover of the Daily Oklahoman for having flipped homes because first one was $11,000. They flipped it for $20,000. started that. And
00:08:20
Speaker
um and i I'll tell another story about fast forwarding to when Matt and I bought our first home when those two hooligans went up the attic and found an antique piece of furniture.
00:08:31
Speaker
and But anyway, that was it. i I have an older brother who is the dad dork on social media. um And he's just taken off in the last few years telling jokes in his doorbell um because he had a sense of humor.
00:08:48
Speaker
He has a sense of humor. He got from my dad. so I was an athlete, ladies. I did not do art. um The ah thing I wanted to do was to go shoot hoops on my driveway.
00:09:02
Speaker
um I played soccer. Oh, my God. This shocks me. shit I knew none of this. None of this. yeah None. Well, so i I mean, that was my thing. It was... um When I was in sixth grade, it was the most important thing to me, ladies, to one, be the Masonic Award winner, but to be the fastest girl in the in the school.
00:09:26
Speaker
And like, I was so competitive and so driven by super kids day when we had like the outdoor athletics where you had a partner and all the things. So what drove me was to be my, bret my brother's buddy and to wrestle and to be the fastest. And, um, I learned that,
00:09:47
Speaker
Competition drove me and, you know, I had to have the highest scores, the
Childhood Influences and Early Creativity
00:09:53
Speaker
highest grades. Like I think I'm a three on the Enneagram if you haven't noticed.
00:09:59
Speaker
um So growing up, let me tell you, the first thing I remember putting together, we had no money. There wasn't crowns at home. There wasn't paint supplies. I didn't have anything like that. um But I did have a best friend whose mom painted on canvas.
00:10:15
Speaker
And so we moved in next to her when I was seven. And every once a in the summertime, I would go through the front door and I'd be walking to Jessica's bedroom and I'd look over and I would see JJ painting.
00:10:29
Speaker
And I'm like, what is this? What is this thing? And I would sit down. I would never go find Jessica. i'm like, if I sit real quiet, can I just watch you? I never had supplies though. So it wasn't like I got to do that. But somehow about the time Hobby Lobby started dollhouse kits, Lori, you asked this question because when I saw dollhouse kits, it was like, I could build a tiny little house and decorate it And so my mom, even though we didn't have very much money, she always made sure that we had framed
00:11:06
Speaker
prints and she would use her last dollar to make sure that she had a professional framed artwork on our wall. And she painted the walls and she knew how to do all of these DIY things that a lot of my friends didn't know how to do. so I just took that dollhouse, used all my allowance and I would put it all together. i would use the house paint or like the paint my mom had been using and I would take toothpicks and I would cut out magazines and And I would frame them and glue it to the wall. And I had little scraps of fabric and I would make carpet and I would glue wallpaper. So it wasn't because I played with things because i didn I didn't really play with toys. It was more of like instantly grown up.
00:11:48
Speaker
how do you How do you grow up fast enough? um But Dollhouses was the first time i created. Still didn't think of myself as an artist. Really didn't identify. like I'm 49 next week and I really never...
00:12:05
Speaker
considered myself an artist until I was 38, 39, probably. ah wow. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. So i'm I'm assuming it was, you know, high school, um getting married, kids. um Was there point in time that you went...
00:12:27
Speaker
I need to be, when was, when did the, I need to be creative bug hit you? When did it really come to you and and you said, I need to answer this, this call?
00:12:38
Speaker
i know exactly when it was. I was 20 years old and I was managing a customer service department for the Auto Trader magazine. do you remember those?
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah. okay but Oklahoma City Department. i um i got a job there years old as a proofreader. What a drag.
00:13:01
Speaker
But it paid nine bucks an hour. OK, so that was big time. And so while I was there for the two and a half years, I got promoted over my supervisor to the actual manager of the entire department. So at that age, I was the also the youngest person.
00:13:17
Speaker
And what was happening inside of me, even though I knew every avenue to every department and they put me in front to talk to customers, I was dying inside. First off, they said, you're going to have to wear khakis with a collared shirt. And I was like.
00:13:33
Speaker
yeah is out here ah Yeah, you got to see Dionne's color choices. there is are there She does not own khaki. Of course, my partner was like, hey, khakis, and I don't have to buy clothes for to work. And I'm like, I live for buying clothes for work. Get out of here. yeah What was happening was i was i was getting more and more smothered in the office.
00:13:54
Speaker
So I went and found a job where I could sell clothes in a very high end. um It's called Nichols Hills here in Oklahoma City. High end store. And I got the job.
00:14:06
Speaker
So I wore my mom's suit clothes, you know, her professional clothes and put on pantyhose and pumps and scarves around my neck. And I was 20 years old, got this job ah working for a woman ah named Ruth Myers in Oklahoma City. And this woman was the epitome of what I thought I wanted to be. She had a store, her dresses, she sold Bill Blass and Donna Karan and um just the highest in clothing here in Oklahoma city.
00:14:36
Speaker
So little did I know that the, every day I sat in that office or in that store, i was picking apart all the old decor and how they should be painting the walls. And we need to move this piece of furniture over here and this over here. Like yeah it ladies, I was, i was just,
00:14:55
Speaker
the creative force inside of me was unfolding. And I thought, I just, I can't just stand here waiting on customers when I actually want to move that whole office around and make that work better. Like I know how that painting should look. and oh wow. That's so funny. All I wanted to do was make things pretty. And I knew that I had that knack. I started working with the mannequins. I started styling them.
00:15:20
Speaker
um Matt and I got married about that time. And so I quit that job and I started working in another retail store. And she said, Dionne, have out the windows, get after the decor, move the furniture, paint the walls, do all the things. And I loved that so much. So while we were buying homes, painting them, painting the woodwork, flipping them,
00:15:42
Speaker
Laying tile, um just, you know, making curtains. I was making balances and curtains and getting out my sewing machine and making pillows. And I was just becoming a homemaker.
00:15:53
Speaker
And I realized of all my friends, I was the only person that had artwork on the walls. And yeah, they were hand-me-downs or they were very cheap or I literally made them from magazines and framed them, you know, from garage sale frames and I would paint the frame.
00:16:10
Speaker
um I've just been DIYing my life. And so that's the moment that when i when I realized inside the Auto Trader Magazine office with men in their khakis, I gotta get, I gotta go. Yeah.
00:16:24
Speaker
you know I can't even imagine you in that environment. It's funny. i When I was out of college, my first job was for a bank.
00:16:35
Speaker
And I remember going to a big bank meeting. And you know I'm 20-something years old, 22, 23. And I remember looking around that the conference table. There were all these older men.
00:16:47
Speaker
And they all looked so miserable. And I'm like, don't want to be here and look like this. But, ah you know, it's funny when you when ah most of the people that we've talked to, Dionne, who have had careers or jobs that are like that, they're accountants they're business or they're doing trading. And they're like, this is not who I am. i have this this creative heart that just needs to be let go, you know, just opened up.
Career Challenges and New Pathways
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:19
Speaker
Yeah, Jamie. And I love listening to the stories on your podcast. Some of the guests that you have are so inspiring. And I mean, you know that I stand up in front of people now and I i talk.
00:17:30
Speaker
But that job, i would go out from meetings with all these men and I... i would go and throw up in my car because of my nerves, because they would look at me and say, why, aren't your numbers or why this, or why did you mess up payroll? And I'm like, guys, you put me in a position.
00:17:48
Speaker
I feel like you set me up to fail. Like these women out there hate me. These, you know, I'm like, I am struggling. and, and I don't like this. I knew cars. I caught on really quickly, but I was not going to speak in a meeting with these guys. I was not going to speak up.
00:18:06
Speaker
And I've had to find my voice. And we're talking 29 years ago, um right going into my car, throwing up. Don't give me any attention. i just let me do my job, but don't ask me these questions.
00:18:20
Speaker
And then you're responsible for people's payroll. Oh, ladies. Yeah. Let's take a quick minute and thank our amazing sponsors. Our podcast is proudly brought to you today by Jet Creative and Urban Stems.
00:18:35
Speaker
Jet Creative is a women owned marketing firm committed to community and empowerment since 2013. Are you ready to rebloom and build a website or start a podcast? Visit jetcreative.com backslash podcast to kickstart your journey.
00:18:51
Speaker
They will help you bloom in ways you never imagined. And bonus, our listeners get an exclusive discount when you mention rebloom. And a huge thanks to Urban Stems, your go-to and our go-to source for fresh, gorgeous bouquets and gifts delivered coast to coast.
00:19:11
Speaker
Use Bloom Big 20 and save 20% on your next order. And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at ReBloom Podcast. Thanks to our sponsors and thanks to you for joining us today.
00:19:31
Speaker
so so So let's fast forward a little. So you've you've got the creative bug. It's there. You've planted those seeds there. you can you can i can already see them from your mom and dad flipping houses and your creativity.
00:19:45
Speaker
And then you start Etsy and you start, this is when people start, you know, doing the painting. and And what captured your heart with that? what How did that start?
00:19:58
Speaker
Well, before... Right before that kind of happened, you guys, I was ending up in part-time job after part-time job. And the reason is, is because, because, you know, you're, you're, you're trying to take care of children and you need a little income.
00:20:14
Speaker
So for and a half years, um when I left retail management, I went to a mother's day out where the boys were enrolled and I took the job of the two-year-olds.
00:20:24
Speaker
So i had 12 kids. twelve two and three year olds that I potty trained to change diapers, fed and went from there to going and picking up my nephews, you know, and I was Andy's daycare baby. As soon as that was over with, I went and picked up Mason and Evan. I had Connor sometimes and I had five boys going, you know, through Walmart and to the pool at times. I found it within myself that this girl was going to have a children's bookstore because my favorite thing to do was to sit with the boys and read.
Etsy and Creative Discovery
00:20:54
Speaker
But there was also something that I loved. And that was where the art came in. Because all of a sudden, if I put things out in front of the kids, they started playing and they drawing. We had you know we had clubs. we we decorated our shirts.
00:21:06
Speaker
And so that whole being and aunt and a mom with little boys who have to stay super active, um if I could get them to be still, I would give them crowns and and paints and we would do all of that.
00:21:22
Speaker
And so... I took one of, i took, I don't remember which boy it was to a friend's house and I was sitting in her living room and she had a new baby. And I'm like, I've got to find a way to make more money. I, I, there has to be something I have. I have talent.
00:21:39
Speaker
And she goes, you got to open up an Etsy store. And I was so hooked. That was August 10th of 2010. And I've never forgot that day because it just went.
00:21:51
Speaker
And I started scrolling and looking what other people across the country were doing. And guys, I feel like I was so closed in and just this little world right here. That that was the expansion of my brain into like what was actually possible.
00:22:09
Speaker
So the, my mom, my dad, anybody I knew that was creative, I immediately just started pulling from, okay, I've painted furniture.
00:22:21
Speaker
My mom let me paint one chest of drawers when I was 12. And she said, solid white. That's all you could do. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Solid white. My room's pink and blue. Like what? Yeah, sorry.
00:22:31
Speaker
Solid white. So, um, once that started taking off, I also took care of my grandmother before she passed. for two and a half years.
00:22:42
Speaker
um Luckily got to be with her during that day and that transition. and My, my, my dad passed away and I just started looking at life a little bit differently.
Overcoming Personal Struggles
00:22:54
Speaker
Like it's now, babe, like, yeah, these boys are looking at you and they are taking on some of these characteristics of being shy and a little, you know,
00:23:06
Speaker
a little intimidated by certain things. And I just thought it's an now or never. Um, I went through a major bout of depression and we're bed bedridden for a few weeks.
00:23:19
Speaker
And we, Matt calls it like that black time in my life, um, where I couldn't even fathom taking care of my children. oh Um, I wasn't being left alone. Hmm.
00:23:33
Speaker
And, During that point, I realized I was just spread way too thin. And the thing I needed to do was create.
00:23:44
Speaker
And I got really quiet and started praying daily, going outside, looking up to the sky and just surrendering like you got to help me. I don't know what to do.
00:23:55
Speaker
food loving husband most beautiful children not perfect i had family all around me and friends and i've never been so lonely in my life no thank you for sharing you know how old were you then were you like um 37 maybe
00:24:15
Speaker
thirty heaven may be and I just asked because I went some through something very similar right around that age. Yeah. Thank you. thank you for Thank you for bravely sharing that, Dionne. I think so many of us and so many of our listeners, you know, we have those dark times and particularly on social media when you just see all the the bright, beautiful colors and the happy.
00:24:41
Speaker
And we think that that's the way that it is all the time and that we were always like that. And but... that may be what we do. It's not necessarily who we are. And, and off, we all have ups and downs. Life is a roller coaster.
00:24:56
Speaker
I've had it as we've shared and, and, you know, but to share, thank you for sharing that with our listeners because it, and not only that you had support and, and you found, you found your way out of it through creativity. And that is, that's how I'm finding my way out is through, know,
00:25:17
Speaker
my creative heart. That's the only thing that I can hold on to right now that is steady. And, um, ah, golly. Yes. and we yeah We, we learn from each other.
00:25:30
Speaker
that's what we do. We learn from each other and each, when we, when we share our experiences, then we don't feel alone. And so, ah We had built our dream house, a farmhouse wraparound porch on five acres. We built that and we had lived there for four years and I am dying inside. Yes, I'm getting to create.
Life Changes and Family Focus
00:25:50
Speaker
I'm out in the garage.
00:25:51
Speaker
I'm making things. I'm selling things. But I am trying to be everything to everyone and I am not doing well. I am not. And it just it it came to the forefront where we had to deal with it.
00:26:06
Speaker
um So we put house up for sale and we oh wow we sold our dream home um and we dealt with that guilt and that pressure. And we found ourselves both self-employed, which we weren't that neither one of us when we built our dream home and having a very driven little boy come to us and say,
00:26:32
Speaker
I want to try out for this athletic, this baseball team, but it means we have to travel on the weekends and we have to spend a lot of money and I don't know if I should try out.
00:26:44
Speaker
And Matt and I looked at each other and we cried and we looked at him and said, babe, Go for it. We'll figure it out. And so we sold our dream home and we downsized and we started from scratch with something we could afford, something we could manage with a fence, with a small yard that we could mow. So I told that boy who worked, carried his bucket of balls and his bat down the street and walked to the ba the backstop at the school and worked every day to make that baseball team.
00:27:17
Speaker
And he made it and he made it to the shortstop. And it was like, we will figure this out. But ladies, we didn't know how. I felt like it was all on me because Matt was doing everything he could to be an electrician and run his business. And if he worked more hours, that means he wasn't with us.
00:27:38
Speaker
And that meant that I had two little boys going to baseball practice and I couldn't do it all. And so I felt like it was on me. And that pushed me to say, you've got more here, sis.
00:27:51
Speaker
Like there's more here. And so i just went to a mentor, a business coach and said, what can I do? And she said, you've got to do Facebook lives.
00:28:03
Speaker
And I said, you got the wrong girl, man. i't qui I quit two jobs when they said, you're going to talk at a microphone. And I said, no, I'm not. I'm not outspoken. I can't stand up in front of people. I cannot do that. And she says, well, it'll grow your business.
00:28:19
Speaker
She challenged me and I found myself unfolding right before the screen for people like you that were creative, supportive, encouraging,
00:28:34
Speaker
And I found myself saying, well, I told them I'd be back today. So I have to show back up and show them how I'm doing this. So I feel like if God gave me talent, it's to share.
00:28:45
Speaker
And so I just every single day, I just kept showing up, kept showing up. My sales started increasing. My confidence that I'd never had started revealing itself.
00:28:57
Speaker
And I started to identify myself as an actual artist and,
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Because, you you know, that that is so huge, huge for our listeners, too, because I think everybody also feels I can't put myself out there unless I'm perfect and it all looks good and it's all. dead just you just have to start. We started this podcast.
00:29:20
Speaker
We we think back and we had no idea what we were doing and. and Let us let us all give everyone a little background. The reason we started this podcast is because of our dear friend Dion, who said, keep moving, you two. Keep moving. This is a great idea. So I called my friend Lori and said, we're doing a podcast because she was on vacation. I think that's.
00:29:41
Speaker
But to your point, though, Dionne, and it's so important, um it's those micro challenges. I you know, when I got on Instagram, I didn't want to be on Instagram. I said, all right, let me just show up for a day.
00:29:52
Speaker
Let me show up for a month. Let me show up for a year. And then you realize that there's a community out there. You also realize that there's a supportive community out there. particularly if you're putting something creative and joyful out there, there are more people who are going to give you love than are going to give you hate. There are haters, but not as i I truly, truly believe that it is the most wonderful connector if it is used in a positive way. And um yeah, golly. And so Facebook and painting and your business is growing and,
00:30:28
Speaker
You know, the other thing, too, is it's being proud of the fact that you recognized you needed to pivot in your personal life and downsize. So many people don't.
00:30:42
Speaker
And they're like, no, we have to have the big house and we have to have this. and but And that extra stress is just... that'll eat you up and smother your creativity, which is what I was just writing to you was me realizing that I was smothered.
00:30:57
Speaker
I was, I could not get up for breath. And so when we moved in downside it, it was like a, it was like a fresh start. Um, we could breathe again and I had all this extra space and time, um to create. And what started happening And granted, you said like, you just do it. ah My car was behind me and I had a nine by nine square that I worked for.
00:31:23
Speaker
I worked in it for seven years in my garage and I did all the lives. I did all the painting. I had all of that. um I and interviewed people. I started teaching. i had guests on. I had guests in my space.
00:31:37
Speaker
And Matt made this little nine by nine square in our garage, a little fake wall. And, um, I made it work. The boys would be there in the summer. There'd be four boys running back and forth behind me inside out to the pool. I mean, like it was crazy town. The guy next to me would be mowing and I'm like, ain't stopping me. I got bills to pay, baby. So when I reached the point where chalk paint companies started reaching out to me because they'd seen photos of my work on Pinterest.
00:32:09
Speaker
And Jennifer Allwood reached out to me and said, you're my Etsy expert. Come on and do this webinar with me. And I'm like, you got 100,000 followers. I'm not talking to you. Okay. I got terrified of you because you have 100,000 followers.
00:32:21
Speaker
And she's like, come on, you can do this. So through all the mess and the yuck and the like, I'm just figuring this out. And I started spraying, you know, started what really set my furniture apart as far as what made me
Unique Techniques and Achievements
00:32:35
Speaker
unique. And that's, that's what I did. Ladies, I really did lean into the fact that I was using eight colors on a piece of furniture while everybody else was using one or two.
00:32:44
Speaker
And I started spraying water on my furniture to let it blend and started turning it into my canvas. Not realizing what I was doing. Just, yeah I needed to enjoy what I was painting. I couldn't do one color.
00:32:59
Speaker
What is this white color? No white furniture. No white furniture. No. doesn't make any sense to me. And so I, um I started growing. And the first month that I, I remember my goal was to make $2,000 a month.
00:33:13
Speaker
And then my goal was to make $4,000 month. And I sold a my first tutorial. It was 13 minutes for $13. And i was Etsy let me load like a how-to type of thing.
00:33:32
Speaker
And I launched that thing. We went on vacation. We drove to Galveston, Texas, and I had rented a beach house. And I sold so many of those $13 tutorials that I paid for our trip that week.
00:33:46
Speaker
Wow. yeah wow Wow. I had, I could not believe this was actually happening that people were buying from me. Chalk paint companies were sending me paint.
00:33:58
Speaker
And saying, will you just try it and and just like do a blog or like post about it? And so I had cabinets full of paint from different companies.
00:34:08
Speaker
And my one now very dear friend, Debbie Beard with DIY paint, which is all I still use, eight years later, she said, can I send you some paint? And I said, no, thanks.
00:34:20
Speaker
I've got plenty. like I'm not going to just take it because it's free. And she's like, okay, let me give it another month. she She sends me another message. Will you please send me some?
00:34:30
Speaker
Let me, she says, this is clay. This is clean paint. There are no toxins. You can put this on your hands. It can be around babies. it's It's literally nine ingredients.
00:34:41
Speaker
And I'm like, well, this kind of falls in alignment with my You know, we had switched all of our home, like everything was going clean in this girl's house. And so i was like, well, this, this kind of helps. And that also means I might not have to go out to the garage if the paint smell doesn't bother my family.
00:34:57
Speaker
yeah So I tried it and I've never looked back. I built this relationship with Debbie, the owner. um You know, you, you check in with your value system. And again, she says, can you fly to Delaware?
00:35:12
Speaker
and paint for eight ladies at a at my boot camp. And I said, no, i know I don't fly by myself. Never done that. I was 40, ladies. I was 40.
00:35:23
Speaker
forty I've never flown alone. I've never even booked a flight by myself. And I've never taught in front of people. So it's just not going to happen. She gets her partner and in crime to call me. They're both on speaker telling me, we need you, Dionne.
00:35:39
Speaker
We need you. And those two little tricksters tricked me sorry through my tears. I said, okay, I'll come to Delaware and I'll teach. Um, this was just eight years ago.
00:35:51
Speaker
And so wow I flew and I did, I cried through a little bit of that furniture makeover and, um, Eight group came in and then the next group of eight and then the next group of eight.
00:36:03
Speaker
um And I got out of that airport. I flew home by myself and my mom had to pick me up because Holden was at the ballpark. And I looked at my mom and she was in utter shock that I actually went through with this.
00:36:15
Speaker
And I said, Mom, I did it. And she goes, you did it. And we're celebrating at age, you know, 64 40. We're celebrating that.
00:36:28
Speaker
That my independence was finally starting to show. Yeah. And that I was coming into my own and people were looking for me for guidance. And um I guess it just took off and I started having monthly workshops in person. Yeah.
00:36:46
Speaker
and ah at a local place. And i found out looking back ladies that painting was just the vehicle to my connections with other creative women.
00:37:00
Speaker
And i have empathy and compassion and I have this drive inside of me that says, are amazing. You are amazing.
00:37:11
Speaker
but there's so much more and we're going to find it together. And I'm going to hold your hand as we walk through this together, because if I can, you can, and I've always told people, if I can do this, you can do this because I am the least likely person to be doing what I'm doing right now.
00:37:28
Speaker
Really. It's so beautiful to hear your story. And I think the fact that you are doing what you're doing now, it it's because you're sharing your authenticity and the fact that you were this shy person that said no to so many things.
00:37:48
Speaker
And finally we're forced to say yes or wrangled to say yes on some. And I think, you know, when you do face fears, And you'll be terrified at first. And I've, I've felt this too, whenever i was really, really scared and I said, yes, and I still was terrified, but I did it anyway.
00:38:08
Speaker
On the other side, that is what builds confidence. And then you're ready for the next yes. And the next yes might be even a little bit bigger. And so if you constantly say no and stay in a shell and,
00:38:24
Speaker
You're afraid of what people think of you or you're afraid of whatever it is that's stopping you. I mean, we have one life on this planet. So yeah, let's make it a good one.
00:38:35
Speaker
Yeah. Just go for it and do it and become ourselves. Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. I, i sit with women in person and said, put your hands out like this, right? Right out in front of you, your palms open.
00:38:51
Speaker
Who is holding this power? Are you giving it to all the people you worry about thinking they think this about you? They think this about you? Are you giving them the power for your future? Or are you taking that and doing something with it? Because we are not promised tomorrow.
00:39:07
Speaker
And so I literally try to envisilize envision this power of like, I have the opportunity to do the scary thing. And every single time, Lori, you're so right. Every single time you do it, it's like, I did not die.
00:39:23
Speaker
yeah yeah you made made it now i want more of that. And so if it, even to this point where I make a decision about something, if I'm nervous about it, but it still feels rewarding.
00:39:35
Speaker
I keep doing it until I'm no longer nervous about it. And I would stand up in front of people and I would be sweaty and I would stand on the mic and say, okay, I'm going to try to make something pretty for you. I'm going to stand here and I'm going to sweat. And the reason I'm breathy is because I can't catch my breath, but I just want you to know, I'm so glad you've came all this way. People started, that was the thing when people started flying across the country,
00:40:02
Speaker
I would think, what in the heck? Like, are they doing this for me? Like, it's not for
Growth Through Challenges
00:40:08
Speaker
me. It was for them. then you feel like you have a responsibility to show up and you think, doesn't matter if you're nervous, sister. This isn't about you.
00:40:17
Speaker
yeah You're not doing this for you. It's always about the people. It's always about they need to learn something. And if you are the person, you better make sure you do it, whether you are sweaty or scared to death or go throw up in the bathroom, but get on with it.
00:40:30
Speaker
because Well, they they want you to share your gifts. And and the gift could be just you. I mean, they and you have the most beautiful, beautiful gifts to share with everyone.
00:40:42
Speaker
Thank Thank you. I was just going to talk about before we press record, you had you were sharing about the past year.
00:40:53
Speaker
and i kind of wanted to touch upon like when things don't always go the way we plan. You know, we've we've talked a lot about how. you know, things flourished and things were great. And, but you had shared the things, a couple things in the last year or so didn't maybe pan out the way you thought they were. But can you talk about that? Because what you were sharing was so beautiful, and we didn't push record. So yeah we have to talk about it again.
00:41:22
Speaker
Yeah, we stop talking, you have to tell this story. yeah Yeah. Well, thank you for letting me share a little bit about my last year. um And hopefully there is something that will resonate with with some of your listeners.
00:41:35
Speaker
um So because, you know, we get to talk on a regular basis, ah right? Like in our little media stuff. But and we've had the honor of just kind of keeping in touch with each other over the last few years.
00:41:49
Speaker
And what I hadn't necessarily had an opportunity to share was that 2024 ended up being one of the hardest years of my business. um It was the hardest years financially, um whereas every year beforehand, it was going up, up, ah up, up.
00:42:09
Speaker
And that was the first year, um kind of into 23, into 24, where financially it just started to like not at all be the same as what it had been. And so the immediate struggle when you enter the year of like, okay, is this going to go up?
00:42:25
Speaker
And am I, how am I going to, how am I going to handle this? Am I a failure? Am I failing at this? And am I failing at this? Well, add into that, um, my current projects that I was working on, you know, coming into 2024 is doing some filming and, um,
00:42:46
Speaker
working for a media company, and gaining tons of connections. And then I, I started a new brand called Revel and Ravel. And, um you know, I've still had my podcast for five and a half years. And I'm, I'm doing different mentoring projects. And everything is what it is.
00:43:05
Speaker
And as 2024 started to go on further and further, it was kind of
00:43:12
Speaker
I kept hitting roadblocks like, well, that didn't look the way I thought it was going to. And that didn't look like the way I thought it was going to do. And so there's a pause there and then there's a pause there and then there's a pause there.
00:43:25
Speaker
And what happens emotionally is i wake, i woke up one day and went everything that I was just like throwing all of my energy into got put on pause.
00:43:37
Speaker
What am I going to do with that? So had to get really quiet and I had to spend a lot of time just listening to my inner knowing. For me, that was outside next to my pool.
00:43:50
Speaker
Every day I sat out there and just prayed and meditate and thought and got quiet about what am I supposed to be doing right now? Like I felt lost, right? I felt absolutely lost.
00:44:06
Speaker
Now, keep in mind, so much of what I was working on was going really well at the same time. My artwork, in my opinion, had never been better.
00:44:17
Speaker
I was learning new techniques. My flow was just going and going and my and my skills were growing. My relationships with people that were so important to me was getting stronger.
00:44:32
Speaker
And I was learning more about Dionne. And I finally had time to take my foot off the brake or my the gas and coast. I've never coasted, ladies.
00:44:43
Speaker
We went on to 2010, 2024. had not coasted. And so although I felt scared to death, unfamiliar, last year was the absolute best year for my personal growth.
00:45:01
Speaker
yeah And I have so much peace and so much gratitude that I was able to slow down and to pause because I was able to give things that attention to things that I hadn't been able to.
00:45:15
Speaker
And going through the, the, you know, overcoming the doubt, the doubt of like, was I not good enough? Was this not, you know, where, where, where was all of that?
00:45:26
Speaker
And I've ended with something like this. And this is how I started 2024 or 2025. My or twenty twenty five my hands are open. My palms are open. I am not grasping. And the ideas are going to come and they're going to roll right off. They're going to keep going.
00:45:41
Speaker
But when I hold on and I grip it with all of my might, there's a struggle. And so I just keep reminding myself in those quiet moments to keep my palm open.
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah. But keep working on what's inside of me. keep asking for guidance, but also pay very close attention to the things that actually light me up.
00:46:06
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Light me up. What experiences light me up and what do, what am I doing that light me up? And for me, that has been, um mindset.
00:46:21
Speaker
You know what you mentioned? The motivatorian ladies. It was a summer, a Friday night in June. And I thought, I love more than, and almost more than painting.
00:46:32
Speaker
is to motivate other women to link arms and say, come on, let's go. Let's do this together. So a little chat GPT helped me come up with the word motivatarian and it described me to a T and I went, that's it.
00:46:47
Speaker
So knowing that, right. And then knowing that leadership. And so, you know, just today I launched my win ah my um wisdom and wonder leadership lab.
00:46:58
Speaker
And I'm going to take 12 women on for the next 12 weeks, and we are going to um work on helping them become a better leader. And I wouldn't have developed all of this. I wouldn't have had the time to come up with this if I hadn't have slowed down for the last the latter part of 2024.
00:47:20
Speaker
do I want to do this? And do I want to do that? Am I going to do these other things? I absolutely am. But I'm going to do it in a different way. And I'm going to feel differently. And I'm going to look differently inside. And like, my worth
00:47:39
Speaker
has reached a level that
00:47:45
Speaker
I just didn't know I'd be here, ladies. I didn't know, you know, I didn't know that I um would ever be in this mindset to be able to lead others and actually be the expert.
00:48:02
Speaker
I mean, are we for real? Like, I just have to go, really? Life is so beautiful. Life is just so beautiful through the hardships, learning to stay positive. So um that's kind of a little bit about what we talked about. Yeah.
00:48:16
Speaker
it Well, and and you said it so beautifully, but, you know, I think and and the big thing is pausing. And, you know we sometimes we look at pauses as failures or weak. And and also i will say this about myself and I know this about my dear friend, Lori, and I know it about you, Dionne.
00:48:36
Speaker
We're also used to going at 100 an hour yeah And when someone says, hey, you need to slow it down to 35. Yeah. yeah You're like, what? What do I do with that? and And I it's very it's very challenging for me.
00:48:49
Speaker
But that is the message that you need to just stop and not only pause, but exactly what you did, which is listen, listen to your heart, listen to your head, listen to what's look around, look around at what's going on, because the world is constantly changing.
00:49:08
Speaker
A pause may have happened because of an outside influence to whatever you're working on, not because of what you are doing, yeah It may have happened because something that you were doing wasn't ah the ah the right fit.
00:49:20
Speaker
But for oftentimes when those pauses happen to us, it's like, oh, I failed. I did this. did a Not necessarily. Maybe it was just time to stop and pivot. And we've had these, I've had these pauses in my life, which have brought us to you and to everyone today. And Lori, what do you want to share? Well, I just, I'm always counseling my kids. Like I remember a time when Kenzie in high school had applied for governor scholar or something like that. And she didn't get in and she's, you know, crying
Managing Disappointment and Inspiration
00:49:55
Speaker
on the phone. And I always say that just means that wasn't meant to be, but there's something right around the corner that is meant to be.
00:50:04
Speaker
And I think it's hard. Like I think of you, Dionne, as that competitive little girl, And you probably are competing with yourself all the time, all the time. And if you don't win, you probably that, you know, and I, I'm a little like this too When you don't win or you think you failed, it it like throw, it can throw you into a tailspin and you really have to shift your mindset and start thinking,
00:50:34
Speaker
There's maybe a reason for this and I need to learn something from it. And, it you know, the good Lord, he he knows. does. And, you know, ah you never know. i have i have a project that's sitting out there and I've had a lot of no's that have happened.
00:50:52
Speaker
And it's a little discouraging, but and people are saying, you know, are you pushing forward with it? And I said, no, no, I just trust that if there's a yes, then it will become a, you know, but if it's not meant to be, im just going to let it go. I'm going to let it just let it go and open my heart to something else.
00:51:09
Speaker
And I do believe other things will fill it up. And and you're. We know that. I mean, that's the reason we're doing this show is because the wisdom of age, the wisdom of Dionne, I cannot believe you're going to be 49 because you look like you're 25. Thank you so much. But that's yeah that's just it. The discovery of...
00:51:30
Speaker
i the the The discovery that I was, since I was able to pause, so much growth happened within me. And i was able to really understand um that I had to have this experience to be where I am now.
00:51:48
Speaker
And every time I work with a woman who shares a little bit of their hardship or their struggles, I pull from that strength and go, man, if they can, and they did that. And she was able to do that. And what a bad mama jamma, like she is higher.
00:52:07
Speaker
And that gives me so much strength and so much encouragement. And so, yes, everything that you guys just said, it's, it's what I have felt. Um,
00:52:19
Speaker
I learned that nothing has been a failure, but everything has been a lesson. right it It has 100% understand it now did not 10 years ago, but I have lived it.
00:52:30
Speaker
I have learned it and I am teaching that. And that is the the worth and the empowerment that comes from opening up all this extra space because of all the goodness that is coming. And I know it's coming like there's open spaces here.
00:52:47
Speaker
Right. To let things go. So there's more space. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, thank God you let you let that fear you kind of push to that fear down because you are an incredible teacher and an incredible motivator.
00:53:02
Speaker
And on that note, I want to toss it over to Lori because. Dionne, Lori, and I are going to be together this year for something really, really cool.
Live Courageously Rebloom Event
00:53:12
Speaker
And if anybody wants to meet Dionne and be just turned on by her energy um and her love and her creativity, we have an opportunity. So go ahead, Laura.
00:53:24
Speaker
Yes, we do. So my partners, Kara Fox and Colleen Sutton, the three of us have been working well over a year to create a conference for women called Live Courageously Rebloom.
00:53:39
Speaker
Love that word. We do. um We have ah about, we have 11 presenters, um all women and all inspiring, incredibly supportive women that I've met along the way.
00:53:54
Speaker
Jamie and Dion are part of the cast of speakers. so And we are creating this because we really just want to encourage women to live their best life, whatever that looks like.
00:54:11
Speaker
So some people have thought that this is an art retreat, because I teach a lot of those. It really is not that although I will be doing a creative session. And so will my friend Pam Kravitz, who's amazing.
00:54:25
Speaker
But the the creative sessions are for any skill level. And they're really The projects are really meant to tie into the themes of all of the presentations at the conference. So we're going to have an opening party and beautiful meals together. and a closing party with a DJ and ah Glitter Express is going to do makeup for the party for whoever wants it. And it's going to be joyous and wonderful. And the women who have signed up already, a lot of them I know and their friends, they're amazing women, the attendees.
00:55:04
Speaker
So it's just going to be an amazing experience to network and inspire each other and support each other. And it's May 5th to the 8th at Richwood on the River, which is a magical venue.
00:55:21
Speaker
um Both of you have been there, seen it. It's amazing. It's pretty special. um You know, a lot of people maybe don't know this area. um It's right near a little town called Madison, Indiana, which Dion has hosted a couple of retreats there. And sometimes you go, Madison, Indiana, what?
00:55:42
Speaker
You go there and let me tell you. never want to leave. I just drive down there. just am so happy. It's like a little...
00:55:55
Speaker
gem of a town. It's like a hallmark town. it is the energy there is amazing. So you can stay in Madison. and then we'll have shuttles to shuttle people over to Richwood for the event.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah, quite amazing. I'm so excited about this creative celebration. um Anytime we can have women like this. So thank you for for doing this, Lori. Like, thank you yeah for you and Kara and Colleen for putting all of this together.
00:56:21
Speaker
Your network is extensive. And the fact that you're bringing all of these incredible speakers together and just all on the same. I can't even imagine the creative energy. So I just I'm counting down the days, really.
00:56:34
Speaker
and I can't wait. And i hope, you know, those that are listening, sometimes you're like, hey, should I do this? Shouldn't I do this? I can honestly tell you when I've invested in myself or invested in a retreat and it may maybe it seems like a lot, but that investment You will get back for years upon years in friendships and in knowledge. And you will take away so much from just a few days. I attended a retreat 10 years ago.
00:57:04
Speaker
I'm still friends with the people that I had. It was three days, three days. But my entire photography career started because of those three days. And I've had an entire life because of it, because of those three simple days. And so it's huge. Huge.
00:57:21
Speaker
Absolutely. Dionne, we ask our guests, we kind of jumped in there with our our our advertisement for this amazing retreat. And I do hope people will come and we will have the information um for this ah in the bio and everything.
00:57:37
Speaker
But we do ask people to, we ask our guests to leave our listeners with a quote or some, a tip or something that you sort of hold in your heart that you go to when you need inspiration.
00:57:50
Speaker
Would you like to share? Sure, I will. um i have one and then I also have a very short scripture if I can share two. ah please One, i think the creative, your your viewers will we'll completely resonate with this one.
00:58:10
Speaker
um But we do this and I need this reminder so someone else might also um and the author is unknown but It's don't shrink who you are just to fit in spaces too small for your destiny.
Inspirational Quotes and Final Thoughts
00:58:26
Speaker
And I have to remind myself not to shrink. Yeah. Because I want to be liked. Right. So that's one of them.
00:58:38
Speaker
And then when I wake up every day, it's something that goes on throughout my mind. and It's just the simple, the simple scripture of the joy of the Lord is your strength. And that's one that I've been saying since, well, I worked at AutoTrader.
00:58:52
Speaker
That was a gift they gave me with the clock and it had that monogram. I that and I had no idea how many times I would say that throughout my throughout my lifetime. But the joy of the Lord is your strength. Yes.
00:59:04
Speaker
I love that. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. you Thank you. You guys, thank you for just taking the time and and going forward. And like you said, you chose to do this, even though you guys didn't really know how to do it. But and we were terrified. we were But you were the wind beneath our wings. You were they like, just go do it. And, you know, it there was fear on both of our sides. And certainly I was going through some really serious family issues at the time, too.
00:59:36
Speaker
But this has been the biggest gift to myself and and just to meet other people and to be with Lori and to have that supportive friendship and love and talk to everyone and realize that we've all had, um you know, we've all had stuff. And but finding that creative path or finding the path that really fills our heart is where we need to go.
00:59:58
Speaker
Well, I also feel like um when you're struggling, sad, if you can find a way to be in service of other people on yeah in any way, i think that's a really good way to pull yourself out of that.
01:00:17
Speaker
um i I guess I've been learning that more and more in this part of of my life and my journey, like giving back, supporting people, being in service, it it it fills your heart in a way that all the competitive stuff does not.
01:00:35
Speaker
Yeah. Whether we call it teaching or sharing, i think we all have something to teach and share. and And just that little bit is just the greatest gift to someone else. And it usually gives back to you in the most beautiful ways.
01:00:49
Speaker
<unk> great Well, thank you. Thank you, dear friend. And to our listeners, peace, love read blue. Life is too short not to follow your passions. So go out there and let your heart plant you where you are meant to be and grow your joy.
01:01:06
Speaker
We will be right here sharing more incredible stories of reinvention with you. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode of Rebloom.
01:01:17
Speaker
Until next time, I'm Jamie Jameson. And I'm Lori Siebert. Peace, love and Rebloom, dear friends.