IN THE NEWS: LOCAL Biz recently featured Katie Silva for her success with Lowcountry Made. Silva discussed her business goals — and how she “made it” — in the special section “Faces of the Lowcountry.”
Making it in today’s business world not only takes a great idea, but the right timing. And for Katie Silva – who founded Lowcountry Made (lcmade.com) and launched a series of wildly popular artisan markets during the COVID-19 pandemic – it also takes a keen ability to act fast, capitalize on momentum and, above all, truly know her “market.”
With a Master’s degree from Savannah College of Art and Design and experience working as a fine art and antique associate appraiser, Katie always had a passion for all things lovingly handcrafted. So when COVID-19 hit, it gave her the sudden free time to nurture the idea (and dream) she long had of creating one brand under which to collect and present Lowcountry artisans, makers and entrepreneurs and promote them in a consistent and affordable way. She took her idea and ran with it.
“I had been working in marketing as an account manager where I had potential clients say no to our marketing services so many times because of cost,” she notes. “With this in mind, I determined that representing artisans as a collective afforded them access to a creative marketing strategy they could afford.” Her idea? To create a collective of local artisans and promote them with an online directory, online shop, newsletter, artisan markets and wholesale services. The result was the creation of Lowcountry Made.
“I knew two things as I made Lowcountry Made’s business plan,” recalls Katie, who is the mother of three young children and notes, as all working parents, that their schedules sometimes dictate hers. “The first was that I wanted to work with creative people, and second was that my business plan did not need to look like anyone else’s. I asked myself what I have to offer people and what problems my experience can solve.”
“Faces of the Lowcountry,” LOCAL Biz.
Click here to read the full article by LOCAL Biz.