Why simply write an ‘about me’ page when you can best capture who you are and what you’ve accomplished, with videos!
Page One – The DIY Queen
I’ll save you the time from reading further, if DIY (do it yourself), is not your thing or an approach to a lifestyle that interests you, because first and foremost that is as ‘About Me’ as it gets!
Martha Stewart’s got nothing on me, except for an orange outfit I will decline from wearing, other than that, she and I probably spent a lifetime drinking from the same water.
A First Impression To Depict A Lifetime
What better way to formulate a first impression of someone than through a photo and a few words spoken, or written by that person.
However, that has not been an easy task for me to do about myself, as it often isn’t for others.
And so, I decided to take the first impressions of me to a deeper level by grouping the interests, skills, accomplishments and talents I have acquired along the way throughout my life, using a video format much like bullet points, or a ‘beat sheet‘ as it’s called in film writing, and elaborate on the details in written format for those interested in my personal story.
A Great Example In Under 60 Seconds
Today’s social media platforms rely heavily on visual stories, rather than days-of-old written word stories. Why? While the written word allows for deeper immersion into details, film provides a visual and immersive experience.
I recently created a weekly blog post series of 8 bullet points, each in video format. Since social media prefers a video in ‘shorts‘ format, I created a brief introduction to a variety of skills and talents I have acquired along the way in my life.
Though speaking about ourselves can feel a bit daunting or revealing, I felt the best way for you to make a personal connection with me, is through my own words, and so I made videos of me talking to you.
And while each episode merely introduces previous experiences that have contributed to the core values I seek to carry with me throughout my life, 60 seconds ‘ain’t’ much time to know much about me.
Mission Statement vs Actions
If a mission statement on a business website is written to express the intent of its content, think how much more videos of ourselves in action will speak of our mission intention.
After-all, at the end of the day we are what we do, not what we say we intend to do, therefore my business website falls more into the category of a lifestyle influencer website, because I seek to inspire and influence through my own life experiences, therefore representing myself.
So… what I am about to share with you is totally me, me in all my various facets and categories of interests and experiences.
Tell Our Stories – Write Our Memoirs
Vulnerability is a hat not easily worn, though as I’ve grown older, one I find quite comfortable to plop on my head from time to time.
Having been featured in several TV programs, 11 appearances to be exact, the essence a TV producer is looking to extract from us, is our story.
Recently I started a workshop – Time Treasures – to help others to write their stories, publish their memoirs or simply create a tangible legacy to pass down through their family.
My approach was to make it fun, offer many tips and tools and enjoy gatherings over a tea party setting. I was taken aback when within the first few moments of these gatherings, tears quickly made their appearance from my guests.
It was then that I realized how deeply we tuck away who we are and how we came to be who we are, that I knew the first story that needed to be written, was mine.
The Best Personal Connection With Me Is Through Me
Over the years as website visitors have frequented my blog Whisk and Dine, I thought I was telling the story about me through my cooking, gardening, or lifestyle tips, but what I realized my visitors were receiving, is things I love to do, or can do.
While using a list of things we already know how to do is a great place to start the outline of our story, it really only scratches the surface.
And so, grab a cup of tea for a much longer read about me, or if you really aren’t interested in who I am, then perhaps you will use my approach of storytelling to get started on your own!
I will use the key features in the 8 episode videos I created entitled “What Should I Be Doing With My Life Now?” and expand from there.
What Should I Be Doing With My Life Now?
A question I probably ask myself at the onset of each new decade birthday, because every birthday with a ‘zero’ behind its first number, has a funny way of causing us to ponder, reflect and assess.
As I asked myself this question – What Should I Be Doing With My Life Now – (something many ask), while filming these videos, I found myself in search of real answers to this question. Like… how do we lasso up all the skills, talents and knowledge we have at any given time in our lives, and weave them into something meaningful to be doing throughout our lives?
The journey into the creation of these video snippets really took me out of my comfort zone as I sought to disclose, not to you but to myself, exactly what I have done, why, and how it served me at those various times in my life.
Google And Me
Having pondered the question – what should I be doing – for too long, I thought… duh, why not ask Google! Sure enough he/she/AI answered and started my cogs turning.
‘Make a list of all the things you already know how to do and find a way to weave them together.’ My response? I know how to do a lot of S…. and so I turned the question around to my Social Media followers on Instagram and Facebook and said, “We all know I know how to cook after years of sharing my recipes with you and being featured on numerous television food programs, so let me show you other things I know how to do and see if you can help me figure this daunting question out”!
The responses over a period of 8 weeks, as I aired a new video each Sunday, was heartwarming, thought provoking and often very helpful.
Fashion Designer And Seamstress
After introducing my challenge to my social media followers, people seemed eager for each week. Second week would introduce my early years as a fashion designer and seamstress.
My introduction? “When Christian Siriano was still shampooing hair at a salon in my hometown, I had already designed and made numerous wedding gowns, cocktail dresses and elegant children’s clothes.
My specialty was working with silk, which I love to this day, cotton of all textiles of natural fibers. My adoration for natural fiber fabrics was born then, as they seem to come alive in your hands and work with you, not against you, as fake fabric does, yuk.
Opening Lines With No Time To Elaborate
Not much can be disclosed in 60 seconds, as ‘Short’ videos on social media requires. So here is what I wasn’t able to tell you in the video clips about my reason for wanting to sew in the first place.
My mother had just opened an elegant beauty salon, in a small town, after she first worked at Elizabeth Arden‘s in Washington DC. She brought European fashion magazines into the salon for the clients.
It was the onset time of Twiggy, Vidal Sassoon and British Mod, while I was living in a small town where the height of fashion was pencil-skirts, loafers and cardigan sweaters, Yuk!
I wanted to wear everything I saw in the European fashion magazines, and so I learned how to sew, how to make patterns and how to make anything I saw in those magazines!
Why Go To School
Let it be known, that by the age of 11 I hated school. Maybe because my parents were going through a divorce and my home-life was not a healthy environment for wanting to study. Perhaps, though, I think the real reason was because I thought everyone’s style of presenting themselves was ugly, which affected my mood and motivation (don’t laugh).
Once the parents were divorced, a new home-life was created and I was a young teen earning money (I will get to this soon), I bought fabric and stayed up nearly all night creating new outfits to wear to school the next day.
School for me became the platform for me to tryout my creations, while standing out like crazy because no one was dressing like me! I’ve never liked being part of a crowd, looking or thinking like others. Weird?
Had it not been for my school introducing the studies of cosmetology while in high-school with their tech program, I probably would have dropped out of school.
Visual Beauty Creates Moods
Having excelled in my sewing skills, I discovered the need for beautiful surroundings as well as being pleased with what I saw in the mirror when I wore the clothes I made.
Textiles became a real passion for me, still are to this day. Before IKEA first opened in America, I had already created numerous window treatments in our home and was getting paid to do so for others as well. Mind you, I’m not even 20 years of age at this point.
Ceiling to floor draperies was the style then, and nothing looked more regal than ceiling to floor yards of silk! From that point on, there was no stopping me.
I taught myself to reupholster furniture, make bedspreads and anything else that could be adorned in our home with fabric.
The TV show This Old House became my favorite show to watch and learn how to fix things around the house, which was long before HGTV. Both shows are still favorites of mine.
Making Money Creates Confidence And Freedom
You’d have thought I would go into the textile industry as my career, but something spoke to me even louder than my desire to make ‘things’ look pretty; the desire to make ‘people’ look pretty!
I was 12 years of age when my parents were divorced, my mom had opened a beauty salon, and I preferred being in and around the salon over school functions with kids my age.
By the age of 16, I had my apprentice license to become a hairdresser, and by the age of 18 I had a full book of clients, while all my school friends were going off to college, dirt poor. Making money gave me a sense of freedom at a very early age, and I loved that!
Fast forward, and over 30 years of making people look and feel amazing, that career served me beautifully while raising 4 children as a single mom.
Once my babies grew up (all with gorgeous hair and a fabulous sense of style), went out into the world on their own, I took a break and did the unthinkable… left America, spent 3 years in Brazil, learned to speak Portuguese, wrote and published 2 books before I returned to America for the next chapter in my life.
Hollywood Hair
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my great aunt Katherine (Kay) Daumit created Lustre Creme Shampoo, a hair product used by all the Hollywood Stars of the 1950’s and did many advertisements for her.
Is it possible that DNA creates these types of similarities in people? I remember my mother speaking of her aunt Katherine and uncle Harry, a brother and sister team that apparently launched this product.
Not much else was ever said, though my daughter has (herself), created a haircare product she has wanted to patent and market for years. Who knows, we may continue a family legacy!
Something Few People Know About Me
Music. Oh My Goodness did/does music play a huge role in my life! Looking back, I am now so proud of the career my father had as a piano player, jazz specifically, which placed him in the laps of many well known musicians of his day (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Byrd, Art Blakey, Billy Ex ‘Eckstine‘ and even Johnny Mathis in his early years (June 1957) with a horrid story of him sitting next to my mom at the ‘band and wife’ table at a club in DC, and my mother’s water breaks as my little sister decided it was a good place to scare the hell out of Mathis, and make her grand entrance into the world. My father both composed music for them as well as played piano with them.
As I look back also, I am certain it was what led to my parents divorce while my 3 sisters and I were very young. Though he taught music in public schools to offset the limited income, it was still a slim income ridden with too many unhealthy lifestyle habits; night life, booze, drugs and weird ‘beatnik’ friends in our home.
I did however, learn to play flute as a kid, and as an adult played in an orchestra, sang in a choir for years, and hit every dance competition in DC my little Latin inspired feet could dance in.
Dance Is A Social Language
Check out my uncle Vic Daumit and you will know that my mother too came from a music oriented family, as my uncle Vic (of whom my mom taught to dance), had the dance studio in DC that gave Arthur Murray competition, taught first lady Betty Ford to dance the Latin hustle and the Bush twins Jenna and her twin sister Barbara to dance ballroom.
Each of my children grew up playing a musical wind instrument as well and all 4 took piano lessons. Music is a math and another language one learns to read, so this education triggers many other aspects of one’s mental development, one that also made learning foreign languages easier for myself (as I studied Japanese, Greek, Arabic, Italian and speak Portuguese), as well as my children who also studied several languages and one son has lived numerous years in Brazil.
Why isn’t school as fun as real life learning!
Reinventing Myself Every Decade
Okay, so I did the Brazil thing and returned, kids all living their lives to the fullest, some have already given me grandchildren, and so I decided it was time for yet another new chapter.
Being close to my four amazing children, and having turned the tables in life as I now learn things from them, it was my kids that suggested what I should do when I returned from Brazil for my next chapter.
Your Kids Know You
“Mom, you have always cooked and baked our food from scratch, just as grandma did, you know everything about food, so why not start a blog, learn to make videos and share your delicious talent with others”!
That was more than a dozen years ago and this chapter exploded with new and fabulous experiences and adventures that landed me nearly a dozen opportunities to cook nationwide on TV, numerous magazine, newspaper and digital periodical reviews and stories about my cooking experiences.
Several more books got published, food of course, and now I am about to revise and publish the first book I wrote back in 2006, on female health.
Thanks kids, you know your mama well!
Online Presence
When I first began photographing my food for the first cookbook I was planning to publish, there was no ‘online presence’ no blogs, no Pinterest, and the only food photography that I could learn from was the massive collection of culinary magazines I had collected, and still have, dating back to 1986. How far we’ve come!
My kids nudged me to learn film, as in videography, rather than limit my work to still shots. I did a certification course at DCTV, learning all aspects of creating a documentary type film, from its conception to every aspect of execution.
I was hooked and fell in love with the art of visual storytelling through film making.
Wrapping It All Together
When putting a beautiful gift box together, we take great care and thought into each of the items we will put into the box.
The packaging and bow on top are merely an indicator of the thought and effort that must have been considered for its contents.
In my life, in all things I do, I liken myself to this analogy of a well developed gift box, and hope to wow those whose lives I encounter, with the gifts I bear.
What’s Next?
As I entered my most recent decade, an eye on the prize I have set for myself with Martha Stewart, Lidia Bastianich and Ina Garten in full view, each at least a decade my senior, and the awareness that Julia Child was 51 when she started filming her cooking show, rather old for a woman in the 60’s to start a film career, that lasted almost 4 decades, that is what my well rounded, DIY, extrovert, savvy ‘about me’ is after!
Everything I’ve done in my life, comes together when I create visual stories in a film format:
- Sewing and textiles become an important aspect of stage setting, creating a mood with color and texture.
- Power tools have definitely come in handy when rigging up stand configurations for cameras, lights and sound, sometimes constructing a set to accommodate these important elements of capturing film before the internet made available tripods that worked for this type of filming.
- Hair and makeup alone, could I write volumes on how I make a face and hair come alive on camera, even when they don’t want to! Having filmed 20 days in humid Virginia weather in September in a barn, on the PBS set of The Great American Recipe, months after a pandemic, 100 people on set at all times and yet not one makeup or hair person (for mask wearing safety reasons), I relied on everything I’ve ever known about the beauty industry to manage my face and hair on set.
- Making people and surroundings look just the way you want them to look, sure comes in handy when needing to make a film set look just as you want it to look.
- Music, sound and B-Roll from recording sound myself (a sizzling stead to the sparkling pour of champagne), to capturing sounds in nature to lay under the videos I create. Sound simply sets the mood.
- Dialogue, Script Writing, Lines memorized and stories written, all of which I do, be it in the books I’ve published or the video stories I film.
- Editing… I don’t care how great a story is written, or filmed, the real story comes together in countless hours of editing, something I too love to do.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.