We recently had the chance to connect with Madonna Yoder and have shared our conversation below.
Madonna, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
My garden is bringing me a lot of joy right now, especially since we’ve reached the peak growing season and I can see changes and new fruit from one day to the next!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Madonna Yoder and I’m obsessed with finding new repeating patterns that can be folded from a single sheet of paper. These patterns are called origami tessellations and I use my business, Gathering Folds, to teach people how to fold these patterns for themselves and provide the supplies needed to fold them. My biggest event every year is my Advent of Tessellations challenge, where I release a new tutorial video every day from December 1-25 and hundreds of people around the world fold these patterns at the same time.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My mom always said that I should be a teacher when I grew up because I was so good at explaining things, but I always said that I didn’t want to deal with running a classroom with students who didn’t want to be there. Now I teach origami tessellations to adults on the internet, and teaching is the best part of my day!
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
If I was running Gathering Folds for the money I would have given up years ago. It seems like there’s a time every year where I’m not sure if I can pay myself the next month or pay the bill to keep my website online.
I started running Advent of Tess in 2022 in one of those dark moments when I didn’t know if my business would still be around the next year and that has become the one reliable part of my business. Even though the video tutorials are given away for free, Advent of Tess is my biggest revenue source of the year through paper pack and ebook sales and it also builds my email list for marketing throughout the year!
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
I believe that life is best lived in community and that everything we have is meant to be shared. This means that I cook extra food so I can give it to people who need it, I go to church regularly, and I try to share my expertise, time, and resources as freely as possible.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Since the origami tessellations that I fold can repeat infinitely and there’s infinitely many designs that I could fold, I’m constantly being confronted with the limitations of the time and space I have to work with.
This means that I’m very aware that choosing one option means discarding another option and I’m very deliberate about streamlining my workflows to make more time for folding and designing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gatheringfolds.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/gatheringfolds
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gatheringfolds
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@gatheringfolds
Image Credits
Madonna Yoder
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
