Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Meyer-Mcfalls . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Nicole, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
In my first life I was an instructional leader for special needs students. Unfortunately, I became ill and needed to take early disability retirement. I quickly learned what my students told me about but I never fully understood. Being disabled can be isolating and a bit scary. I had lost everything. My career, my husband and almost my home. I was broke, sick and wondering what my future was going to look like. As fate would have it I met my now husband. His first wife had just died of breast cancer. We helped each other. We where married on a beach in 2017. I realize life was never over and even having difficult medical issues doesn’t mean your life is over! We packed everything up and moved towards the beach! That’s where we both wanted to be. Then I was able to take out a small community studio space. I was in heaven ! I have a wonderful new medical team and I am surrounded by art and water! Then the pandemic hit 1 year later. My phone started ringing asking me for my wonky pieces of pottery. Spazzleapples was born. What does this all mean? It’s the ever changing patterns of life that have allowed me to become fearless! Having a degenerative medical condition allows you to see life as precious. You decide to live where you want doing what you want. Money will always come and go but memories will last your life time and the life time of those you touch.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
When I started spazzleapples in 2020 my goal was to bring functional art to everyone’s life at a price point that was affordable. pottery breaks so I wanted people to open there cabinets and smile knowing they could use their pieces every day. If it breaks that’s ok because you can afford a new one! I also wanted to give back to our community. So I started making random small donations to different agencies, small businesses and non profits. The profits from my business go to pay my medical bills and to help others. We are all in this together and I believe everyone should help each other more.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I am still learning! Never stop learning, growing and being authentic. I can’t always hear or see out of my lft eye so I can miss people who approach me. I never wanted to share that with people. I am learning that it’s ok to let people know my physical limits. Doing a show is really hard on me so a lot of the time I remain seated but that increases my chances of missing a visitors cue. So now I just tell people to be blunt and tap me on the shoulder if I miss you. My authentic self is disabled. So I adapt and modify where I can. I am also still learning to Ask for help if I need it! I hate doing that… 😂 but we all need help sometimes.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
I am not tech savy. I finally got my website up but I am growing and working on getting spazzleapples more streamlined and on the internet for easier purchasing. I am also learning to put my health first. That means I keep my work load at a pace my body can handle. I hope to get another potter to help with my production in the future but for now I just do what I can. Pottery also takes a long time to get through its process. Drying can be a couple weeks to a couple months! Then you have 2 firing cycles..This usually makes a minimum of 6-10 weeks before an order is ready. Sometimes More depending on the situation.
Contact Info:
- Website: Spazzleapples.com
- Instagram: Spazzleapples
