Desiree Vuocolo on Supporting Local Artists with LocalGood

Well, thank you, Laura. It’s exciting to be here with Wytpod. I think it’s a great opportunity to showcase and highlight a lot of the fantastic entrepreneurs.

Sure happy to do so. So LocalGood, which is actually local-good.com is a website that I had conceived of. Oh, gosh! Probably 10 years ago, and had been thinking about it for quite a while, and was very, very fortunate to get connected to my business partner, Chris Jesowitz

here in Pittsburgh, and during the pandemic we were like, there’s not much going on. We really want to be able to do something to give back. And so it started out as a passion project. So we launched the website at the very, very height of the pandemic like it was right in October, November of 2020, and we launched with a few artists on the site. And since then it’s been growing. So not only do we help artists with selling their work.

we give back to a charity of their choice, and we also connect into all of the shops that they work with, because we really want to make sure that it’s super easy, no matter what city you go to, to find those local shops, those local art events, and those artists themselves, because that’s the best part of connecting with an artist is meeting them and hearing their story.

Yeah, sure. So it. It’s interesting cause it constantly evolves. And as you’re meeting new people, you really start to think about what’s important to you and at the core, what we’ve stayed true to is

we get to know each and every single artist like I know them all Personally, I’ve either met them, We’ve connected virtually. We really take time to get to know each artist so that we can help them. We can figure out what it is that they need. We can figure out how to help them grow, and we really do it as a community. I don’t do this alone. Chris doesn’t do it alone, either. We actually have a host of interns kind of working behind the scenes.

We give them a 1st opportunity to get a job right out of school. So we have marketing and social media interns. We have web design and development interns. And we really have brought this community together to rally around the same thing. And that is, how do we keep artists?

How do we keep them going? How do we keep them self-sustaining? How do we really make sure that they have a platform that’s in it for them and connects to them? So that’s really been what our brand is about. It’s really mission driven. We really want to make sure that we’re helping to promote those artists.

But we’re finding really new and creative ways of helping others in the community. I mentioned the shops that we work with. You know they’re fantastic partners. We really want to keep them in business. And so they love.

you know, shouting out to us and making sure they’re tagging us on all of their their any sort of their social media. We do the same for them. And so it really is about a full 360 community. How do we keep those artists going? How do we find those individuals who wanna work behind the scenes to keep them going. How do we make sure that we’re finding places where we could all connect together? And that’s really what this business has been about, and how it’s evolved over the last few years.

Yeah, it’s interesting. Because as a business person, you start to think about, how do you connect with people? And how do you grow your business. And what I’ve found is when you really just try hard to just focus on one thing. The universe has a way of kind of getting in the way and brings lots of things to you.

We focus on those artists, those emerging artists, we focus on those artists who are actually already pretty well into their career and just wanting to grow. We’re focusing on those artists who are really wanting to get to that next level

because it’s hard doing it alone.

Then also working with the people behind the scenes. You know, we’re finding these really smart individuals. There’s a school out of Nashville, Nashville Software School.

And they work with people who are re-tuning their skills. And they’re really wanting to go into that new space they’ve brought. They brought us a plethora of people to help us on the back end with the site. And it’s great for us, because we’re working with really excited, motivated people that are new to the industry. and then we’re able to actually help them with getting that 1st job the same thing with artists. There are some artists that have come to us that they’ve never been online. They’ve never been on social media like they don’t know how to do any of that. We really do try to rally around them and help them figure out what they need to get them to that next level. And that’s really what it’s been about is that problem solving aspect.

It really has been about what each artist needs so that they can position themselves for that next level. And so it’s fun to watch them grow. It’s fun to see as people are like, hey! They’re now getting followings. They’re now getting more people that have their eyes on them.

We have one artist out of North Carolina, Tori Solomon.

Sorry she was out of North Carolina for a while. She’s in New Mexico now. She actually has shops she’s working with in New Mexico, in North Carolina, in Pittsburgh, and some of them she got connected to through us. Some of them she connected us to them. And so it’s been a really awesome community, and watching it grow. And just, you know.

expand has been terrific.

Yeah. So I’m not an artist. Everyone assumes that I’m an artist. This is my website, cause there are a lot of great artists who. That’s how they started. They started with their website, and then they expanded it. I’m not. I’m actually a process improvement person by trade. I work in the healthcare industry. I actually have a day job.

I’m very, very thrilled that I have been able to do both.

I work for a fantastic, very large employer here in Pittsburgh, and they have given me the bandwidth to be able to connect the dots at work and to really figure out how we’re working with physicians and members and our client community. And I’ve leveraged those same skills that I use at work to start thinking about this community. It’s the same thing.

How do you find all of these amazing humans who are like, you know what? I don’t want to shop at the big box stores? I want to support local art. I like handcrafted. How do we reach those people? Because they’re out there? They’re, you know, they’re me. They’re you, they’re others. And so it’s kind of hard, though it’s hard sometimes to figure out where to go in each city, what art events are going on. So that’s really where I came up with the idea connecting it back to charity was honestly because of the community. Every time I would talk to an artist they would tell me about a passion they had for a particular charity. They would tell me about how they had their own medical issues, and we’re supporting a charity.

I was learning how giving these individuals were just amazing humans who were really involved in their community. And they inspired me to think about what that would look like. How could I help them amplify their voice, but also amplify the charity that they care about? And then, as we’re getting further into it, I started realizing they were those connections with those shops.

And we would often be running in the same circles. And so somebody would say, Well, do you know, Nancy, a ketchup City creative. Do you know, Debbie, down at Songbird artistry and meeting them, realize they have the same passion, too. And so that’s how all 3 of those communities really got together, really working with that artist to reach those new audiences really working with that artist, to connect to those shops, those shops, to connect back to the audiences

because we’re all interconnected. And I think people forget that. And so that’s really what my passion is about building those communities, whether it’s at work, whether it’s through LocalGood. It’s how do I bring all of these amazing humans together and really allow them to find one another, so that they could support each other.

Yeah. So for an artist, I think we’re absolutely different because of that personal touch and that personal connection, and really about figuring out who they are and where they want to go. And what are those barriers along the way, so that we can help them get over that?

And so it is. It is like a support network. It is like, you know, social media marketing. Web online platform. It is everything that really surrounds them. And with each artist it’s completely different. And it is that connection back to them and getting to know them. That really makes us different.

You know, we really want to make sure that they are supported, that they have what they need.

And you can’t do that in a large organization. You can’t do that necessarily with just an online presence. It really does take that human connection. So that’s the biggest way. I think we’re different for artists.

I think, for our buyers. We’re different because we’re making it easy for them to find these local artists, and we’re making it easy for them to get to know the artists. We do articles on all of our artists. We make sure we’re featuring them on social media. We have marketing in the background that we’re featuring them. We really want people to have that connection.

And so it’s not just about buying that piece of art. It is about having that opportunity to learn about that artist just like you would if you met them at a show.

And that’s really what our intention is, because that’s my favorite part. I just got back from California, and I had a great time, you know, connecting into that community and getting to see some of the different beaches, some of the different places. But the one thing I realized is, I had a hard time finding artists.

I really struggled to find those shops that have local art. I struggled to find art events, and it reminded me and renewed the fire in me about. Hey? Let’s make this easier, so that when I’m traveling, when others are traveling, when somebody who really does care about local restaurants and local shops and those local artists. Let’s make it easier for them to find them.

And so that’s really at the heart of it for those buyers. That’s what this is. This is a 1 stop shop where they can go, and they can find all of that, because there are a lot of people who care about where they spend their money. They’re excited about making sure they’re giving to that local shop. or that artist themselves, or that handmade gift, I mean, that’s my motivation is, how do we make it easier to connect all those people.

Yeah, I mean, it’s hard. It’s hard out there. It’s hard getting attention out there. It’s hard getting a name out there. And so any entrepreneur will tell you. It’s a constant.

you know, trying to get your presence out there trying to get found. What we’ve honestly found is, it’s not our followers. It’s the people who actually are connected into the site who subscribe to our newsletter. And they are reading about all these great artists. And it’s our amazing team behind the scenes that’s working on all of that.

We have found that that’s where we get a lot of attention is just from there. You know, we’re working on social media and expanding that out. But, like all things, it’s, you know, one of 8,000 things you have to do as an entrepreneur. So we really do depend on our followers to like and share our content to, you know, read our newsletters, to share it with other people to remember us.

because if they love what they read in January, but by the time June comes around and they’re buying gifts for graduation and for weddings. If they’ve forgotten, then that’s really hard. So you got to stay in front of them. You gotta remind them of this amazing community, and you gotta keep growing the community. And that’s the fun part is, we’re really in a growing stage. So we’re looking for artists. We are looking to connect with really great artists.

but more than just great artists, great humans. And there are some people we’ve met along the way who’ve been fantastic artists who haven’t necessarily connected with our community. And so we wish them well. And we know there’s a million different places. They can sell their work. But we wanna make sure we’re also working with people who are really good humans and who really do want to be part of the community because those artists themselves are going to. Then you know, Highlight, that they’re with us, and they’re going to remember to tag us in all of their social media and marketing. And we’re going to tag them. And we’re going to write those articles, and they’re going to reshare them. And that’s that reciprocal arrangement that’s so important. That really does propel that community, our community ahead.

I would say, it’s our biggest challenge. I think that’s where we’re at now is, We were ready. So it took a little while to find our rhythm. It took a little while to really create the site, create the community. And so now we’re in a growth period. Now we’re really buckling down, saying, Let’s get some more artists on the site, because at 1st we wanted to go a little slow.

We wanted to be intentional. We wanted to really figure out everything on the back end. We wanted to make sure everything was set up. We wanted to make sure we have the structure because it doesn’t do any good as an entrepreneur. If you go too fast and you don’t have structure in place, then you don’t have that solid foundation.

So right now we are in the process of making some updates on the site because the site needed a little bit of a refresher. And we wanted to make it easier for our buyers to be able to shop. So there’s lots of different ways. If you go to local-good.com lots of different ways where you can find it. You know an artist by a city or by a medium, or if you’re looking for a particular gift, we wanted to put all those little bits of bells and whistles in there to make it easier for those shoppers. So now that all of that’s structured, now is the time where we are. We’re looking for artists. So if there are any artists looking at the site, go out there, certainly apply, because we want to make sure this is a good space for everyone.

And we think we’re finally there. And so now we’re really excited to start meeting those artists. And as I mentioned, I meet with every single artist. I want to know who they are. They all have my contact information. They could all reach out. We’ll help them along the way. But yeah, so now was the time where we’re really, we’re really wanting to reach them. And I thought, my trip to California. I was like, oh, you know, I’m going to find a ton of artists out there.

It was a struggle it really was, and it reminded me of how hard it is for an artist, you know, if you’re on the summer circuit, you know, trying to make your way through all the different art events or art shows it’s hard you’re spending a lot of time and energy months before making all that work you then have to travel, which is a huge expense. You’re away from your friends, you’re away from your family, you go to these events. You hope that you sell out at the event, but then that brings its own host of problems. Because that means you have to make all new stuff. If you don’t sell out means you probably didn’t make enough money, and so we are kind of that companion to them, because they could say, Hey.

You found me here. You could also find me on LocalGood, or after this event, find me at LocalGood, and then that way we almost are there to kind of support them on that back end. So if that person who bought those parrot earrings decides they want to buy 2 more, it makes it easy to find them. If that person for didn’t buy those pair of earrings and has regret wants to buy them, then they can also find them. So right now is the perfect time to grow our artists, and make sure that they are able to shine. But it’s a hard time, because it is summer, and they’re super busy trying to just get their wares out there and trying to get their items out there. So it’s always a tough position to be in. What’s the right time to connect with those artists.

Yeah, That’s a great question. Our original intent was really to get the Pittsburgh market lockdown, and then the pandemic really changed that, and we are finding artists from all kinds of areas. And I didn’t want to say no to them. So this year, we really are focused on making sure we’re connected into a large group of Pittsburgh artists making sure we’re connected into a large group of those shop owners here in Pittsburgh, you know, we’re connected to 4 shops already.

But we really wanna figure out what that structure and that model looks like, because then we really do want to expand it. We have artists throughout. I think we’re in 7 or 8 different states now.

So I want to do the same thing with those States. I want to make sure that in every major city that we have those connections, and we built that foundation to support those artists. And so once we’re able to, you know, in the next year, really figure out what that secret model looks like with Pittsburgh. That’s really where I want to start expanding it. And right next to us. Obviously, we have got Philly on one side. I’ve got Columbus, Ohio, on the other side. It’s like, those are our next markets. You know. We were down in New Orleans earlier this year and met some amazing artists, and they were hustling every night of the week. They’re hustling down at their events. and they’re tired, though they’re like I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. And so that’s where I go back to what do you do? You don’t want to sell everything online. You want to have that in person presence. So what’s that balance look like? So I really want to make sure we’re that balance for these artists.

And so I’d say this next year is really getting Pittsburgh solidified, and then starting to expand out to these other cities and replicating exactly what we’re doing here, making sure we’re finding those people who really are amazing artists. But amazing humans, making sure we’re finding those buyers who are like. Yes, I want to support them and keeping those shops going because it’s hard, and I don’t know about you, but I know at least 3 shops that went under in the last couple of years, because they just couldn’t keep the doors open. It’s hard, so we need to make sure. We continue to remind those people who are interested in local, interested and handcrafted, making sure they remember where to go, making sure. They know you know how to connect into that community and to support those artists and support those shops.

Oh, thank you, Laura. I am grateful to the podcast. I think this is fantastic, that you all want to feature entrepreneurs, cause they all need some love and support, too, cause it’s not easy to to go it alone, and hopefully all of them have a good community around them as well.

Thank you, Laura. I appreciate it.