Brooklyn Makers Founder Teresa Lagerman Shines Spotlight On Local Artisans

From small business owner to mom, neighbor Teresa Lagerman wears many hats, but she does it with some serious style and grace. Her newest endeavor, the website Brooklyn Makers, showcases artisans from across the borough, and offers an online shop where they can sell their merchandise.

We sat down with Teresa to learn a bit more about Brooklyn Makers, her upcoming projects, and how she maintains that mythical work/life balance.

SSN: First of all, tell us a bit about yourself.
TL: I’m 30. I have two boys. I run three companies – mimoYmima, a web design company that works mostly with local businesses; Condensed, a branding and design company that focuses on startups; and Brooklyn Makers. Put all of that together and the amount of cold brew that I go through won’t seem so unreasonable anymore.

How long have you lived in the neighborhood?
I’ve been in Windsor Terrace since 2005. Before that I lived in the North Slope for a little over a year, before that stretch of 5th Ave got fancy.

Tell us about Brooklyn Makers and how it came about.
It started as a blog where I wrote about local designers and makers whose worked I loved. For a long time I was always like a free rep for anything made in Brooklyn that caught my eye. I’ve worked for myself for so long and I know how important it is to support our local businesses. The blog was the next step to this passion, and the online shop followed almost a year later.

How can local artisans have their work featured on the site?
I’m always looking for new local talent! We have submission forms both on the blog and the shop. Just remember that everything needs to be made in Brooklyn.

You’re also a mom to two little boys. What’s your secret to a successful work/life balance.
My work schedule is planned to the minute and like most moms, I’m a multitasking genius. Another important thing for me has been to learn to be realistic with my expectations, and to try not to get upset if I can’t get as much done in one day as I hoped. If I didn’t get as far with a project as I thought I would or the laundry doesn’t get folded tonight, I’ll get to it tomorrow. I guess it’s the Spanish ‘mañana’ just getting to me now. But seriously, moms are awful at mom guilt and beating ourselves up. Another thing I’ve learned? Ask for help. People will actually help you if you ask them.

What is a typical day in your life like?
I’m up around 7am and I start working the minute I’m back from dropping off the kids at school. My work day is split between our design business and Brooklyn Makers. I meet makers around town, I shoot products for the site. I always try to eat lunch with the team – it’s five of us at our home office, so it’s pretty lively. The kids get out of school at 3pm and mama duty begins. Now that it’s still nice we play outside a lot. They’re tucked in by 8-8.30pm, and we have a few hours children free! There’s always a little bit of work to wrap up in the evening. We don’t have cable but we’re big on binge-tv-watching, and right now we’re on season 3 of Parks & Recreation.

What’s the best thing about being a parent in this area? The hardest thing?
The very best thing is our awesome neighbors. We don’t have any family here, so it’s huge for us to have so many good friends right by us. Most of them have kids our age and we’re all very supportive of each other. The hardest thing is, newsflash, how expensive it is to raise kids here.

Anything we left out that you’d like the world (well, South Slope/Windsor Terrace/Greenwood Heights) to know?
I’m psyched to be planning a holiday market in collaboration with Brooklyn Exposed. Brooklyn Makers will be there along with 35 local artisans, a DJ, a workshop corner, a coffee hub courtesy of Fairway Market, and a full bar. Pretty fabulous plan for a freezing December Sunday – December 8th at 501 Union. Mark your calendars!

Photo via Teresa Lagerman