February 28, 2025 • 32 mins
Join Jennifer Pilates as she welcomes Nancy Dillingham Marks, a former corporate professional turned glass artist and entrepreneur. After 35 years in the corporate world, Nancy discovered her passion for fused glass art, transforming her life and inspiring countless others along the way.
As the founder of Glass Arts Collective in Westlake Village, California, Nancy shares her incredible journey of overcoming imposter syndrome, embracing creativity, and building a thriving community-focused business.
Tune in to hear Nancy’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, the magic behind fused glass art, and how leaning into intuition can lead to life-changing opportunities. Visit JenniferPilates.com for show notes, links, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Audio Only - All Partic (00:07):
Welcome to Empowered Within, a soul
quenching transformationalpodcast that will set your soul
on fire through candid andinspiring conversations.
Leading experts, celebrities,healers, and I share our
journeys of how we've overcomechallenges to living an
empowered life from within.
I'm your host, Jennifer Pilates.
Welcome to another episode ofEmpowered Within.
(00:35):
Hi there and welcome to theshow.
I am honored to have with ustoday's guest, Nancy Dillingham
Marx.
After 35 years in corporate,Nancy learned something very
important that changed her life.
She is creative and went out andopened a glass art studio.
She took a creative leap,discovering her passion for
(00:56):
glass art.
She founded Glass ArtCollectives, a local studio in
Westlake Village, California,providing unique.
Handmade gifts, sharing her joyand watching others explore
glass art brings her immensejoy.
Welcome to the show, Nancy.
Hi, Fred.
Thank you so much.
I'm so honored to be here.
I'm so excited to have you here.
(01:17):
Oh my goodness.
So, tell me, how is WestlakeVillage doing?
I absolutely adore it.
I lived near there for a littlewhile and it was my secret
little zen place to go.
It still is.
It is an amazing community.
I just, I lived here years agowhen my daughter was born and
(01:37):
had to move away for a while andI had to come back.
I just had to.
Well, it has such specialenergies.
Absolutely.
The people and the businessesand the Conejo Valley Chamber, I
mean, just.
It all is so together.
It just works.
It just works well.
It really does.
So take me back, Nancy, to themoment where you decided to take
(02:01):
this creative leap of faith.
Well, what ended up happening isI really didn't think I even had
a creative bone in my body.
I am one of those people whosaid to myself, I'm not an
artist, I'm not creative, forway too many years.
And I actually had taken theopportunity to, learn about
fused glass because of my mom,she was at an assisted living
(02:25):
facility and they had a classthat was fused glass and I
wanted something else to dowith.
So I took the class and it waskind of one of those, why am I
doing this?
Oh yeah, I'm doing it for mom.
It's okay.
And so I took it and I fell inlove with it.
I am.
I took a second class, whichended up being my mom's birthday
(02:45):
present for her 85th birthday.
Dad and I thought that she wouldreally enjoy that.
So we got our little cards sothat she could actually send out
invitations to her friends atthe assisted living facility.
And that really put me over thetop of, yes, yes, this is
absolutely what I want to bedoing.
And the studio that I was doingit in closed.
(03:07):
And timing wise, my husband soldthe business.
So, I was trying to figure outwhat I wanted to do, and nothing
was really sticking.
And, it was like, the universejust all pulled everything
together at one time and said,This is what you should be
doing.
And my husband was the one whoactually had suggested it.
(03:30):
And I thought, you know what?
I haven't been doing it all thatlong.
I shouldn't really be doingthis.
And he said, you know how to runa small business.
He'd been running mine for 18years already.
He goes, get some friends tohelp you.
And I'm like, duh, of course.
I'll run the business, I'll havefriends help me with the more
advanced classes.
And Glass Arts Collective wasborn.
(03:51):
That is so amazing.
So tell me, when you look backover this transitional leap of
faith, what was your biggestchallenge?
Do you think?
My getting over impostersyndrome.
Ooh, that's a good one.
We know everyone has this.
Absolutely.
And again, I knew I could run asmall business, but if I'm going
(04:13):
to be in charge of an artisticenvironment, who am I going to
be doing that?
Well, I think part of theuniverse, and I know it sounds
silly, like smacked me acrossthe side of the head.
So five weeks after I opened thedoor, COVID hit.
And that could have been likethe worst thing in the world,
(04:36):
and don't get me wrong, itwasn't a great thing.
But I turned it around and said,this is how I'm going to improve
my skills.
This is how I'm going to takethe time to get to that point
where I am an artist and I cansay it out loud.
And that's exactly what I did.
Oh my goodness.
That is amazing.
(04:58):
Okay, so we've talked about thebiggest challenge.
What do you think was yourbiggest blessing over this leap?
Oh, the people I've met.
The people I had already metfrom the previous studio, there
weren't a lot that I'd had time,chance to really meet.
But the ones I had were justbeautiful people.
(05:18):
None of them knew how to run abusiness.
And so they all thought this isabsolutely the best thing for
you to do, and they became kindof my board of directors.
They were helping me with theideas and, and I was, I bounce
ideas off them.
They give me suggestions.
We all talk about it.
So that was an incredibleblessing at the very beginning.
(05:39):
And how wonderful to have thatsense of community right away
and to have that support rightaway.
I'd love for everyone to hearhow possible it is when you lean
into your intuition and yourfaith, the universe truly does
have your back and supports you.
Exactly.
I mean, that was prettydramatic.
I really guess I needed a majorslap across the head to, get
(06:00):
that, but you know what?
I started off with all of the,oh, woe is me kind of thing.
You know, I just took on thislease.
I just took on all thisinventory.
And then it was like, no.
Get out of your own ego and yourown mindset and do what you're
supposed to be doing.
And I have never looked back.
(06:20):
I have never been sorry in anyway, shape or form.
This was absolutely the thing Iwas meant to do.
I commend you because it's sohard to take that leap.
It's so hard to not see the nextstare and goodness, you came
across and came above and beyondso much.
That is so amazing.
So tell us exactly what is fusedglass art?
(06:45):
Oh, one of my favorite subjects.
So fused glass, everyone knowsblown glass, especially from the
Netflix TV show.
It's an awesome show.
But that's hot glass and it's atabout 2000 degrees in front of
that blowhole.
Then there's stained glass,which a lot of people know about
because of windows and usuallysome older artists have done a
lot of stained glass.
(07:07):
Fused glass isn't that old.
So, it's only maybe in the last50 plus years, and it is made at
room temperature, and we havethe doors open if the weather's
great, we have music going,we're laughing a lot.
There isn't that kind of, oh mygod, you have to know what the
thing, next thing you're goingto do is, you can't stop, you
(07:28):
have to, and so we really have alot of fun with it, and you take
a piece of base glass, andyou're going to break and pile
pieces together.
So you can do it as an abstractpiece or a very defined piece.
You can do it with basic colors.
You can do it with, there's anenormous amount of options.
(07:50):
I use the Bullseye GlassCompany.
They're out of Portland, Oregon,so it's U.
S.
made.
And, They have some unbelievablemixes of colors as well.
They call it streaky and theyjust blend beautifully together.
So you have all of these optionsand the glass has its own
energy.
(08:11):
It's unbelievable how you cankind of walk in and go, Oh, what
am I going to do today?
I want to do something.
What am I going to do?
And the glass just sort of callsto you.
Unbelievable.
Oh, it just seems to say, let megive you a suggestion and it
just happens.
(08:32):
Then we take it to a kiln and weheat it up usually between 14
and 1500 degrees.
But I program those kilns tostart after the electric rates
go down.
So it's running at night.
No one's here.
It's just doing its thing.
I call it the, Kiln Genies orElves this time of year.
(08:53):
And they do beautiful magic inthere.
They soften the edges of theglass.
Some of the glass actually comesout brighter and stronger colors
because of the heat.
It fuses the glass together atthose temperatures.
So then when we open the kiln,it's like Christmas morning.
It's just all these beautifulpieces of art.
(09:16):
All just looking at you going,Look at me! Check me out! I'm
beautiful! And that's how welook at it.
I mean, we gather around thekilns.
It is an event.
It sounds like an event.
Oh my gosh, you're taking meback to the days that I used to
do ceramics with my grandmother.
Oh, but fused glass sounds justso amazing and it makes me think
(09:39):
of when you collect the seaglass.
Yes.
Is it kind of the same?
Can you do that with sea glassor does it have to be a specific
glass to infuse?
It has to be specific glass thatcan fuse together.
So, sea glass can probably, fuseto sea glass, but the truth is
that all glass has its own coefficiency of expansion, COE,
(10:03):
and so it expands and contractsin heat differently.
So what they use in fused glassand what they use in blown glass
are two very different glass.
Window glass is different.
Wine bottles can be fused, butyou can't always fuse two
different wine bottles togetherbecause even those aren't
designed to fuse.
To be able to be fused togetherso they don't use the same COE
(10:23):
numbers.
So, we use all Bullseye GlassCompany, and not to keep
plugging them, but I so admirethis organization.
They guarantee that all of thedifferent types of glass that
they're making that's forfusing, all will work together.
And as an owner and an artist.
That's so important to me.
(10:43):
Yeah, that's incrediblyimportant.
So I have to tell you, I'mamazed as I sit here and I
listen to you speak aboutdifferent kinds of glass and
what will fuse and what won't.
Remind me how long you've beenin business.
I've been in business just aboutfive years.
January will be five years.
And I started in fused glass.
(11:03):
About a year and a half to twoyears before that.
This is amazing.
My goodness gracious.
Let me ask you this, for theentrepreneur out there who's
listening and going, you know,I've got this great idea, but I
don't know, you know, whatyou've accomplished in
relatively a short period oftime, what would be your number
one piece of advice that youwould give to someone
(11:27):
considering taking their ownentrepreneurial leap of faith?
I think a business plan iscrucial.
I think really putting togetherwhat your expectations are, what
it takes to get there, andhonestly, you're not necessarily
going to get it right the firsttime.
(11:48):
Or even the second time you'regoing to have to be willing to
pivot.
And that's one of the thingsthat I've done multiple times
already, and it's all been good.
But what I started off withwasn't bad.
So it's gotta be kind of, youhave to kind of plan this out.
You can't just decide I'm goingto do this and think it's all
just going to fall into place.
(12:08):
It's not like the movie field ofdreams where build it and they
will come.
You really have to put more workinto it than that.
Marketing is huge.
It is probably my weakest pointin all of this is marketing.
And so I've been taking a lot ofclasses.
And I take some classes and Icatch on and other classes I
(12:29):
don't.
And I don't stop.
I don't go, Oh my God, I'm tooold to do this or whatever I
want to say.
I just say that wasn't the rightinstructor for me.
And I go take another class.
And I build on it.
I just keep building on it.
And, we've been recognized bythe city as business of the
quarter last year, the chamberof commerce.
(12:50):
We were recognized by the L.
A.
County as well as being, youknow, a good small business in
the areas.
So I'm being recognized in suchbeautiful ways.
And my original time when I wasrecognized in my head was I'm a
hidden gem.
They found me.
Isn't that the truth?
(13:11):
So you say that marketing issomething that is a little bit
more challenging for you.
What do you feel up to date hasbeen your best point of
reference for someone to findyou?
My website has been great, butit really is word of mouth.
And satisfied customers.
I mean, the truth is what theysay is that one person who's
(13:35):
happy is going to tell multiplepeople.
Somebody who's not happy isgoing to tell a whole lot of
people.
So having a lot of happy people,they might not tell as many, but
I have to tell you enough happypeople, that message gets out
there and we do birthday partiesand the kids will have a great
time and then someone elsecouldn't come.
Where someone has an olderbrother or sister and they want
(13:57):
to come.
So it sort of continues thatmultiplying based on experience.
Being fused glass, people don'tknow what it is.
People are afraid of glassbecause you're used to dropping
something at home, breaking it,not on purpose.
And it's so delicate.
Like, everybody get away fromthe, you know, the area.
Make sure you have shoes on.
(14:18):
And you're so scared thatsomebody's going to get cut.
And with our classes, we'rereally, I mean, we teach
techniques, but the number oneis safety.
And when I have kids, I makethem repeat it back.
But the funniest thing for me iskids are safer than adults.
I love that.
(14:38):
Kids understand glass can bedangerous, and they stay focused
on what they were taught.
Adults have a tendency ofgetting a little more
distracted.
How is that for a polite way ofsaying they weren't paying
attention?
They weren't paying attention.
They're in their head.
I think something that's sospecial about what you're
speaking of with the clientelethat you have coming in is the
(15:00):
multi generational aspect of itand how special it is that
started between you and your momand you've brought that Maybe it
wasn't your plan, but theuniverse's plan to bring in that
sense of bringing everyonetogether, not only the
community, but the generations.
Absolutely.
(15:20):
And I love it when families comein together.
A lot of times a grandparentwill bring a grandchild.
Sometimes it's the parents withtheir kids.
Sometimes it's all threegenerations.
And I have a blast with them.
I have a blast with everyone.
Honestly, I love what I'm doing.
I'm passionate about sharing it.
And I just love having fun.
(15:40):
And everybody feels it.
So a lot of times when peoplecome in, they're hesitant.
They're a little reserved.
And it doesn't take long forthem to understand.
How beautiful this is.
Oh my goodness.
And how could, I mean, you justcome in, you're so bubbly,
you're so bright, I'm like, Ijust want to get on a plane and
come right now and infused glasswith you.
(16:02):
So when you look back, and we'renot looking back over a long
period of time, but we'relooking back over such a
transitional, such atransformational and empowering
period of time for you.
If there was any one thing thatyou could change.
Is there?
Yeah.
I mean, my ability to learnmarketing faster, actually, you
(16:24):
know, it's kind of funny becauseI've had so many jobs in so many
different careers in so manydifferent titles and those
things were important to me atthe time.
That isn't important to meanymore.
What's important to me is thatI'm bringing joy to other
people.
And so it's an interestingdynamic for me to have changed.
(16:45):
So much of my mindset, I'm goingto, you know, I'm not creative,
I'm not, I mean, I can't believeI've told myself that for so
long, all the things I probablymissed out on.
And it was based on, I triedsomething, I didn't like it.
Or maybe I just didn't have theright teacher.
Maybe I should look like mymarketing, been to another
(17:05):
teacher, tried someone else,tried a different style.
But instead I blocked it veryquickly because somewhere early
on I said I couldn't do itanyway.
So, you know, of course I justproved it to myself.
And so I have become so open toso much and I have a great go
for it attitude.
(17:27):
Is this going to work?
I don't know.
I'm just going to go for it.
If it didn't work.
Oh, well.
I tried.
I'm learning something new.
It's great.
I think it's so amazing the waythat you're speaking and it's so
refreshing of you just one,leaning into faith to going,
Hey, if it works great, if itdoesn't, I'll just keep
(17:48):
pivoting.
And.
Truly being aware with yourmind's eye.
Yes, you had experience in smallbusiness, which is incredibly
helpful for what you're doingNot looking at that lightly at
all What's amazing is that thereare people that spend millions
of thousands of dollars Over alifetime to try to acquire what
you have done for yourself infive to seven years And I really
(18:12):
want you to see that and feelhow amazing you are and the
light that you bring and the joyand how you're helping so many
people, I think, in so manydifferent ways.
It truly is just remarkable.
Oh, thank you.
I look back and, you know, youkind of, run through your
(18:33):
history at various times.
And I actually was creative.
I was very much an ops person.
and the way I address things forhelping to solve problems and to
troubleshoot things that I couldsee coming all very creative
ways of doing it.
But to me, the word creativedidn't mean that it meant
something else, just like artdoesn't really have a clear
(18:54):
definition in the dictionary.
So, everyone kind of has theirown interpretations of things.
So what I try to do with myclasses, for example, is I try
to make them technique classes.
So instead of it being, youknow, you have, here's an apple,
make an apple out of glass.
I'm teaching the techniques andyour imagination gets to make
(19:18):
what you want on the piece ofglass.
And that seems to have reallyhelped a lot of people when
they, at first they get a littlenervous.
It's like, well, I don't knowwhat I want to do.
I don't have any ideas.
And I said, there's inspirationall over my studio.
And I have samples, I said, feelfree to copy something if that
makes you comfortable to getstarted.
(19:38):
I consider that a compliment.
This is not a place where anyoneis worried about you liking
something that we've done andwanting to do something like it.
We embrace that.
And they look at me like I'minsane because you go to so many
places, no photographs, nophotographs.
(20:00):
And we're like, no, please.
Our stuff is all one of a kind.
It's handmade with love and noone here is doing mass
production.
So it's, it's really anenvironment that encourages and
supports.
I've got 12 artists in residenceright now.
So these people are all in amembership program and they can
(20:23):
put things in the gift shop aswell.
Because that was one of my pivotpoints.
I realized that these people aremaking this beautiful art on a
fairly regular basis, and theydon't have a place to sell it.
And, yeah, it's great, mystuff's in the gift shop, but oh
my gosh, how much more can Ioffer to the universe if I
(20:43):
offered their art as well?
I mean, wow, everybody wins.
So that was a pivot point.
And then kind of, you know,moving along, I'm looking at
people and I'm kind of lookingat the amount of stuff they're
getting.
And in our gift shop, we have asmall gift shop here at the
studio, and then we're online aswell now.
But when you look, you don'treally know whose stuff is
(21:05):
whose.
So, if you really like oneparticular artist, it's hard to
find that artist, again, easily.
So we redid the website, so youcan find it by artist.
Every description has theartist's name, so if you're just
scrolling through, or you'relooking at it by bowls, or by
trays, because most of ourglasses foods say it.
(21:25):
So you can use it forThanksgiving or Christmas or New
Year's or Easter or whatever youwant.
And then I realized, Hmm, soI've taken one of my tables here
and basically made it an artexhibit.
So once a month, a differentartist gets to have an actual
exhibit for the entire monthwhere they pick their favorite
pieces and they share them thewhole month.
(21:48):
And we advertise that we'redoing this.
And then I added an artistreception.
Because that's what an artgallery would do.
And so people can come andactually meet the artist, hear
the stories, the journey, whattheir backgrounds are.
And the majority of theseartists.
All started here with theintroduction to Fuse Glass
(22:09):
Class.
Oh, that just makes my heart sofull.
Oh my goodness, Nancy, that'sincredible.
There are layers.
You just didn't open an artstudio.
You have such layers ofcommunity and entrepreneurship
and creativeness that's going onthere.
It's truly amazing.
(22:30):
Congratulations.
Yeah, that's I'm so blessed byit.
I am so blessed by these people.
They are so supportive.
There'll be times where I'm inthe middle of a class or I have
to go to the restroom andsomebody walks in, they will
jump up and say, Hi, welcome,and they'll start answering the
questions as if they're a staffemployee.
(22:53):
And they'll say, Nancy, be rightback.
But they just, they just want tohelp me as much as I want to
help them.
And I couldn't have imaginedthat.
I mean, I worked at a lot ofmajor corporations, names, ABC,
IBM, Toshiba, Sony Pictures,Columbia Pictures.
So I've been at a lot of majorcorporations and never saw any
(23:16):
kind of community environmentthat even came close to
something like this with theemployees.
And so I learned a lot fromthose places and I treasure all
the experiences I've had andthey've all benefited me in some
way or another with here aswell.
So incredible.
(23:37):
I am just so tickled pinkexcited for you, Nancy.
I really like, I can't wait thenext time I'm out in the area.
I definitely want to come in andmeet you, infuse glass with you.
I mean I just want an I wouldlove that.
Yeah, it'll be so exciting.
So Nancy, we're getting to thistime in the show where I ask
this one question.
Are you ready?
Okay.
What is one thing that no oneknows about Nancy?
(24:02):
There are very few people whoknow that I directed television
when I was 14 because we had alocal cable network in our
junior high and I was directingsix cameras at one point for the
town meetings.
And people would come up to meand assume that I was much older
than I was.
(24:22):
And I ended up taking that intoteaching my senior year in high
school.
Television production to thescience department.
So there's a small group ofpeople who know that.
Not a lot of people.
Ye who thinks she's not creativewas directing six cameras at one
time.
Oh my goodness.
Nancy! Ha ha ha! But again, tome that wasn't That isn't a word
(24:44):
to me that was creative.
That was a logical anorganizational thing.
I needed to make sure that theperson speaking is seen.
I want to make sure that, and ofcourse it is creative, but back
then I never thought of it thatway because creative to me had a
different meaning.
I get that.
I totally get that.
I love that.
You're bringing light.
(25:05):
To that literally as you arethrough your glass and through
your beautiful energeticpresence.
So amazing.
Will you share with our audiencewhere they can best connect with
you and learn more about yourstudio?
Yes, it's glass arts with an scollective.
com.
And that's where my gift shopis, as well as the registration
(25:27):
for classes.
Yes, all the classes are here onsite in Westlake Village.
But there are wonderful glass,fused glass studios around the
world.
And I have not met a singlefused glass artist that wasn't
phenomenal, especiallyinstructors.
But everything we, you need forus is right there.
But then we also on Instagram,GlassArtsCollective.
(25:48):
com, at Facebook,GlassArtsCollective.
com, YouTube,GlassArtsCollective.
com, and then for LinkedIn, it'sNancy Marks.
So again, the woman that'shaving a little bit of trouble
with marketing is everywhere.
I'm so excited for you, Nancy.
Oh my goodness.
Thank you.
As we close out the show today,is there one last piece of
(26:09):
inspiration that you'd like toleave with us?
I would say really get out ofyour own way.
And by that, it's what yourthoughts are and your thoughts
direct what you're thinking.
But that doesn't mean yourthoughts are right and sort of
step back and question things.
(26:31):
And I don't mean rudely, I don'tmean, you know, if your boss
tells you to do something,question everything.
In your own head, question whatyou're thinking and why do you
think that?
Because I was in my own way forso long and I really hope other
people learn that much younger.
(26:51):
I would have been a lot happierhad I learned that at a young
age.
I think that's an incrediblepiece of advice and, sometimes
it's divine timing, right?
When we learn something.
So when we learn it, we learn itand we've just got to use, you
know, when we know better, dobetter.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
There's no, there's no shame in,you know, Learning later, but it
would have been nice to havelearned sooner.
(27:13):
Absolutely.
Well, as always, all of Nancy'scontact information and links
will be over in the show notesat jenniferpilates.
com.
So you can head over there,click on, do a little shopping
and perusing on her onlinestore.
And then hopefully if you're inthe area, you can pop in for a
class and get to meet Nancy inperson and fuse and make some
(27:34):
incredible.
infused glass with her.
Nancy, thank you so much forbeing here.
I just love your energy.
I love all that you're doing.
You make me want to go find aglass studio around me now.
I'm so excited for you andexcited to meet you one day in
your studio.
Well, Jennifer, thank you somuch.
even nicer in person, which isthe closest I've gotten to you.
(27:58):
I love listening to yourpodcast.
I hope everyone is subscribe andlike her podcasts.
Thank you so much, Nancy.
Well, as always, again, all ofNancy's information will be over
in the show notes atjenniferplottis.
com.
And as we say until next time,may you live an empowered life
from within.
(28:23):
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It helps me to connect with youand gives me insight into who
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For today's show notes anddiscount codes from today's
sponsors, head over toJenniferPilates.
(28:43):
com.
Until next time, may you live anempowered life from within.
Welcome to Empowered Within, a soul
quenching transformationalpodcast that will set your soul
on fire through candid andinspiring conversations.
Leading experts, celebrities,healers, and I share our
journeys of how we've overcomechallenges to living an
empowered life from within.
I'm your host, Jennifer Pilates.
Welcome to another episode ofEmpowered Within.
(00:35):
Hi there and welcome to theshow.
I am honored to have with ustoday's guest, Nancy Dillingham
Marx.
After 35 years in corporate,Nancy learned something very
important that changed her life.
She is creative and went out andopened a glass art studio.
She took a creative leap,discovering her passion for
(00:56):
glass art.
She founded Glass ArtCollectives, a local studio in
Westlake Village, California,providing unique.
Handmade gifts, sharing her joyand watching others explore
glass art brings her immensejoy.
Welcome to the show, Nancy.
Hi, Fred.
Thank you so much.
I'm so honored to be here.
I'm so excited to have you here.
(01:17):
Oh my goodness.
So, tell me, how is WestlakeVillage doing?
I absolutely adore it.
I lived near there for a littlewhile and it was my secret
little zen place to go.
It still is.
It is an amazing community.
I just, I lived here years agowhen my daughter was born and
(01:37):
had to move away for a while andI had to come back.
I just had to.
Well, it has such specialenergies.
Absolutely.
The people and the businessesand the Conejo Valley Chamber, I
mean, just.
It all is so together.
It just works.
It just works well.
It really does.
So take me back, Nancy, to themoment where you decided to take
(02:01):
this creative leap of faith.
Well, what ended up happening isI really didn't think I even had
a creative bone in my body.
I am one of those people whosaid to myself, I'm not an
artist, I'm not creative, forway too many years.
And I actually had taken theopportunity to, learn about
fused glass because of my mom,she was at an assisted living
(02:25):
facility and they had a classthat was fused glass and I
wanted something else to dowith.
So I took the class and it waskind of one of those, why am I
doing this?
Oh yeah, I'm doing it for mom.
It's okay.
And so I took it and I fell inlove with it.
I am.
I took a second class, whichended up being my mom's birthday
(02:45):
present for her 85th birthday.
Dad and I thought that she wouldreally enjoy that.
So we got our little cards sothat she could actually send out
invitations to her friends atthe assisted living facility.
And that really put me over thetop of, yes, yes, this is
absolutely what I want to bedoing.
And the studio that I was doingit in closed.
(03:07):
And timing wise, my husband soldthe business.
So, I was trying to figure outwhat I wanted to do, and nothing
was really sticking.
And, it was like, the universejust all pulled everything
together at one time and said,This is what you should be
doing.
And my husband was the one whoactually had suggested it.
(03:30):
And I thought, you know what?
I haven't been doing it all thatlong.
I shouldn't really be doingthis.
And he said, you know how to runa small business.
He'd been running mine for 18years already.
He goes, get some friends tohelp you.
And I'm like, duh, of course.
I'll run the business, I'll havefriends help me with the more
advanced classes.
And Glass Arts Collective wasborn.
(03:51):
That is so amazing.
So tell me, when you look backover this transitional leap of
faith, what was your biggestchallenge?
Do you think?
My getting over impostersyndrome.
Ooh, that's a good one.
We know everyone has this.
Absolutely.
And again, I knew I could run asmall business, but if I'm going
(04:13):
to be in charge of an artisticenvironment, who am I going to
be doing that?
Well, I think part of theuniverse, and I know it sounds
silly, like smacked me acrossthe side of the head.
So five weeks after I opened thedoor, COVID hit.
And that could have been likethe worst thing in the world,
(04:36):
and don't get me wrong, itwasn't a great thing.
But I turned it around and said,this is how I'm going to improve
my skills.
This is how I'm going to takethe time to get to that point
where I am an artist and I cansay it out loud.
And that's exactly what I did.
Oh my goodness.
That is amazing.
(04:58):
Okay, so we've talked about thebiggest challenge.
What do you think was yourbiggest blessing over this leap?
Oh, the people I've met.
The people I had already metfrom the previous studio, there
weren't a lot that I'd had time,chance to really meet.
But the ones I had were justbeautiful people.
(05:18):
None of them knew how to run abusiness.
And so they all thought this isabsolutely the best thing for
you to do, and they became kindof my board of directors.
They were helping me with theideas and, and I was, I bounce
ideas off them.
They give me suggestions.
We all talk about it.
So that was an incredibleblessing at the very beginning.
(05:39):
And how wonderful to have thatsense of community right away
and to have that support rightaway.
I'd love for everyone to hearhow possible it is when you lean
into your intuition and yourfaith, the universe truly does
have your back and supports you.
Exactly.
I mean, that was prettydramatic.
I really guess I needed a majorslap across the head to, get
(06:00):
that, but you know what?
I started off with all of the,oh, woe is me kind of thing.
You know, I just took on thislease.
I just took on all thisinventory.
And then it was like, no.
Get out of your own ego and yourown mindset and do what you're
supposed to be doing.
And I have never looked back.
(06:20):
I have never been sorry in anyway, shape or form.
This was absolutely the thing Iwas meant to do.
I commend you because it's sohard to take that leap.
It's so hard to not see the nextstare and goodness, you came
across and came above and beyondso much.
That is so amazing.
So tell us exactly what is fusedglass art?
(06:45):
Oh, one of my favorite subjects.
So fused glass, everyone knowsblown glass, especially from the
Netflix TV show.
It's an awesome show.
But that's hot glass and it's atabout 2000 degrees in front of
that blowhole.
Then there's stained glass,which a lot of people know about
because of windows and usuallysome older artists have done a
lot of stained glass.
(07:07):
Fused glass isn't that old.
So, it's only maybe in the last50 plus years, and it is made at
room temperature, and we havethe doors open if the weather's
great, we have music going,we're laughing a lot.
There isn't that kind of, oh mygod, you have to know what the
thing, next thing you're goingto do is, you can't stop, you
(07:28):
have to, and so we really have alot of fun with it, and you take
a piece of base glass, andyou're going to break and pile
pieces together.
So you can do it as an abstractpiece or a very defined piece.
You can do it with basic colors.
You can do it with, there's anenormous amount of options.
(07:50):
I use the Bullseye GlassCompany.
They're out of Portland, Oregon,so it's U.
S.
made.
And, They have some unbelievablemixes of colors as well.
They call it streaky and theyjust blend beautifully together.
So you have all of these optionsand the glass has its own
energy.
(08:11):
It's unbelievable how you cankind of walk in and go, Oh, what
am I going to do today?
I want to do something.
What am I going to do?
And the glass just sort of callsto you.
Unbelievable.
Oh, it just seems to say, let megive you a suggestion and it
just happens.
(08:32):
Then we take it to a kiln and weheat it up usually between 14
and 1500 degrees.
But I program those kilns tostart after the electric rates
go down.
So it's running at night.
No one's here.
It's just doing its thing.
I call it the, Kiln Genies orElves this time of year.
(08:53):
And they do beautiful magic inthere.
They soften the edges of theglass.
Some of the glass actually comesout brighter and stronger colors
because of the heat.
It fuses the glass together atthose temperatures.
So then when we open the kiln,it's like Christmas morning.
It's just all these beautifulpieces of art.
(09:16):
All just looking at you going,Look at me! Check me out! I'm
beautiful! And that's how welook at it.
I mean, we gather around thekilns.
It is an event.
It sounds like an event.
Oh my gosh, you're taking meback to the days that I used to
do ceramics with my grandmother.
Oh, but fused glass sounds justso amazing and it makes me think
(09:39):
of when you collect the seaglass.
Yes.
Is it kind of the same?
Can you do that with sea glassor does it have to be a specific
glass to infuse?
It has to be specific glass thatcan fuse together.
So, sea glass can probably, fuseto sea glass, but the truth is
that all glass has its own coefficiency of expansion, COE,
(10:03):
and so it expands and contractsin heat differently.
So what they use in fused glassand what they use in blown glass
are two very different glass.
Window glass is different.
Wine bottles can be fused, butyou can't always fuse two
different wine bottles togetherbecause even those aren't
designed to fuse.
To be able to be fused togetherso they don't use the same COE
(10:23):
numbers.
So, we use all Bullseye GlassCompany, and not to keep
plugging them, but I so admirethis organization.
They guarantee that all of thedifferent types of glass that
they're making that's forfusing, all will work together.
And as an owner and an artist.
That's so important to me.
(10:43):
Yeah, that's incrediblyimportant.
So I have to tell you, I'mamazed as I sit here and I
listen to you speak aboutdifferent kinds of glass and
what will fuse and what won't.
Remind me how long you've beenin business.
I've been in business just aboutfive years.
January will be five years.
And I started in fused glass.
(11:03):
About a year and a half to twoyears before that.
This is amazing.
My goodness gracious.
Let me ask you this, for theentrepreneur out there who's
listening and going, you know,I've got this great idea, but I
don't know, you know, whatyou've accomplished in
relatively a short period oftime, what would be your number
one piece of advice that youwould give to someone
(11:27):
considering taking their ownentrepreneurial leap of faith?
I think a business plan iscrucial.
I think really putting togetherwhat your expectations are, what
it takes to get there, andhonestly, you're not necessarily
going to get it right the firsttime.
(11:48):
Or even the second time you'regoing to have to be willing to
pivot.
And that's one of the thingsthat I've done multiple times
already, and it's all been good.
But what I started off withwasn't bad.
So it's gotta be kind of, youhave to kind of plan this out.
You can't just decide I'm goingto do this and think it's all
just going to fall into place.
(12:08):
It's not like the movie field ofdreams where build it and they
will come.
You really have to put more workinto it than that.
Marketing is huge.
It is probably my weakest pointin all of this is marketing.
And so I've been taking a lot ofclasses.
And I take some classes and Icatch on and other classes I
(12:29):
don't.
And I don't stop.
I don't go, Oh my God, I'm tooold to do this or whatever I
want to say.
I just say that wasn't the rightinstructor for me.
And I go take another class.
And I build on it.
I just keep building on it.
And, we've been recognized bythe city as business of the
quarter last year, the chamberof commerce.
(12:50):
We were recognized by the L.
A.
County as well as being, youknow, a good small business in
the areas.
So I'm being recognized in suchbeautiful ways.
And my original time when I wasrecognized in my head was I'm a
hidden gem.
They found me.
Isn't that the truth?
(13:11):
So you say that marketing issomething that is a little bit
more challenging for you.
What do you feel up to date hasbeen your best point of
reference for someone to findyou?
My website has been great, butit really is word of mouth.
And satisfied customers.
I mean, the truth is what theysay is that one person who's
(13:35):
happy is going to tell multiplepeople.
Somebody who's not happy isgoing to tell a whole lot of
people.
So having a lot of happy people,they might not tell as many, but
I have to tell you enough happypeople, that message gets out
there and we do birthday partiesand the kids will have a great
time and then someone elsecouldn't come.
Where someone has an olderbrother or sister and they want
(13:57):
to come.
So it sort of continues thatmultiplying based on experience.
Being fused glass, people don'tknow what it is.
People are afraid of glassbecause you're used to dropping
something at home, breaking it,not on purpose.
And it's so delicate.
Like, everybody get away fromthe, you know, the area.
Make sure you have shoes on.
(14:18):
And you're so scared thatsomebody's going to get cut.
And with our classes, we'rereally, I mean, we teach
techniques, but the number oneis safety.
And when I have kids, I makethem repeat it back.
But the funniest thing for me iskids are safer than adults.
I love that.
(14:38):
Kids understand glass can bedangerous, and they stay focused
on what they were taught.
Adults have a tendency ofgetting a little more
distracted.
How is that for a polite way ofsaying they weren't paying
attention?
They weren't paying attention.
They're in their head.
I think something that's sospecial about what you're
speaking of with the clientelethat you have coming in is the
(15:00):
multi generational aspect of itand how special it is that
started between you and your momand you've brought that Maybe it
wasn't your plan, but theuniverse's plan to bring in that
sense of bringing everyonetogether, not only the
community, but the generations.
Absolutely.
(15:20):
And I love it when families comein together.
A lot of times a grandparentwill bring a grandchild.
Sometimes it's the parents withtheir kids.
Sometimes it's all threegenerations.
And I have a blast with them.
I have a blast with everyone.
Honestly, I love what I'm doing.
I'm passionate about sharing it.
And I just love having fun.
(15:40):
And everybody feels it.
So a lot of times when peoplecome in, they're hesitant.
They're a little reserved.
And it doesn't take long forthem to understand.
How beautiful this is.
Oh my goodness.
And how could, I mean, you justcome in, you're so bubbly,
you're so bright, I'm like, Ijust want to get on a plane and
come right now and infused glasswith you.
(16:02):
So when you look back, and we'renot looking back over a long
period of time, but we'relooking back over such a
transitional, such atransformational and empowering
period of time for you.
If there was any one thing thatyou could change.
Is there?
Yeah.
I mean, my ability to learnmarketing faster, actually, you
(16:24):
know, it's kind of funny becauseI've had so many jobs in so many
different careers in so manydifferent titles and those
things were important to me atthe time.
That isn't important to meanymore.
What's important to me is thatI'm bringing joy to other
people.
And so it's an interestingdynamic for me to have changed.
(16:45):
So much of my mindset, I'm goingto, you know, I'm not creative,
I'm not, I mean, I can't believeI've told myself that for so
long, all the things I probablymissed out on.
And it was based on, I triedsomething, I didn't like it.
Or maybe I just didn't have theright teacher.
Maybe I should look like mymarketing, been to another
(17:05):
teacher, tried someone else,tried a different style.
But instead I blocked it veryquickly because somewhere early
on I said I couldn't do itanyway.
So, you know, of course I justproved it to myself.
And so I have become so open toso much and I have a great go
for it attitude.
(17:27):
Is this going to work?
I don't know.
I'm just going to go for it.
If it didn't work.
Oh, well.
I tried.
I'm learning something new.
It's great.
I think it's so amazing the waythat you're speaking and it's so
refreshing of you just one,leaning into faith to going,
Hey, if it works great, if itdoesn't, I'll just keep
(17:48):
pivoting.
And.
Truly being aware with yourmind's eye.
Yes, you had experience in smallbusiness, which is incredibly
helpful for what you're doingNot looking at that lightly at
all What's amazing is that thereare people that spend millions
of thousands of dollars Over alifetime to try to acquire what
you have done for yourself infive to seven years And I really
(18:12):
want you to see that and feelhow amazing you are and the
light that you bring and the joyand how you're helping so many
people, I think, in so manydifferent ways.
It truly is just remarkable.
Oh, thank you.
I look back and, you know, youkind of, run through your
(18:33):
history at various times.
And I actually was creative.
I was very much an ops person.
and the way I address things forhelping to solve problems and to
troubleshoot things that I couldsee coming all very creative
ways of doing it.
But to me, the word creativedidn't mean that it meant
something else, just like artdoesn't really have a clear
(18:54):
definition in the dictionary.
So, everyone kind of has theirown interpretations of things.
So what I try to do with myclasses, for example, is I try
to make them technique classes.
So instead of it being, youknow, you have, here's an apple,
make an apple out of glass.
I'm teaching the techniques andyour imagination gets to make
(19:18):
what you want on the piece ofglass.
And that seems to have reallyhelped a lot of people when
they, at first they get a littlenervous.
It's like, well, I don't knowwhat I want to do.
I don't have any ideas.
And I said, there's inspirationall over my studio.
And I have samples, I said, feelfree to copy something if that
makes you comfortable to getstarted.
(19:38):
I consider that a compliment.
This is not a place where anyoneis worried about you liking
something that we've done andwanting to do something like it.
We embrace that.
And they look at me like I'minsane because you go to so many
places, no photographs, nophotographs.
(20:00):
And we're like, no, please.
Our stuff is all one of a kind.
It's handmade with love and noone here is doing mass
production.
So it's, it's really anenvironment that encourages and
supports.
I've got 12 artists in residenceright now.
So these people are all in amembership program and they can
(20:23):
put things in the gift shop aswell.
Because that was one of my pivotpoints.
I realized that these people aremaking this beautiful art on a
fairly regular basis, and theydon't have a place to sell it.
And, yeah, it's great, mystuff's in the gift shop, but oh
my gosh, how much more can Ioffer to the universe if I
(20:43):
offered their art as well?
I mean, wow, everybody wins.
So that was a pivot point.
And then kind of, you know,moving along, I'm looking at
people and I'm kind of lookingat the amount of stuff they're
getting.
And in our gift shop, we have asmall gift shop here at the
studio, and then we're online aswell now.
But when you look, you don'treally know whose stuff is
(21:05):
whose.
So, if you really like oneparticular artist, it's hard to
find that artist, again, easily.
So we redid the website, so youcan find it by artist.
Every description has theartist's name, so if you're just
scrolling through, or you'relooking at it by bowls, or by
trays, because most of ourglasses foods say it.
(21:25):
So you can use it forThanksgiving or Christmas or New
Year's or Easter or whatever youwant.
And then I realized, Hmm, soI've taken one of my tables here
and basically made it an artexhibit.
So once a month, a differentartist gets to have an actual
exhibit for the entire monthwhere they pick their favorite
pieces and they share them thewhole month.
(21:48):
And we advertise that we'redoing this.
And then I added an artistreception.
Because that's what an artgallery would do.
And so people can come andactually meet the artist, hear
the stories, the journey, whattheir backgrounds are.
And the majority of theseartists.
All started here with theintroduction to Fuse Glass
(22:09):
Class.
Oh, that just makes my heart sofull.
Oh my goodness, Nancy, that'sincredible.
There are layers.
You just didn't open an artstudio.
You have such layers ofcommunity and entrepreneurship
and creativeness that's going onthere.
It's truly amazing.
(22:30):
Congratulations.
Yeah, that's I'm so blessed byit.
I am so blessed by these people.
They are so supportive.
There'll be times where I'm inthe middle of a class or I have
to go to the restroom andsomebody walks in, they will
jump up and say, Hi, welcome,and they'll start answering the
questions as if they're a staffemployee.
(22:53):
And they'll say, Nancy, be rightback.
But they just, they just want tohelp me as much as I want to
help them.
And I couldn't have imaginedthat.
I mean, I worked at a lot ofmajor corporations, names, ABC,
IBM, Toshiba, Sony Pictures,Columbia Pictures.
So I've been at a lot of majorcorporations and never saw any
(23:16):
kind of community environmentthat even came close to
something like this with theemployees.
And so I learned a lot fromthose places and I treasure all
the experiences I've had andthey've all benefited me in some
way or another with here aswell.
So incredible.
(23:37):
I am just so tickled pinkexcited for you, Nancy.
I really like, I can't wait thenext time I'm out in the area.
I definitely want to come in andmeet you, infuse glass with you.
I mean I just want an I wouldlove that.
Yeah, it'll be so exciting.
So Nancy, we're getting to thistime in the show where I ask
this one question.
Are you ready?
Okay.
What is one thing that no oneknows about Nancy?
(24:02):
There are very few people whoknow that I directed television
when I was 14 because we had alocal cable network in our
junior high and I was directingsix cameras at one point for the
town meetings.
And people would come up to meand assume that I was much older
than I was.
(24:22):
And I ended up taking that intoteaching my senior year in high
school.
Television production to thescience department.
So there's a small group ofpeople who know that.
Not a lot of people.
Ye who thinks she's not creativewas directing six cameras at one
time.
Oh my goodness.
Nancy! Ha ha ha! But again, tome that wasn't That isn't a word
(24:44):
to me that was creative.
That was a logical anorganizational thing.
I needed to make sure that theperson speaking is seen.
I want to make sure that, and ofcourse it is creative, but back
then I never thought of it thatway because creative to me had a
different meaning.
I get that.
I totally get that.
I love that.
You're bringing light.
(25:05):
To that literally as you arethrough your glass and through
your beautiful energeticpresence.
So amazing.
Will you share with our audiencewhere they can best connect with
you and learn more about yourstudio?
Yes, it's glass arts with an scollective.
com.
And that's where my gift shopis, as well as the registration
(25:27):
for classes.
Yes, all the classes are here onsite in Westlake Village.
But there are wonderful glass,fused glass studios around the
world.
And I have not met a singlefused glass artist that wasn't
phenomenal, especiallyinstructors.
But everything we, you need forus is right there.
But then we also on Instagram,GlassArtsCollective.
(25:48):
com, at Facebook,GlassArtsCollective.
com, YouTube,GlassArtsCollective.
com, and then for LinkedIn, it'sNancy Marks.
So again, the woman that'shaving a little bit of trouble
with marketing is everywhere.
I'm so excited for you, Nancy.
Oh my goodness.
Thank you.
As we close out the show today,is there one last piece of
(26:09):
inspiration that you'd like toleave with us?
I would say really get out ofyour own way.
And by that, it's what yourthoughts are and your thoughts
direct what you're thinking.
But that doesn't mean yourthoughts are right and sort of
step back and question things.
(26:31):
And I don't mean rudely, I don'tmean, you know, if your boss
tells you to do something,question everything.
In your own head, question whatyou're thinking and why do you
think that?
Because I was in my own way forso long and I really hope other
people learn that much younger.
(26:51):
I would have been a lot happierhad I learned that at a young
age.
I think that's an incrediblepiece of advice and, sometimes
it's divine timing, right?
When we learn something.
So when we learn it, we learn itand we've just got to use, you
know, when we know better, dobetter.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
There's no, there's no shame in,you know, Learning later, but it
would have been nice to havelearned sooner.
(27:13):
Absolutely.
Well, as always, all of Nancy'scontact information and links
will be over in the show notesat jenniferpilates.
com.
So you can head over there,click on, do a little shopping
and perusing on her onlinestore.
And then hopefully if you're inthe area, you can pop in for a
class and get to meet Nancy inperson and fuse and make some
(27:34):
incredible.
infused glass with her.
Nancy, thank you so much forbeing here.
I just love your energy.
I love all that you're doing.
You make me want to go find aglass studio around me now.
I'm so excited for you andexcited to meet you one day in
your studio.
Well, Jennifer, thank you somuch.
even nicer in person, which isthe closest I've gotten to you.
(27:58):
I love listening to yourpodcast.
I hope everyone is subscribe andlike her podcasts.
Thank you so much, Nancy.
Well, as always, again, all ofNancy's information will be over
in the show notes atjenniferplottis.
com.
And as we say until next time,may you live an empowered life
from within.
(28:23):
Thank you so much for tuning into another episode.
Please remember to rate, review,and subscribe to Empowered
Within with Jennifer Pilates.
Your feedback is important.
It helps me to connect with youand gives me insight into who
you are and what you're enjoyingabout the show.
For today's show notes anddiscount codes from today's
sponsors, head over toJenniferPilates.
(28:43):
com.
Until next time, may you live anempowered life from within.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!