2024 Year-End Business Grant Awarded to Alicia Dietz Studios

WomensNet is pleased to announce the recipient of its 2024 annual $25,000 Year-End Business Grant.

Alicia Dietz, based in Richmond, Virginia won the October 2024 Business Grant, and is the founder of Alicia Dietz Studios.

Take a few minutes to be inspired by her interview with Marcia Layton Turner about her business growth this year and her plans for the year-end grant.

Video Transcript

WomensNet: Today we have the pleasure of speaking with our 2024 Year-End Business-Specific Grant winner Alicia Dietz of Alicia Dietz Studios. Alicia won in the Creative Arts category. I’m Marcia Layton Turner and I’m one of several WomensNet advisory board members. Alicia, thanks so much for taking the time to talk about your business.

How about if we start with a quick recap of what you’ve been able to accomplish with your initial grant from WomensNet?

Alicia: First off, I just want to say a huge thank-you to WomensNet. I am incredibly humbled to be in the company of such amazing women running businesses and doing incredible things.

A quick overview of my business is I’m a one-woman shop; I design and build custom furniture of wood and concrete. Both materials are heavy and both produce cancer-causing dust. So, the areas that I tackled with the grant money was safety and material handling and education. I was able to produce some robust and specialized moving carts for maneuvering the heavy furniture and then some HEPA dust collectors and air filtration systems to protect myself and my environment. And then finally, some materials for workshops that I teach throughout the year to various communities that include young women and veterans and the local community.

WomensNet: I love that you’re sharing your talents with your community. What are some other highlights of 2024 that you can share?

Alicia: I think that it’s so easy for us to really get focused in on our business and put our head down and just keep going. But I think for me, the highlight of this year was the community.

Maybe it’s this time of year. Maybe because I just want to go see “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the big screen. But I really did feel like George Bailey, at the end of that movie, and everyone’s coming around and you’re surrounded by this love and encouragement. And these are relationships that didn’t just happen overnight. We’ve all spent years building these authentic, meaningful relationships. And to see the communities come out and really support us, I mean, for me, that has… Of course, there’s a bunch of things in the shop that have been impacted, but that community has been really touching. I have welled up more than once over this past month.

WomensNet: What I take away from your experience is that you did your market research. You confirmed that there was a need for this that people were looking for. Congratulations!

What’s one thing that you learned this year that you could share with our community that might help them in their businesses?

Alicia: Well, I think for me, the word would be perseverance. A mentor once told me to embrace rejection as an artist and a maker and that I should strive to receive a hundred rejection letters. And let me tell you, I am well on my way to that. Just another one showed up last week in my inbox.

But it really does show the importance of perseverance and that success in running a business comes down to constantly showing up. Whether it’s spending time in the office or in the shop or reconnecting with past clients, or for me, participating in small markets or big craft shows or sending out a newsletter or simply applying for the next grant, you know, after you receive that rejection letter, each step forward reallydoes count.

And I think for me, one of the biggest lessons I learned in the Army is that action supersedes inaction. Moving forward, even in the face of setbacks can build momentum and just doing one thing each day to show up. I’m going to do another movie scene. There’s a scene in “Cast Away” where Tom Hanks’ character says “Because tomorrow the sun will rise, who knows what the tide could bring?” And that’s really how I try to approach each day.

WomensNet: So Alicia, let’s start back with you. Now that you 3 have each won an additional $25,000 to invest in your business. How are you going to use it to help your company grow, Alicia?

Alicia: Well, I think a common theme is community. This grant is a game changer for my business. But I think what it really highlights for me is that it’s going to give me some room to breathe and an opportunity to step further outside my shop.

For me, making, it’s not just an act of creation, it’s an act of service. And as materials, wood and concrete get to teach us that strength and beauty come from challenges. And so, with this grant, I’ll have a chance to not only take workshops for myself that will expand my expertise, but I’ll get to bring that back and continue to share with the workshops that I teach throughout the community. And by teaching a bunch of diverse backgrounds, I’ve seen really firsthand how craft can empower people. It’s not just about making. It’s about discovering your own strength and potential and sense of belonging, so, that.

And then of course, beyond the education and some more equipment for the shop, I’m going to be hiring an assistant. So, that will not only help with the labor-intensive tasks, but some routine tasks, so that I can focus on long-term growth, like expanding some product offerings and new production methods. Yeah. It’s unbelievable to me and I’m so excited to put it into action.

WomensNet: Excellent. That sounds like great use of the funds. I’m so glad that you can take a breath and also focus on continuing to build on your skills. That’s super-important, especially when you’re working for yourself.