123: Danielle Snyder How to Build a Community of True Fans Who Buy Your Art
b'"What good collaboration should do is inspire you."\\n-\\xa0Danielle Snyder\\nHey guys! Welcome back to ONKEN RADIO (Formerly NIONradio). I\\u2019m so glad you\\u2019re here today. This episode is going to be incredibly valuable for all you creative entrepreneurs out there because we\\u2019re talking all about what you need to do to find the people who will respond to your art and grow your following.\\n\\nHere\\u2019s the thing: Great creative entrepreneurs are great community builders. They know how to build communities among their followers, and they know how to build their own communities with other creatives. They know the importance of being authentic in their own branding. But they also know that collaborations \\u2014 those that serve the creators\\u2019 personal aesthetics and brands \\u2014 can help massively impact everyone for the better.\\n\\nAs creative alchemists, we all want to know how to create businesses that are authentic to who we are but that are also financially viable. We want to be successful and make our living with our art, but it\'s not always easy \\u2014 especially when you\\u2019re just starting out.\\n\\nThankfully I have the perfect guest today to teach us all how to build a brand and a following with joy and honesty. She\\u2019s been a good friend of mine ever since we met at a Summit event about eight years ago. Her name is Danielle Snyder, but you probably know her as half of the jewelry company Dannijo, which she co-created with her sister, Jodie.\\n\\nDannijo has been astounding the world for decades, but they really took off when Beyonc\\xe9 bought one of their pieces and actually wore it on tour! From that point on, Danielle and Jodie were jewelry royalty. But even before their rise to fame and any attention from Beyonc\\xe9, Dannijo was hustling full-time \\u2014 making beautiful jewelry and building an artistic community.\\n\\nDanielle and I have a great conversation in this episode. We talk about the importance of having a personal brand fueled by your own creativity and passion. We also discuss the power of social media and how you can use it to build a community of followers who support you and what you do. And finally, we talk about the importance of having a community to help get your creative juices flowing. I know you all are going to get a lot of value out of this conversation \\u2014 I certainly did. Let\\u2019s dive in.\\nWho Is Danielle Snyder?\\nAs I said before, Danielle Snyder is half of the famous jewelry duo Dannijo. She and her sister, Jodie, have been creating beautiful jewelry since they were little kids making fun pieces with their cardiologist father\\u2019s medical tools. They grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and continued to make jewelry into their college years when they sold their pieces to raise money for charity.\\n\\nBut New York City was calling. After school, Danielle\\u2019s older sister moved to New York, and Danielle followed her as soon as possible. They both worked full-time and considered their jewelry a fun and potentially lucrative hobby, but then they both lost their jobs. Within a month, the only way they were paying that infamous New York rent was through their jewelry business \\u2014 which quickly took off.\\n\\nThe two made a cold call to Bergdorf Goodman in 2008, and they took the jewelry on consignment, marking the official beginning of Dannijo as a brand. In their second week on the market, Beyonc\\xe9 discovered one of their necklaces and purchased it to wear on tour, and the rest is history.\\n\\nThroughout their rise in the world of creative entrepreneurship, Danielle and Jodie have placed a strong emphasis on philanthropy. Their first major project \\u2014 while Danielle was still in college \\u2014 was a fundraiser for the first health facility in the village of Lwala, Kenya. Since then, Dannijo has launched the nonprofit L.W.A.L.A. (Live With A Lifelong Ambition) to continue raising money to support healthcare in Kenya.\\n\\nI\\u2019m so inspired by the work Danielle and Jodie are putting out into the world. They create some of the most beautiful jewelry,'