About
The Mission
Our mission is to be a trusted source of industry information, creative inspiration, and community for craft professionals. We’re working to help our members:
- Stay current on industry news, trends, and opportunities
- Make connections with other small business owners
- Develop viable business models
- Achieve profitability
- Run their businesses according to their own standard of ethics
Craft Industry Alliance is committed to fostering a community that reflects the rich history and cultures of craft and the diversity of crafters. Our goal is to continuously evolve and to proactively create an organization that seeks to represent and recognize this diversity.
The Founders
Craft Industry Alliance was founded in 2015 by Abby Glassenberg and Kristin Link. They each had over a decades’ worth of experience as craft industry professionals. They’d been designers and producers, makers and retailers, writers and teachers. Their vision was to build a thriving trade organization that meets the specific needs of today’s craft industry professionals and offers an opportunity for makers, suppliers, designers and writers to join together as allies under a united “craft industry” umbrella. In 2019, Kristin moved on from the company, but they remain friends and her vision was an integral part of the organization’s foundation.
The Team at Craft Industry Alliance
Abby Glassenberg
President and Co-Founder
Abby co-founded Craft Industry Alliance and now serves as its president. She’s a sewing pattern designer, teacher, and journalist. She’s dedicated to creating an outstanding trade association for the crafts industry. Abby lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Kate Ankeny
Operations Manager and Outreach Coordinator
Kate is our Operations Manager and Outreach Coordinator. She has a background working in the arts non-profit, marketing, and design industries. Kate has coordinated with craft business owners to put on workshops, guest artist residencies, discussions, and large scale creative events. In her design business, she creates visual branding and promotional pieces for creative entrepreneurs. She lives in Silverthorne, Colorado.
Ashleigh Brookshaw
Community Engagement Manager
Ashleigh is our Community Engagement Manager. She has extensive experience managing online communities for different types of organizations and professional associations like the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society of Safety Professionals. She has fond memories of watching her grandmother sew and believes crafting can create memories for people that can last a lifetime. She lives in Chicago.
Lindsie Bergevin
Graphic Designer
Lindsie does all of our graphic design work. She specializes in serving craft and quilt industry professionals, helping them take their businesses to the next level with cohesive branding, pattern and publication design, technical illustration, website design, and software training. Lindsie lives in Boise, Idaho.
Meg Bateman
Instagram Manager
Meg is our Instagram Manager. She works with small business owners and bloggers on their social media strategy and platform management to best reach their target audience. Meg was practically born crafting, sewing with a working children’s sewing machine by the age of four, and knitting her own accessories by age 10. These days she likes to unwind after a long day with a knitting project and her two dogs. She lives in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.