I’m going to break an old taboo about talking about money with other people; I’m going to break it hard by talking to Sowmya Ranganathan about money AND broadcasting it to anyone who will listen. I personally think this rule is kind of stupid because it keeps people ignorant about money which causes us to make poor decisions about our money. This is especially problematic for small business owners who deal with money more directly than those who work for someone else.

For many reasons, I have wanted to cover this issue in the podcast for a long time. One of the minor reasons is to talk here about my own issues and journey regarding money. Growing up poor-ish and always pinching pennies I learned a lot about money, but I also absorbed some bad money habits, like buying something ONLY based on price…only later realizing that when you skimp on quality you end up spending more in the long run on a replacement or repair. I also always had a hard time spending money on on intangibles whose value I couldn’t quantify, like a weekend away to recharge the batteries and come back stronger.  I know from conversations online that a lot of you have questions and outright fear regarding money.

I also wanted to cover this issue as part of my not-so-secret feminist agenda. Let’s face it, most henna artists are women and we exist in a world where the power and the pursestrings are not always in our command. Most of us grow up without the skills to ask for what we are worth (financially, but also physically, emotionally and intellectually). When I first started doing henna professionally I used to state my prices with a question mark at the end and a look of begging for approval on my face. I have learned to put a period at the end of my sentences, but there are days when I feel guilty for asking for what I am worth. I’m nearly 50 and I recently asked for a raise for the first time in my life! I’m embarrassed to admit this. My boss agreed I deserved a raise, but when it came time there just wasn’t the budget for it. That sucks but it’s beyond the scope of this podcast!

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Perhaps you heard that a bunch of us Moroccan henna fans are doing a full weekend workshop in NYC at the end of February. Maybe you are interested but haven't made up your mind yet.  If that is the case, I hope that these conversations with three of the instructors--Nic, Nev and Noam--will help make the decision to sign up even easier!  You can hear in their own words what the three Ns are bringing to the workshop and why they think it's going to be amazing.  Rebecca and I will also be teaching at the workshop but we decided that our voices have been heard too much on this podcast already.  Below you'll find more information about the workshop and what to expect, as well as links to the Facebook event page and to the registration page. See you in February!

Welcome to Episode 22 of the Caught Red-Handed Podcast which is the first ever live podcast and therefore most of the intro is about my experience at HennaCon.  It was my first time, and one of my rare appearances at a conference.  If you’ve never been to a henna conference and aren’t sure if you’re ready, believe me you are.  The only prerequisites are a passion for henna, a desire to learn and grow, and a minimum of a few weeks of doing henna.  I was surprised to see that HennaCon offers so much to newbies and seasoned old pros. I’ve been doing henna for 16 years and walked away from this experience with my brain and heart full of so much new stuff, most of which I am still digesting a month later.  I met so many newbies who were all bright eyed and bushy tailed, soaking up as much information as they could , hennaing each other and getting hennaed.  The week after I saw their work on Instagram and noticed leaps in quality and creativity.  For me, HennaCon came at a good time for me benefit from it.  If you have listened to just 1 or 2 episodes of this podcast you’ll know that I have been on a journey to improve my skills (learning to roll and use cones, and also tampering with my paste) as well as finding ways to more deeply tap into my creativity.  My state of mind is very curious and receptive so HennaCon felt like a perfect match for my sponge-like state.  I absorbed a lot from classes, but also from talking to other artists, watching how they work, answering their questions which really made me think about how I work, hennaing and getting hennaed.

Back in Brooklyn one month after HennaCon here is what I’m thinking/doing/learning/planning. Starting with the podcast, i got a surge of ideas of different kinds of podcasts and people to interview.  Watch this space for these developments.  I’ve started practicing more on my own (it helps that it’s the slow season here).  In my practice time I am working on things that I picked up at HennaCon like Kiran’s shading, Neeta’s fills, Rebecca’s leaves, Joey’s dots and then putting them all together.  From the Moroccan henna class that I co-taught with Noam I realized that there is a huge interest in Moroccan henna. Before that I was despairing that no one cared about it and what’s the point of pushing it out there.  Thanks to all your support (especially those of you who asked me to henna you with Moroccan designs) I feel a renewed passion for it.  Nic and Noam and I are cooking up some projects in the realm of Moroccan henna.  Again, watch this space.

As for this episode of the podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kim Brennan, Jessica McQueen and Kiran Sahib on the subject of the creative process.  I hope the sound issues aren’t too disruptive; it was my first time recording in a live environment. After the conversation with these three awesome women and artists I put in a few woman-on-the-street interviews with HennaCon attendees recorded on my iPhone.  The sound quality on these is pretty terrible tho with all the background noise you may feel as if you were there, listening in person.

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes to always be the first on your block to get the newest episode. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road. Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing . Thanks!

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I interviewed 13 people (myself included) and got 13 different recipes. Imagine that! Incontrovertible proof that there is no secret recipe for henna paste, no perfect one-size-fits-all recipe. Who would have ever guessed that! All my guests are pro artists with years and years of experience and most of them are still working on their perfect recipe. Almost everyone agrees that you have you change the recipe according to a variety of factors: the weather, what kind of gig it is, what tool you are using, where your gig will be held, what kind of designs you are going to be doing, and possibly even the phase of the moon.

This is the last of the series on mixing henna. If you haven't found a recipe or a technique that you like after all these conversations there is no hope for you. Of course, I am sure you--whether wet-behind-the-ears newbie or season ole pro who has seen everything--will have learned something that will take your henna career to the next level. Go put some henna powder in your favorite bowl, find a spoon or a spatula and get ready to fill your ear holes with wise words from the henna pros!

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes to always be the first on your block to get the newest episode. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road. Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing . Thanks!

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This episode of the mixtape mixology series is a classic East Coast-West Coast battle with Middle America officiating.  We have Sarah Walter in the West, representing Seattle (pictured above).  Deborah Brommer takes up the middle position, representing the flyover states from her home in Ohio. She's the perfect person to middle because she is very tolerant of all types of henna, mixes, essential oils and even tools.  She can roll with whatever is at hand which I found impressive.  Representing my East Coast peeps is Rebecca Freedner, based in Vermont.  No she does NOT mix her henna with maple syrup.  Don't listen to the haters!

The more I listen to all these mixes the more confused I am about what is best for me.  I'm making small changes in how I mix henna, nothing too drastic because I need to be sure I have a good and consistent batch for working on clients.  I think this winter I will have time to do some experimenting outside my comfort zone. What have you changed since you started listening to this mixtape series? Share in the comments.  After this episode, there is one more in the series in which I am interviewed by our very own Nev.

I mention this in the podcast, but just a reminder to register for HennaCon if you haven't already. I'll be there teaching an Advanced Moroccan workshop with Noam Sienna, and also doing a live podcast with a bunch of awesomely creative people.  Go to HennaCon.com to register and see you there in October!

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes to always be the first on your block to get the newest episode. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road.  Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing . Thanks!

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I can hear you all out there banging your spoons against your henna bowls in anticipation of the next Mixtape episode.  Clang no more, put those bowls to good use.  This episode will give so many new ideas for mixing henna that you'll want to run to your kitchen right away.

The first episode ranged across the US, but this one narrows its focus to just the Bay Area.  Even though all my guests are in the same area they each have their own way of dealing with the climate and their own unique recipes.  All three are very active in the bridal scene, offering up some great ideas for making special paste for bridal henna.  We even have a minor controversy brewing over whether there is such a thing as dye release (possibly a subject for a future episode).

Interestingly all three of these women have very no-nonsense approaches to mixing henna.  Maybe there is something about doing bridal henna in an environment with a lot of henna artists  and a lot of gigs that makes a person become more focused on what works and what doesn't.  It sounds like there really isn't time to play around with different powders and oils and teas etc. but instead they have all strived to get the very best paste in the easiest and quickest way possible.  That said, they all arrived at their current mix through a lot of experimentation which is the core lesson from all of these interviews.

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes to always be the first on your block to get the newest episode. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road.  Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing. Thanks!

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Henna recipes are like snowflakes...no two are the same.  Or maybe a better metaphor is that henna artists are grannies with their own special recipe, made with love and no measurements, or maybe carefully measured but always with a little pinch of something you never thought of.

I floated this episode idea of a collection of interviews about henna recipes with a bunch of seasoned pro henna artists in my inner circle.  I thought maybe there would be a few interested in talking to me and maybe I'd get 5 minutes of tape from each. It turned out to be way more than that. One of my pro buddies wondered aloud how many recipes there could possibly and how would that make an interesting episode.  I hope she's listening!

My cattle call got so many takers and each call was a full conversation so I had to split them up into several episodes.  Here is the first batch ready for your hungry ear holes.  My guests were Sowmya from San Francisco, Wardah of San Diego, Victoria in Minneapolis and beyond, and Nev way up in Portland, ME.

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes to always be the first on your block to get the newest episode. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road.  Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing . Thanks!

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Disclaimer: It's hasn't yet happened that this podcast requires a disclaimer so I hope I am doing this right.  In this episode the existence of sex and sexuality is acknowledged.  If you are under 18, please ask your parents if you can listen to this episode. If  you are an adult and don't want to know that these things exist, that there is an industry devoted to it, and people who work in it, I suggest you close this browser window and walk away.

For the rest of you still reading, this episode is a treat, and an unusual one at that.  Donia is a business consultant to sexuality professionals.  Somehow I got it into my head that there are a lot of parallels between the work of a professional henna artist and that of a sexuality professional.  You will have to listen to the episode to see exactly what those parallels are, and I am sure you can think of a lot more than those we talked about.  The episode isn't all just sexy stuff--it's not sexy at all--but it's chock full of great business advice that we can all benefit from, at whatever stage our career are.

Donia was generous enough to share some great links, some of which she talks about on the podcast, and others that she thought would be useful to you all.

http://polyweekly.com/2011/03/personal-branding-for-the-sex-positive-educator/

http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/90-tiny-tips-to-build-your-personal-brand/

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-Your-Personal-Brand

http://diybusinessassociation.com/gobrandyourself/

Donia offers a free 30 minute consult to any one who fills out the form on her website: www.doniachristine.com

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes to always be the first on your block to get the newest episode. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road.  Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing . Thanks!

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Perhaps you remember Darcy from the inaugural episode of this podcast, or maybe you have seen her work online...either way, she is hard to forget.  A bridal panel just wouldn't be complete without talking to Darcy.  In my years of friendship with her, Darcy has shared with me so much of her bridal henna knowledge.  Her advice---based on personal experience---was very important to the growth of my own bridal henna business.  I hope that you listeners will benefit from her advice as much as I did.

Upon listening back to the three (so far!) bridal panel episodes I am amazed at how many ways there are to run a henna business, not to mention all the different ways to do henna, from making paste to wrapping up a bride.  I was able to glean such a variety by choosing artists with different backgrounds, located in different areas of the US (working on some interviews with overseas artists so stay tuned), unique approaches to their art and even different art.  As you listen to this series of episodes I think you will see some common themes like the need to change up your marketing regularly, and keep trying different things until you find that sweet spot, and the need for a high level of professionalism both in your business activities as well as your art.  What were the biggest takeaways from these interviews that influenced your career in henna?

Darcy can be found at hennaguru.com as well as hennalounge.com; she has a huge presence on all the social media that you have heard of, and even some you haven't!

Remember to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes. This helps me know how the podcast is doing and will also help me attract sponsors to help finance the podcast down the road.  Please also rate the podcast on iTunes just so I know how I'm doing . Thanks!

Sarah, of sarahenna.com, is not only a fellow henna artist but is also an IT person by day, like myself.  Talking with her for the podcast felt very familiar because of our similarly split personalities.  I've long admired Sarah's work, especially her bridal work, because it embodies so much of what I am always striving to achieve, especially clean lines and original designs.  Wandering around her Flickr galleries is such a pleasure and also an inspiration.  

I learned a lot from my conversation with Sarah and our conversation continued on Facebook where she has been really helpful--along with a lot of other pros--at helping me with my cone challenges.  It was interesting to hear the practical matters of bridal henna and compare and contrast it with the information gleaned from other bridal artists.  I think a lot of us henna artists strive to find the one perfect way to do henna, but these conversations have shown me that not only are there a lot of different approaches to the art form, but also that individual artists often change their methods from bride to bride, or evolve over time.  I think that I can give myself a break for finding myself in beginner's mode at times, now that I know that great artists who I admire are also still learning.  I hope you enjoy the podcast and discover that you are also growing!