Crafty Chica

Kathy Cano-Murillo, Founder

Phoenix, AZ
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Discovering her own creativity

For Kathy Cano-Murillo of CraftyChica.com, creativity is at her core. "I've always been a hyper-creative person," she says. "When I was a young girl I remember writing a story and reading it aloud to my class - I was one of the only brown girls and very shy but everyone loved it and they connected with me and cheered and laughed. I anchored on that moment that this is what I want to do - I want to create things and tell stories."

While working as a newspaper columnist, Kathy saw a gap in the craft world she loved. "I looked around and saw that there was almost no representation in craft products and finished goods that represented Latino culture," she recalls. So Kathy got to work. With her husband performing as a musician, Kathy would make her own crafts and sell them at his shows. Her products exploded in popularity but it became too big to manage on her own, so she pivoted her approach. "We became so overwhelmed with orders I realized we could serve our mission by teaching people how to make these things, rather than just selling them," she recalls. "I took everything I learned as a reporter and applied it to my craft blog, Crafty Chica." That strategy worked, by 2007 Kathy was able to pursue Crafty Chica full time – "every year it gets bigger."

Crafty Chica
Creating The Crafty Chica

Kathy has taken Crafty Chica to new heights, "I've authored 2 novels, 7 craft books, a book about Frida Kahlo, I run workshops - all different ways to keep creative," she says. All this, in service of her mission. "My mission is to inspire others to recognize and bring out their inner shine, and to see it in others. We each have our own signature sparkle and I like to help people find what makes them happy - because when they're happiest that's when they glow."

Over the last 21 years, Kathy has stayed true to that mission helping people learn new crafts. "I have so much content – over 3,700 blog posts – not to mention tutorials on social media and other channels." But for a long time, Kathy hadn't been able to earn any money from her blog content. "I knew about ads but I initially thought they'd lead to a poor user experience," she says, until she connected with other bloggers online and realized the business potential. Kathy decided to partner with Mediavine, a Google Certified Publishing Partner, to help her monetize her blog, and it's been a game-changer. "Before Mediavine and before the ads, it was just me taking time out of my day to put this content together for people and I'd hope that payment would come through blog campaigns," she explains. "But with ads, I'm finally getting paid for doing this after years of doing it for free. I love that it's a business. I'm revamping my site and reimagining my business approach to make CraftyChica.com a central space for my community."

“With ads, I'm finally getting paid for doing this after years of doing it for free. I love that it's a business.”
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Some of Kathy's crafts.
Abundant opportunities ahead

With more revenue coming in, Kathy is zeroing in on how she can build out her blog into a larger part of her business, while keeping the content free to access. "Keeping the content free and ad–supported is a key component of what I do. I love seeing the way people respond to my tutorials, recipes, and stories," Kathy says. "They're excited to create and share. It makes me want to level up in every way. I'm always growing - whether it's writing, publishing novels, designing products for stores…next I want to do a screenplay. There's so much more to accomplish."

About the Publisher

Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica, is former syndicated newspaper columnist and now a full-time creativepreneur which has led to multiple product lines, and collabs with national brands. She has authored several craft books and novels, a book about the life of Frida Kahlo, and her latest – The Crafty Chica Creates.
About the author