Today we’d like to introduce you to April Grob
April, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story starts when my husband and I moved back to St. Louis, MO, more specifically Berkeley, MO from Fort Stewart / Hinesville, GA. We moved back because he was officially out the army and all of our army family had moved away and we wanted to come back to spend time with family that we hadn’t seen in a while. He worked and I was a stay at home mom who spent way too much time reading, crocheting, and writing, lol. My husband’s best friend’s, brother’s wife told me to give Etsy a try as a storefront to sell some of my crochet items since I was already giving them to close friends and family members. She said it would be a good way to get my name out there and so I tried it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t know much to promote myself, I was still very new to the game and didn’t make any sales on Etsy. I still made sales by word of mouth and through fb and when I got my other social media platforms, through those platforms as well. Roughly, around the beginning of the pandemic, a friend of mine, who didn’t know that I had Etsy, again, I wasn’t good at promoting myself, made me a CraftyPicks25 Facebook business page and I’ve been doing a lot better posting things there and on my social media accounts and getting some recognition there. I also published my short story novela, Dreams, on December 30th, 2023. Officially a year now, woot woot! This past November, I have also published 2 Bible Study Journals for my small business. All of these are self published through Amazon kdp. I, since November 2014, have been in education, starting out as a lunch and recess monitor to now being a 6th grade Science Teacher that also hosts a STEM Club and a Young Writers Club. I am also a volunteer pre-k teacher through my church CrossingsSTL. Things have been amazing, especially since my book signing during the St. Louis AuthorCon 4 at the Renaissance Hotel in August 2024. God’s blessings just keep coming. I’m curring working on a few crochet blankets and other merchandise for my small business, writing my second book to my first book, Dreams, and a short story that I am going to submit in hopes of being part of an anthology.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has not always been smooth. My husband and I worked on different schedules since I got a job working in education, so there have been several times where we both felt like single parents caring for our children and our home, which lead to times of low motivation to do any writing or reading or crafting, or hanging out with friends or family. Also, there were times where money was tight and still can be, especially with me going back to school. Money being tight means that there’s not much to spend to gift book shops, libraries, or do other things to promote myself, like taking part in craft shows or other vendor events. Also, when you have 3 kids, 3 different ages groups, going to 3 different schools on 3 different schedules, that gets hard, especially with their school events. Lastly, the work around my church schedule. It’s very important to me to spend time with my church family and grow my relation with God because without him this wouldn’t be possible, but the business of the schedule doe complicated things sometimes.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a 6th grade Science Teacher. I host a STEM Club and a Young Writers Club for my school. I am very proud of my STEM Club being more successful this year than last. This is my second year hosting the club and I take pride on all the training I’ve done and the STEM camps that I taught at since becoming STEM Certified, so that I can be better for my students in both Science and STEM this year and the years following. I feel that the time and effort that I put into my professional developments for my job makes me a better Science Department Chair and Team Lead. My coworkers seeing my dedication, I think sets me apart because I involve them in every decision made for the team and the department. I do believe that these developments have also made me a better small business owner and author because I’ve brought those skills into my personal life.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can always reach out to me on any of my social media platforms or via my email addresses. For my small business, the email to best reach out is grobapril2@gmail.com and for my book, my personal email is a great place to reach me, grobapril@gmail.com. My hub for my social media platforms and ways to support me are in this following link: https://linktr.ee/aprilgrob?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=abba0bb9-b721-4c8a-882f-4426ad78ad0f
Of course, friend me, subscribe, or follow me and share my posts.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprilgrob/profilecard/?igsh=am1tbDhkYzNsbzQ1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/159E2BwXNT/?mibextid=qi2Omg
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-grob?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app
- Twitter: https://x.com/GrobApril?t=sb7Z2VnQ5X9jd2VX42FFkw&s=09
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nerd-tastic3622?si=sx-tjwGs4F6OglMs
