I had a blast this week on the TODAY show -my first appearance on national TV! I was one of three businesses invited to promote Small Business Saturday, coming up THIS Saturday, November 30. This is your chance to show some love and support for the small businesses in your community.
Here’s how my day went on Tuesday:
The show sent a limo for me and my mom in NYC at about 6:00 am -yes it felt early, but it was hard to sleep in anyway. We were whisked away to the studio, adjacent to the famed 30 Rock (Rockefeller Center).
After checking in, we headed for hair and makeup and hanging out in the green room with snacks and coffee. No, I did not meet Scarlett Johansson who was on the show that day, but I did sit in the makeup room with Carson Daly.
The TODAY Show props specialists re-created each of our shops in the plaza at 30 Rock. I had previously sent pictures of my shop and a box of inventory for display. They did a great job setting everything up and even paid attention to details like my signage and planter box! The backdrop was constructed to resemble the front of my shop at the Brookland Arts Walk.
It was raining steadily, but they shined a bright light once we began the segment, so you’d never know it. Each of the three businesses had one of the hosts interview us for about 2 minutes.
Savannah Guthrie was my host, and although the time flew by (and I could have elaborated much more), I mentioned my Shop at the Brookland Arts Walk in DC and website.
My segment was first and then Craig Melvin moved onto interview the founders of the Harlem Wine Gallery, Pascal and Daneen Lewis. Hoda Kotb spoke with Karen Barwick of Boomerang Toys in Tribeca.
We had a chance to take some photos, sip a little champagne (from the wine shop) and bask in our “15 minutes of fame”. Then back to the limo and my friend’s apartment in NYC.
It seemed like a dream, but we got a nice bump in online orders that day- orders from all over the country. It was fun tracking where people were ordering from as they visited the online shop as my segment aired in four different time zones.
