Rising Stars: Meet Twyla Lambert Clark

Today we’d like to introduce you to Twyla Lambert Clark.

Hi Twyla, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
My career in the printing industry culminated in starting my own company Lambert Clark, LLC where I help facilitate the printing of beautiful books & magazines. Starting my own company also freed me to follow my desire to create fiber art, sew and weave. Isn’t that what a great career should ultimately do? Allow us to do what we love and what we are really good at.

During my career in commercial print, I have helped manufacture some of the most iconic books about Nashville, TN from histories of the Schermerhorn, BNA airport, and Tuck Hinton Architects to many many books for the CMHF and plenty of others. I have an entire bookcase dedicated to books I’ve helped create.

With my own company, I can still do that but can also do my own thing and sew and create the stuff I want to….. it’s a nice life.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My career has been a winding road with challenges like the to-be-expected “keeping up with technology” but also the unprecedented nightmare of 9/11.

No one plans for something that can’t be imagined.

On 9/11 I was working in the print sales department of McQuiddy Printing when we heard there had been a freak accident in NYC where a plane hit a building. (Remember this was before cell phones were commonplace.) One by one people were getting up from their cubicles to head to the conference room where the news was on the television.
No one knew what to make of what we were seeing and we couldn’t imagine how it would change everything.
I remember people wandering around the office not knowing quite what to do. It didn’t seem right to talk about where to go to lunch or to call on customers so there was an odd hush over the large room.
Suddenly everything seemed pointless and literally no one knew what to do.
Time stopped.

In that building, throughout Nashville and indeed all over Tennessee the printing industry came to a grinding halt. Print orders were canceled. No one started new projects and ongoing projects were abandoned.
For five months ….. five months of waiting.
Waiting.
I made my living through commissioned sales.
After the third month I was pretty much broke.
I remember a friend buying me groceries…

Ever so slowly the world started to move forward but it seemed different; more cautious with a lot less optimism.
Before 9/11 we had somehow felt safe in this country but that bubble burst to create a perpetual unease that lasts to this day.

I learned the importance of having a savings account for totally unexpected crazy times snd the true value of great friends who lend emotional and financial support through unimaginable rough spots.

And about how I see the print industry changing:
I hope to see a return of management understanding the value not just of customer service but of trained, experienced print reps who educate and empower consumers about the different types of printing equipment, substrates / papers and finishing techniques available in this complex ever changing world. The print world is super complicated especially since every shop has different types of equipment.
Consumers deserve help in understanding how to purchase print.

Print is a powerful tool for education and marketing and can be sustainable and beautiful when planned by experts.

There is nothing like holding a beautifully designed hard cover book in your hands and feeling the craftsmanship, vision and love that went into it. That’s not going to change.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I sew and weave; mostly woman’s fashion accessories like coats, shawls & ponchos and sell my work in art galleries and fine craft shows.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lambertclarkllc.com
• Instagram: @lambertclarkllc.com
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/twylalambertclark