Stefanie Garwin participates in AU's one-on-one mentoring
program. She is physically disabled, having suffered from a
debilitating brain tumor as a teenager. From her 20's, she has
been wheel-chair bound, struggling with several physical
ailments that impede her mobility and power to function in a job
setting. In a rehabilitation program after her brain surgery,
Stefanie was taught to string beads. Now, despite her
limitations, Stefanie has created a successful jewelry business
selling her hand strung beaded jewelry. She uses top quality
display equipment and utilizes a professional catalogue. Despite
her limited income, Stefanie donates a portion of her proceeds
to a brain injury organization and she volunteers her time with
underprivileged youth in after school programs. There, she helps
teenagers make jewelry and helps them pool the money from the
sales to afford a group trip. Stefanie is highly motivated to
succeed in her business and generously shares her time and
resources to support others he feels are less fortunate than she
is. However, Stefanie's creativity is limited by what beads she
can purchase. Her dream is to learn metal crafting to create
beads and jewelry that will more truly be "her" designs. Arts
Unbound took Stefanie on as a mentoring client and facilitated
an apprenticeship with an AU mentor. AU persuaded the Newark NJ
museum to offer the free use of its wheel chair accessible
jewelry workshop for one-on-one training. Stefanie was able to
experiment with materials and techniques to determine the
feasibility of future skill mastery. As she hones her craft,
Stefanie teaches beading and jewelry in the AU studio space.
