A few months ago I was approached by Martin Kruger, the head of the Cricut South Africa team for a meeting. Immediately after seeing this message I was hit with an extreme wave of excitement, and shortly after that, the wave of panic set in.

I had an inkling that this could mean that they wanted me to become a Cricut Brand Ambassador, as I was aware of what was going on in the country regarding the brand and their launch. But what would that mean for all of the hard work I have done on the Silhouette Cameo over the past few years? Would I be forced to give it up?

I was also incredibly excited about this meeting, as I knew the possibilities that could lie ahead of me. Cricut is a big, fun, and engaging brand that is quickly moving leaps and bounds in the right direction. I knew this could easily be part of my future, or it could restrict me on my path. Up until that point I just hadn’t yet had the opportunity to become a part of this ‘new’ South African family.

The Waiting Game

The week in between the initial contact, and our first meeting, was probably one of the longest weeks of my life. There were so many different scenarios running through my head about what this meeting would possibly entail, and what we would end up chatting about. Being someone that overthinks just about everything, I had many different scenarios in my head about every possible direction that this meeting could go. You name it – I most likely thought it out before the meeting.

The meeting was scheduled for first thing on Monday morning – and I was so grateful it was early as I was far too excited to sit through an entire work day looking forward to it.

Martin joined the call, and immediately I could tell that he isn’t your typical ‘suit’ in a high up position in a very large and popular company.

He was warm, very personable and very easy to chat to. It was great getting to know him, and learning about the company and its goals. We spoke about where the company had been, how it had performed in the rest of the world, and what plans they have for the South African market in the upcoming years. He also spoke about how he had been following my journey on YouTube, creating crafting tutorials, and enjoyed watching my content! Hearing this from your everyday crafter is still absolute music to my ears, but hearing it from the head of EMEA at Cricut nearly brought me to tears, I was so honored!

The Road Ahead

With Cricut having previously been in the country, they weren’t entirely an unknown brand here, and already having a very loyal fan base, they had a great solid base to build on. However, there were new hurdles that they had to overcome, and re-build the reputation within the crafting community. They knew that brand ambassadors would play a large part in assisting the brand to re-build here.

We spoke at length about the Cricut Ambassador programme, and how supportive and robust it was going to be – they really had been working very hard behind the scenes to make sure that their relaunch in South Africa was going to be not only very successful, but would make a big splash in the crafting community.

I shared some of my concerns with Martin about being restricted with the content that I was already producing, but I was quickly assured that Cricut doesn’t want to restrict or control any content that their ambassadors produce. As that was the biggest concern I had with accepting the offer of being a brand ambassador, I knew that this path was going to be the right one for me at this point in my journey.

Diving In Head First

I was quickly immersed into the ambassador community, and realised that the support they offer the ambassadors is pretty thorough. We initially had a few calls and had many of the processes were clearly defined and clearly outlined – which for someone like me who has a Type A personality – was an absolute dream! I love structure and clear rules and guidelines, so this entire system was right up my alley. I quickly start making sense of all of the documents, absorbing as much info as I can, and making sure I’m well within the lines of the rules, and totally clued up so that I dont overstep any lines anywhere – I’m in heaven!

There are many incredible things coming in the future, not only for my own brand, but also for the Cricut brand. I am very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in the Cricut community, and really look forward to fulfilling my part in building up the Cricut brand in the South African community.