Photograph by Christopher Willard courtesy Disney
What started as a way to have fun and spread creativity became a successful business model for Megan Pando when she opened Maker’s Social. The Cincinnati native dreamt of owning a business that mirrored the same artistic environment she experienced while studying fine arts at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP).
“That was a really beautiful experience,” recalls Pando, who also studied entrepreneurship at the university’s Lindner College of Business. “We would pull all-nighters at DAAP and bring a six pack of beer and kind of work on art while we were socializing and hanging out and having snacks and drinks all night.”
As a server in bars and restaurants throughout her college career, she found inspiration to mix the elements of bar life with DIY projects. During her studies, she saw that the same service industry model could work for Maker’s Social.
Tonight (January 14), she’ll bring her DIY vibe to the investors on the business-related reality show Shark Tank. The episode airs at 10 p.m. EST on ABC. About 40,000 entrepreneurs across the United States audition to pitch their business ideas to multi-millionaire investors (a.k.a. the “Sharks”) in hopes of catching an investment.
“I’ve always loved DIY, even home renovation DIY stuff,” Pando says. “I come from a family of DIYers and my dad flips houses, so it’s just in my bones.”
Her goal with Maker’s Social is marrying creativity and fun cocktails as a way to make art more accessible for everyone.
In 2014, Pando built her first stepping stone for her current brand with a paint-and-sip venture Studio 614. The concept taught her the fundamentals of running a business on her own.
“Having those years of leadership under my belt helped lay a strong foundation to find staff that would grow with me and would stay with me for years,” she explains. “I think that it’s a game changer.”
Maker’s Social’s project menu consists of 26 different projects, everything from leather working, jewelry making, woodworking, and even concrete pouring. “Each guest can make something different,” Pando explains. “That’s one of the big benefits. If you come here on a date night, one of you could make a leather wallet, and the other person could make gemstone earrings.”
Projects also vary by the level of difficulty. “If you wanted to really get in the zone and challenge yourself, you could find one of the projects on our menu that’s more challenging,” she notes.
Pando spent about two years developing the instructions for these projects and sourcing out the supplies. Currently, there are more than 400 craft-related items on the inventory list.
“I took some classes on jewelry making, woodworking, leather work, and developed all the projects myself [and] just knowing what my customer wants,” Pando says.
Having opened shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pando pivoted for a while and started offering the projects online, selling them and shipping them out to customers.
After getting a loan for more than $200,000 to Maker’s Social afloat through the pandemic, she successfully pay off that debt about one year ago and is now looking at options to expand to the Queen City. “I was only 30 years old at the time, and my hair turned totally gray because I was so stressed out about it,” she says. “It was really hard, but definitely worth it.”
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