WHO I AM

I'm a Engineer turned Artisan with 20 years experience in the Consumer Electronics Industry, the last 14 years as a Consumer Electronic and Domestic Field Service Engineer.

I created Practical Woman in 2012, when I started studying my Diploma of Higher Education in Computing and IT. I had an assignment on social media and it got me looking not only at the different types but also there content.

I worked in the Consumer Electronic industry for 20 years and had rarely met other females, but my research found loads on the internet, they had Facebook pages and twitter accounts. I decided I should join them and promote what I did, practical STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) to all the up and coming female engineers out there.

www.facebook.com/PracticalWoman

#practicalwoman #stem #science #engineering #maths #socialmedia

I went self employed in 2015 after deciding to take a break to look after my little girl.

http://youtube.com/c/RachelHayward

I started out selling jewellery, children's books, children's clothes and charms on eBay and I still run my shop http://stores.ebay.co.uk/creativesoulsot. This opened up my world to jewellery supplies, beads and findings. My experience as an eBay seller has given me valuable experience in being an online seller achieving eBay top rated seller status in April 2016.

I've always been creative and trade my handmade crafts under the brands CreativeSoulSOT, CargoGlitterSOT and RCHpaintings.

#womanengineer #stem #etsyseller #etsyshop #ebayshop #ebayseller #rcd3512 #creativesoulsot #cargoglittersot #rchpaintings

https://www.facebook.com/CreativeSo... https://www.facebook.com/cargoglittersot https://www.facebook.com/RCHpaintings

Rachel Hayward. https://www.instagram.com/rchayward37

Opening my Etsy shop, CreativeSoulSOT was the next step, being the perfect market place for handmade jewellery, after I had gained experience as an eBay business seller. I live in a village on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent (its what the SOT at the end of creative soul stands for) and have had my jewellery sold in local outlets.

#smallbiz #creativesoulsot #etsy #etsyshop #etsyseller #ebayshop #ebayseller #rcd3512 #jewellery #handmade #crafts #beads #charms #buttons #findings #jewellerymaker #jewellerysupplies

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CreativeSoulSOT

CargoGlitterSOT was created after my husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary, which is cotton, when I was pregnant with our daughter. He brought me some cotton baby grows and fabric paints. I made some for my daughter and as she grew I started doing toddler t-shirts.

I introduced hand painted tote bags when the 5p charge for plastic carrier bags was introduced in the UK. I have a personal selection of tote bags, I use for shopping, that my little lady has decorated for me. An artist in the making :)

#smallbiz #cargoglittersot #etsy #etsyshop #etsyseller #handmade #handpainted #crafts #babyclothes #babyvests #toddlerclothes #totebags

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CargoGlitterSOT

RCHpaintings was created after I created BabyArt miniatures for my daughter, I wanted some baby stimulating and development pieces for her nursery and could only find print outs from the Internet. I have always drawn, painted and have undertaken many different art projects over the years.

#smallbiz #rchpaintings #babyart #sketches #paintings #crafts #handmade #etsy #etsyshop #etsyseller