Interview - Part two: Tracy & John Porter

Q&A Tracy Porter:

What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur?
I most enjoy the creative process. By this I mean ALL of the creative thinking that goes into being an entrepreneur….and really it is non-stop. There is always something we are working toward or a situation we are trying to solve and grow from….I love all of this.

I love the collaboration with our team, we have the best team. I love how passionate they are. I find the whole experience to be terribly fulfilling…I love that each day brings something new, some new challenge, some new thought, some new direction. I really embrace growth and change and the idea of our company evolving over the years. I think it’s what keep us dynamic as individuals and as a team.

Who are your style icons?
I tend to admire many who have passed on…..maybe it’s their history I love as much as anything. The Diana Vreeland’s of the world if you will.

I don’t dwell too much on style icons to be honest. I think things, moments and experiences probably inspire me as much as anything. By this I mean architecture, gardens, homes, patterns, music….random things….a hotel lobby in London or a restaurant that feels right top to bottom. A meal that has been put together so beautifully that you forget how much work must have gone into it.

Watching my kids do something…knowing that I may long for that feeling someday and not be able to capture it again. Books…I love books, where they take you…movies…those sorts of things.


How would you describe your personal style?
Personal style is “the whole lot” in life…it’s how you approach everything…how you view things. Everything is a choice. I choose not to labor over things or thoughts. I choose not to be a perfectionist. I try not to anyway…I find it is exhausting and not always worth the craziness.

Layers are important to me…in everything. From my garden, to the way I cook, the way I dress and decorate. I am a collector and I think this has had a huge impact on my style. I still wear things that were my moms or my grandmothers…I am constantly looking for another layer. I don’t ever want to get stuck in a look or a feeling or a way of doing things. While I love tradition in so many aspects of my life and with my family, I want even those moments to feel exciting…surprising…but comfortable. Comfort is huge to me and I think it partly dictates my personal style.

What is the one thing in life you can’t live without?
My family. And then books.

Who would you most like to meet and how would you spend the day?
I think it would be really fun to hang out with Patricia Wells for a day. She is an author of many cookbooks that I love. I discovered her when I lived in Paris in my late teens…I sort of made my way through the city with her book…eating everything and anything.

I think it would be fun to go to the markets with her, go to her favorite pastry shops and foodies joints. Just hang out and eat and talk. I just read that she offers cooking classes in her studio in St. Germain des Pres…which is where I lived for a few years. I may just need to go and do that, bring my mom with me. Sounds like a blast.


What would most people be surprised to learn about you?
Hmmmm…maybe how much I love food. Many people are also surprised that I didn’t go to college and that I live in Wisconsin. I think that is always funny how much they are surprised by that. I think they forget that you can get anywhere from pretty much anywhere these days…in about 8 hours (give or take) I can be in France, pretty cool. If I lived in L.A. it would take me much longer.

What books are currently on your bedside table?
The Russian Concubine, several Taschen books (Paris and London) and Good to Great. Some random children’s books and many magazines as well. I keep a big stack of books to get to on the floor.

I have this thing about my “book lineup”…just in case I don’t like what I’m reading. I have a terribly ridiculous addiction to books. I am certain I would be embarrassed at the money I have spent over the years…I really don’t want to know…I’m afraid if I did I would have to stop and I refuse to do that. I will continue to ignore money spent on book purchasing…happily. It could be worse.

Q&A John Porter:

What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur?
The flexibility and opportunity to actually do what we envision. Think it and then make it happen. It’s really pretty cool.

What is your favorite luxury in life?
Date nights and travel. Tracy and I are lucky to have found the best nanny ever. She provides Tracy and me with time – once every two weeks or so – to continue to have a one-on-one relationship.

Travel – to anywhere – is a wonderful luxury, almost a necessity to me. Tracy and I were able to go to Europe for about a month early in our relationship, with no itinerary and no set return date, and we had an incredible experience. I understand that people who have to travel for work all the time don’t enjoy it as much but get me on a plane to anywhere I will have a great time.

What is your most prized possession?
I don’t really have a prized possession in a material sense. If our business can be categorized as a possession then our business because of the how dynamic and challenging it is. I also really love the home we’ve made (as opposed to our house).


What books are currently on your bedside table?
On the top of the pile are a variety of children’s books – reading to the kids and all. Below them are some magazines that are mostly unread. Below that, this month, are some motivational books a la James Canfield and I am mostly drawn to spy novels (James Patterson).

What is your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment is my relationship with Tracy. We do so much together – work and family – and I continue to be bedazzled by how we continue to enjoy and expand our relationship, and keep it the most important thing in our lives.

So many people are bitter and disconnected from their spouses and I feel that Tracy and I, even though we’ve been married over 16 years, continue to be excited to be together and finding out more about each other.

What keeps you grounded?
My kids, my wife and my mistakes. Our children because their needs are independent of what is happening in our professional lives, their demands supersede whatever else is going on. Mistakes, and I make them every day, remind me to keep focus and continue to reflect. Do I really need to expand on how my wife keeps me grounded? Did I mention she’s CEO and we work together?

What is your idea of earthly happiness?
A healthy and happy loving family. It’s real and so emotionally powerful, earthly or otherwise.

Interview by Ronda Carman

Interview - Part one: Tracy & John Porter

Several years ago I fell in love with a book and the adorable couple that graced to cover. Inspired Gatherings by Tracy Porter was not only a delicious book both in words and pictures, but it challenged my view of entertaining. Up until that point I subscribed to the rule of perfection. When entertaining I would pull out all of my newly acquired china, sterling and crystal. Oh, and only 8 people could come for dinner, as I was still waiting to get my other 4 place-settings. Then Tracy’s book came along and gave me permission to mix it up. Yes, I know this is not a radical new concept! But this was a new way of thinking 10 years ago when Martha Stewart was still a reining force in my world.

I was super thrilled when I got an email from the gorgeous and gracious Tracy Porter a few weeks ago, and I could not wait to share this great interview with all of you. I like to think that I am smart enough to know when I simply cannot write something better than the original. Tracy shared with me her and John’s story of their early days and their thoughts on running a business. After reading it several times I decided not to rewrite her words, but post the original.



WHAT ARE THE ODDS?? He goes to school and gets a degree in art, is color blind, and now handles all the legal schmegal and accounting for our company... and seems okay being immersed in "estrogen hell" as he calls it every day (Thank God!!). I on the other hand, went to Europe for a few years after high school and was humbled... I was there to model, but good lord...every time I got to one of those cattle calls with the 9-foot tall smashing amazons...well, you know how that part goes! Happy to be!! And now we create and sell pretty things that make a lot of people smile!

Luckily I have been making things since I was a kid, so when John and I met in Chicago and realized entrepreneurship was to be our calling (and once we realized that being the Bloody Mary king and queen of the beverage world wasn't going to be our start up) things really started clicking!!!

For some lovely reason, when we began our company, we felt (and still do) that anything was possible. We could do and be anything we wanted to be (a huge thank you to our parents). Never having owned a business, we truly started things at an oddly stressful yet blissful time in our lives...just married, moved to Wisconsin, zero cash-ola to our names (well, less than that, really...credit card debt and all!)...and entirely jobless. But by golly, we were determined! And really, what was the fall back position?!


We began in a chicken coop (yes, really) with no heat, so my paints were kept under electric blankets, and John would get up at the crack of dawn and start the wood-burning stove. (I know all of this sounds terribly romantic, but at the time, all I was thinking was, "Please God, don't let Neiman Marcus come and visit us here!"). Everything we did was by trial and error. We said YES to nearly every request just to stay in business. Thank goodness people loved what we did and immediately started to collect our wares. In fact, to this day as I travel about, people will tell me that they have followed us since the beginning and still collect the things we create. (Thank you so very much!!!)

We now have a really cool studio in downtown Ripon, Wisconsin. A lovely college town that has taken us in as only family would. We have an awesome team of incredibly passionate people working for us, none of whom have a background in anything that we do. But as I always say, it's really your attitude that matters the most. I always tell people that I'm not really sure how anyone in this world gets a big ego. I find business and life to be deliciously humbling. I think maybe that's why we are able to keep our minds open...always walking on the edge, if you will...trying to be as fearless as we can be while staying rooted in reality.

Part two tomorrow...
Interview by Ronda Carman