Donna Fasano

Tell us about your career journey and how you ended up here. 

I began my career in technical theatre, working at the Goodman and Steppenwolf in the city of Chicago, where I grew up. Folks familiar with prop design and set building fall into the "Artgineers" category, artistic problem solvers using an engineering perspective. I brought those skills with me as I traveled the world working for theatres in Greece, Mexico, and the Bahamas, finally returning to the States in Denver, Colorado. Just as my stateside career was gaining speed, the events of 9-11 were felt in the creative industry nationwide as the priority shifted from the arts to fund much-needed recovery. Adapting to the new landscape and finding work as a cashier at a natural grocery store to make ends meet was a surprise pivot but led to gaining a whole new skill set that introduced me to margin, cost of goods, inventory control, marketing, and customer service. For nearly 14 years, it was the "best business school someone paid me to attend." But it didn't satisfy my inner artgineer. I began to look into options to take my idea of a word puzzle and develop it as a functional art meets clever game. After a few years of prototyping and small-scale art shows, I left general retail and brought those lessons to start my full-time business, Donna Diddit. The name was a response to the reaction I have often heard from years of artgineering: you did this?!

As a CIS gender female in the design and fabrication world, I was frequently underestimated, once even being misgendered on my payroll stub because the French-owned company I worked for at the time didn't have the feminine form of my job available. Designing and handcrafting the Lots-O-Letters™ Word Puzzle became my core offering, traveling nationwide to juried art shows and getting better at refining my version of 'art and smart.' As I realized I invented an entirely new hybrid of word games and puzzles, COVID-19 brought a new need to pivot my career once more as travel and live art shows paused for nearly a year and a half. I dug into e-commerce, developing a How to Play video and an online shop to entice at-home game players who craved something clever. I rebranded as The Owl and The Hourglass and focused my marketing on 'Reward the Curious Mind.' I also took the technical skills I had learned over my career. I volunteered time with a not-for-profit to support my community of traveling artists in accessing financial assistance to weather the lockdown. I spent many hours moderating, marketing, and fostering a diverse community of artists online to help market their work and stay in touch with loyal patrons through social media. Since resuming live events, I have a demo game for patrons. My favorite response is, 'I love this! I've never seen anything like this!' My challenge, now, is to develop a game that can be licensed for distribution. This new business level requires patents, graphics, play testing, and marketing.

Describe yourself in 5-7 words - have fun with it!

Yes, I will follow that rabbit!

Tell us about a time when you thrived at work, and what you learned about yourself from that experience.

Just after graduating from college, I was the assistant tech director for the university's summer theatre program in Greece. Adapting my skills to another culture, learning the language in order to barter for costume pieces, and helping create the scenery for the ampitheatre all while teaching stage craft was quite possibly the most intense and rewarding time of my life. In Greece, I found my calling to combine work and travel which I have been able to do for nearly 30 years.

What is your favorite part of your job?

Prototyping! Don't call it a mistake- call it a refinement. I love the process of research, sketching, then creating prototypes that give information on how to improve the purpose, function, and final design. 

How about when you "turn off" and go home? Any hobbies or fun activities you are involved in?

Edible and xeric gardening are a large part of my off-hours relaxation mode. When I travel, I head to local botanic gardens and arboretums. On the flipside, pinball is my go-to for finding places to hangout whether it's in town or when I'm at a show across country. I'm easily convinced to take side quests and investigate good food, coffee, weird and found art, architecture, book stores, and local points of interest. 

Any must-read, must-watch or must-follow recomendations?

Book: Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik. I love a fable-style fantasy novel.

Podcast: On Being, Krista Tippett. Likely the most thoughtful discussions with an astounding variety of people centered on what creates meaning in existence.

Follow: @abstractsunday on Instagram. Contemporary illustrator with magnificent economy of color and design yet always telling a story. 

Anything else you want to share with the WiT Community?

I work a lot of solo hours, between design and production in my studio and traveling across country for shows. Finding WiT and becoming a member has helped to keep me connected to what turns out to be a fun, knowledge-sharing, supportive community!