As a small team, many of the staff at Tharwa Valley Forge end up wearing many hats, or in this case, making them. Amanda Pollok was originally brought on as our business manager. Her primary focus was to keep the buisness running smoothly, handling most of the admin work at TVF, staying well away from all things blacksmithing. But when circumstances changed and our previous leatherwork instructor departed, Amanda stepped up to fill the role. Despite not having done any leatherworking herself, she rapidly learned and was teaching the apron making course within 2 weeks. She says that "I got all the basic instruction that our students got from the team here, and then taught myself the rest".
Though originally intending to only be a substitute teacher, Amanda would end up getting more involved. Her enthusiasm led her to picking up leatherwork as a hobby at home. Soon after, she began to teach nearly all of our leatherworking courses. Not satisftied with just that, Amanda went on to expand the number and types of courses with leather that we offer, and reworked existing courses for the better. When asked what her favorite part of teaching is, Amanda says that "It's great to watch people who've never worked with leather before go from being apprehensive to super excited and confident". Many of Amanda's students have gone onto pick up leatherwork at home as a hobby, or come back for more courses at TVF. "It's great to have that sense of community where they feel encouraged" she says, and that she always loves to see it when her students try crazy new things.