by Tish Ciravolo.

I love NAMM! It is one of the most energizing weeks of the year. Every January, Daisy Rock is completely submerged with all sorts of things that come with the NAMM show, from merchandising a booth - which is a lot like setting up an entire store, only to tear it down a few days later - to high profile speaking engagements, to board meetings, to new product design ideas, to live on-camera interviews, to artist appearances and events, to... well, to tell the truth, the week of NAMM is completely crazy, but also really invigorating.

We get there on Monday, our cars filled with guitars, and see what’s been set up so far.

Tuesday morning is right out of the gate, with setup starting at 9 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m. This usually isn’t setting up guitars, it’s just getting the booth structure together.

In addition to setting up the booth, on Tuesday afternoon we have our rep meetings. In case you don’t know what a rep is, we have “reps” (representatives) throughout the country who sell our guitars directly to our dealers. We also have case companies that come by our booth who we work with to design our guitar cases.

Wednesday morning at 8 a.m., we have the annual GAMA meeting. GAMA (the Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association) empowers teachers to teach guitar, bringing guitar courses into schools. It’s a great cause, but being the only female member of the board sometimes feels like being the only female member of a band. You can learn more about GAMA by clicking the GAMA link in my “Links” section. There’s a video you can download that tells you all about it.

After the GAMA meeting, we race back to the booth because it’s our last day to set up. We make sure the guitars are all polished and look perfect. Some of them are suspended in the air, spinning. Fur is hanging on the walls, and there’s pink plush carpet on the floors.

This is also the day we meet again with all the reps, and gear up for the show to start tomorrow. Our objective at NAMM is to inspire new dealers to carry Daisy Rock Guitars. It’s also a time to meet with our existing accounts, along with all our international people.

The first day of the show, we introduce all our new models. This year, we unveiled the USA-made Pink Label Rock Candy Guitar. The Pink Label is our first American-made guitar, and it’s built by world-famous luthier John Carruthers. John Carruthers has worked on guitars for everyone, including Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Carlos Santana, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and so many more. These guitars aren’t just made in a factory located in the USA, these are built by hand, by one of the finest guitar craftsmen in the world. We were so proud, we put it in a special glass display case!

We also debuted the Rebel Rockit, Retro-H De-Luxe, Tom Boy Deuce, and Rock Candy Custom Bass. Our new finishes this year include the Red Star Rock Candy Custom and Custom Special, Jett Black Rebel and Petite Rebel, Pink Sparkle Pixie Acoustic, Punky Pink and Cosmic Purple Rock Candy, Midnight Purple Burst Stardust Elite, and Rainbow Sparkle Wildwood Acoustic/Electric guitars.

Some of our favorite people visited the booth, too! On Thursday at 1PM, Nancy Wilson from Heart stopped by. She’s totally one of the nicest people, and one of the greatest guitarists ever. We’re so honored that she chooses Daisy Rock as one of her favorite guitars.

On Friday at 3:30 p.m., Lisa Loeb stopped by. Lisa is one of the nicest and most talented people we know. She was so nice to all her fans, and so great when she appeared on the “Pretty Good for A Girl” panel. It’s such a pleasure to work with her.

Saturday afternoon, Annabella Lwin from Bow Wow Wow also made a surprise visit. She’s great, and we really enjoyed meeting her in person.

Daisy Rock artists put on some great live performances, like Janet Robin, Jen Lowe and her band Butterfly Stitch, and Alexx Calise. Lots of our artists stopped by the booth, too, like Bec, Sheyna Gee, Auburn Court, Goodbye Gadget, Waiting for Wyatt, Kim Manning, Kim Bingham, Julia Pierce, Desiree Bassett, Jennifer Corday, Lawren Lane of Cruefest, Angie Devore, AntiProduct, Denise Vasquez, and Nikki O’Neill.

On Saturday, I was part of a panel called “Pretty Good for a Girl.” Hosted by NAMM University and moderator Alan Friedman, I joined Lisa Loeb, Susan Lipp (Full Compass Systems), Jen Lowe (BoomBoom Percussion), Barb Paulsen (Spoiled By Technology), Shawna Von Behren (Yamaha), and Craigie Zildjian (Zildjian) to talk about women in the music industry. The object was to do away with the stereotype of being “pretty good for a girl,” and mentoring more women in the music industry.

I was also interviewed by the Today show for their “Girls Rock With These Instruments” segment. The Associated Press stopped by, and People magazine did, too. In all, I did 11 on-camera interviews, and 26 different meetings with buyers and international people. I think I spoke with over a thousand people in 7 short days. And we do all of this to accomplish one goal – to get more girls to play guitar.

If I made it sound easy, it’s not, it’s a lot of work to do this. But I think it’s worth it!