Today we’d like to introduce you to Trisha Cole
Hi Trisha, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For over two decades I have worked in marketing and PR helping hotels and restaurants tell their stories. I have always thought of myself as a matchmaker, connecting good people with good things and good places. Over time, my role shifted from not only connecting the dots between clients and writers, but now I use my matchmaking skills to create meaningful partnerships and promotions as a way for businesses to meet new guests and customers.
In my previous work lives, I worked in the editorial department of Bon Appetit magazine (it was originally based here in L.A.) and prior to that I taught school in Marin County. Little did I know that I would draw heavily from these experiences for my latest endeavor, writing a book entitled Life at the Dumpling that came out this Spring.
In March of 2020 I created a newsletter based on my family’s life in our house in Mt. Washington. When we bought our house nearly 20 years ago it was a real fixer upper and some may have seen it as a dump. We saw it as so much more and thus the name “Dump-ling” stuck. Life at the Dumpling started out as a glorified letter and a way for me to get away from looking at a screen all day. Think of it as a single-sided illustrated big newsy sheet filled with musings, recipes, tips on everything from camping to cocktails, and more. Each newsletter (and now there are 25!) combines things I love and the things I find myself sharing naturally with friends and family, and now an even wider audience. I get to tap into illustrating, recipe development, sharing my favorite travel tips, local haunts, great books and poems, and much more. For each newsletter I choose an envelope color and stamp to match the themes that seem to emerge as I write each one. I hand address and send them out to nearly 500 people now. I call it my “Mitzvah to the Universe” and happily will add anyone who would like to receive some joyful mail.
Three years of pandemic living coincided with my 20th newsletter and without knowing it I had a book on my hands – 20 chapters that were written for lack of better words, authentically and organically. This is our collective story and my own story as well, which included leaving my job of 20+ years to go out on my own, easing into life with two teenagers, and figuring out what it was like to work for myself for the first time ever. I didn’t realize it until I got to this point that we live in essence a “Dumpling” lifestyle and this book is in many ways a guidebook for anyone and filled with tools and resources to make life more joyful and fulfilling.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In hindsight, the beauty of the original newsletters was that I never have charged for them, so I was never beholden to anyone or any time frame. I was able to write them with total creative freedom.
I took a risk by self-publishing the book. Luckily, I have a partner who shares my belief in trusting the process, and he saw this as something I needed to do, encouraging me to go for it regardless of if it would be a money maker or not. My friend Amy Burke, is an amazing graphic designer, and she was willing to come on board to help me transform my literal cut-and-paste newsletters into book form. We found a great U.S.-based publishing company that could create a book at the quality level we wanted for a price that people would be able to afford.
I am learning about navigating sales, and taxes, and shipping, and billing, organizing book signings, and so much more. It’s been so much fun to explore business places I never saw myself going.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an easily excited and always curious Gemini I get to wear two hats.
In my work life I run Trust Trisha, where I help hospitality clients and brands tell their stories. It’s like I have matchmaking superpowers and can see, and then develop creative partnerships and collaborations that make sense. I work with designers to design suites at hotels; create lifestyle, culinary and wellness events; develop retreats; bring in guest speakers and talent, and more.
As the author of Life at the Dumpling, the book, and the newsletters, I get to let my inner artist and creative self fly, and am honest and fearless in sharing things from my own life and home that I am touched by and that I think will resonate with others.
What’s next?
I want to keep leaning into all things “Dumpling”-related. I focus on seeing things through my own lens, which can be challenging. I want to keep introducing people to places and things, and ways to enhance their lives that they may not have known or thought about before. And also provide something to read that isn’t on a screen. It’s about giving you something that is easy on the eyes and joyful to the heart.
I will be doing some fun book signings throughout California for now, leading a retreat at Alisal Ranch this Fall, and working with my hospitality clients to keep helping them tell their stories.
I’d love to find more ways to monetize Dumpling-life, but like everything else, I am comfortable with it happening organically. I like to ease into a manifestation and am grateful for the work I do today.