Passionate Crafter Turned Online Teacher: Meet Our CEO, Janine Dorsett

It has been almost a year since our CEO Janine Dorsett started to conquer the learning world and embark on another entrepreneurship journey. What are the challenges for a woman entrepreneur? Whatever the challenges might be, they are not stopping Janine from chasing after her true devotion. 

It is the perfect moment to stop for a while and reflect on what was done. 

We asked our Janine, to fast – rewind the 2020 and get back to the very first moment of giving birth to the idea of InfoDepot.

ID: Who is Janine Dorsett online? 

Janine: Good question! Well, I think there are two perspectives. There is the action of being online and in that space, I am a relentless news and information junkie, treasure hunter/shopper and I love DIY videos. I’ve gone down many winding rabbit holes in my quests!  With respect to my social media, I am a little more private, but when I do post I try to promote positivity, humanity, and inspiration. Many years ago, I realized that the more I surround myself with beauty, the less ugliness I see in the world. I do, however, really love posts that are witty, funny, and maybe a little snarky sometimes.  

ID: So, CEO by day, the crafty person in spare time, but who is Janine Dorsett besides all this, let’s say in offline mode?  

Janine: Offline…I am a wife, dog mom, entrepreneur, crafter, and recovering lawyer. Not a super girly girl, but everything spa-related speaks to me and I often make my own products. Honestly, when I think about it,  I love to make, bake, and create. Oh…and I have an insatiable wanderlust…traveling and exploring the world makes me really really happy (well, pre-and post-pandemic, of course!), but I do also relish in the feeling of being “at home” and love to decorate pretty, but comfortable spaces where I can sink into a sofa to binge-watch tv and movies. Finally, I am, unapologetically, a chocoholic; and, no, I don’t want the healthier 70% cacao dark chocolate. Please give me buttery rich caramel wrapped in sweet, indulgent milk chocolate with a dash of sea salt — by all measures, a glorious and divinely inspired confection. 

ID: Your vision for InfoDepot is to help anyone who has the expertise, experience, and knowledge to share it with others who are eager to learn. You’ve created a community that is dedicated to promoting and supporting old trades, crafts and art, and family heritage. When did you start to think about creating InfoDepot for the first time?

Janine: I started thinking about InfoDepot many, many years ago when I was practicing law. As you know, the law can be a very stressful career especially for someone who is a creative soul. Picture me on the NYC subway headed to work dressed in my fancy business suit looking very urbane and professional while pulling chunky yarn out of my briefcase to crochet a scarf! It was quite the scene, but it was my outlet. I would also take creative, business, and art classes at an independent school near my office whenever I could on topics that piqued my interest and my interests are wide and varied. 
These classes were taught by people from all walks of life – some with just real-world experience and others who were professionals in their field. I loved the variety of topics and that it was all housed under one roof. At the same time, the internet was starting to boom and it hit me one day that everyone around the globe has something they can teach from their real-life experiences or their particular expertise and wouldn’t it be amazing to create a space where that information can be shared, monetized and individuals can create businesses with their information. From this thought, InfoDepot was born.

ID: InfoDepot tends to help people learn new things and gain new knowledge in a bite-sized format. With technological advancements, they can have new knowledge at their fingertips. But, what did take for you to follow this vision? Can you name your biggest challenges along the way? And what was your solution to it? 

Janine: My biggest challenge along the way was finding the right technology partner. It took me years and several failed attempts with partners to finally get it built.  

ID: InfoDepot’s community is getting bigger by day, providing more and more video classes to anyone interested in art, crafts, or cooking. This year was challenging enough along with everything else, and it required an extra portion of energy and enthusiasm to keep up. What makes InfoDepot different from other platforms? 

Janine: There are a few things. It is definitely an e-learning platform with great and growing content, but there is also an undergirding sense of community where people feel connected and supported. From a feature standpoint,  one key differentiator is the synchronous learning feature. Many platforms allow you to post and email to communicate with a teacher, but on InfoDepot a teacher and a student can speak directly to each other through the platform on their phones, which is very cool.   

ID: What changed since day 1 you’ve started the CEO journey? 

We’ve grown. InfoDepot has moved from being a great concept to a growing and thriving entity with content and users.  

ID: This year was all about the pandemic and still is. How can InfoDepot help? How did you deal with these unexpected circumstances regarding InfoDepot? 

Janine: This year has definitely been all about the pandemic. We effectively launched in the summer of 2020, but the machinery was in play long before the pandemic hit so grinding the brakes to a complete halt was not really an option.  I, personally, could not believe that of all times to launch a business, I would do it during a global pandemic. Not for nothing, maybe it would make for a good story later on! 
Anyway, we moved forward in spite of the challenges with the belief that, although not ideal, it was a good time to organically build the foundation of the business as the world sorts itself out. Plus, InfoDepot is a virtual business and while everyone is at home living virtually it seemed like a good time to connect with our audience.  InfoDepot can help as it provides a platform for people who want to start building their virtual businesses by teaching online and selling video tutorials. We’ve been meeting and collaborating with some experienced and many new teachers who are looking for a fresh, less saturated place to build their presence, catalogue and following online. 

ID: Can you name the motive that pushes you to go forward with InfoDepot?  

Janine: Honestly, I love it.  I love the space of learning and information gathering. This is just who I am so the principles of the business resonate with my core values; and, there is just sheer excitement around building a global place where just about anyone can visit and learn something new from someone they may not even know that helps them evolve personally or professionally. Isn’t that what life and community is really all about? The idea of this is just magical to me. 

Want to know more about the InfoDepot teachers community? Join us at InfoDepot Teachers Lounge on Facebook.