Thank you for posting such an informative article. It confirms that I am taking the right steps to achieve my goal of becoming a professional craft designer. I am having difficulty with the networking aspect of my journey, however. I would very much like to join the CHA, but it’s a bit of a Catch-22. You can’t join to make contacts to become a professional designer until you already are one. I am determined, however, and have started teaching classes with a local continuing education program which should enable me to join as an Educator/Demonstrator. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.