My name is Ray-Ana Hill ,I am a Puerto Rican and African American woman who grew up in Red Hook. Growing up, I was sheltered by my parents for being the “Baby” of the house. As a child I was always into arts and crafts such as lanyard , drawing on mannequins, painting pictures and recreating drawings I liked. I used arts and crafts as an escape to get me through my emotions of being lonely, a nonconformist and a yes-man. In middle school I learned to knit and after getting comfortable with knitting I learned to crochet. I loved how I can create beautiful  and unique art out of my emotions. At Kingsborough college I went for fine arts to expand my learning in all types of arts. I enjoyed my time at Kingsborough but took a break to figure out what’s best for me. I began to think about entrepreneuring and how arts can benefit people at all ages. I thought of creating a company for custom fashion designing, teaching about art and art therapy. Art therapy stuck with me but getting the qualifications in school is expensive. During this time, I did assistant work for the small business owner of The Amulet Fairy.

During my time there I learned the ins and outs of having a small business in retail; like pop-up shops, building a website and logo design. I took my passions of crocheting and knitting and started a small business of making handmade goods. I started taking custom orders for blankets, baby costumes and baby booties. Then I began to learn how to make slippers, tops, bikinis, shorts, hats and scarfs. At one point I took a break to give back to the community by hosting classes and one to one sessions to see how art can impact people's lives. Most of my customers have an interest in learning how to knit and crochet and have me host different classes. I feel like the craft is a learning experience that can be taught for years. I love working with my grandma crocheting and learning from each other. 

My work at the Amulet Fairy put me in contact with many other artists and entrepreneurs who opened my eyes to the small business world and how each business has a vision and purpose bigger than what they're selling. I was inspired to keep pushing my business and see where it would lead me to my goal of helping the community learn different ways to express themselves through crocheting and knitting. I soon want to plan knitting and crocheting sessions to build a connection with the people that I me