ALMANAC
In a tizzy for people with disabilities
C
Nikki Zimmerman, bTizzy.com founder, brings products like these to the marketplace to create economic opportunities for people with disabilities. Shown are cake pins, jewelry and vintage notebooks. PRODUCT PHOTOS BY WOODS WHEATCROFT
reating economic opportunities for people with disabilities (PWD) is the mission of Nikki Zimmerman through her business bTizzy. com. Three years after starting, bTizzy is in three countries, produces four radio shows, and runs a website (www.btizzy.com) that facilitates sales and shares resources. Her inspiration came from her daughter Riley, who was developmentally disabled and died at age 18 before she had a chance to capitalize on her capabilities. Zimmerman finds that consumers distrust whether the suppliers are disabled, but the videos and radio shows they produce about the vendors give consumers confidence. “Truly in my heart of hearts, I find them remarkable,” Zimmerman said of her vendors. “I admire them greatly.” They are PWDs like Dana with a traumatic brain injury who beads; Penny, a painter who has Down syndrome; Richard, a custom artist and severe epileptic; and Clement, a fine woodworker who is a paraplegic. The list goes on. Zimmerman, 49, is a Sandpoint native born a Hawkins. She lives in Seattle and on the Sunnyside Peninsula, where her ancestors homesteaded. She points out that 25 percent of the population – a billion people in the world – has a disability. “People with disabilities are no longer in the closet. They’re coming out,” she said. Products include exquisite woodwork pens, flasks with custom artwork, jewelry, notebooks made with vintage papers and book covers, seed balls, olive oil and even services. “There’s not one thing there that people wouldn’t be happy to have,” she said. Rebranded from Out of Step to bTizzy in May, the new look and name says “we’re in a tizzy.” In the logo, they designed a woman named Tizzy who’s their mascot. “She’s shouting to the world, vibrant, alive and present. She embodies the feeling we’re trying to convey,” Zimmerman said. –Billie Jean Gerke
Reality TV, hmmmm, not so real
T
he first treehouse gained no-
hurry during filming for “The Woodsmen,” a
particularly relevant as viewers saw
toriety because of its bicycle-
reality TV show on the History Channel.
Schlussler and Dhaenens in various exploits
powered elevator. The second
Ethan Schlussler and Aza Dhaenens were
will be known for rotating 360
two of “a select group of men seeking out the
degrees and the fact that it was built in a
ultimate freedom – a life in the treetops far
12
SANDPOINT MAGAZINE
003-034_SMW16.indd 12
The reality is that the pair did build a two-story treehouse and designed it to rotate
removed from the trappings of mo-
around its host tree. But Dhaenens, 27, didn’t
dernity” on the show that premiered
move into it, and he didn’t join Schlussler, 25,
in June 2015.
for a life in the trees.
The best friends grew up off
A screenshot from the History Channel’s website shows Aza Dhaenens, left, and Ethan Schlussler in a promotional shot for the reality TV show “The Woodsmen.”
on the show.
See video clips of the rotating treehouse
Rapid Lightning Road in the Cabinet
and watch full episodes of “The Woodsmen”
Mountains, where they did indeed
at www.history.com. Read the story about the
develop skills and ingenuity, but they
first treehouse Schlussler built in the Summer
don’t live off the grid in primitive
2014 Sandpoint Magazine, “Ethan and His
treetop structures, as depicted in the
Treehouse: Bicycle-powered Elevator Goes
show.
Viral,” page 33 (www.sandpointmagazine.
It all comes down to entertainment. The saying “That’s showbiz!” seemed
com). –Billie Jean Gerke
WINTER 2016
10/26/15 10:46 PM