The Team

Todd Oppenheimer

Todd has been writing about craftsmanship since 2008, when he profiled Bob Kramer, a master kitchen bladesmith, for The New Yorker (expanded here in our pages). His fascination with artisans, and their unusual approach to excellence, led him to found The Craftsmanship Initiative in 2015. Todd is an author and journalist with more than three decades of experience, and a long-time member of The Writers Grotto in San Francisco. Todd has also written for publications such as The Atlantic, Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has won a variety of reporting awards, including a National Magazine Award and an Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) Award. Todd is the author of “The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology.”

To learn why Todd started this venture, and his views on craftsmanship’s future, see this interview Tharawat Magazine did with Todd for its special issue on “Modernisation, Globalisation, and the Democratisation of Craftsmanship.”

Laurie Weed

Laurie Weed joined The Craftsmanship Initiative in 2019 as Managing Editor of Craftsmanship Quarterly magazine. She brings more than two decades of editing experience to the table, as well as extensive project management, copyediting, digital production, social media, marketing, and publication management gleaned from a variety of industries — from publishing houses large and small to nonprofit, travel, and tech. Laurie is also a longtime freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Press Democrat, several of The Best Women’s Travel Writing books and other anthologies, along with a variety of magazines, websites, and guidebooks.

Susie McKinnon

Susie McKinnon has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 14 years in management, leadership, and consulting capacities. She develops and oversees strategic and operational planning and implementation, programming, fundraising, and more. In addition to her role with The Craftsmanship Initiative, Susie serves as the director of Arts for a Better Bay Area and provides management consulting to other nonprofits, small businesses, and artistic projects. She holds a BFA in Fine Arts and Media, and a master’s degree in Public Administration. She is also an artist herself, and an ardent advocate for the arts.

Sarah Lahm

Sarah Lahm has worked in education, journalism, and the nonprofit sector for the past two decades. She provides editorial and project management assistance to Craftsmanship Quarterly through editing, marketing, and operations support tasks. Sarah writes the Midwest Dispatch column for The Progressive magazine and has written a number of articles for local and national outlets, with an emphasis on labor and education issues. Her days are also spent in business development and operations for two family businesses, including a wine import company with a focus on small, family producers from the Iberian Peninsula.