DIAMOND SHINES: Tech savvy and creativity launch massive project

It’s a perfect combination for getting a big project with high expectations off of the ground when you pair the husband and wife team of Bob Lauder and Patti Diamond.

The project is a locally-aired television program that Diamond said, “is meant to teach people how the live well and spend less.” Another element of the couple’s project involves a cookbook. Sales will benefit a food bank charity.

Both are former entertainers and both are talented. Lauder takes care of the technical end in web design and promotion on social media for their website divasonadime.com. For the television series, Lauder is the camera and sound man, who also edits the final video.

Lauder also tours North America every year with “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” He will tour nine performing arts centers over three months, beginning in October. In his spare time, he is a professional Santa Claus.

Diamond is the creative mind that keeps the wheel in motion with fresh ideas, recipe development, entertaining ideas and kid-friendly projects. Her goal is to keep them all “frugal and fabulous.” She, too has a side job home-schooling her 10-year-old son.

The Pahrump Valley Times sat down with Diamond to get some clarity on their projects, find out about the TV program, talk about the cookbook and get a handle on how projects this expansive will be funded.

Patti, it’s obvious you are passionate about what you’re doing. Divasonadime.com started five years ago. How did it evolve into such a large undertaking?

One of the biggest monthly bills in a household is food costs. We can’t control the mortgage or car payment, but we can control the grocery bill by being creative.

It doesn’t mean you have to give up the things you love such as entertaining family and friends. It just makes sense to do it with creativity instead of cash. That thought extends to other things in everyday life like cooking meals at home instead of eating out, making costumes for themed parties and other things.

I started writing about the subject and blogging about it and thought how wonderful it would be if we could produce a television show to give people a visual of the variety of ways you can live extraordinarily for less.

Q: How is the TV program being funded?

A: We have a couple of things going. You know nothing is free and we are buying air time from Channel 46 to air the program. We have some sponsorships available. I have 16 total spots open for those, and we are using a social media platform called Kickstarter to raise funds.

Q: The sponsorships are advertisers, of course. Are the sponsorships related to the program content?

A: Yes, the sponsorships are directly related to the programming for maximum exposure. For instance, one episode revolves around a wine and cheese party, nine appetizer recipes to feed 10 people. Sanders Family Winery is a sponsor for that episode.

Another episode is all about Halloween parties for kids and adults. We’ll show you how to make costumes and creepy treats, decorate the house and the table. I’m not talking about the candy you hand out to the neighborhood kids knocking on the door. The holiday is not just for kids, so mixed drinks for the adults and something for the kids. Pay It Forward is one of the sponsors for that show.

We’re going to tackle healthy alternatives for the Thanksgiving show, plus some of the traditional dishes. The sponsor is Kelly Van Wagner of the Mountain Valley Physicians Group.

Christmas is all about making gifts such as homemade mixes and craft projects for the kids to give as gifts. The sponsor is Pahrump Early Learning Academy and so on.

Q: You mentioned Kickstarter. Can you talk to our readers about how that works?

A: Sure, Bob and I had this television production in mind and we had friends tell us about this social media platform that helps people raise money for projects. You set a goal of funds needed and sign up for the organization to collect donations on your behalf. Kickstarter wants to know how the money is to be spent and you outline a plan for them. You set a number of days for your campaign and at the end, if you reach your goal, Kickstarter will send you the funds.

Our goal is $15,000 and we’re falling short. The deadline is 6:47 p.m., Sept. 9. That’s five days from now. One thing people should know is if we don’t reach our goal, we get nothing and Kickstarter refunds the money.

One company came up with the idea for a high-tech picnic cooler with blue tooth and sound and all the gadgets. Their goal was $50,000. They have raised over $13 million. If we could get each household here to pledge just $5, we would make our goal.

Q: I understand you’ve written a cookbook, too. How does it figure into the overall plan?

A: The cookbook, “Cheap Eats,” is a project to benefit Three Square Food Bank. There are at least five food banks in Pahrump using Three Square as one of its resources. The book sales work like a two-for-one. For every book we sell, another copy is given to Three Square for distribution to those less fortunate people using the food banks and need to be able to make the most of their resources.

The book information is on both divasonadime.com and the Kickstarter donation website http://kck.st/1Al2aLU. We launched a new video on Kickstarter Wednesday and it seems to have helped increase the pledges. Like our Facebook page and share it with your friends. It’s the best way to set the campaign on fire.