If you chat up any of the vendors at local artisan maker markets, you’ll likely hear that their craft – ceramics, fiber work, jewelry, prints and more – isn’t their “day job.” In the late 2010s and recent years, this was also the case for Augusta’s Holly Goetz.

Holly has been an occupational therapist for just over 20 years. It’s a career that’s doubled as a passion, she said. Although, she had just put in her notice at work before chatting with Volume One, which was a nerves-spiking and exciting milestone in her woodworking journey, she added.

UPTOWN GIRL. Holly Goetz, a longtime Augusta resident (pictured), has recently made the leap into full-time self-employment as a maker – thanks to her growing Etsy shop, Uptown Girl Gallery. (Submitted photo)

This leap into self-employment – the "Uptown Girl Gallery" – is a chapter that may have taken root during her childhood, when her dad dabbled in woodworking “on the side,” Holly said.

“My mom would see something, like a Christmas sleigh, and go ‘that’s cute.’ He’d go and make it for her,’ ” Holly recalled, though she didn't get into woodworking as a child.

She wouldn’t pick up the might saw to craft something of her own until after her father's passing, when she signed up for a craft show in 2013. “When I signed up I didn’t have anything,” Holly laughed. “But I had this idea to make jewelry organizers. That was my first thing.”

At that show, those jewelry organizers – made from raw lumber purchased at Menards, where her husband works – went over really well, she said.

She continued to make and sell those pieces and after enough frequent asks of ‘do you sell online?’ she decided the hassle of shipping could be worth it.

In 2018, Holly’s Etsy shop, Uptown Girl Gallery, opened up online. In 2025 alone, the shop fulfilled over 1,500 orders, with 2026 now on the way to exceeding that number.

 

Holly Goetz’s small business, Uptown Girl Gallery, can thank Billy Joel for its name. Growing up, Joel’s song “Uptown Girl” was Holly’s favorite.

 

 

The first “boom” in online sales, and perhaps the first time Holly’s back-of-mind thought of pursuing her craft full-time seriously occurred, was in 2023. She credits that surge in sales to a month-long program she took, called MasterClass, which taught her “how to tell a story through my product pictures,” she said.

Overall, Holly has over 8,200 sales and counting on Etsy. The most-sold product is likely one of the jewelry organizers – given that’s what Holly has made the longest – but entryway organizers have grown in popularity too.

As for why she decided to take the leap – from a steady job in healthcare to self-employed maker – Holly offered four words: “I just love it.”

She’s most enamored by the product design process, dreaming up goods which are equally visually pleasing and practical.

That innate drive is evident in just one scroll through Uptown Girl Gallery: standing or wall-mounted jewelry organizers have simple, sturdy frames and delicate metalwork; cookbook stands and book holders may have scalloped edges or a hook meant to hold reading glasses; entryway organizers with simple finishes and no bulk, among others.

“I was frying burgers in a pan for supper one night when my phone started making this funny noise,” Holly said, recalling her first ever Etsy sale. “I looked at it and there was a notification that said I’d sold an item, this little earring holder. That was 11 days after I opened the Etsy shop.” Today, Uptown Girl Gallery has a variety of jewelry organizers (like those pictured), among other woodwork goods.

There’s a rhythm, she said, in sanding lumber in big batches out in her front lawn – or staining and attaching hardware to her woodwork in her home’s downstairs workshop.

The affirmation from customers that those products’ goal – to be functional and beautiful – is met time and time again, is rewarding too.

While Holly doesn’t frequent local craft markets anymore, she will partake in one here and there alongside her vendor friends. The next opportunity to find Uptown Girl Gallery’s goods in person, is from 11am-6pm on Saturday, Oct. 10, for Harvest Fest at Munson Bridge Winery (W6462 Bridge Rd., Withee).

Otherwise, now you know where to find the local Uptown Girl – on Etsy.

 

Entryway organizers, like the one pictured, are an increasingly popular item for Uptown Girl Gallery.

 

While Holly said she has no "favorites," in terms of her woodwork items, she especially enjoyed making these scalloped-edge cookbook stands, pictured.

Uptown Girl Gallery's handmade goods, which range in price from about $22-$65+, can be found on Etsy.