Youth Services Programmer: Makerspace
Ashlyn Wilcox is the creative mind behind both Makerspace and Library of Things and a member of the Youth Services team at Saline County Library. Best recognized as the “orange-haired friend” behind the Benton Youth Services desk, she can also be found sharing her love for the arts and all things crafty by creating kits and teaching classes for all ages — from calligraphy and bullet journaling to homeschool music. Though only having been at SCL since April 2021, she has truly found her dream job and home here (at her childhood library!), surrounded daily by books and a freedom for creative expression. Ashlyn received both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts in Teaching from Southern Arkansas University (Go Muleriders!), spent five years as a public-school music teacher and choir director, and continues to teach private piano and voice lessons. As if she wasn’t busy enough, she also teaches English online to students in China, runs her own freelance art business, AND co-owns a handmade paint business with her best friend.
When not working or teaching, she enjoys binging crime shows with her husband (or Gilmore Girls by herself… on repeat); curling up on the couch with one of the many books that caught her eye at work; unwinding through artistic expression (painting, calligraphy, and embroidery are her favorites); and loving on any of her fur babies — two crazy tuxedo kitties named Millie and Milo, Lola the Lap Cactus, and her newly adopted pup Ozma aka “Ozzie.” She’s a natural redhead, hardcore Type 2 INFJ, indie-punk rock junkie, oil-loving “hippie,” and a creative mix of procrastination and perfectionism that only an artist could finesse.
I had one of the classic, primary-colored Fisher Price tape players that I could be found either listening intently to one of my Big Comfy Couch or Disney storyteller cassette tapes or lugging it around as I belted “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” into the microphone with all the sass my ginger-haired toddler self could muster.
The Pages & Co. series, Thursday Next series, Strange Worlds Travel Agency series, any book where portal travel is a thing. If I ever find out that traveling in and out of books is real and nobody told me, I’m going to be very, very upset.
- Traveling to China and meeting my sweet students in person because half of my heart 100% resides in Beijing.
- Becoming fluent in American Sign Language and at least one other language, probably Chinese or French.
- Seeing Paramore in concert… again
Maybe it’s a redhead thing, but Avonlea.
