If you want to get your foot in the door at a forward-thinking, creatively inclined company that calls the Lehigh Valley home, here’s a tip: be nice. “We have sort of a motto here—you have to be nice, truly nice,” says Michele Golden Demsky, President and CEO of ArtSkills, a Bethlehem-based manufacturer and distributor of products, supplies and kits for artists, crafters and young people with an interest in STEM fields.
Demsky has been a major player in the company, which was founded by her father, Steven Golden, in 1987, since the beginning, and she knows what kind of people she wants on her team: passionate, generous, thoughtful, interested and interesting, are a few of the attributes she rattles off. “You want to make sure you’re hiring right,” Demsky says. “The best part is coming to work and hanging out with these people. It’s like walking through the door to your other family.”
Her “first” family was dad, Steven; mom, Marilyn; and brother, Josh. Demsky has fond memories of growing up on Easton’s College Hill. Among those memories—going trick-or-treating with her friend, Jennifer Hogan (who also happens to be ArtSkills’ current Executive Vice President). “She was my trick-or-treat partner in fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, until my mom was like, ‘You can not go trick-or-treating anymore, you’re too old.’ Then we snuck out and did it anyway,” Demsky recalls with a laugh.
Demsky and her father shared an affinity for the arts; Steven Golden played upright bass and worked as a professional musician for many years. Demsky pursued a career in musical theater and spent 11 years as a performer in New York City. Their separate and shared experiences in that creative space helped shape the company that ArtSkills would become. Demsky explains: “We both felt that this word ‘talent’ was something you could move past. There’s definitely people who are talented. Michael Jordan? Talented. In so many different fields, talent plays a part. But the other part that I would say is the bigger part is the skills.” Meaning, they take the “skills” part of the ArtSkills name very seriously. “We really feel that you can teach anybody to have art skills,” Demsky says. “It’s just like learning how to play an instrument. You’re not going to give someone a violin and say, ‘Just be creative.’ You have to show them how to use it.”
The company that would become ArtSkills began as a consulting and product development firm called Steven B. Golden Associates, Inc. Demsky says she worked for the business while she was in college, and later, in between tours and shows as a performer. It was at a craft and hobby trade show in 1997 where she first laid eyes on a guy named Brad Demsky, who was there representing his own toy company. They went to dinner and got to talking; unaware of her Easton roots, Brad was certain Michele had never heard of the small liberal arts college he attended in Pennsylvania, a place called Lafayette College. Her retort? “I said, ‘Really? Have you ever eaten at Pizza D’oro?’ And his mouth dropped.” They dug deeper, and realized Brad’s jogging route while he was a student at Lafayette took him past Michele’s childhood home. They also had a mutual friend whose father was Brad’s tennis coach at Lafayette.
The serendipitous meeting turned into something deeper, and the following year Michele and Brad tied the knot. Brad joined the ArtSkills team as Vice President of Sales (he’s currently the Chief Sales Officer), and Michele was ready to officially push performing to the back burner to deepen her commitment to her family’s company. Along with Steven, they were like three points on a triangle, Demsky says, all gifted in different ways but equally essential to the company’s success and stability. But, she adds, after a few moments of reflection, perhaps a square is a better visual representation of the company dynamic, with her mother, Marilyn Golden, being that final, crucial connecting piece. All along, Marilyn, the mathematician, was the yin to the yang of Steven, the musician, Demsky says. “They worked beautifully together.” Steven Golden died in 2019, but Marilyn Golden still has a very full plate. “My mom is an absolute genius,” Demsky says. “My mom is still in college. She’s getting her third master’s degree for fun, in computer data science.” Demsky says her mother also has played a vital role in helping to raise the three busy, on-the-go sons she shares with Brad: Max and Zachary, who are both attending out-of-state colleges, and Jake, a student at Moravian Academy.
Under Demsky’s leadership, her family’s company continues to thrive. “An ArtSkills product gets sold every one and a half seconds,” she says. And those sales are happening at 80,000 retailers around the world, including several spots easily accessible to Lehigh Valley shoppers, such as Target, Walmart, Hobby Lobby and Home Depot. The company has about 75 employees split between its offices in Bethlehem and Nashville, with the majority of them reporting for duty at the Bethlehem location. Demsky says ArtSkills products are designed in Bethlehem but manufactured all over the world.
Obviously Demsky is aware of that other local purveyor of art supplies for kids: Forks Township based Crayola. But she has no shade to throw at the crayon king. In fact, she thinks there’s room for both of them in that world; she sees Crayola as a great fit for the youngest of budding artists, with ArtSkills waiting in the wings for their second act. “We say that we sort of take over after the Crayola brand ages,” Demsky says. And the goal is to have something for everyone, with a focus on arts and crafts, hobbies and DIY projects. The company’s vast product line includes everything from basic paint sets and markers to glitter paper and pallet plaques. There are a number of make-your-own kits, too: paint by number, jewelry, clay, wood burning, even a DIY neon sign.
Demsky has found some parallels between her time as a performer and her role as a businesswoman. “Being on stage and being a leader there is very similar to being a leader here, except nobody claps,” she jokes. The common theme is the need for collaboration; just as every great stage actress needs a top-notch ensemble, orchestra and behind-the-scenes team for a successful show, the process of taking a product from idea to store shelf relies on a great number of inventive, intuitive and logistically gifted members of the ArtSkills squad. Demsky prides herself on being the kind of CEO who can lead from behind. “Everybody comes together to make it happen,” she says.
There are times when Michele Demsky the songstress still makes an appearance, most often at her Coopersburg home, where weekend get-togethers with friends from her performing days are common. “A good Saturday night is at my house, and I have eight microphones and we’re all set up to be able to sing,” Demsky says. Broadway hits and show tunes are in her wheelhouse. She keeps her dad’s old upright bass around as a reminder of their shared love of music. She is constantly reminded of him at work as well. “My dad had a saying: ‘Whatever you do, do it with people you love, and then work will always be fun.’” That saying is posted in her office—Steven’s old office. “I am channeling everything about him,” says Demsky.
Published as "Insight" in the June 2023 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
