#makerspotlight

That line stopped me in my tracks.

In a world that constantly tells us to wait until we’re polished, perfect, and “ready,” this reminder feels almost rebellious. Growth doesn’t wait for flawless timing. It happens in the messy middle. In the trying. In the showing up.

This week in our Maker Spotlight series, I had the honor of featuring Zitaqwa Muhammad, the heart behind The Celebratory Collection — a soulful brand built on honoring the quiet wins, the unseen effort, and the courage it takes to keep moving forward.

Her mission is simple but powerful: You do not have to wait for a massive milestone to celebrate yourself.

Whether it’s choosing yourself again. Starting before you feel ready. Or simply surviving a hard week.

That counts.

This spotlight reminded me why I created this space in the first place — to amplify real stories, real journeys, and real people building with intention.

If you’re in your “messy middle,” this is your reminder: motion is enough.

Sorry for the delay, but because of Labor Day this edition of our Maker Monday Profile will have to make its appearance on Wonderful Wednesday instead. This week I had the privilege to sit down with Mollie Davis and Andrew Eck, who are not only two of Macon’s most involved makers, but also friends of mine and fellow students, who in their spare time are working on receiving their education from Mercer University.

  This dynamic duo has begun making everyday items out of used pallets, salvaging them from assured disposal. Crafting everything from easels to bar signs, Georgia Pallet has gained recent notoriety resulting from their willingness to accept and embrace strange and of the wall requests. In true Macon Maker fashion, there isn’t much these two can’t or won’t make.

Here are Mollie and Andrew showing off the easel that was custom made to display the Macon Made seal a couple of months ago.

Q: You probably get this question a lot but, why pallets? How did this unique idea come about?

Mollie: I was off campus last summer and needed a coffee table for my place. My Dad runs his own company and he has a lot of pallets at his warehouse. We decided to make a coffee table out of a pallet and then a close friend of mine dared me to sell it and I did. I made a lot more money off of it then I expected, but still needed a coffee table, so Andrew and I decided to begin making them regularly.

Q: What pallet product are you most commonly making? What is your favorite to make?

Andrew: We are making a lot of bar signs recently, although I prefer the coffee tables.

Mollie: Well we started off just doing tables, but now people just love the custom work and we are doing a lot of signs including the work we did recently for the Macon Beer Company. I personally love the signs because of painting. A lot more creativity goes into the project when you combine pallet and paint.

Q: Describe as best you can the normal process for your most common requests?

Andrew: Someone will message us with something in mind, almost everything we do is custom work. Which keeps things interesting. It's challenging but rewarding to have to meet someone's expectations but with creative leeway. After deciding how we are going to attack the project, we then begin the work with the pallets.

Mollie: We usually start by cutting down a pallet. We prefer oak pallets, because they are sturdier. We try to find oak if we can but most of the ones we find are made out of pine. After getting the pallet, we take the boards from the back and bring them forward to make the table uniform. Then we take the bars from a separate pallet and cross them to make the legs. But that’s just the process for a table. Almost everything we make is something we’ve never made before. People want things that are just made for them, therefore we have to be flexible and creative with each process we use.

Q: Any tips for aspiring furniture craftspeople/ entrepreneurs?

Andrew: Do it! If you're passionate about something do it! Sit down and write out what it would cost to do it and ask yourself if it's worth making or doing whatever and not making anything and if or when you can make money is when it becomes exciting.

Mollie: I mean just recognize that what you do is valuable to someone and get what you do out there. Especially when it’s something you enjoy doing because then it hardly feels like work. If you do it because you love it just do it and then get the word out. Creating a twitter was probably the best thing we ever did. Over 500 people follow us to learn about pallets. How cool is that?

Q: What does the word “maker” mean to you?

Andrew: A maker to me is a hands on entrepreneur, he literally makes his business.

Mollie: Yup, that sums it up pretty well.

Q: What is the most exciting part of the Macon Maker movement for you?

Mollie: Most exciting for me is working with other makers by interacting in community. For example getting to make pallets with Macon Beer Company for Bragg Jam. People who love Macon are also loved by Macon. That creates support from all over, whether it be Warner Robins, Spark Macon, or College Hill people really want to see small businesses strive in this area.

Andrew: Yea I agree. It would definitely be meeting other makers and entrepreneurs who are similarly passionate about making or doing creative things. It's fun being recognized as the pallet people and often times we get into more conversations than we would like about pallets. People donate pallets to us it's a little out of hand at times. But it's great to hear time and time again the support from people who are excited about the furniture or us being entrepreneurs. I would love to see Macon as a maker town. As a place where people come to be creative. We have all the parts we just need to put them together.

Here is an action shot of Mollie and Andrew hard at work.

  If you like what you have read here and want to test Mollie and Andrew's creativity or just get them to construct your next pallet coffee table, you can find them on their aforementioned Twitter, as well as Facebook or Instagram.