Lisa Woolfork in the HotSeat

Scholar, maker, and cultural critic Lisa Woolfork has been making space and creating community in Charlottesville, centering her efforts on functional fiber arts. Woolfork hosts the award-winning podcast “Stitch Please,” a platform for conversations about sewing, quilting, fashion, labor, memory, and liberation featuring sewists, artists, designers, historians, and makers from across the African diaspora. The podcast has been nominated for a 2026 Ambies Award for Best Indie Podcast, presented by The Podcast Academy. We put Woolfork in the HotSeat ahead of the February 23 awards ceremony.

Name: Lisa Woolfork

Age: Older than I look.

Pronouns: She/her

Hometown: West Palm Beach, Florida—but I’ve lived in Charlottesville for 26 years, so this is home now.

Job(s): Associate professor of English at the University of Virginia; founder of Black Women Stitch; host of the “Stitch Please” podcast

What’s something about your job that people would be surprised to learn? Focusing on stitching: Everything you are wearing right now was made by someone. Why not you?

What is craft to you? Craft is liberatory.

Why is supporting functional arts important? Functional art reminds us that creativity is not only within our grasp, it is our grasp.

What are you working on right now? A collaborative sew-in style challenge with the Black Sewing Network during Black History Month, and continuing work on a manuscript about Black women’s stitching practices.

Proudest accomplishment: Industry awards for a show recorded in my basement: Seven Black Podcasting Awards; Gold and Listener’s Choice Signal Awards; four Ambie nominations (the Oscars of podcasting); and winning Best DIY Podcast Ambie in 2024

Best advice you ever got: Don’t accept criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from.

Best part of living here: Summer

Worst part of living here: Winter

Favorite Charlottesville restaurant: Smyrna

Favorite Charlottesville venue: The Paramount Theater

Favorite Charlottesville landmark/attraction: Jefferson School

Bodo’s order: Ham, egg, and cheddar on a plain bagel

Describe a perfect day: Still working on it.

If you could be reincarnated as a person or thing, what would you be? Myself with more knowledge, information, and money. I’d do it again.

If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? Endless revisions to my wishes.

Are there any superstitions you abide by? Don’t split the pole unless you hate me.

Most embarrassing moment: Once I sewed a shirt’s sleeves on upside down so that the sleeve placket was on the top of the wrist. Rookie mistake.

Do you have any pets? No. Thank you, though.

Favorite movie and/or show:
Sinners

Favorite book: Kindred by Octavia Butler

Who’d play you in a movie? Not Melania Trump

Go-to karaoke song: Not telling you that!

What’s your comfort food/meal? Pearl Island’s oxtail, extra gravy, with pigeon peas and rice

Subject that causes you to rant: Bananas

Best journey you ever went on: 2016 trip with sisters and friends to France and Italy

Next journey: Hoping to go to Cape Town, South Africa, this summer, and possibly other countries on the continent.

Favorite word: [hahahahaha!] No. 

Hottest take/most unpopular opinion: “Hot takes” are just bad ideas in rhinestones.

What have you forgotten today? Many things. I just hope they weren’t important.