There comes a time in one’s life that we have to go back to our roots, to our beginnings and in the case of business, we have to revisit our “Why”
So, grab a cup filled with your favorite beverage of choice and make yourself comfortable because it is story time…

If you were to ask me five years ago, how I started this business, how I got into making jewelry, I would have given you the answer that you hear a lot. When I was a little girl, I was the one doing things with my hands; playing with beads and draping fabrics into imaginary designs.

So naturally, I gravitated towards making jewelry when my career choice in Corporate America left me feeling unfulfilled.

Through the years, my why was lost. Partially because I never fully realized what was driving me.

A few years passed and when asked why I started making jewelry, I shrugged. Because I was always a creative person I said.It didn’t sit right but it was the only answer I could come up with.

Then… one day… doing work at the bench, it hit me. In college I wrote a paper for one of my cap stone business courses and it was related to a significant gold deposit in Romania, where I was born and raised. As with any significant deposits of natural resources in second and third world countries, this discovery came along with its share of geopolitical, ethical and ecological concerns and battles. It was in doing this research that I uncovered (pun intended) the process of gold mining and the impact it has on the environment, as well as the impact it has on the population living in or near the location of the mines.

Because of the impact of traditional mining, this pristine and beautiful piece of land would have been destroyed, along with the historic Roman gold mines that still remain intact in the area. The population of Rosia Montana would have been displaced either by force or by necessity and all that would have remained would have been a barren piece of land stretching out for miles around because of the use of mercury and other chemicals in the mining process.

This particular event and moment in time is what sparked something in me. I turned to making jewelry in my free time with the resources I had available. This then turned into a full on passion and while my desire to help, educate and give back was strong, I thought I had to wait until I “hit it big” to start doing that.

Enter a bit more wisdom, a lot more learning and a few serendipitous teachers along the way and I have come to the realization and the decision that I could start where I was, at ground one and slowly build up from there.

While the battle for preserving Rosia Montana is still going all these years later I took a few steps towards my commitment to the people and places throughout the world that have been, are and will be in this situation.

As I continually educate myself, I will pass along the knowledge to you, helping you make informed decisions about the pieces of jewelry you purchase for yourself and your loved ones. My commitment of using sustainably sourced materials, from places that pay their workers a fair wage and educate the miners about doing their work safely, with proper equipment and minimal impact to the environment.

The world will always wear jewelry… my intention and purpose is to educate myself and my customers as to how these pieces of jewelry came to life and where the metals and gemstones used to create them came from. Because, it hits different when you know that a specific human, Juanita for example, unearthed the gorgeous Amethyst stone that is the focal point in your piece safely and that the fair price she received for the stone helped feed her family.

This is my WHY. 

And because the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, here I am taking that first step...

 I will be retiring the 4mm wide open bangles and the rope bangles in gold fill from both Etsy and my website. Once I run out of the wire I use to make them, I will not be repurchasing.

If you were interested in one, now is the time to get them. You can find them here and here on my website. 

I am also working on an accountability report that I will be publishing quarterly.

It is my hope that you will join me on this journey of full transparency and ethically and sustainably sourced materials for your jewelry.

Xo,

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