The other day, I was listening to a podcast where an artist was being interviewed. While talking about her creative journey, she said something that really stuck in my head…the things that we do in our childhood years has a tendency to stick with us into adulthood. For her, she always loved writing and drawing as a child, but never actually thought about pursuing it as a career. It wasn’t until now, several decades later that she realized that her career as a children’s book writer and illustrator was based on her childhood hobbies.
As a child, my two most favorite hobbies were jewelry making and reading. Whenever I had free time, I was always either at my desk tinkering around with beads or with a book in my hand. I can still remember making stretch bracelets everyday with a big box of plastic pony beads that my parents gave me. When it was time to eat, I was always getting scolded to put the book away and finish my food. I even remember being so immersed in the story that I was reading that tore out the pages of the book and taped the to the glass shower door in order to be able to read while taking a shower!
I’m going to save the details of my career journey for another post, but fast forward to the present where I find myself realizing that I actually did end up building my careers based on my childhood passions! I am now a middle school English teacher as well as the Owner/Designer of my own jewelry brand! When I was growing up, I never could have imagined that I would be lucky enough to do two things that I love for a living. I get to spend my weekdays reading and discussing great books with my students and my nights and weekends making jewelry.
Even though neither of my jobs are perfect and there are definitely some moments where it is not fun at all, I still get that same excited feeling that I used to get as a little girl when it is time to wake up in the morning and face my day. I love the way that jewelry making allows me to express my creativity to the point where I truly feel like I’m telling a story in each piece. I was told many times that in order to sell more, I have to outsource my jewelry to have somebody else make them in large quantities, but I refuse to do that because I feel like behind every single item is a thought, feeling, or emotion that I am trying to convey and that is something that only I can do with my own hands. I can’t say enough how fortunate I feel to be able to make this dream into a reality, so I would really like to say thank you to all of my customers and supporters out there who helped me to make this come true. Without all of you, I wouldn’t be where I am today and I am determined to keep doing my best to bring you many more of my best designs!
