Here we go

just another girl, with her substack, asking you to love her

I’ve always been a ‘shout it from the rooftops’ kind of girl. If I like something, you’ll hear about it. A lot. I just can’t help myself.

I think this trait has served me well as a designer and brand founder (shophart.com). I won’t wear designs that I don’t truly, absolutely love. If I don’t want to put it on my body immediately, then we typically don’t push go on bulk production. The B- design sample gets archived, or we tweak the design until it’s juuuusssst right.

Exhibit A of me wanting to wear new designs immediately. Despite it being February, I just HAD to rock our new shell charm (available in April). P.S. last summer, our ‘Shell Bar’ was a huge hit despite being a little scrappy. We’ve spent the last 8+ months refining our shell and cord collection in time for spring. It’s gonna be dope.

This past month I drove my Product Development Manager Kat a little crazy because it took us several attempts to perfect the exact color of the blue cord that’s hand-knotted between pearls on a summer necklace. I didn’t want to wear it when the cord was an 80s beach house turquoise. But now that those tiny knots are a dusty Cinderella blue, gimme gimme.

a BTS from our recent flatlay shoot. this is the much-fussed over pearl necklace, which will be out later this spring.

I wish I could say that I always like this — a true fastidious aesthete since the womb. The truth is I’m in a better place right now. Way better than less than a couple of years ago… when my sister and business partner Curry and I were in frantic mode, drowning under the pressures of a growing business with a small team and raising adorable yet demanding toddlers who didn’t like something called sleep. Exhausted, I grouchily acquiesced a couple of designs as ‘good enough’ when I shouldn’t have. I liked it, but I didn’t love it, but we needed a certain SKU in the collection to appease a certain customer and a certain trend.

Our customers smelled the inauthenticity from miles away; it took a long while for those designs to sell through (luckily, we avoid waste by buying very small quantities of new SKUs until we’re sure they’re a hit).

Lesson learned. Every object - especially something as personal as jewelry - emanates energy. And we humans are excellent energy observers. Our antennae go bing bing bing for good vibes — if the designer was in-flow state while sketching, if the jewelry artisan was having a good day, if that piece was made with substantial materials in an ethical factory.

Whether it’s as small as the blue hue of knots between pearls, or pushing back against suggestions by expensive consultants, I’m learning to trust my instinct more. I’m a little bitchier! In a nice way!

But most of all, the thing I’m learning to stand up against most is my inner shadow (oh groannnn!!, I know, you can unsubscribe now). After seven years of double-digit growth, 60+ employees, and two stores… why do I still doubt myself sometimes? How does imposter syndrome still squash my self-confidence?

C’est moi recently, in a favorite vintage dress.

Enter stage left Gwyneth Paltrow. I’ll paraphrase. “When you turn 40, you get a software upgrade. You start giving less fucks.” Hell to the yes, GP. I’ll be 38 in August and I’m already feeling the download.

May I add my own recent wise revelation about fuck-giving? Most people actually aren’t thinking about you. But you know who gives the most fucks? Your inner child. I’m entering my era of (kindly) confronting her and (gently) shooing her along. Booboos be damned.

And that’s where the magic happens right? Giving less fucks mean caring less about external pressures (trends, PR, followers, etc), and focusing more on what genuinely makes your heart and your brand thrive.

So here we are. There’s just so much I want to say. And shout from the rooftops. It’s who I am, who I have always been, most authentically at my core. My wish for you is to follow whatever that authenticity is for yourself. The world would be a better place for it.

Follow along for BTS of my brand and work, general musings (maybe some will be positively earth-shattering, most will not), and the happy things I can’t help but gush on about.