Background
- Started beading at age seven.
- Judi, a woman on the beach in Key Biscayne taught me. Every day, she brought her stash of beads to a spot on the beach and patiently taught kids to make jewelry.
- By age 8, I was hooked! We visited the same beach, and this time, I was allowed to buy a kit that included a lot of plated findings, bags of different-colored beads, and lots of fishing wire! Back in the day, we’d crimp and then burn the end of the fishing wire to finish our pieces!
- Through my childhood, I made jewelry for my mom. I loved making earrings – they were primitive, but they were custom!
- My mom still has some of the Christmas necklaces I made her.
- The first A World of Beads opened in 1992. I remember shopping at the Tri County store during winter break, buying beads to make Christmas presents.
- When A World of Beads started teaching classes, I took as many as I could: intro-to-beading, wire-wrapping, beaded Christmas ornament covers, hand-knotting, precious metal clay (I still have some of my silver beads!), lampwork, and probably more that I can’t remember.
- After graduating college with a degree in communications and an art minor, I had some time on my hands before I got my first job, so I made lots of jewelry with my Sculpey clay beads, some cinnamon sticks (the earrings smelled great!), seed beads, and lots of other materials, and I did my first craft show. I didn’t make much money, but it was a good first show experience.
- Fast-forward to 1997 when I got married, we bought our first house, and I had my first real, corporate job as a graphic designer. I remember coming home and making earrings when I’d had a stressful day. 20 years later, I had a lot of earrings!
- I did a show at my corporate job where all pieces sold benefitted charity. I was into seed bead necklaces at that point and still have a few of them.
- When the magnetic beads were popular in the late 90s, I made a lariat, and I remember co-workers thinking it was so cool.
- I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I struggled with the one-year-anniversary, and I wanted to make a necklace to honor that day. I went to A World of Beads and found two tourmalated quartz focal beads to represent the twin towers. I made the necklace and wore it to dinner with my mom on the anniversary.
- In the early to mid 2000s, a friend introduced me to the Sundance Catalog, and around that time, a lot of my pieces were inspired from it.
- The techniques I love and use most often now are wire-wrapping and hand-knotting.
- In 2018, after 20 years, I left my corporate job to take a sabbatical and find out what I really want to do when I grow up. During the summer of 2019, I saw that A World of Beads was hiring, I applied, got the job, and have been working at my fun job for almost a year now.
- I’ve been a graphic designer for 20+ years and understand color and layout. This background has allowed me to help A World of Beads customers select colors and to help them design unique pieces.
- When the opportunity to purchase the business presented itself, my mom and I (much like Paula and Mandi back in the day), were interested in investing together.
- I look forward to serving the people of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky with the same quality service and care that Paula, Mandi, and all of the incredible staff gave through the years!