For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with retail. As a kid, I loved  flipping through the giant JCPenny catalog and then as I got older, I would take any opportunity I could to go to the mall (which was an hour away from where I grew up). Yes, I loved to shop, but the process behind how everything worked also fascinated me. Where did the clothing come from? How were prices decided? How could I style things from different stores together?

So when my mom handed me a list of every major I could possibly study in college, and told me to cross out anything that I wasn’t interested in, it wasn’t too surprising to anyone that I landed on the merchandising and marketing path.  

After college, I moved out to San Francisco to participate in the Gap Inc. 9-month rotational, retail management training program. It was an incredible opportunity to spend dedicated time in three different brands (Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic) and functions (merchandising, planning and production).

Upon completion of the program, I went down the merchandising path but having [that] visibility into other roles made me a better business partner to my coworkers. I was able to ask the right questions and have a better understanding of the entire product lifecycle.

When you’re early on in your career, working for a large company gives you incredible structure and process to learn from so that you can focus and master the details. The other really cool thing about the program were the friendships that I built with the other 20 trainees in my class (as well as the alumni network from the program). Some are still close personal friends while others have also gone down the entrepreneurial path and become mentors to me.

My dad has been antiquing my entire life and knows a little bit about everything! He’s been incredible in helping me navigate the overwhelming vintage industry, such as where and how to source the best vintage pieces and how to identify the value and decade of each piece.

From there, starting the business was and has been a labor of love for vintage jewelry. We’ve seen thousands of jewels and still rarely see the same piece twice! While this is our 5th year in business, it took us a few years just to understand the aesthetic of vintage jewelry design and get a handle on how to flow the jewels out to our community through weekly and seasonal collections. Since everything is original, one-of-a-kind vintage, it sometimes can feel more like running a logistical company than a fashion one!  

In today’s crazy, over-plugged-in world, I think we could all benefit from more personal space. More space to think, to dream and to create. It takes real time and courage to explore your curiosities.

It’s nearly impossible to commute, work a full time job, and expect to figure out what you want to do next. I think the best ideas pop up when you don’t have an agenda. The experience traveling around the country with my dad, between my last corporate job with American Eagle Outfitters and starting Sweet & Spark, was priceless. It was fueled by sincere curiosity about the design of vintage jewelry and the industry. I didn’t know what was going to come out of it, but I knew that the special time spent with my dad would be cherished forever.

From my dad to my sister and grandparents, I come from a family of entrepreneurs, but it wasn’t until I realized the creative confines of a 9-to-5 that I longed to build a life filled with flexibility and happiness. Long before I started my company, I began exercising my limits, literally by running marathons. Running was my proof that I really could do anything I put my mind to so when the new brand I was working on for American Eagle Outfitters closed, and I was offered a severance package or a lateral position in another area, I knew that it was my time to leave and put my entrepreneurial beliefs into action.

An entrepreneurial journey is a personal one, filled with moments that stretch your capacity for courage, gratitude, hope, and love. The thing is, everyone has a different story and path. For me, my checkpoint had always been the same, “Am I happy and am I living a flexible life?” If the answer to both of those is “Yes,” then Sweet & Spark lives on. I consciously have decided to run this business on passion because that is where the magic happens. There is immense power in focus.

When I was working at American Eagle Outfitters, my career was taking off but my happiness meter was heading South. I took a look around at all the amazing material things I now owned and had a huge wake-up call that all these new pretty things didn’t really mean anything to me.  If I continued down the path of building a life that other people defined as successful, I would remain empty.

At that moment, I saw how conflicted I was internally and decided that if people are what are important to me, I had to start over. When I got the opportunity to leave American Eagle Outfitters, I pretty much threw everything I owned out and then moved back in with parents. And since then I’ve been on the hunt for true, raw, vulnerable connection with other humans.

Like I mentioned earlier, it’s nearly impossible to change your world overnight. It’s all the small things that start to add up. For me, starting to explore new hobbies and skills, eventually led me to where I am today. I’m also a huge nonfiction fan and highly recommend reading both of Danielle LaPorte’s books, The Desire Map and The Firestarter Sessions.

S&S is headquartered in San Francisco, but my dad is in Florida. We still travel around the country together every other month or so to curate our collections. Even when we’re not together, he always has jewelry estate sales and auctions on his radar! You can follow along on our Spark Hunting trips on Instagram @sweetandspark.

At S&S, we believe in celebrating every day and every occasion and think there’s nothing more effortless than a woman wearing vintage. We know that jewelry is a woman’s armor and helps her personality and confidence to shine. And when it comes right down to it, they just don’t make jewelry like they used to.

Getting the opportunity to know myself so well is one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. Going to work everyday with both hope and fear is such a spiritual endeavor that demands your full capacity. But on that note, it’s also easy to get absorbed into your own world so staying focused is one of the biggest challenges everyday. I think the journey and transformation as an individual is the real reward in all of this. There will always be more to learn!

No one can do this alone. Make sure you find the support you need from not only your family and friends but also from other entrepreneurs. Find a network you relate to (try a meet-up or conference like Create & Cultivate or Alt Summit) and/or reach out to people you admire to meet up for coffee and rack their brains. Connecting with others will give you the fuel you need to keep going!

There are several approaches to starting a business, one being to build a sound business plan and then hit the ground running with focus and then there’s my approach, start now with everything you’ve got and just keep moving. While I don’t regret the time spent in the first few years learning so many new skills, if I would have known about the power in partnering with a business consultant, I would have done it a lot sooner than I did. It created incredible focus for my true product and helped my merchandising strengths shine.

Vulnerability is your key to all relationship building, and business is no different. You need to be able to have honest and open conversations about how you’re feeling. You need to feel comfortable asking for help and admitting when you’re scared.

Working out daily keeps me sane. And creating opportunities to change how your brain is working is how breakthroughs happen. I always benefit from the switching gears from the daily grind to jewelry scouting on a Spark Hunting trip. Making time to read and write is also important—sometimes the ideas you’re looking for are already swirling in your brain, and you just need an outlet for them to show up!

If I knew, this journey would be no fun! What I can say is that after working with a business consultant, Sweet & Spark has never been more focused on today’s modern, feminine woman. Aside from being obsessed with vintage jewels, I’m also passionate about inspiring and helping women realize their fullest potentials. You can find me on Career Contessa as an entrepreneurial mentor specializing in retail and fashion businesses!