Today we’d like to introduce you to Ari Delgado.
Ari, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was raised with the focus of living a simple life and doing volunteer work to help those in need, specially spiritually. This came to be my priority and main focus in life. Once I got married, our goal as a couple was to continue putting our faith and volunteer work in first place. Keeping this in mind, I had the idea of starting a small business in order to help my husband leave his full-time job so we can both do what we enjoy the most. It was at this point where the jewelry business idea came to mind. At first, I thought it was a silly idea and didn’t think it could even be possible. Then I met a friend who was actually making a living from her jewelry business. So I kept looking into it. I started making clay jewelry and received a lot of encouragement from family and friends. Even though it was a fun start, it started consuming a lot more time than what I had planned. So l looked into another material that was less time-consuming and filled my heart a little more. Here came gold-filled jewelry. It took a lot of trial and error but I eventually came through. Up until now, I was selling everything through social media. Which was fun because I could engage with my customers more, but I realized that having a website would make it easier for everyone, the customers and myself.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has been some bumps along the road. For example, I aim to give my best in everything I do. So I try my hardest to make good quality products. In doing this, learning how to work with clay and then gold filled required a lot of research, practice, and making a lot of errors. This meant material was being wasted. When I couldn’t make a piece just right, I would feel frustrated because I felt like I was wasting my money so this would make me think I should just throw everything away and give up. Other struggles would be thinking that my products were not good/pretty enough for people to buy.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am proud to say I am a self-taught jewelry maker. I work with gold-filled jewelry. It took a lot of time and dedication to learn how to solder and work with a material that could be so delicate but durable. My pieces are made from scratch and I enjoy the process in making each and every one of them. I continue to learn and get better in everything I do.
Contact Info:
- Email: emsedira@gmail.com
- Website: aridelgado.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourstruly.ad/
Image Credits:
Yareth Castro Photography
