Cheyenne Faulkner shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Cheyenne, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
Right now I’m walking a path. I have goal of where I want my business to be and where I want to be in the next 5ish years but the way that I get there is slow and steady.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Cheyenne and I’m the owner of Beads By Chey Designs. I’m a Native American artist from the Lumbee & Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. I make Native American beadwork and ribbon skirts. I have also recently expanded my business to selling beading supplies as well.
I started my business back in 2020 during the pandemic where I taught myself to beads and sew. I shortly after started my Tik Tok account @beadsbycheydesigns. Since then I have been growing my business, learning new things & loving every second of it!
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My mother. Growing up my mom always told me that I was going to make beadwork, but to be honest I never really believed her because my mom just says a lot of things sometimes.
I grew up in a very culturally connected home. My mom started taking us to Pow Wow dance classes when I was around six, and in the same year, I also had my very first jingle dress and competed in my first Pow Wow. I think during that time it was really too young to quite understand not only art, but beading as a passion and a way of healing.
I think the older I got in the more things that I experienced in the world, not only inside the Native space but also during my high school and college education. I saw a need for a creative outlet.
During COVID when I started learning how to bead I finally caved in and my mom gave me this beading book that she’s allegedly had my whole life. I remember sitting in the living room on one of our pop-up tables with four colors of beads trying to figure out how to make fringe earrings. I remember in the beginning it was so frustrating because I just couldn’t quite get it but I had all the time in the world, so I sat there for hours and hours trying to figure out new designs how to make the beads lay the way that I wanted them to. To this day, my mom always says “I knew you were gonna bead”
When did you last change your mind about something important?
This is a little bit off-topic of beating, but I think is a very important part of my story. When I was in college, I was pursuing a degree in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics. I was also on a track to go to med school after I graduated. During my last year of college, I decided that maybe this was not the greatest choice and this was no longer something that I was truly passionate about.
Long story short I’m not a doctor and I have no regrets. I think that I needed to have the college experience in order to really be able to say for certain that I no longer wanted to be on this pre med track and that being a small business owner was probably going to be more suitable for me. I’m very grateful for my college experiences. I was part of a native group on campus and I participated in making changes to the native experience at UCLA. I also wanted to show other native youth that it is possible for you to go into higher education because it’s important to be a role model to other youth. I had many role models growing up, and I think it’s only important to pass that knowledge to somebody else.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
As of this year, I have really wanted to open up a storefront for my business. I have been selling my products online for quite a while, and that has been very successful for me. But I think it would be really fun to have a storefront to have all of my beadwork on display on my supplies on display and it’s been something. I have been giving a lot of thought lately. Now this is a very expensive venture so it probably won’t be something that I can do in the next 2 to 3 years but hopefully within the next 5 to 10 years that something that will be a little bit more feasible for me. I think that having a physical store front will really solidify my business and will be a reflection of how far I’ve come.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes! I think that through having my business and the college experience that I had, I think that I’m a very self-motivated person. There were a lot of times during college or early childhood where I can remember doing stuff and nobody agreeing with it and I still did it anyway. I think the older that I’ve gotten I have been living by a phrase of “I’m the only one that has to be happy with the decisions that I make and I’m the one that has to live with them”. I think this has really given me a lot of freedom to do the things that I want to do unapologetically. Now, of course, this doesn’t just mean that I make all kinds of crazy choices, but I still think there is some beauty in wanting to pursue a dream that not very many other people believe in.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beadsbycheydesigns.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarespace/beadsbycheydesigns
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzL0UwgekgPRtDh7nu53YCg
