Today we’d like to introduce you to Karolina Meza.
Karolina, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up being inquisitive about art since a young age. During my college, I study Communications and that’s where I found the love for photography, it was then when I realized that creative comes from within oneself.
I have gone through a myriad of different stages within visual art, within photography, I was able to have many exhibitions, win biennials awards and experience it as art in a whole. I even managed to do musical photography which awoke in me a different type of sensitivity.
My story on how Joyería DNA was born is parallel with my pregnancy of my only son. Being a high-risk pregnancy, I had to put photography aside for a moment, which broke my heart…only to realize that a new stage of my life was about to bloom at full force.
When my son was born, I wanted to materialize all the love, sacrifice, work, effort, tears, achievements, successes and thousands of emotions and feelings that a mother goes through. Allowing Conmigo Siémpre Joyeria DNA to be born.
I initially began by creating a chemical process to preserve breast milk, that could make it last over time without damage. Once having the milk ready, I manipulated in such a way that allowed me to create gems and by consequence unique jewelry, such as charms, rings, bracelets, earrings, etc.
At first, I thought that it would only be for me, an intimate award a “love medal”, as I like to call my jewelry that I could carry to celebrate my motherhood.
But little by little, I began to share and show my friends and family loved my love medals, and they found it beautiful that I was able to create them, to which point they allowed me to experiment with their own organic materials.
Their encouragement and support gave me the drive I needed to make it into a real business, the first thing I did was to open a business page on FB and I started to share what I was doing; it was a truly magical and surreal moment. The experience I had gather thru the years within photography allowed me to capture the beauty in each unique piece as well as each unique story.
Little by little, there was an increment of organic materials such as, umbilical cord, baby’s fingernails, ashes, even menses blood, it sounds strange, believe, I KNOW! But it’s amazing to create something without judgment and just understanding the story behind each customer.
I still remember the first time I worked with ashes, I was very scared and the idea of being so responsible and respectful killed me. It was a baby of the same age as my son, even from the same month and by coincidence even shared the same last name. It was a very crude situation giving the similarities with my son, and it hit me hard and close to home, yet I thought of how comforting it would be to have such a memorable piece of jewelry as a mother, and so it was. The process itself flowed so beautifully, I call my first project as a business, my angel.
I’ve established a protocol to work with each piece, each client is an incredible story, some bring me down in tears, others surprise me and I celebrate with those mommies all their efforts and hard work. Nobody said motherhood is easy so why not celebrate it by crowning them with their unique medal of love?
This is a project allows me to fulfill each and everyone facet of myself such as motherhood, photographer, to be an artist all around and on top of all that, each piece I create, I leave a part of myself full of love and respect which rewards me with satisfaction of knowing that these pieces will always be close to each client as something too valuable even more than a diamond.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t being easy to be able to stand where I am within the business, some people are true to their taboos, and some might think that this is weird, dirty an even sacrilegious. There’s always people who will judge your work as if they assume what materials you actually utilize during the process, they will doubt you all the time. Yet, I always thought that it’s better to have ten clients that trust you 100% than to have a long client list that doubt you all the time.
Fortunately, all of my customers are happy because I share with them the process of each piece to establish a network of trust and assure them that their material is 100% real. I am secretive and careful regarding the chemical process since it is part of the magic of my work, as for the creative process it is something that I’ve always encouraged my customers to allow me to share with them.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Conmigo Siempre Joyería DNA story. Tell us more about the business.
Conmigo Siémpre is a small company that has exponentially grown in such an incredible way in the last two years. It offers and ships its service in the USA, Mexico and Puerto Rico. It seems that behind this small business there is a whole team, but it is not (for the moment). I alone am the one who does all the work of community manager, sales, shipping, creating jewelry, advertising, packaging, etc. It is a company created by a mom for other moms, and that makes me proud. I can honestly say that my company stands out by making each gem unique, with author designs, cared for with love, and artisanally created in such a respectful and unique way. There will never be one piece alike another which makes it even more special.
Success is defined by how happy you are with what you are doing, I accomplished not only that but also making other’s happy with my work. I’ve always believed that my only real competition is myself, I thrive the most by challenging myself day by day, and to be able to create a unique jewel it’s a big accomplishment in my book. There’s always going to be others along the road that will share the same business, far from being a competition I rather consider them colleges, because I will never be doing what they’re doing and vice versa. To me, creating new designs, find new ways to encapsulate organic materials, and to improve my chemical formula to preserve milk is a huge accomplishment.
I would like to be able to reach all mothers and show them that these jewels are far from just a vanity gem but rather a reminder that motherhood is a beautiful process and that you are not alone, that you can grab your jewelry into your hands and congratulate yourself for having achieved and conquered your own motherhood. In the future, I wish to have a store where you could have a chance to have an option in choosing from within a myriad and variety of designs. An expose merging both of my passions, jewelry and photography. This project is mainly aimed at mothers but always open to all types of clients, I have encapsulated pieces of beloved pet ashes because love goes beyond motherhood, right?
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck does not exist for me, if not hard and constant work, be creative and always consider that each piece is unique. Success is the result of work.
Pricing:
- 50-150 dlls
Contact Info:
- Email: conmigosiemprejoyeria@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/conmigosiempre_joyeriadna
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConmigoSiempreJoyeriaDNA/
Image Credit:
By. Karolina Meza
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