Meet Liz: Liz Made
Liz, founder of Liz Made Jewelry, is raw and real with us in this interview bringing to life the realities that COVID-19 has brought in during this time. Liz chats motherhood, new businesses, and how to create a better world in a unique way that I felt refreshing! Cheers to supporting this lovely female founded jewelry company in which Liz truly puts her heart and soul into every piece
1. Tell us about who you are and your journey to where you are now!
Hey y'all It's me, Liz and I design earrings using polymer clay, resin, and metal. I was working in the wedding industry in the greater KC area as a photographer for the last 5 years. This past winter I had an itch to start making art with my hands again, something I had loved to do before photography. In February I saved enough to purchase the basics to make a few bits of jewelry with resin and clay. I sent a few dozen of my creations to a local shop at the first of March and hopped on a plane to Mexico to shoot a wedding! Little did I know that would be my last wedding for a long while! By the end of March, the wedding industry, and consequently my entire profession, was put on hold, BUT I found that my earrings had sold well! And the rest is history!
As Covid-19 continues, I find my hands in the clay more and more- I’m so grateful for the peace that creating brings me. When I'm not crafting jewelry, my time is spent with my two crazy-awesome kiddos, who fill my heart and keep my feet moving, as well as my husband, who is the sturdy trellis to my swirly-vine-self. I also have a killer backyard garden, if you can't tell by that last analogy! Oh! I also have a whole section of my garden dedicated to growing items to imbed in resin! Local homegrown jewelry is coming to you this summer!
2. What is the mission of your brand? How does it empower women?
I've spent the last 5 years as a wedding photographer, navigating every spectrum of the emotion and logistics on the most important day of our client's life: her wedding day. Now, with Liz Made, I am loving the everyday interactions I get to have with women in my community. Less stress, less pressure, and more access to all sorts of customers- not just those planning weddings! And my mission? Well, I can't count on one hand how many times I've gotten caught up in having big plans to change the world only to get overwhelmed and give up entirely! Right now my mission is pretty small -- to keep myself healthy and sane in this time of anxiety and fear. Creating positive, empowering connections with my customers and followers does more than move product-- it fills my soul! creating little bits of wearable joy for the women in my community is the best sort of sanity I can give myself.
3. How do you collaborate with women working towards a better world?
Starting my business in Covid-19, I haven't had a chance to get out in the "real world", but not being a jerk about wearing masks in public is a pretty easy way to make the world better.
4. What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to press through as a female entrepreneur and what are the steps you’ve taken to overcome it? EDIT
We all know what it's like to feel undervalued in the workplace, with all their glass ceilings and mansplaining. But quite frankly, my biggest challenge right now is me, myself and I. As a work from home parent with a partner working an out of home full-time job, I have many hats to wear and a laundry list of chores and to-dos that pile up fast. When I put my own needs last, leaving myself mentally and emotionally exhausted, it's a surefire way to a grumpy, unproductive, burnout slump that can last for days. Being able to look at my budding business as the job it is and accurately analyze and prioritize MY needs (both personal and business- it's all connected, you know) is something I am working on. Hoping to avoid those burnout phases and continue a healthy pattern of creating!
5. What advice would you give to a female entrepreneur in the beginning stages of launching her brand or business?
Be you. We seem to be launching full force into the post-perfection stage of social media. Filters, angles, photoshop... we are all ready for something REAL. Women are trained authenticity detectors and are easily turned-off if they sniff a fake. Be you. Be real. Perfect your craft and hype what you're truly passionate about. The rest will follow.
6. What sets your brand apart from others?
I only release pieces I truly love... and I mean LOVE! I only have two human children but I create dozens of little clay babies each week that I get to send out into the world! I put emotion into inanimate objects and it's probably not the healthiest of habits, but we aren't going to talk about that! Ha! It's helping me deal with my baby fever and more importantly gives me such a sense of purpose and accomplishment when I see customers loving their pieces!
