Meet Sophie Kissin

We were lucky to catch up with Sophie Kissin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sophie, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

I didn’t! It never goes away. But I’ve gotten better by constantly practicing putting myself put there. I force myself to post on social media consistently and email my list (because those are the people who truly DO care about me and my work— they elected to hear from me!). Self-doubt is my biggest obstacle for sure. I have the skills to make the jewelry, and now, after 8 years, I have gained significant know-how in how to run a business. I still hover over the “publish” button all the time on an Instagram post and think, “I can’t post this! No one cares! This is embarrassing!” The key is to do it anyway. It’s a muscle you have to keep flexing to stay strong.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I recently took every piece of jewelry I sold on my website down for reevaluation. For each piece I asked myself: do I love making this piece? Do I love wearing this piece? Does this piece resonate with the direction I want to take the brand? Does it inspire others to be creative and push their own boundaries?

Some of the designs I’d been making for 8 years, since the very start of Sophie Kissin Jewelry. I kept them because they were still selling and it felt safe to keep them around. I was battling major burn out from the hustle and bustle of doing all the things involved in running a business. My jewelry is what sustains me financially; it’s how I earn my keep, but I still approach it as a holistic artistic practice. It didn’t feel right to me anymore.

An artist naturally moves through different phases. Styles change and artists try new things. I felt weighed down by old pieces to which I no longer felt connected. So, it was time for a cleanse to enter a new era. I talked with a fellow artist friend who said I sounded stuck in the business, rather than fulfilled by my art. I needed to simplify to free up space to play again.

From there, I relaunched with a tight line of “essential” jewelry pieces. These are Sophie Kissin Jewelry classics— they aren’t new to the brand, but they are signature, best-selling pieces I feel represent the past, present, and possible future of the brand. So while it doesn’t look like a radical change on the surface, it is a big change for me personally. I hope that these pieces will serve as a baseline of unexpected basics, from which I can build off of more clearly in one-of-a-kind collections and custom work.

I am also exploring the possibility of starting a new line of more radical, avant-garde art jewelry pieces. I want this body of work to be separate from my personal brand; I’d build a world where the jewelry would live, but I would not, or at least my personal experience would be more abstract. It would be based on concepts like body and face jewelry I have explored with the SKJ before. Stay tuned! It’s all very nebulous right now, but I’m very excited by this direction!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The number one piece of advice I have received and always pass on to others is “Start before you’re ready.” This advice can be applied to anything and everything: starting a business, launching a product or a website, taking up a new hobby, exploring a new place or phase of life.

As a person with perfectionist tendencies, I am often held back by my own wish that something be absolutely finished, polished and perfected before I share it with anyone. More often than not, this leads into a spiral of self-doubt, rather than motivating me to complete whatever I’m working on. So instead of focusing on perfection, I try to focus on getting something to a stage where it can be presented (whether it’s a launch, a website, a single product listing, or a series of images), because I can always tweak it later. Your work isn’t going to move anyone (connect with someone/inspire someone/sell/help/be loved by anyone, etc.) if they don’t know about it.

This relates back to the idea of imposter syndrome. I’m pretty sure at this point it’s never going to go away. So instead of thinking “I’ll do this when X-Y-Z (I’ve finished my degree, I’ve had my first kid, I’ve made my first $10k with my new business— insert your own excuse!)”, just do it. If you have an idea that moves you, follow through and share it/create it/do it before the excuses build up and you freeze. I need to remind myself of this everyday!

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

Understanding that I am in full control of my work and if something isn’t feeling right anymore, I have the power to change it. I am in control of the type of work I take on, the work I produce, the space I create for myself— even the information I choose to share about myself! For me, burnout wasn’t just being overworked, it was the feeling that I had no boundaries. Jewelry is very intimate. When I create a piece for someone, they let me into their personal lives and my creating becomes a part of their personal story. I love this aspect of the job, but the lines between artist, designer, entrepreneur, confidant, and friend become blurred, and sometimes it leaves me feeling vulnerable. Learning to say no to certain projects and scaling back my physical offerings has made me feel more professional and capable of growth.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photography by Sophie Kissin Jewelry and Ellie Schmidt

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