We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Nock. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jennifer below.
Hi Jennifer, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
My optimism is something that was instilled in me from the time I was a little girl. My Mom always believed in me and encouraged me to do my best at everything. Whether I succeeded or failed it was okay because I did my best. One thing that my mom tells me every day is to Believe in yourself and follow your dreams, those are words to live by. Those words keep me focused on what’s important and gives me the drive to keep pushing myself to succeed and above all else stay positive and to not let fear and negativity to invade my life.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I never set out to become a jewelry designer it was something that found me. I’m a licensed Cosmetologist and I also did compete in competitions while in school and some first place wins. However my mom had an accident my senior of high school and was injured rather badly and my mom had always taken care of her parents and my grandma had Alzheimer’s and it was difficult for my mom to take care of her like she had always done so I quit my cosmetology job to take care of them both and unfortunately my grandma passed away in my arms a couple of years later. While I was taking care of my grandma and then just my mom and I’m still even now taking care of my mom. I got an associate degree in accounting while taking care of my mom and grandma. Some years later I saw a bracelet that I really liked but was very expensive and I thought I’m sure I could make that for a lot less money. After all it was just stretch bracelet with Black Onyx and Lapis Lazuli stone beads and a few silver spacer beads. That bracelet sparked this journey of making and designing jewelry. I now make natural stone stretch bracelets, necklaces, pearl necklaces and bracelets, different styles of chain jewelry and of course I make crystal necklaces, bracelets and earrings and I’m also learning how to engrave jewelry so that will hopefully be something that I will be offering in the next few months. Designing crystal jewelry is probably my favorite thing to do. I love using different color crystals and seeing how beautifully they come together. Being able to make people feel good when they wear the jewelry that I design is the best part. My jewelry brings they’re inner beauty and sparkle out and makes them feel even more beautiful. That was one thing I always loved about being a Cosmetologist was making people feel even better than they did before. Now I get to do that with my jewelry and it’s the best feeling. I love designing jewelry for peoples special occasions like weddings, showers, proms and even graduations. When someone tells you how much they love their new jewelry, that is what makes all the time and effort that you put into designing new pieces worth it because it brings me so much happiness. The best part of this journey is that I’m getting to do it with my amazing, loving and caring mom that has pushed me to believe in myself and to follow my dreams.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
One of the most important things is to be patient. Things don’t always just happen overnight. With patients comes grace and understanding. Besides if you rush your work it will never be up to the standards that you set for yourself and understanding that there is a process to achieving your goals is important.
The second thing is learning. It’s the most important and can also be somewhat difficult and at times especially when learning something new. Learning your craft and pushing yourself to perfect it and developing the techniques that you need to keep perfecting the quality of your work is what will make you stand out against everyone else.
Lastly knowing your own worth. You might think what does that even mean? Well if you’ve actually taken the time to learn and perfect what your craft and you never stop learning, growing and perfecting what you do. Then there is value in you and everything that you produce. My jewelry has evolved over the past four years that I’ve had my business and I never stop learning, perfecting or creating something new.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
My Mom June and my big sister Christina have always helped and supported me throughout my entire life. My mom has helped me in so many ways in this journey. I definitely get my creativity from my mom. She always has the best advice when I ask what she thinks of a new design. My sister Christina encourages my journey just as much as my mom does and she pitches in when she can. She’s a Certified Lead Surgical Technologist, Trauma & Transplant
Vascular Surgical Specialist at UPMC Presby so she has very busy days. On weekends she helps out with doing events, which is a huge help when your growing your business and your trying to reach as many people as you can. When my mom had encouraged me to make my jewelry into a legal business, I ended up finding a great friend and mentor and who is always willing to stop what he’s doing to answer when I call and answer any of my questions. Since I didn’t know the first thing about legalizing a business I made a post on our communities facebook page asking if anyone could help me with legalizing a business or at least point me in the right direction. The person that my mom was hoping would reach out sure enough did. He’s always been a big part of our community. Norman Candelore is a successful businessman and entrepreneur himself. Norm is the VP of Vendor Relations for Sarris Candies and owns a chain of dog grooming salons, diner and the Swiss Alpine Dry Cleaners where he helped me get my business legal and everything in order. He loves the jewelry that I make and said that I have a real talent for designing jewelry and offered me the opportunity to sell my jewelry in his dry cleaners and I now have my entire collection of jewelry in the front area of his dry cleaners.
However without a doubt my Mom has been my biggest supporter. My mom has helped me so much throughout this entire journey. She recognized the talent I had for designing and making jewelry and encouraged me to make it into a business. Times where I felt frustrated or defeated with growing my business she would talk me through those low times because unfortunately in business especially new businesses you have highs and lows and the lows are where you figure out how to improve your business and what is working and what isn’t working for you and what changes need to be made. I know that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my mom. Everything I am and that I have achieved and accomplished in my life is all because of my mom. I’m very grateful that this beautiful woman is my mom and I’m extremely proud to be her daughter. Her unconditional and undying love that she has for me has been the greatest gift and her words of encouragement and the phrase she says to me everyday “Believe in yourself and follow your dreams” those words will forever keep me going.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Jewelrybyjenn.com
- Instagram: jewelrybyjenn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennsjewelry?mibextid=LQQJ4d
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