Meet Eileen Pappas

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eileen Pappas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eileen, appreciate you sitting with us today. Maybe we can start with a topic that we care deeply about because it’s something we’ve found really sets folks apart and can make all the difference in whether someone reaches their goals. Self discipline seems to have an outsized impact on how someone’s life plays out and so we’d love to hear about how you developed yours?

Self-discipline is a funny concept, and something I learned a great deal about when I started training to run my first marathon. I had never been an athlete, much less a runner, but after having come out to cheer for a friend who ran the NYC marathon one year, I was so inspired and thought to myself, “I want to be on the other side of this – to have a million strangers cheering for me, too.” It was 21 months from the day I officially started training to the day I completed the big 26.2 miles, and I can safely say the person crossing that finish line was a different person than the one who started training.

Marathon training taught me many lessons – about gratitude, patience, faith, determination, and yes, self-discipline. I realized the deep wisdom in that famous sports brand motto, “Just do it.” Because, as it turned out, a big part of having self-discipline was taking emotions out of the equation. You don’t feel like running today? Just do it. You’re not in the mood to cook yourself a healthy meal? Just do it. You don’t want to spend three hours preparing for that tough exam? Just do it. Discipline is about action, not emotion. And the sooner you can separate the two, the easier the process becomes. It’s not that the emotions aren’t valid – it’s just about not having them dictate your actions.

The other part of the self-discipline equation was desire. For whatever reason, the desire to finish a marathon was greater than all the things I dreaded doing. To put it simply: I was willing to do whatever it took to achieve that goal, regardless of whether it was something I enjoyed or not, because I wanted that goal bad enough. This realization also led to another epiphany: that maybe all the things in my life I thought I had “failed” at were simply things I hadn’t wanted badly enough to do whatever it took to achieve.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I was born in Athens, a place that taught me to question everything and to embrace the imperfect beauty of things that endure. Greece is not just my home; it’s a landscape of contradictions and possibilities that shapes everything I make.

Before becoming a jeweler, I spent a decade in fashion, specializing in knitwear development for designers like Donna Karan and Derek Lam. That experience sharpened my eye for texture and structure, but jewelry offered something more intimate—pieces imbued with personal meaning, even lasting generations. It wasn’t until I was teaching at Parsons School of Design in New York that I picked up a piece of metal and felt the gravity of this craft. It wasn’t a choice; it was a homecoming.

The thing keeping me up at night is how the same hunger that drives us to buy and discard has seeped into how we treat one another, like everything is replaceable. This is why I believe in making things worth holding onto. Jewelry, to me, is a rebellion against the throwaway culture we’ve come to accept. It’s about connecting to objects that live with you, change with you, and become part of your story. Every creation is a companion, sustaining the moments, memories, and meaning of a life lived fully.

Handcraft is the thread that holds it all together. It’s a reminder that humans matter—not for our ability to produce more, but for our capacity to create meaning. The process is slow, deliberate, and messy, but it’s real. And in a world so obsessed with polish, maybe real is what we need more of.

This year, I will be continuing my collaboration with Louiza by Luisa World in Greece, and launching a summer capsule collection of one-of-a-kind pieces in June.

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

Curiosity, adaptability, intuition.

I’m not sure I have reached a point in my career where I can offer advice to folks “early in their journey” because I still feel like I am early in mine! I guess the best advice I can offer in that regard is that everyone’s journey is unique, and if you focus on the work and knowing yourself, eventually things will fall into place.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am always looking for collaborations!
Given the sculptural and story-driven nature of my jewelry, I would love to partner with other brands that value handcraft, sustainability and slow production. I would also love to loan my pieces to individuals or agencies that create immersive experiences, whether it’s in-person events, visuals or video. I am also looking to expand into some work in print (zines or small, artistic publications) inspired by my jewelry, so any folks working with that (writers/poets, visual/graphic artists) are also welcome.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eileenpappas.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/eileenpappasjewelry
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/eileen-pappas-jewelry

Image Credits

Douglas Eveleigh
Briana Balducci