Meet Jenna Elam

We were lucky to catch up with Jenna Elam recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jenna, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I believe get my residence from graduating highschool through the Covid-19 pandemic. There were a lot of things that I didn’t get to do through highschool as well as through my first year of college. I learned to keep going no matter what life threw at me including being diagnosed with ADHD. I started my own business at the age of 20 and now here I am at 23 and on my third year of having a business and I graduate with a degree in Entrepreneurship next spring.

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’m the artist behind Jenna Elam Design, where I turn raw stones into one-of-a-kind jewelry and cabochons. I do all the lapidary work myself—cutting, shaping, and polishing each piece by hand—then design them into things like pendants, earrings, and bracelets. I also sell cabochons for other artists, which is a really fun way to stay connected to the creative community.
I’ve loved rocks for as long as I can remember. I used to go geode hunting with my Papaw, and my grandma would tell me stories about “fairies” showing up in her garden and leaving me pretty rocks. That sense of wonder kind of stuck with me, and now it shows up in my work. I really try to let each stone speak for itself—no two pieces are ever the same, and that’s my favorite part.
Right now, I’m focused on growing my core pieces, especially pendants, and continuing to build my online presence. I’m also pushing myself to learn new skills and expand what I can offer. Lately, I’ve been working on learning to work with faceted gemstones and sculpt in silver clay, which is opening up a lot of new design possibilities for future pieces and collections.
I’m really excited about where that’s going, because it’s letting me branch out from strictly cabochon-based designs into more detailed, dimensional, and statement-driven work. It feels like a natural next step for my style while still staying true to the stones themselves.
At the end of the day, I just really love taking something raw and turning it into something meaningful and wearable. There’s something special about giving a stone a second life and getting to share that with people.

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

Looking back, I think the three biggest things that have made a difference for me are patience, attention to detail, and a willingness to keep learning.
Patience is probably the biggest one. It takes a lot of time to get a stone to really look good, and rushing almost always makes things worse. Some materials are especially unforgiving—obsidian in particular has definitely tested me more than once. It’s beautiful, but it will absolutely show every little mistake if I’m not careful. Learning to slow down and work with the material instead of against it has been huge.
Attention to detail is just as important. Before I even start cabbing, I need to be able to look at a slab and identify fractures or weak points so I don’t waste time on something that won’t hold up. Then during the process, I’m constantly checking things like making sure edges aren’t too sharp and that I’m not leaving behind any scratches or scuffs that will show up in the final polish. The small details are what really make or break a finished piece.
The third is being open to learning and trying new things. I started with basic cabochons, and now I’m branching out into working with faceted stones and learning to sculpt in silver clay. Every new skill comes with a learning curve, but that’s also where a lot of growth (and honestly, some of the most interesting work) happens.
For anyone early in their journey, my biggest advice is to give yourself permission to not be great at something right away. Skills take time, and improvement doesn’t happen overnight. Stick with it, stay curious, and don’t be afraid to experiment—even if something doesn’t turn out how I expected, I usually learn something useful from it. I’m still learning new things myself, and I’ve been cabbing stones for about five years now—there are always new techniques to try, and definitely mistakes to be made and learned from.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

My parents. They have done so much to help me get where I am today they encouraged me to keep going even when things are rough like if I don’t sell anything at an event or things go wrong. My mom is always sending me articles on new techniques she sees in magazines and my dad is always finding cool new material for me to use for Cabs. They taught me that patience is really important and you can’t rush greatness. They fought for several years to help me get diagnosed with ADHD as well. Finding that out has helped me out a lot too, it explains why I get so focused on things and want to be so detail oriented in my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jennaelamdesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennaelamdesign?igsh=MXg0ZG41b3dsMTY3Zw==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15ggcWfumfk/
• Other: Jenna.elam.design on TikTok
  Jenna Elam Design on Whatnot

Image Credits

Jodi Elam
Jenna Elam