Meet Kristie Stephenson

We recently connected with Kristie Stephenson and have shared our conversation below.

Kristie , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I think we can find our purpose when things don’t go as planned. We do what we think we should do that takes us off course and away from our heart, eventually whatever you are in that just doesn’t feel right, you will start to see signs, clues, curiosities, messages from source creating a door to where there was none before. That’s been my journey.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I make island inspired jewelry using secret island finds and tell stories around them, story telling is at the core. Stories provide a sense of connection. Every piece has a story behind it, with a message that speaks to the person receiving it. I am drawn to stories that speak of resilience and of over coming, these seeds were known locally as Job’s tears, named after Job in the Bible who had everything and lost it, but he did not give up when he was tested and eventually received double what he had lost. I came up with the name Blessing Beads, I made them to Bless, Guide and Protect the wearer, wherever they were in the world. Sharing the power of story is what I love.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Sticking to my goal which was to utilise these secret island finds, the seeds of this ornamental grass I was so fascinated with, some locals would dismiss them, some communities burnt the grass these seeds grew on, considering it a nuisance bush. The main beads had to be the tear shaped beads, the ones that grew on the ornamental grass. The grass that some people passed by everyday and never noticed. I wanted to take these beautiful tear shaped seeds often overlooked and not seen and make something beautiful and desireable and share the stories I found around different indigenous people who were familiar with the seeds. It resonated with visitors to our island as they were able to take a piece of Jamaica home with them, it became a gift with meaning you could give someone. I often heard stories of someone just giving a friend they thought had a hard day one of their Story and Myth Blessing Bead bracelets, right off their hand if they didn’t have time to get them one.

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

I am looking to collaborate with folks in resort, education, excursion and wellness but it can be any field really, as we can create pieces with stories so it is specific to that particular organisation. So their patrons in turn leave with a piece of the place and an empowering message that they get to gift someone or keep for themselves as a reminder. For example we did a collaboration with a school in St Ann, Jamaica. This was a unique collaboration together, I created bracelets and necklaces around the Pimento Tree, our highlight bead was a porous bead that was meant to represent the famous Allspice or pimento seed, which smells like nutmeg, clove and cinnamon all together, which the school is named after, Pimento International Academy. Over the course of several weeks met with the students and did storytelling on a chalk board, yoga and beading using the power of story centred around the Pimento Tree and the indigenous first peoples of Jamaica. Their end of year performance was a very creative never done before live performance where I drew in chalk on a board to a pre recorded narration I did as the children performed the play in the foreground.

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