We recently connected with Lisa Maita and Kelli Mercado and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa and Kelli, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
KM: Burnout is real! Sisterfriend is a sweet love letter to our friendship, as Lisa and I both have full time jobs, so everything we do for it is outside of our day to day workload. We communicate honestly a lot about what we can take on and make sure that when we are together, business is usually over sharing a meal together or bookended by quality time. I think it makes us more focused in meetings to care for each other in the process!
LM: Wow, me and Kelli really take self-care so seriously. We have the ability to take time for ourselves. We have meetings once a week, but if we’re not feeling it NBD! Or if we want our meeting to be getting pedis and burgers it’s that! We are so lucky that Sisterfriend’s bottom line is “fun”. We approach it with a childlike heart. This always makes the mood just super chill. If there’s little pressure things can be handled with ease.
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?
Lisa Maita and Kelli Mercado are sisterfriends who met in Philly. Lisa has worked on historic Jewelers Row for over a decade as an engraver and fine jeweler, and Kelli is a stylist with a background in fashion and vintage buying for home.
Sisterfriend Jewelry was born out of wanting to see a line that reminded us of our childhoods, identity and shared culture. The types of icons we wanted to create didn’t quite exist in the realm of fine jewelry, so created a brand that reflected the quality of fine jewelry and the fun of our aesthetic and vision.
The Sisterfriend line is designed and made by hand in Philadelphia, PA and was brought into the world on leap day, Feb 29th 2020.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
KM: Courage, Communication, and Flexibility. It takes courage to go out and start something on your own, and just DO IT. Jump off the cliff and stop worrying about the what-ifs. Lisa taught me that 🙂 It takes a lot of communication to work closely with a partner, so it’s a huge part of owning this business together. I think flexibility to me is understanding how to pivot, figure out what works, abandon what doesn’t, and keep it moving.
LM: Passion, Being Kind, & Know yourself. I feel like all of these qualities are attainable. You don’t need a college education, just hard work. If you know yourself and what you’d love to do, you will excel. No one ever forgets the way they were treated by you. If you have the ability to come at everyone with kindness and respect. People don’t forget that. I sure do not. The right energy and attitude will get you far. I find life to be more of a joy this way. PS. Kelli was the one who said “we should start are own jewelry line” she was the most courageous 🙂
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
KM: Lisa has a great take on this so I’ll keep mine short! I’m not a great multi-tasker, so I’ve found focusing on what my strengths are and becoming an expert in that arena makes me a better creative and worker! Working with others who bring different skill sets to the table will always reign supreme to me. Luckily we are surrounded by such talent, it’s easy to find collaborators who understand our vision that we can lean on.
LM: Life should not be hard, esp when it comes to work. You spend most of your time working so why struggle! I have this saying in my head from my teacher “let the professional handle it” I believe being efficient in a hand full of things is great. Being a jack of all trades doesn’t allow you to have flow. That being said I do not think you should stop learning. You should be a sponge. ESP if you’re trying to figure out what you want to do in life. But being a professional and “the best” at all seems tiring and a fast route to burn out. Some people are built like this! Who am I to say! Everyone is different, but not reaching out for help shuts down the ability to have a community. Something I find so important. One hand washes the other.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sisterfriendjewelry.com
- Instagram: @sisterfriendjewelry
Image Credits
Amy Batog, Tyler Bomba, Shanna Dunlap, Michael Persico
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
