April Pollock shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
April, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
A normal day for me starts early with coffee in hand, music playing, and getting my girls ready for the day. Our oldest heads off to preschool, and our youngest is still home with me, so a lot of my rhythm revolves around her. I call it the “nap time hustle.” Those quiet hours in the middle of the day are when I get the most done. It’s when I photograph products, write descriptions, manage retail partners, or package orders for RAËLIV. It’s not about having huge blocks of time, it’s about using small windows with intention.
Every Sunday evening, I spend about an hour planning my week. I use Google Calendar as my time blocker for home, business, and personal projects. It helps me look ahead, prioritize, and make sure I’m putting my time toward what actually matters. I’ve found that structure creates freedom when it’s built around what’s most important to you.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to choose consistency over perfection. I’m not aiming for flawless days, I’m aiming for faithful ones. Building habits that ground me has been a game changer. For me, that means starting the day with prayer, getting a workout in, drinking plenty of water, getting outside, and deciding what my daily non-negotiables are. Those simple rhythms keep me steady even when life feels full.
Most days are a blend of business, motherhood, and home life all woven together. I’ve stopped chasing the idea of balance and started focusing on rhythm. Some days lean more toward family, others toward work, and that’s okay. Progress in this season often looks like small, faithful steps done consistently over time.
For anyone in a similar season, my advice is to release the pressure to do it all and focus on doing what matters most with peace and purpose. Consistency, grace, and good habits will take you farther than perfect plans ever could.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is April Pollock, and I’m the founder of RAËLIV Boutique, a modern jewelry and lifestyle brand built around the idea that you shouldn’t have to take your jewelry off to live your life. Every piece we design is waterproof, tarnish free, and made to move with you from workouts and showers to meetings and family moments.
RAËLIV started as a personal need. As a mom of two and someone who wears many hats, I wanted jewelry that could keep up with real life without sacrificing style or quality. What began as a small idea has grown into a brand carried by multiple retail partners across the U.S., a growing online boutique, and a community of women who love timeless, durable, and meaningful design.
This past year, we expanded into fine jewelry, offering lab grown diamond and moissanite designs with custom concierge service. It’s been such a natural next step, giving women the chance to create elevated, heirloom quality pieces that still align with our values of sustainability, accessibility, and everyday wearability.
What makes RAËLIV special isn’t just the jewelry, it’s the heart behind it. Every piece is designed with purpose and created to remind women that beauty and strength can coexist. We also repurpose authentic designer pieces into new designs, giving luxury materials a second life through our curated Designer Edit.
Outside of the brand, I’m married to my incredible husband Troy, and we have two daughters who are five and two. I’m passionate about helping other women build lives and businesses that feel both beautiful and sustainable. Right now, I’m focused on growing our retail partner program, expanding our fine jewelry line, and continuing to build a brand that encourages women to wear their values, not just their style.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
One of the most defining moments in how I see the world came from the place where I began: growing up with a very real sense of scarcity. Money felt tight. I watched my family stretch every dollar, and I carried with me the belief that resources were limited, opportunities were few, and risk was too high. That scarcity mindset whispered that if someone else succeeded, there was less left for me. It shaped how I viewed business, relationships, time, and even my own worth.
What changed everything was the first time I chose to flip that narrative and adopt a growth mindset. I realized that the world doesn’t have to be zero sum. Seeing possibility instead of lack creates new paths. Research shows that when people move from a scarcity mindset (believing resources are finite) to a growth or abundance mindset (believing development is possible and opportunities exist), they engage more proactively and feel less constrained.
In practical terms for my business, my brand, and my life, it meant shifting from “I have to protect myself” to “I get to create and build.” It meant deciding that my daughters would see someone who didn’t operate out of fear of running out, but someone who operated out of faith in what’s possible. It meant moving from hoarding time and resources to investing them into people, ideas, and partnerships.
Some of the things I’ve learned along the way and what I share with others in this season:
Decide your daily nonnegotiables. Build habits that ground you—prayer, a workout, water, time outside—so your mindset is anchored in consistency, not crisis.
Choose consistency over perfection. Progress may look small, but showing up matters far more than flawless.
Recognize that your mindset shapes your outcome. If you believe opportunity is limited, you’ll act like it is. If you believe potential is endless, you’ll act accordingly.
Practice gratitude and resource recognition. Intentionally name what you have and what you can grow instead of fixating on what’s missing.
Frame business and people as value creation, not competition for scarce pieces. When I partnered with retail stores, I stopped thinking “Will this take away from someone else?” and started thinking “How can we together expand what’s possible?”
Here are a few one liners people can use as mantras or reminders:
Growth believes in possible, scarcity believes in limits.
What I invest in expands, what I hoard shrinks.
My mindset sets the size of my world.
Consistent small steps beat perfect big leaps.
I don’t protect what’s fixed, I grow what’s fluid.
This moment of shifting my mindset didn’t just change how I viewed business, it changed how I parented, how I led, and how I designed my brand. It renewed a belief that your past doesn’t have to dictate your future, that your resources today can multiply, and that you’re not confined to what you’ve been told is possible. I now lead RAËLIV with that same conviction: that durability, elegance, and real life can coexist—and they do when you believe in what can be rather than what isn’t.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
If you don’t think about quitting at least once a day, are you even doing entrepreneurship right?
Yes, absolutely. All the time. I think every business owner hits that point where the details feel heavy and the vision feels far away. What’s helped me in those moments is learning to pause before I make a big decision. Usually, what I actually need isn’t to quit, it’s to reset. To step back, breathe, and remember my why.
Sometimes that means taking a day off to rest or get inspired again. Other times it means zooming out and looking at the bigger picture. When you’re in the weeds, every small thing can feel like a reason to stop. But when you step back, you realize you’ve come too far to give up, you might just need to pivot.
I’ve also learned that sometimes the urge to quit is actually a signal to refine, not walk away. When RAËLIV first started, we offered everything: clothing, candles, gifts, and jewelry. Clothing sales were slow, and I remember thinking maybe this whole thing wasn’t working. But instead of quitting, we shifted. We moved clothing to a drop shipping model, which gave us the best of both worlds. We could still offer it to customers who loved that part of the boutique without the inventory or overhead.
That pivot completely changed our momentum. It reminded me that the “I want to quit” feeling is often just your intuition telling you to change direction. Sometimes you don’t need to give up the dream, you just need to give it a new structure.
So now when those thoughts come, I don’t see them as failure. I see them as feedback. And I’ve learned that building something meaningful means being flexible enough to evolve, humble enough to learn, and brave enough to start again when needed.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I think my closest friends would say that what matters most to me is using my power for good. Whether that’s in my home, my business, or my community, I care deeply about adding value wherever I am and leaving people better than I found them.
I’ve learned that power isn’t about position, it’s about presence. It’s the influence you carry into a room, the words you speak, the way you treat people when no one’s watching. I try to use mine to build others up, to create opportunities, and to remind people that kindness and excellence can coexist.
In business, that shows up in how I lead RAËLIV. Every product, post, or partnership is filtered through the question, “Does this add value?” Whether it’s a piece of waterproof jewelry that simplifies someone’s life or a word of encouragement shared online, I want what I create to serve people in a meaningful way.
At home, it looks like raising my daughters to know they can do the same, that they can be strong and kind, ambitious and grounded, confident and compassionate. My husband and I talk a lot about stewardship: how we use what’s been given to us, from time to resources to influence.
Faith is at the center of it all for me. I believe that the greatest impact we make isn’t just through what we achieve, but through how we love and empower others along the way. Using my power for good means choosing purpose over ego, generosity over comparison, and excellence over apathy, and that’s the kind of legacy I want to build.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
Honestly, I’d still be doing exactly what I’m doing. I feel like I’m already living the dream, married to my best friend, raising two beautiful girls, and running a business I truly love.
If I had forever, I’d use that time to build something that lasts beyond me. I’d grow RAËLIV into an empire in the jewelry space, one that employs and empowers incredible women, giving them purpose, leadership, and opportunities I wasn’t always given. I’d create a team culture where women feel seen, supported, and inspired to build something of their own too. I want to pour back into others the same way people have poured into me, creating ripple effects of growth and confidence.
And I’d give as much as I could. I’ve always believed business can be a force for good, so I’d pour into charities, local communities, and churches that change lives every day. Immortality wouldn’t change my purpose, it would just give me more time to keep multiplying it.
Because at the end of the day, success isn’t just about building something big. It’s about building something that makes the world better, and that’s what I want RAËLIV to be known for.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.raeliv,boutique
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raeliv.boutique
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/76207898/admin/dashboard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raeliv.boutique
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