My Love Affair With What I do...

I love what I do.  But I must tell you, I haven't always.  I know it's natural to swing from highs to lows in one's livelihood.  But designing jewelry is an art, it requires conviction and commitment in order for it to be good, and for it to mean something.  I have a strong desire to consistently have a love affair with my work.  

The fashion industry is a tough place to be.  It can be fickle and superficial, and many times sends a message to women that they aren't acceptable unless they conform to its image of "perfection".  My life's purpose of empowering all women to feel great about themselves as they already are seemed so often at odds with the driving ambition of the fashion industry.  At my lowest moment of disillusion, I resigned myself to leave the industry and to leave my jewelry business completely. 

As I think about it, that moment in 2004 turned out to be a great catharsis.  It led me to explore how I could make a difference in the world. As many of you know, I successfully recovered from anorexia in 1992, and the mission closest to my heart was service work with girls and women struggling with eating disorders.  This mission is so in line with why I started designing jewelry in the first place -- to empower women to feel as great as they are.  

In 2004, at this cathartic moment, I decided to escape the "every day," knowing I needed perspective.  It was an adventure, but also a way to find myself.  And in Cape Town, South Africa, far away from Dallas, I met the person who asked me the key questions. A man named Caspar worked with entrepreneurs interested in getting out of their businesses - he was a broker for sales.  But instead of helping me sell mine, he prompted me to think deeper.  What I discovered from our conversation is that rather than being at odds with the fashion industry, I am actually in the perfect place to make a difference.  To create beautiful pieces that will empower all women to feel great about themselves.  

Close contact with an elephant in Botswana, Africa

I visited a village full of children in Zambia, Africa

Thanks to this non-coincidental messenger meeting me in the right place at the right time, it became simple.  The vehicle to live my purpose was right in front of me all along.  I saw that I had been living my life's purpose already, without conscious intent.

The experience in Africa was the beginning of my spiritual journey into a whole new world.  When I realized that I could touch every single woman with my jewelry designs - my customer, employee, vendor, friend, family - simply by being true to the mission of empowering them to feel great about themselves, the possibilities became endless! Every single woman I know (definitely including myself) needs to be reminded to feel beautiful... RIGHT NOW!  Not tomorrow, not when she loses 5 pounds, not when the divorce is final, not when she gets her MBA, not when she gets a raise, not when she gets pregnant, not when the chemo is completed, not when she finds the man of her dreams.  It is now my conscious intent to design jewels that empower all women every day. To feel beautiful.

Sunset photo that I took from the jeep in Botswana

I am touching a rainbow at Victoria Falls in Zambia

The Hope Star has become a symbol of my mission to inspire women to feel beautiful.  You will find a Hope Star wherever I can fit it on my jewelry—on the back of a pendant's bail, inside a ring shank, on the backside of an earring post, often in the least obvious of places.   After my return from Africa, I launched the Hope StarCollection to raise money and awareness for The Elisa Project and the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), both of which are organizations that have named me an ambassador.  

The Hope Star is not just a symbol, and the message to Feel Beautiful is not just a slogan.  They are the compass that guide me as I lead my team at Elizabeth Showers, and as I meet and get to know women all over the world.  It's the compass that empowers me to live in a love affair with my work.

xoxo Elizabeth