Founder Story
As a young child, jewelry and stationery items were always something that I treasured greatly and were somehow constants in my life before even realizing it. I would have never thought I would grow up designing and creating stationery and jewelry products with my own two hands. This journey of entrepreneurship as a whole was something I didn't expect. Finding my passions was through chasing what gave me immense joy, which is why joy is in my mission. But I wasn't always this joyful and positive, I lived with more negativity that affected my psyche－ mind, body, and soul.
I’ve been terrified to share over the last decade because I minimized my experiences, thinking that it was not worthy of sharing because I thought I would be taking away from others' stories who’s really mattered, but I share this today in hopes of helping other women in a familiar situation because things truly do get better if you look forward.
In 2009, I had to monitor my cervix due to abnormal pap tests; every six months, I had to visit the colposcopy clinic for a test. As often as I went, it never got easy. In 2014, I discovered that I had high-grade precancerous cells in my cervix, where the clinic urged me to do a procedure to remove the cells before transitioning to cancerous the same week.
As most women experience but don't talk about, abnormal pap tests are normal and the cervix usually works itself out. When I found out things moved in a different direction, I knew I had to change my mindset, my intuition was giving me all the warning signs but I didn’t listen until I had to. I took a more spiritual approach, worked on my health, broke bad habits while creating good ones, and invested in myself a bit more than I was used to… Simply stop living life dwelling in negative emotions.
During that time of transformation, an old childhood interest of mine found its way back into my life. That interest? Crystals, which in turn sparked a passion of desire for jewelry making. With one Aquamarine crystal and a spool of wire, I found something that truly got me going, brought excitement and optimism back into my life. From wire-wrapped crystals to learning how to become a metalsmith, jewelry design had become my why and I continued to push forward, not knowing exactly what I was doing except that it was with an immense amount of joy. The sketches and doodles that continued to come to life were what fueled me and pushed me to become a better person for myself but also for my loved ones.
Fast forward a few years, I started to feel the wrath of working with my hands with symptoms of carpal tunnel, my warning to slow it down. After taking a break, I quickly found my hands could not sit still. I found myself one night, a few hours into a deep dive on YouTube learning how to bind books. A new but familiar sense of joy came back as I once felt in 2014 for jewelry making. I told myself, this is something I can do and isn't as intricate as jewelry making so I made the leap and here I am today…. After 10 years of consistent visits to the hospital and free of carpal tunnel, I am so damn grateful for the life I get to live and share the fruits of my labour and this story.
Through hardships that came into my life, came something even more beautiful － the pursuit of joy.
