We were lucky to catch up with Alexandra Mayr-Gracik recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexandra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I knew I REALLY wanted to be a jewelry designer the moment I saw a customer looking in the mirror when she tried one of my pieces on and watching her whole face light up with joy. Fashion design hadn’t been my real passion after losing my ability to dance, but I always new that I wanted a life motivated by love. Designing jewelry and creating art is my love language to the world. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to live out my dream in that way and I hope to be able to lay the path for the next generation of creatives to do so as well.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello, my name is Alexandra Mayr-Gracik, but I like to go by Alex…short and sweet. I am currently CEO and Head Designer of a women owned and run boutique handcrafted jewelry company called Sabika. The company was founded 23 years ago by my mother at the age of 50 (yes, you read that correctly!). I am still in awe of her courage and strength to start something new at that point in her life and am honored to carry on her vision of connecting individuals through beauty, joy and opportunity. My creative journey started as a dancer. It was my first passion, creative expression and love language to the world. After a complicated health diagnosis, my dance career was ended before it really began and I found a new outlet in design. After studying fashion design in Vienna, Austria, my mom’s new venture with Sabika reconnected me to my interest in jewelry and it’s sculptural approach to design. I had taken jewelry classes in high school and even won a few awards, but it hadn’t occurred to me at the time to pursue jewelry design as a career. It has been almost 20 years since I started designing for Sabika and I still love creating hundreds of designs each year that are handcrafted with love by female artisans in Austria and Germany. It has always been about more than just jewelry for me. It is about creating a product that unlocks an emotion, a boost of confidence and a vehicle for self expression. Style is a language and I am so grateful that individuals choose to express their inner joy and radiance through wearing our pieces. The connections it creates through our Stylists that sell our products to their clients, is truly amazing. It has become a community like no other. Our jewelry has also created powerful change in communities through our charitable give back. We have raised more than $3 million for various charities both locally and nationally, including breast cancer research and child abuse prevention. I want to reach and connect with more individuals in our mission to bring joy into the world through celebrating individual and unique beauty. I believe everyone deserves to sparkle from the inside out. We are all unique in our beauty, and the more we empower and celebrate each other’s expression of our unique style, the more connection it creates in the world.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is seeing the positive impact my designs have on those that wear them. Watching the light switch go on when they look in the mirror and smile for perhaps the first time in a long time. Or receiving an unexpected compliment that makes their soul light up, even if for just a moment. I truly believe the world can be changed for the better one joyful moment at a time. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude when I see a positive emotion being sparked by something I created or designed, it’s truly a gift.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think life has made me resilient, and still is doing a damn good job of testing my resilience! I am a middle child of 3 daughters and saw it as my role to take care of everyone else. It’s still what I do as a mother, wife and CEO AND I am finally learning to take care of myself. Growing up with a mother who was healing from her own traumas was not easy. I think my creativity comes from a deep sensitivity to the world around me and an empathy that can be painful at times. It is a double edged sword to see EVERYTHING and notice all the little nuances that others overlook and at the same time I have learned to harness it as a creative super power. I had found what I thought was my life’s calling at such a young age and then it was taken away. I was devastated. Dance was my creative outlet and after a diagnosis of Osteoperosis at the age of 16, along with various injuries, I had to hang up my ballet slippers and move on. I began exploring other creative outlets by painting terracotta pots and then moving on to painting murals in peoples homes as my side hustle through high school. When I chose to go oversees and study fashion design, a whole new perspective opened up. I saw the thrill in design. It was a new way of seeing the world, problem solving and connecting dots to find solutions for things. My personal life at the time was also filled with turmoil. I became a single mother at the age of 22 and struggled to provide for my son while trying to pursue my fashion career an ocean away from my immediate family. When my mother started Sabika Jewelry in 2001, it took me until 2005 to realize this was my new passion. I rediscovered the art of jewelry making, after having enjoyed jewelry classes in high school. My path to what I do now was not straight or easy and still has it’s twists and turns. I am grateful now for each hard lesson learned and know I still have many to learn. But that’s the crazy and painful beauty of life, right?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sabika-jewelry.com
• Instagram: @sabikajewelry
• Facebook: @SabikaJewelry
• Linkedin: Sabika Jewelry
• Youtube: @OfficialSabika

Image Credits
Natalie Morris, photographer for models Tom McConnel, photographer for product laydowns