We recently connected with Christine Mighion and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Over the course of 4 years I took my dream of building a thriving business as a jewelry artist from ground zero to being published in numerous fashion and lifestyle magazines all over the world and seeing my work in multiple jewelry boutiques. My sales were just beginning to hit 6 figures and I finally felt like my family saw value in my work. I had a career as a dental hygienist previously with a really good salary and my family respected that. I was becoming quite busy and really needed to hire on an employee to help me produce my jewelry if I wanted to continue at the speed I was going. I was fabricating each piece myself and the bulk of my jewelry was production work, meaning I could make multiples. I was beginning to feel a little burned out, but knew that I wanted to continue to make each piece myself so I wasn’t interested in taking on an employee.

It was during this time that I was approached by Lucky Magazine to produce a piece of jewelry that readers could purchase to support an organization out of NY called the Red Hook Initiative. I loved the exposure and agreed. Long story short, I received so many orders that I had to shut down my business and work on these rings for two months straight. I was beyond burned out and I knew I needed to make a change.

I began my business to give me the freedom to stay home and raise my family and do the creative work my heart longed for. It was a difficult decision, but I began phasing out of wholesale, discontinued working with my publicist, and stopped making collections and production pieces. It wasn’t easy by any means, because my ego was invested in my success. It took some time to let go of what I built and I was terrified that my business would go under if I only sold one of a kinds, direct to customer.

I’ve been a jeweler and business owner for over 20 years now. I have a financially sustainable business creating work in a slow and intentional manner, selling directly to my customers. It’s not a 6 figure business, but it gives me freedom, satisfaction, and peace.

Christine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I had always wanted to go to art school from the time I was young, but my mother being a single parent most of my life pushed me to pursue a more practical path so I could support myself fully. I received my degree in dental hygiene, but never really loved it though I was working with my hands.

With the birth of my second child, I broke my tailbone and couldn’t sit for long periods of time. It was during my time off from dentistry, that I took a basic metalsmithing course and was immediately smitten. I practiced as much as I could and taught myself along the way. Although much different today, Etsy was new at this time and a great venue to sell handmade work and my handmade jewelry business took off.

My work centers on finding beauty in imperfection. I love working with one of a kind gemstones that have a depth and personality due to their “flaws”. I choose stones that the jewelry industry would see as less valuable. Stones with multiple colors, cloudy wisps and organic inclusions. In this sense, I feel my work highlights the beauty that society often overlooks. As women, we are held to often unattainable standards of beauty making us feel less than. I hope that my work reminds women of the perfectly imperfect beauty in all things and helps remind them of their own inner beauty.

I’m also deeply grateful to do what I do each day and so I have made sure since day one that I would give a portion of my profits to charitable organizations that align with my values. Often these are environmental.

Thinking what I’m most proud of, bring me to the present moment. At the age of 56, I recently launched the Slowmade Podcast giving a voice to other makers that have chosen to create quality work over quantity. And we are launching a community platform that gives support to jewelry artists no matter where they are in their businesses. Being an artist can be quite solitary. I’m proud to be sharing the work and stories of so many talented metalsmiths and I believe we are living in a time where more and more consumers want more connection with the brands they purchase from and really do care about what impact their purchase has on the environment.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that success wasn’t about hitting a financial benchmark or seeing my name and jewelry in magazines. I had really felt, like so many people, that my value was outside of myself and in the approval of others – particularly those closest to me.

In slowing down and diving deeper into my craft and what feels like my purpose, I found an unshakeable footing that nows says my value is in being true to myself and birthing the beauty into the world that my soul wants to share. And through this steadiness and my love for my craft I’ve found so many wonderful ways to give back in gratitude.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

In a time when so many people are struggling on Instagram to be seen, I feel that I’ve continued to build a following by being authentic and taking the time to personally connect with those that follow me. I often send recorded voice DM’s to people that reach out with a kind word or question. I actually find it is far easier than pecking out my response on a keyboard and I have been told so many times that it meant a lot to them that I actually took the time to do it. I treat my followers as friends and my posts, particularly my videos are far from perfect.

Having a podcast with a mission to create a community has been amazing as well. Although many of my followers are jewelers now vs new customers, they have shared my podcast and work on their platforms as well which again just helps me grow. Everything feels very reciprocal and genuine. I’m also a terrible speaker and have even made up words on the podcast! People just continue to comment how much they love that I’m real and that the format of the podcast feels like a conversation with a friend.

My best advice is to just show up! Show your face from time to time. Be awkward and uncomfortable because it gives others permission to be themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.christinemighion.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinemighion/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristineMighionJewelry
• Other: Slowmade Podcast: https://slowmadepodcast.libsyn.com/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/CMighionJewelry/

Image Credits
None. All photos taken in house except the bio photo which I have the rights to.