We recently connected with Chrissy Liu and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chrissy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is someone whom I admire very much. She was married with a young child when she entered Harvard Law School. She was one of nine women among a class of 500 men. It is reported that the Dean of the law school, at a dinner with the women in that class, asked them “Why are you at Harvard Law School, taking the place of a man.” During her time in law school, Justice Ginsberg’s husband was diagnosed with cancer. Given that he was in law school with her, she would attend his classes, her classes, take notes for both of them and tend to her sick husband and daughter. As a graduate of law school myself, I find this simply awe inspiring. After transferring to Columbia Law School and graduating first in her class, Justice Ginsberg continued to face discrimination against women in her field.

She spent several years in academia where she focused on women’s rights, Justice Ginsberg’s career took a turn towards advocacy as she founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU. She spent decades fighting for gender equality in the law. When she was nominated and confirmed for a seat on the Supreme Court, she was only the second woman to become a Justice on the Court. Her tenure was long and storied with historic cases and memorable opinions. She was once asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court. Her answer to me was simply brilliant.
“When there are nine.”

Chrissy, 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?

In search for a creative outlet after leaving my career as a healthcare administrator to be a stay-at-home mom, I took my first metalsmithing class in 2018 and was instantly hooked. I spent the next six months taking as many classes as I could and practiced making pieces as time would allow. After I had made too many earrings and rings to count, my husband looked at me and said “are you going to sell this because you’ve run out of fingers and holes in your ears?” I formed my business shortly after that.

As an avid lover of fashion and jewelry, I have always been drawn to bold pieces. My love for big and bold stems from the fact that I am five feet tall and it drives me crazy when fashion dos and don’ts put parameters on what I should or shouldn’t be wearing because of my size.

As I learned to create jewelry, I naturally gravitated toward making bold pieces, and now being the mom of a toddler, my primary goal is to make pieces that are wearable as well. I am inspired to design and create pieces that are not only bold, but also unique and something you won’t see everywhere.

I love working with one-of-a-kind stones to create a piece that will stand out. I also use a lot of diamond accents in my work. I feel like diamonds can and should be worn every day, and smaller accent stones make this precious stone approachable.

Mixing metals has always been something I have done in my personal jewelry wardrobe. I absolutely love creating mixed metal pieces of gold and silver, whether it is through accents of 14K and 18K gold or by using the ancient Korean gilding technique of Keum Boo, which bonds 24K gold to fine and sterling silvers.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I started selling my handcrafted jewelry in March of 2019. I began with an Etsy shop and then a few months later decided to launch my own website. I created a social media presence on Instagram and started to build a following. I participated in a few local shows, but also two shows in NYC. I had built such great momentum and Covid hit. I had to quickly pivot to become more engaged on social media and to redesign my website. It led to me doubling my sales during 2020 and doubling again in 2021.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had spent many years as an oncology hospital administrator at cancer centers across the country. During that time I had lost my father and an aunt to cancer, and in the past lost another aunt and my grandfather to cancer. It had certainly begun to take its toll on me. However, my last role as an administrator was running a brain tumor center. I was leading this effort while I was pregnant with our first and only child. It was a pivotal moment for me to reflect on whether I wanted to continue this work after our daughter was born. During my maternity leave, I decided to leave hospital administration, enjoy time with our little one before making any new career moves. Six months into being a stay at home mom I was desperate for a creative outlet. I took a beading class at a little store in my neighborhood and was so intrigued to be able to make my own jewelry. After buying gemstone beads one day, the woman behind the counter told me that I really should take a metalsmithing class if I wanted to take my jewelry making to a whole new level. I signed up for a weekend long class and was instantly hooked.

I lived close to an amazing jewelry studio in Seattle so I was able to take classes and workshops as well as sign up for private lessons. I was so energized with this new skill that I decided to pursue being a business owner. Six months after my first class I filed paperwork to create Chrissy Liu Jewelry, LLC.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chrissyliujewelry.com
• Instagram: chrissyliujewelry
• Facebook: ChrissyLiuJewelry

Image Credits
Model is Mallory High. Photo credit to model.