Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Barnthouse.

Hi Hannah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started my jewelry brand during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 as a way to escape the unknown and channel my emotions and efforts creatively. I was working for a non-profit, the Down Syndrome Association, which i often referred to as my dream job! My work was shut down for a couple of months due to the lockdown and my passions felt void! I missed having community, people and human interaction, so i decided to create my own version of community online! I made my first ever “drop” of jewelry; hair clips that I named “Hair Candy” and earrings in the shape of rainbows that I called “rainbows.” IT WAS A HIT and sold out within minutes. I quickly realized there was a business opportunity within my search to fulfill my passions! I kept creating jewelry and “learning by doing” and found community but also realized it would require my full-time attention. I was faced with two choices; Leave my dream-job to purse my new found passion or snuff the business and keep my job! I remember telling my boss these were the choices I was contending with and her casting a vision for me: “One day you’re going to provide jobs to our self-advocates who have Down syndrome. Hannah, you can have both!” This teary conversation is one i’ll never forget. It was that day I took a leap of faith, quit my dream job and pursed my passion full-time. I now have two self-advocates with Down syndrome on my staff, a team of incredible humans, a 1300 square foot storefront in Edmond, Oklahoma, and customers ALL OVER THE GLOBE. Had I never taken a leap of faith, I never would have been able to make my happy place a tangible place you can walk into and experience. There have been ZERO regrets, a LOT of learning, countless laughs and a lifetime of memories that I’ll never take forgranted.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
“Nothing good in life every comes easy.” This is a quote I agree with wholeheartedly. Although my business has been an INCREDIBLE journey there are a lot of things as a business owner that people don’t ever see: decisions, anxieties, fears, conversations, opportunities and consequences. These are also the same things that drive me as an entrepreneur. My road has been full of twists and turns and choices and decisions and hard yet monumental moments all of which grew me and my business in various ways.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a jewelry designer but I like to refer to myself as an inner and outer “Sparkle Dealer.” I feel strongly that our “Sparkle” starts on the inside and works its way out! Sparkle is experienced as KINDNESS, encouragement, inclusion, love and genuine connection! Although I make jewelry; Feed Me Gems is about feeding people’s inner sparkle too. I have the privilege of being able to encourage and draw out that sparkle through providing women with pieces that will make them smile, feel beautiful, and help them make friends everywhere they go as my pieces are all conversation starters! My customers and I make connections with people via our gems every day in the most unlikely of places; the coffee shop, the grocery store, in line at stores, at the airport and more!

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
As someone who derives great JOY from making those around me FEEL GOOD, making a positive impact; no matter how small, on those around me makes me SO HAPPY! We have the divine power as humans to either make those around us feel GREAT or feel SMALL. Its my hope that through Feed Me Gems, I’m always able to make those around me feel better than when I found them!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.feedmegems.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feedmegemsofficial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FEEDMEGEMSOFFICIAL
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@feedmegems

Image Credits
Allyson Bias