We were lucky to catch up with Erin Erger recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erin, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name Charming Magnolia came from the influences of South Louisiana, where I grew up. The house I grew up in had beautiful magnolia trees and so did both of my grandparents houses. I always found them to be simple flowers but oh so beautiful, which is how I believe my jewelry is. Also, the magnolia is that state flower of Louisiana, so it was also a way to pay homage to the state I grew up in, which has such a vibrant culture.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began my jewelry business in 2017, while I was studying for bar exams as a way to get my mind off studying for a bit. I have always had a creative urge whether it has been drawing, designing, or making, just about anything. I was shopping and saw some earrings and thought to myself, I can make these. The next day, I went to Michael’s to see what earring supplies I could find.

I started out by making a tassel earring with suede leather. Friends and family began asking where they could get them and if they could purchase them, and one thing led to another, and Charming Magnolia was born. A couple months into my business, I made some Mardi Gras inspired earrings that took off in Louisiana, I was selling them to boutiques and individuals for the holiday season. And made over 400 pairs in just 2 months. After that, it really inspired me to make more earrings.

Over time, my earrings have evolved and I make many different types. They are all fun and light weight and can be dressed up or down. My earrings can be found in local boutiques as well as on Etsy. The organic growth of my business has been the best part, as a small business owner, there are so many other small businesses in the Houston suburbs that support one another. The biggest challenge I have found lately is juggling 2 children, with a third on the way. I just recently began staying home with our children and my hope is that I will also be able to allocate time towards making more jewelry, most likely when they are all sleeping! I would love to grow my business and see people while out and about wearing my jewelry.

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

My audience has organically grown from friends following me to people I don’t know finding my page and following along, which I always am so thankful for! I find the more I post, the more followers I get, but the pictures have to be intentional, I try to incorporate greenery and bright colors to show off the best of the earrings so that you want to have them on your ears!

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I currently use Etsy to sell my earrings, but my hope is to one day have my own website and manage the orders thru there. The perks of Etsy is all of the tracking of traffic, costs, taxes, etc. that make it easy for a small business to manage everything. If I have my own website, I know that I will be responsible for tracking those things.

Contact Info:

• Website: charmingmagnoliashop.etsy.com
• Instagram: charming.magnolia
• Facebook: Charming Magnolia