We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alicia Stemper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alicia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I’ve always been creative. As a child, I was truly a dreamer; the one with my head in the clouds always imagining things and letting my mind wonder. That creativity has carried into my adulthood, but with much more focus. My Grandfather made jewelry and it’s always been a process that has peaked my curiosity. I started a hobby jewelry business in early adulthood and would tuck myself away in my office to design at night when I wasn’t at my corporate job.

Fast forward to when I left my corporate job, with the intention of being a stay at home mom…Mom life is the best life, but my mind and hands couldn’t stay idle for long. I had to create. And so Wondermint Goods was born. My tagline “find your wonder” is fitting as it ties in the wonder I experienced as a child and the way that I viewed (and still view) the world. My bright and colorful acrylic jewelry inspires people to express their personality and tap into their inner child. Everyday I hope to encourage my customers to find their wonder – through style, and to slow down and find those little bits of joy in life and to celebrate them.

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

My name is Alicia Stemper and I started Wondermint Goods to really allow women to let loose and have fun with their accessories. I’ve hit a sweet spot in the market with my lightweight acrylic earrings that add tons of personality to every outfit. They are versatile and can so easily be dressed up or down. I design seasonal jewelry that is perfect for everyday wear and also themed pieces that are perfect to celebrate each and every holiday.

Wondermint Good’s tagline is “Find your wonder” and it’s really all about slowing down in life to enjoy the little moments and to notice all of life’s curiosities. I really embrace my “kid at heart” mentality, and my jewelry designs allow the wearer to feel more light hearted and more celebratory with their bright colors and fun textures.

I really take pride in the fact that I make everything by hand; from drawing the design, creating the file, cutting the design out with my laser machine and assembling each piece. It’s so rewarding to dream up something in my mind and see it come to life right in my own studio; nothing is outsourced – it’s truly manufactured right in my studio in Atlanta, GA.

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

Owning your own business isn’t for the faint of heart. It has to be something you truly believe in whole heartedly. If you don’t you’re going to lose your will to power through the hard times; and there are A LOT of hard times. A lot of people see your successes, but they don’t always see the struggles that it took to get there.

Owning your own business also means you have to really put yourself out there; and get out of your comort zone. You have to be vulnerable. Thing won’t always pan out the way you had planned and that’s part of the risks you take in order to grow.

I’ve personally had plenty of shows and markets that I put my heart and soul into; and worked SO hard to get ready for, only to have NO ONE show up, or walk away with no sales. It’s when you can get through the lowest of lows and keep going that you know that you are where you are meant to be.

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

The lesson I really had to unlearn is that I cannot say yes to everything.

In the begining of my business, I was so eager to please every customer, that I would go above and beyond and bend backwards to every request; which meant a lot of custom one-off orders. Saying yes to everything really only led me further away from my goals and delayed me from scaling the way that I wanted to.

Once I got crystal clear with my goals, it was easy to say no to those requests that didn’t align with my goals. That’s when I really started to grow and scale more quickly because I was more laser focused on where I was headed; and in turn even gained more customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wondermintgoods.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/wondermint.goods
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wondermintgoods
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-stemper-9764898/

Image Credits
Katherine Jianas Meredith Rikard Rena Durham Anna Filly