We recently connected with Alisha Battenfield and have shared our conversation below.

Alisha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I was asked to make a ring from a lady using one of the bullet casing from her grandpa’s gun salute in memorial to him. That was such a beautiful creation that I was so blessed to have been given the opportunity, she portrayed trust and faith into me. 🙏

Alisha, 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?

If you were to ask 14 year old me if I would ever be in New York attending a fashion show, showcasing jewelry that I made, the answer would be no with a laugh. I lived a simple life in a small country town which was considered a village so yes that answer was definitely no. Fast forward to 41, 1 bad betrayal, 3 children and a thirst for a better life later and here I am mastering the art of making and designing jewelry. I’ll keep this short and sweet, I finally found what I was good at, felt the passion for it and the drive to succeed not struggle. Becoming a single mother of 3 after a 12 year committed relationship was not how I thought my life was going to turn out, ask 14 year old me… I have came a long way since then and the journey still continues. What started as a hobby to distract my mind making a little extra cash for my family, has become an inspirational desire to create, to design, to style pieces that fit each individual personalities. After years of attempted small town craft shows and summer events, trial and errors, I went from just assembling and reassembling jewelry to designing custom pieces working with better materials, precious gemstones, and nickel free metals. Working my way into bigger events, fashion shows and some pieces in storefronts. I want my story, my strength to inspire many creatives out there. If there is something you are good at, do it, share it with the world and always believe in yourself.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to travel the world and spend more time with my family while still being able to provide for them doing something I love. I continue my journey to inspire my girls and others to not allow yourself to feel stuck, take chances, put yourself out there and succeed.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was attending a weekend event in michigan middle of may, this time of year is still cold, windy and rainy. I set up my canopy and displays that Friday morning, the weather wasn’t too pleasant I spent the whole first day freezing and not many customers. Went back to set up for the 2nd day, Saturday, this day was a little more traffick but very windy, I had to pick up multiple displays from the wind knocking them over, it was raining so most of my things were getting wet, at this point I was done, I did not want to do this anymore. My resilience would not allow me to give up, a year later I perfected my set up and instead of a canopy I now have a small mobile boutique which I can just pull up to my spot and pop it open. I learned from this that there is always a solution to every problem.    

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.northernpridejewelry.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northernpridejewelry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northernpridejewelry