We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Allie Perry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Allie below.

Alright, Allie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was making the impossibly huge decision to work for myself full-time while battling what would be my first bout with long covid!

When the Covid pandemic turned the world upside down for all of us, it provided me with the absolute clarity that the only way for me to control my personal health, safety, and mental well-being was to become my own boss and sell my handmade jewelry on my own website.

I’d actually started Allie Perry Designs as a side hustle way back in 2002, but operating it would have presented a conflict of interest while I held other jobs in the jewelry industry. As a result, my fledgling business suffered the fate of every late-night infomercial purchase and was buried in the back of the proverbial closet. Though it sat largely ignored for over a decade, when I was ready to stop building success for someone else and instead devote all of my time and resources to making my own dreams come true, I’d already done all of the hard work by giving myself and my business a strong foundation to build upon.

The decision to keep my inactive business on the books ended up being an instrumental stroke of luck because let me tell you- covid brain is no joke! I designed my first website and made many other important decisions under the fog of long covid, and unfortunately, I learned a lot of lessons the hard way. For example, about a year into my self-employment adventure, I made the tough decision to rebuild my entire website from scratch on a totally different platform! I give that experience zero out of five stars, and definitely do not recommend it! But it taught me valuable lessons and made me incredibly thankful that I’d set up my business all those years ago with a clear mind!

As for how it turned out? I’ll keep you posted! I’m in my third year of business now, facing the challenges of my second round of long covid, and looking forward to many more years of bringing joy into the world through my handmade jewelry.

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

When I was in high school I took all the advanced classes I was supposed to take and did all the things I was supposed to do to prepare for college. By senior year I still needed an English requirement, but the rest of my schedule was open and free for me to fill my time with every student’s dream…fun electives and easy A’s!

As I was choosing classes like photography, newspaper, choir, and yearbook, a friend recommended I take a jewelry class. When I enrolled in that class, I thought I’d find just another fun elective. Instead, what I discovered in that tucked-away basement classroom was the foundation for my career. I learned jewelry-making basics that not only earned me that A in high school, but later helped me earn a B.S. in Studio Art with a specialization in Jewelry and Silversmithing, as well as the Accredited Jewelry Professional designation from the Gemological Institute of America.

I’ve always had a go big or go home mentality. I will dive head-first into a plan and do whatever it takes to make it work. This mindset served me well when there was no internship offered in my major in college. I convinced the department chair to let me create one and earn six credits for it. Once I created the internship, I cold-called every jewelry company in my part of the state until I found one willing to hire an intern. And during my interview, I persuaded that company to offer me a paid internship position, so I could earn money while I was earning college credits. I took a complete lack of opportunity and turned it into a paid gig that advanced me on my goal of earning a diploma.

That internship turned into my first full-time job in the field, and I was well on my way when I realized no one in the field was even interested in, let alone impressed by, my degree. I was fresh out of college and most people wanted me to have ten years of experience before they even spoke to me. My young age, coupled with the fact that I was a woman in a male-dominated field, made it hard for me to be taken seriously by potential employers.

Undeterred by these roadblocks, and in an effort to advance my career, I applied for and accepted jobs I knew I didn’t have experience in. I allowed my portfolio of work to speak for itself and help sell potential employers on the fact that even if I didn’t have the required skills yet, I knew I could learn and perfect them.

Since obtaining my formal education, I’ve gained invaluable experience working in manufacturing, repair, custom design, and hand fabrication. I’ve been on teams that designed and produced jewelry items by the thousands, and I’ve delicately hand-crafted one-of-a-kind bridal sets and heirloom pieces. I’ve sold entire jewelry lines to buyers for Fortune 500 companies, and I’ve worked local craft shows selling to people just like you. I spent years working solely on repair, learning all of the different ways jewelry might fail so I could design around and eliminate some of those shortfalls. Every step of the way, I’ve taken advantage of the tricks and hints offered to me to hone my craft, tossing the bad and building the good into the arsenal I employ to build quality pieces of jewelry for my customers.

Right now my focus in Allie Perry Designs is on making one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that allow people to show off their individuality. In addition to the one-of-a-kind pieces I sell on my website, I offer custom design services! You can work directly with me as I design a piece to your aesthetic and specifications, and then I’ll build it for you from scratch. I love sharing videos of the fabrication process on social media! Showing the process not only allows my customers to see the exact steps I took to build their piece, it also helps other potential customers see what’s possible for their own projects.

I also offer redesign services, giving new life to heirloom pieces or old fad jewelry that would otherwise never be worn again. This is a great way to honor the person who originally wore your heirloom jewelry while reusing existing metals and stones in a new design you love. It also frees up space in your jewelry boxes by melting down things you’ll never wear again (hello, herringbone chain, I’m looking at you.)

I am really proud of my ability to make heirloom-quality jewelry pieces that fit my clients’ lifestyles and that they truly enjoy wearing. When you come to me as a customer, I will always tell you that my first responsibility is not actually to you- it’s to the jewelry I make for you. I don’t want to make a bad piece of jewelry because it’s what you think you want in the short term; my goal is always to make the best piece I can that will not only make you thrilled on the day you get it but equally happy for years to come.

I’m definitely not one of those jewelers who will try to squeeze every penny out of you or coerce you into a more expensive sale. Instead, when you decide to trust me with your jewelry project, I strive to give you clearly explained options so you can make the educated decision that is right for you. Sometimes it’s a real challenge getting a client’s dream piece of jewelry aligned with the budget they’ve set for themself, but I pride myself in my ability to temper expectations and still create pieces that don’t feel like unwanted results of budgetary compromises.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My main brand mission is to make one-of-a-kind jewelry accessible to more people. I make every effort to do so in a way that supports other small businesses while keeping ethically sourced and eco-friendly choices front of mind.

I believe that custom jewelry shouldn’t be exclusive to the rich and famous; everyone deserves jewelry that is truly unique and personal. Showing up to an event wearing the same thing as someone else makes you the center of attention for all the wrong reasons, but the natural, one-of-a-kind stones I use in my jewelry mean you’ll be the only person in the world with that exact design!

As a small business owner, I source all of my cabochon-cut stones from United States-based independent lapidary artists, many of whom are fellow women solopreneurs. This allows me to offer high-quality stones while simultaneously supporting the dreams of people just like me. For my faceted stones, I go through trusted gem houses that are committed to providing stones that are ethically sourced under fair labor practices.

As an avid hiker and scuba diver, I try to view every decision in my personal life through a lens of earth-friendliness, and I’ve carried those personal ethics into my business. I source raw metal material with 100% recycled content and recycle metal scraps at my bench wherever possible. Any metal that isn’t suitable for immediate recycling is sent to the refiner to eliminate metal waste. I’ve also eliminated the use of certain chemicals in my studio and continue to research eco-friendly options for any future improvements. When you buy my jewelry, I present it in recycled or sustainable boxes and ship it to you in packing materials, boxes, and tape that are certified eco-friendly!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

While working for myself can be extremely challenging, I find the most rewarding aspect to be the fact that I am personally responsible for my own failures and successes. When I make a mistake, it’s an opportunity to learn and grow (after shouting numerous expletives in my studio, naturally), and when I find success it’s an opportunity for me to revel in my own achievements and most likely celebrate with some cake!

Being a one-woman operation certainly has its challenges, but it also affords me the simultaneous burden and freedom to wear all the hats in my business. It provides me the opportunity to take my varied professional experiences and use those skills to build and grow my own business, and it encourages me to continue to learn everything I can about the different facets of Allie Perry Designs.

This autonomy also creates space for me to connect with other small business owners when I need help, and offer my own experiences to help others. I’m currently a joint admin of a small business-to-business community designed to provide information, share resources, and create a support system for small and micro businesses. Whether it’s an opportunity to share a discount code (I love discount codes!) or just a safe space to find or offer a shoulder to cry on, it’s invaluable to belong to a group of people who are facing the same challenges and are happy to help others in the wild and sometimes absurd experience that is small business ownership. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a steady reminder that even though many of us work by ourselves, we’re not in this alone.

I love making a living with my hands and my art, and I never cease to be humbled and deeply appreciative every time someone invests their hard-earned money in a piece of jewelry I made with my own two hands.

It’s truly an honor.     

Contact Info:

• Website: https://allieperrydesigns.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/allieperrydesigns
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/allieperrydesigns
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/allieperrydesigns
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@allieperrydesigns