We were lucky to catch up with Brooke Icenberger recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brooke, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

I have always had a passion for caring for and helping children, especially after serving on two mission trips in Haiti and spending time with the kids in the orphanages in 2018. After started my business, I wanted to find a way that I could help give back to children in need right here in our own cities. I reached out to a friend and mentor with a foster and adopt outreach for our local church and she recommended Arrow Child and Family Ministries. Arrow is based out of Spring, TX, and serves children and families within our foster care system in our local area. I now donate 2% of proceeds from Beautiful Bliss’ sales to them and I am so grateful that I am able to use the work of my hands to share love and provide for a cause that helps a greater good.

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 background and context?

My passion has always been serving others and creating things. For years my craft was making coffee drinks as a barista at a local church and then at DeNovo Coffee in Old Town Tomball. Then one of our regulars, now my fiancée, Robert Cegielski who runs his custom furniture company, Broken Tree Designs, had me out to his shop to see his work in action. This inspired me to pursue a business venture of my own. I originally had plans of opening a coffee shop, but this was in February of 2020, about a month before the pandemic struck, causing businesses to shut down everywhere. At first. I felt very discouraged and left questioning the plans I had for my future, but then I put my faith in knowing that every door that God closes, He always has a better one waiting to open. I spent some time helping Robert with his pieces, and then started making some of my own. I wanted to make a product out of similar materials that we were using like exotic hardwoods, but on a smaller scale. I wanted to create things that still brought a smile to people’s faces like coffee always did. Jewelry was the avenue that I chose to do so. I was finding that many different earrings were quite heavy, causing a lot of discomfort and even pulling on my earlobes, so I set out to make pairs that were lightweight. I started using laser-cut pieces of hardwoods from scrap woods that we had in the shop and eventually started adding leather and acrylic materials to my collections as well. I’ve always used nickel-free hardware in my earrings because the comfort of and caring for my customers has always been at the heart of my making.
As time went on, I started adding more than just earrings. Even though I had left my previous job at the church, I was looking for a way to keep sharing the Gospel and to uplift others. I continued to do this through my engraved keychain and necklace collections with Bible verses and positive sayings. I started adding more custom pieces as well, so that my customers could honor and cherish special times in their lives, like anniversary dates, engraved signs for their new homes, or announcements for their sweet bundles of joy being born. I wanted my pieces to be little bits of happy that they could carry with them anywhere.
I started going out to markets as life began to gain some normalcy as time went on. This brought back my passion for serving and connecting with others, but n0w I was able to do it with a brand of my own. I hope that my products and any interaction with me continues to bring joy to others and encourages them to let their light shine no matter what season they find themselves in. Ultimately my goal and the goal of my brand is to help others find their bliss.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When I first started my business, I was doing it part-time as I continued working at the coffee shop. My first customers were actually regulars of the shop, and I was delivering them through the drive thru window with their coffee orders. As time went on, I attended my first market at Eleanora’s Market on Ella Blvd., but then moved north to Tomball and became a vendor at the Tomball Farmer’s Market. Due to the demand of my time needing to make inventory to be stocked for the market and for custom orders, I was no longer able to devote the time needed at DeNovo Coffee. I was honestly a bit scared to walk away from the consistency of a stable paycheck, but knew if I wanted to truly grow my company, I would need to go all in. I continued to hit my weekly goals at the market and some weeks substantially surpassed the goals I had set for myself. I am now in the process of looking for a retail storefront location to house my products and my brand that all of those early mornings and late nights have come together to successfully build.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my audience on social media by attending local markets and events. I started with the local Saturday farmer’s market, but also attended seasonal holiday markets as well like the Black Friday Market Extravaganza in The Woodlands, as well as Alice House’s Holiday Market at the Addison Woods wedding venue. With every transaction, I was sure to hand out a business card and tell my customers how they could follow us on social media for product updates and other details. I am also very big on supporting and sharing other local businesses pages and posts. It usually comes back around which gets more exposure and more followers on your own social media pages. I have also had success with doing some product giveaways, in which I would have my followers like my post, tag a friend, and share my post to their pages story. This also leads to more views and shares which grows your audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beautifulblissjewelry.com
• Instagram: @beautifulblissjewelry
• Facebook: Beautiful Bliss