Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chaya Rockford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Chaya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?
I grew up in a big family. We’re mostly girls! My parents raised us to be independent and responsible from a young age. There was always an underlying message of “you can figure anything out”.
When my sister turned 16, she wanted a car. My father said it was okay if she figured out how to get one herself. She and a few friends were commuting to a school that was almost an hour away, so she went to her friends’ parents and offered to take over the carpool for a fee. With that money, she leased a car. When it came to insurance, she just went with the cheapest. (Which ended up being a mistake when it went bankrupt after she had an accident, but she figured that out too… give or take 15 years, lol). Just like that, a 16-year-old figured it out.
When I was 12-years-old, a friend and I decided we were going to make a summer camp. There was a week between school ending and the local day camp beginning, so we knew there was a need. I think we charged something like $50 per child for the entire week!! We did it in a different person’s house each day. There was one mom who said we could use her house but only if we had someone older to “babysit” us. We hired my older sister for $100 for that day. When did a lot of planning. We designed flyers to market the camp. I remember being in the kitchen and asking my father if I could use our photocopy machine to make copies of our flyer. He asked me if we were charging people for the camp. I told him yes. He then told me if that’s the case, in the real business world, there’d be a fee to print fliers for a business so I could use his machine for a fee. I have only a few memories of the camp, even though we did it for a few years, but that memory stands out strong. It was a good lesson and I think I recognized it at the time.
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’d say that my very first passion in life was numbers. When I discovered the multiplication tables, I was sold!!! I know to most people it sounds crazy, but the excitement I felt over seeing the clock strike 7:56 was immense. I’d run through the house yelling, “IT’S 7:56! 7 GOES INTO 56, 8 TIMES!!!” Yeah, I was annoying. Ha!
My second passion was Michaels, the store! As a kid, I loved making things with my hands, whether it was playing with clay, sewing pillows, or playing with wax art, it’s all I wanted to do on the weekend!
My third passion was kids! I became an aunt when I was 11-years-old. I’m the 2nd to youngest in my family, so we didn’t have a lot of babies at home. I was (AM) obsessed with my nieces and nephews. Currently I have over 20 of them! I love to play with them, listen to them, make them feel special, to see them smile and laugh and feel proud of themselves. I love to see how their minds work and how unique each of them are.
I was an extremely fearful child which was new for my parents and I’m not sure they full understood the extent of my fears. I think they thought it was just childish fears that I’d grow out of. I think that translated into me feeling a tad “unseen” which is probably one of the reasons why I care so much about making kids feel seen and special.
My sister right above me is handicapped. As a baby, she got sick and it left her with brain damage. Her official diagnosis is spastic cerebral palsy. Growing up with a sister who cannot talk or walk means that my siblings and I were gifted with early “training” of being aware of someone outside of ourselves’s needs. Without a doubt, it’s one of the things I am most grateful for!
About 11 years ago, my sister was gifted a Canon camera after the birth of one of her kids. I sort of adopted her camera and fell in love with photography. I specifically loved photographing kids because they were always just themselves whereas adults, we tend to try to hide ourselves in front of a camera. Ironically, I was convinced that since I loved math, there was no way that I could be considered creative.I had a middle school science teacher who said that people who like Math and Science generally don’t like English and History and Art. So I just assumed that 1+1 = 2, not 3. I couldn’t like art or be good at it, because I liked math. Anyone who knows me now, would without a doubt describe me as a creative person, but it took me a very, very long time to believe this about myself even when it stared me straight in the face! I’m very grateful that I got into photography because it meant that I had the skills when we were starting out to photograph our collections and we didn’t need to hire anyone. Photography can be a huge expense for a fashion company!!
Project6nykids hair accessories really started with my big sister. She had 5 kids at the time, and so it was called Project6nykids. I also happen to be child #6 in my family! Project6nykids was really the little sister company to Project6ny, our women’s clothing line. The women’s clothing had been my sister’s passion before she left the company, and the Kids’ accessories line had a special place in my heart. When we started, my sister was in charge of design and manufacturing and I ran the business side of things. When she left, the design and manufacturing fell to me. So there I was designing beautiful hair accessories but still convinced that I was NOT a creative person. It’s laughable. It turns out once I admitted that I was creative, I loved it. I can look at a color chart and feel that same wonder and excitement and rush that I felt looking at the clock strike 7:56.
Ok, so what’s our design process? I like to say that we try to wrap up the joy and excitement and largeness of childhood into a beautiful accessory that both mom and child will adore. But between you and me, I’m aiming for a style that will cause BOTH mom and child to want to throw a tantrum at the register for! lol! I try to make sure our collection feature the perfect mix of fashion and playfulness and designs that include avant garde, classic, elegance, and timeless notes. I aim to provide high-end hair accessories with fine construction, yet affordable pricing. We have something for every girl, in every color, and for every occasion!
My nieces are my models. I have so many of them! And they love it! They also give me advice all the time and I listen to them. They are my customers, after all! I’ll often show them a color chart and ask them what stands out to them.
Our seasonal photoshoots are so much fun! I design and make the sets by hand, myself. My nieces are always excited to see what it will look like, as my customer are, too! Sometimes that feels like a lot of pressure, but my customers are kind and somehow always see the best in me! At the shoots, I style the kids and am the photographer, too! The kids’ favorite photoshoot was of course the Rainbow one! A few months before that collection, I had seen a rainbow so vibrant that I could not take my eyes off of it. It was incredible! And that became the inspiration for the next season’s collection.
The funniest inspiration I ever had for a collection and photoshoot was when I was walking in an alley behind our offices when the sun was being reflected off of this cluster of dirty rusty pipes. I thought it was cool and started playing around with leather ropes in my designs. For that season’s photoshoot, I went to Home Depot, got some PVC pipes, cut them, painted them, and built some structures that I could use as the backdrop for our photoshoot.
To some, Project6nykids might look like a huge company, we’ve been sold in so many countries, Dubai, Lebanon, France, Australia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Canada, and more! But what I want my customers to know is that when they’re messaging me, they’re getting ME! My favorite is when they show me an outfit that they’re trying to find a matching accessory for. I love helping them style! Many of them know I’m happy to sit down and make a custom piece for them, too! To me, knowing their child will wear our designs and feel so special, unique, beautiful, and confident is what keeps me going! And when they tell me that their children are literally growing up in our pieces, it melts my heart!!!
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
Manufacturing is not easy. There are so many qualities that you want your manufacturer to have: You want them to have good quality, you want them to be able to stick to a schedule, to keep their word, to communicate well with you, to respect their employees, and so on. It’s hard!! Back in September of 2019, I was working with a manufacturer for some of my products in China. I get an email from them one morning where they basically said that I had too high standards for quality and they no longer wanted to work with me. It was such a shock that I actually started having anxiety before I had to open any email from any of my manufacturers! I was at a total loss and terrified! So basically, last minute, I had to scramble to find a new supplier. This factory had been producing a lot of my styles that required sewing. Growing up, we had a live-in caretake for my (handicapped) sister Dina. We loved her…I have fond memories of her checking for monsters behind my bedroom door when she was babysitting us! She and her daughter both live in Colombia now. I texted her daughter to ask if she knows anyone who can help me. She found a woman who was a mom in a FB group with her. This woman was willing to gather a couple friends and make my designs for me. It ended up working out and her craftsmanship was stunning!! Six months later, I realized that what felt like such a challenge and disaster was actually a blessing because when Covid broke out, everyone who produced in China was in the same position that I had been in, only I had had a head start! It was pretty awesome and I had one of those moments of realization that I am literally being guided by Gd. It was also a great reminder that challenges and set-backs aren’t always set-backs!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
There are two things that I like to say: 1) Want to fast-track your self-work? Start a business.
2) Want to see Gd in your life everyday? Start a business.
When my sister left the business in 2018, it became mine. Before that, I was really working for her. So now, I had pretty much the same job (well a lot more work, but still) and the same goals, but it was MY company. I was not helping someone ELSE grow their company. And that’s when my world came tumbling down. I was almost 30 years old and had been in therapy for years but I was about to fast-track my next “growth spurt”. I realized that I had spent the past 29 years serving others, helping others grow, but it felt so so wrong to allow myself to grow! I was convinced there was no way Gd put me on this earth to do anything other then helping my family grow or just others. Let’s just say 2018 was THE year!
As a religious Jew, Gd plays a huge role in my life already, but when you run a business, it’s like you’re aware of how really He’s in charge, so much more. I have so many stories where it’s like you can see the divine providence so clearly.
One of my favorite examples happened towards mid to late 2022. I had a shipment that I was very excited about. I had used a super unique fabric in my products and it was limited and I had managed to get some before it was sold out. I tracked those boxes several times a day, so the second there was an issue, I was already on the phone started a case number. I spent hours on the phone with Fedex for weeks after. In summary, my shipment disappeared. I kept hoping it would turn out of the blue, but 2 months later, I had pretty much given up. Meanwhile, I had an in-person marketplace event that I now didn’t have the stock I wanted for. So I quickly placed a new order of different orders. I told my factory which shipping method to use and when I needed it by. They were late so they decided to ship it overnight from India without checking with me. They assumed I would have wanted this. That would cost me about $3000 more than the method they were supposed to use. I didn’t realize any of this because they hadn’t sent me the tracking number. One morning, I wake up to find the tracking number and I realize that 1) It’s going to cost me a ton at a time when I’m not ready to pay that bill and 2) It’s not going to make it in time for the event because it’s delayed. I literally had my toothbrush in my mouth as I was realizing this and pickup up my phone to text my factory back to ask how this happened. I was freaking out because I had spent a ton on this event and now I wasn’t going to have the product plus I was going to have to pay this crazy shipping bill! As I was typing, the phone rang and my finger hit the answer button. After confirming who I was the caller says “Did you lose a shipment two months ago under tracking #XYZ? We found it.” To me this was pure G-dliness. It was Gd saying to me “Don’t worry, I got your back, always”. So no, the new shipment didn’t arrive on time, but my lost package did which meant I had new products at the event. AND Fedex honored their guarantee so since the package was late, that $3000 (it was actually $4000) was cancelled.
Another example was a time when cash flow was super tight. And I needed to buy inventory. I was literally panicking about how I was going to pay rent. Then someone chats on my website telling me they ordered 2 headbands and want to know if I do bulk orders. I’m thinking that they want to order 20 headbands for a birthday party or something. I say “Yup, we can do bulk orders”. She says, I want to order 1000 pieces!! I had never had such a big order of one style. It felt like it came out of nowhere, like it came straight from Gd. I would not have gotten through the next month without her order. I still have no idea how she heard of me. I found out after that she wanted the headband because she was releasing a children’s book and the main character happened to be wearing the exact headband that I sell! I have no idea if the illustrator saw our headband first or if she had the same inspiration, but it was very cool and exciting!
Another Example – the manufacturing story above
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Project6nykids.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/project6nykids
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDGjycN8A-sP7pWmi1J8eraJSpsErMMpd
- Other: Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/project6nykids Wholesale: project6nykids.faire.com Or contact us!
Image Credits
Chaya Rockford