We were lucky to catch up with Chelsea Opshinsky recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chelsea thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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’m originally a Speech Pathologist by trade, specializing in swallowing disorders in patients with dementia and post stroke. However, in March of 2020 I was hospitalized with the infamous Covid 19 pneumonia- while 8 months pregnant with twins. After a lot of deliberation my husband Tyler, and I decided I would leave my career and stay home with our four young children. Going from a full time speech pathologist to a stay at home mom of twin newborns, a 1 year old and 5 year old was a bit of a traumatic transition for me. I started to crave my own creative outlet and truly missed being able to help others. That year When I was Christmas shopping, I saw special jewelry that when purchased would donate money to special causes. This idea resonated with me, I could not stop thinking about it. I started to imagine I could make my own clay jewelry and sell it to plant trees. I have always had a deep love of nature and feel most at home barefoot among the trees. I ran the idea by my husband, and even though I had no experience with running a business or making clay jewelry for that matter, he was completely on board. Thus began my YouTube self-education. That January I ordered a kids beginner clay kit from Amazon and watched endless hours of “how to” videos on YouTube learning how to work with clay. As it turns out, I have quite the passion for polymer clay. My husband helped me create a website. I came up with a name inspired by our two daughters nicknames (Sky bird and Willow Tree), Birdie Tree Beads.
With a brand new website and my first few sales under my belt I felt confident enough to set up a meeting with the company, One Tree Planted. I became a sales partner with them and now am able to plant a tree for every single piece I make/sell. I have now planted over 1,400 trees and donated over $1,400 to unicef to help the children of Ukrain. I have expanded my craft over the past few years to include drying flowers to incorporate in my designs , soldering fine metals to make rings and earring findings, and creating memorial pieces with ashes and funeral flowers.

As a Speech Pathologist and a mama, helping others is what fuels me; thus, it gives me the greatest happiness to know that my jewelry has a greater purpose. By planting trees with every item sold we are doing our part to help create a healthier global climate and restore natural habitats for our animal friends.

Chelsea , 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?

My name is Chelsea Opshinsky. I am a mom of four (Sky, Willow, Lennon and Hendrix). I was previously a Speech pathologist. I love helping others. I became a stay at home mom after a being hospitalized with Covid  in 2020 while pregnant with my twins. I love being home with my kids and feel very lucky and fortunate to be able to do that. But I won’t lie – the abrupt change from being a full time working adult to a full time stay-at-home mom was a lot to get used to. I missed being able to help others. And I yearned for some kind of creative outlet. After a self Education on YouTube I grew a beautiful passion for creating with polymer clay. I love making clay canes specifically. I love to show videos making these. A clay cane starts as a large image created out of clay that I shrink down to put it on my jewelry! It’s a really fun process to watch! Flower Canes are my favorite to make but I have made some funky ones over the years including a Yoda inspired cane and a fox inspired cane.

It’s extremely important to me, that I have a partnership with One Tree Planted, so I am able to plant a tree with every single piece I sell!

I have expanded over the years to drying flowers to use in my jewelry as well as
Soldering fine metals. I love learning new process and creating funky and unique pieces.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I have grown my clientele/following mostly through social medias. Something I find most helpful in growing my following, as cliche as it might sound, is simply staying true to myself. I am a pretty messy chaotic person, who thrives in a world of spontaneity. I am absolutely not a neat type A style person. I find that being my messy goofy self in my social media stories and other content attracts people who appreciate that and want to follow my work and journey. My work and my personality might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the people who do decide to follow along end up wanting to stay. I don’t feel any added stress trying to put on a front in my videos or my art style as long as I simply be myself.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I do most of my communication with my customers through social media messaging. I have found using a rather informal commutation platform has made it easier to create  friendships with my customers. They can let me know if they want custom orders and often share personal stories with me relating to their orders which helps create brand loyalty, I have found. I love using peoples personal stories to help inspire my work, so it can truly be one of a kind. I also use polls and questions on instagram stories or Facebook often, asking about style preferences to see what my followers and customers are most interested in. I love being able to connect and communicate with my customers on a personal level- and  social medias really give me that outlet.

Contact Info:

• Website: Birdietreebeads.com
• Instagram: Birdietreebeads
• Facebook: Birdietreebeads
• Youtube: Birdietreebeads8238
• Other: Birdietreebeads@gmail.com TikTok: @birdietreebeads