We were lucky to catch up with Ellie Hildebrand recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ellie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
At Sister Homage, we design jewlery inspired by poetry and literature. I started Sister Homage to marry my love for literature and fashion and to pay homage to the books and poems I hold dear. As I went about this, I realized that jewelry, especially jewlery we wear daily, can be so much more than just a beautiful material object. It can actually play a role in helping us to live more meaningful and reflective lives.
Our society is so noisy and filled with cheap thrills and attractions. We’re more interested in information than wonder, and there is so little space for reflection. We get tossed about in a sea of information that is rarely edifying. For me, poetry and literature have been a constant invitation to slow down and be reflective. As we grow the brand, I want to share that gift with others and invite them to have space for reflection and wonder in their own lives.
As one of my favorite writers Annie Dillard says, “How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives.” I continue to return to these simple words as I grow the brand. We hope our pieces can be tangible reminders of the truths we want to live by but are prone to forget. We invite our customers to join us as we pay homage to those truths and strive to live more meaningful and reflection-filled days.
Ellie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
After a decade of working in high tech as a marketing professional, it became clear that it was time to step away from my traditional career to be more available to my three young children. I was burnt out from juggling being a full-time parent and a full-time professional. Strangely, stopping work was actually a catalyst for me to launch Sister Homage. I was just coming out of the throes of working in a fast-paced and noisy job, and the need for reflection and slowing down was very clear to me. And as I transitioned to a stay-at-home mom, I also needed a reminder of how I wanted to live. It really helped refine the vision for Sister Homage.
So I set out to exclusively design pieces that will be loved and lived in for every day and that hold meaning and importance beyond their designs.
Our collection is made for everyday luxury. We offer all of our designs in 14k solid gold and vermeil to keep them accessible to different budgets but always high-quality. Unlike other brands, we never offer our designs in gold-plated simply because we want them to last and keep up with a busy lifestyle.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Our business is 100% self funded which has been very important to me. I was working full-time when I started thinking about Sister Homage and had the comfort and safety of a full-time salary as the idea incubated. I spent about six months squeezing in Sister Homage work (mostly on nights and weekends), during which time I put together the first line and the framework for the business. After about six months, I had enough saved to pay for the products and basic start up costs.
Self funding was hugely important to me so that I didn’t have a gap in income or benefits while providing for my family. But from a business perspective, self-funding has made me extremely judicious about how money is spent and fully invested in seeing the business succeed. I do thorough due diligence on every expense we make and am quick to pivot if I don’t see an ROI. As a small business, the scrappiness is really important for us since every dollar matters.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
For Sister Homage, our branding is a really important aspect of our identity. Each logo placement, design, and word that goes on our site is thoughtful. It is not only part of the shopping experience, but it’s also an expression of our product and our high quality promise. I wanted to have full creative freedom to let the brand shine, so selling exclusively on our website made the most sense to us.
We have been really happy with our choice. We use Shopify which has been an awesome website tool (super intuitive and easy-to-use, especially if you have a background in tech or marketing). The biggest disadvantage of this route is that there is not built-in marketing engine or third-party promoting your product. This has been a challenge for us but a welcome one. One way we’re addressing that is that this year is by partnering with a small handful of like-minded boutiques that share our love of high quality, every day fashion.
Ultimately, it was a personal decision we made for the brand, and we’re happy with it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sisterhomage.com
- Instagram: @sisterhomage
- Facebook: SisterHomage
