We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Grace Brunette Stadler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Grace, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Looking back I feel a bit like my entire journey from making my first piece of jewelry to creating a wholesale business to opening up a crystal shop, has been a series of risks. I would like to tell you where those risks started. I had been making crystal jewelry for a few months and had started selling my pieces at a few shows and farmers markets – whenever I had time off from my restaurant job. One day my bosses called me in for a meeting and I found out they were downsizing. This left me with the option of staying at the store in a part time position or choosing something else. Without a moments pause, I said, to their and my surprise, “I think I would like to leave then”. And with this, a combination of risk and the universes’ push; I jumped full time into my business. I was by no means making a full time income with jewelry at that point, but I dove in head firs determined to find a way to do so. I started running anywhere from 3-6 markets a week and learning and growing as a maker. I kept pushing myself, invested in myself and hustled into this new life of mine. It was scary, exciting, and felt like the most natural thing. I realized that I had spent years treating other people’s businesses like they were my own. So shifting into a space where I was working for myself felt a bit like coming home. This propelled me forward on my current journey of self love, compassion, independence and living a life that I get to choose.
Grace, 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?
I am a self taught crystal jeweler. I have a gallery of one of a kind pieces at my storefront in Pewaukee, WI, Sienna Moon. I create custom jewelry pieces for all kinds of wonderful people. Currently, I am spending a lot of time making customized jewelry for brides, energy workers and anyone looking to combine their love of crystals with a powerful intention. I also supply pieces that I design and make to other like minded storefronts. I love having the opportunity to work with incredible crystals, lean into their energy and create something so unique out of them. Wearing minerals, that you connect with a powerful intention for yourself can open up an impactful possibility each time you choose to put them on. Let’s say I create a necklace with Moonstone, Aquamarine and gold. Each time I reach for that piece I think of the high vibration of the gold, my deep connection to my intuition and how openly I am able to express myself in any situation. Each time I see myself in the mirror, I am reminded of these same ideas. I love being apart of peoples journeys in this way, combing my love of beauty and a daily dose of magic.
Our storefront, Sienna Moon is open, airy and full of incredible energy. We offer an intentional selection crystals, jewelry, and many other supplies for helping to shift and transform your life. We hold monthly sound healings and other services to help people moving forward on their personal journeys.
With all that we do, our mission is based in self acceptance, self love and transformation. Life is not meant to be lived on auto pilot. We love meeting people exactly where they are in their journey of personal growth and holding space for them to transform their lives into something they love. I think within this mission, one of the big thing that sets us apart is our deep connections with our clients. We are aware of all the large, e-commerce retailers available to our customers. We want to offer them something that they can’t. We stand up and connect with every person who walks in our space. Our entire team is so knowledgable and excited to help our customers find exactly what is going to best help them. We create an environment where people can come in, feel safe, accepted and know that we will help them find exactly what they need. People say all the time that the store is their happy place and we are so grateful for it.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
How hard I hustle does not have a direct connection to the amount of money I make and by extension the amount of success I experience.
When I was 18 my fathers passed away, rather suddenly from cancer. I was in college at the time and had a mountain of expenses that became mine overnight. I started working at a restaurant about 30 hours a week and continued going to school full time. I lived in the universe that the more I hustled and pushed myself, the more I thought I was succeeding. It took me many years but I have finally realized that what I was doing looked a lot more like surviving that succeeding. I have sent a lot of compassion and understanding to that version of myself lately. As I continue to grow in knowing how to care for myself and owning my own businesses; I see how creating a life that fuels me, instead of depletes me, is essential. Days off used to be far and few between, feeling more like gasping for air than recharging.
Now I infuse my days with little acts of self care. From the way I wake up in the morning, to how I schedule my time, to how I listen to my body when making a lot of my daily decisions – caring for myself is caring for my business. I have also found that when I am really present with my work, truly engaged with customers and immersed in what I am doing – the quality of that time speaks volumes over any quantity.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I love this question. I think pivoting I’ve been doing since my first day in business. I strive to not feel too attached to exactly how something is accomplished. It is more important that the idea, moves forward, even if it doesn’t look how I thought it would.
When we opened our storefront, we had plans for so many classes and workshops and practitioners. These plans were something I had grown very attached to. The more energy we poured into this, the more it felt like we were spinning our wheels. It was draining – emotionally, mentally and financially. We started making little shifts In what we offered, how often and who we worked with. Looking back all of these pivots took a lot more time than they normally did in our business. This was because I had a specific vision for how I wanted it to look and was emotionally attached to what it looked like. That initial vision is not what resonated with the community. We have found the core classes that our community loves. They are thriving. We have found other ways to share that do not require as much energy being put out.
When we hold onto a vision too tightly, we often times don’t give that idea room it deserves to live and breath. I still believe in and love what we are offering to the community, I just needed to remind myself that the path to its success often times does not look like the original roadmap. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.siennamoonco.com
- Instagram: @siennamoonco
- Facebook: @siennamoonco
Image Credits
Emily Whitlaw