We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Haley Wells a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Haley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I began wire wrapping in 2018, at the ripe age of 29. At the time, it was a hobby, but from a very early age, I always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout my life, I found myself perpetually trying to find a way to turn my artistic passion and creativity into financial freedom. Very quickly on my wire wrap journey, I found I could make a quick buck with relatively low risk. It was never anything outrageously substantial, and certainly not enough to cover the bills. After about 2 years of making supplemental income wire wrapping, while simultaneously becoming a new mother, and temporarily becoming a stay at home mom, I found myself dabbling around on TikTok. My best friend had a 12 year old daughter at the time, and I decided to casually and discreetly keep a watchful eye on her internet activity in an attempt to protect her from a not-so-well-known-at-the-time app –tiktok. This was in December 2019, and I quickly caught the tiktok bug, becoming sidetracked from my initial intentions with the app. By summer 2020, there was a huge influx of TikTok users my age and above. Over the course of the next 10 months, I slowly chipped away at my first thousand followers. In 2020, users were required to have 1000 followers in order to livestream. When I reached 1k, in the summer of 2021, I deleted all of my personal content, rebranded my account for my wire wrap business, and sat down for my first livestream. All of a sudden, I was able to take custom orders from livestream viewers. And viewers I GOT. Within a few short weeks of sporadic livestreaming, I doubled, then tripled my following. Then home life got a bit different. Without going into detail, I found myself no longer a stay at home mom, but now, I was a full-time, single mom, with no support, whatsoever, financial or otherwise. I had to go back to work fast. So, back to work I went. I delivered pizza for Domino’s. Ah, the dream life. — said no one ever. I was scared, alone, still horrified about being a mom, in general, not to mention doing it ALONE. I worked during the day, and when my son slept, I would livestream, and create content. One day, I went to work and said aloud, a statement that didnt sink in until moments after I said it, “I could be making more money if I was home right now, livestreaming on tiktok. ” that was it. Those were the words. I heard them echo between my ears. As the epiphany sank in, I turned to my boss, and uttered the riskiest statement of my life. As a scared, broke, single, full-time mom, I looked at her, and said, “I quit.” That day, I bet on myself, and never looked back. I’ve been betting on myself ever since. Here I am, four years later, still a single, full-time mom, with no help, but now I have another baby, named Southern Unique Jewelry Company. When no one believed in me, and I felt like all hope was lost, I took a chance on myself, and I’ve been thanking myself for taking that risk every day since. Because, taking that risk led me to find a community of people who love and care about me, and above all, they, believe in me.

Haley, 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 Haley, pronounced like Hal-ey, or Halle Berry. I’m a self taught, fifth-generation artist and I specialize in Cold Connection Jewelry, which is just my unnecessarily pretentious way of saying wire wrap. I’ve been wire wrapping consistently for over 6 years, and I’ve been doing it full time since 2021. In my time wire wrapping, I originally learned a few basic concepts via good ol’ YouTube University, but then I decided to go rogue and create my own designs. At this point, 99.9% of my work is original designs, consisting of various techniques that I developed myself. I’ve been called the “Bezel Queen” a handful of times because over the last 2 years, I’ve specialized in cultivating various bezel techniques. I create the vast majority of my pieces LIVE on Tiktok, and I’m online streaming 30+ hours a week, 6 to 7 days a week. I teach live on YouTube as well, and have over 130 videos showcasing different designs and techniques. Nearly everything I create is available for sale, I also sell wire, and wire wrap starter kits and offer a wealth of information for beginners on my website, including where to buy tools, materials, stones and where to find free tutorials. I believe that as an artist it is important not to gatekeep, to always credit inspiration where credit is due, and lead by example. It’s important to me to foster a community of openness, kindness, respectfulness, love and support. I’m most proud of my community, above all. They are all wonderful, loving, kind and supportive people, without whom I would be nothing.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

At some point, I got it in my head that no one wants copper jewelry. As someone who’s sold thousands of copper jewelry pieces, I can confidently say, that has been debunked.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of what I do, is knowing I’m living a life my mother would’ve been proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.southernuniquejewelry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southern.unique.jewelry?igsh=dmZmbW1yMzA4Z3R5
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1C6Wc6AFT7/
• Youtube: https://Youtube.com/@southern.unique.jewelry
• Other: TIKTOK:

  https://www.tiktok.com/@southern.unique.jewelry?_t=ZT-8wk0tqIUVDS&_r=1