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

Joyce, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Well I am going to say it was mainly my mother who did it right! She always supported our creative moves no matter what they were. I am talking full on support no matter what! I remember as a little kid always getting things as gifts that were creative, painting sets, rug making tools or crochet needles and yarn. As a teen I asked for and got a very nice sewing maching along with all the stuff. Once I made something my mom would always be excited about.

As an adult I always had a side hustle. I have made wreaths, baskets, and soap before making jewerly and my mother was the best sales person ever!! She would get the orders and I would make the craft. She passed away before I started Jewelry With Me and I can’t image where I would have been able to take this business if she was here helping me grow it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Joyce Mercer and I created Jewelry With Me – an affordable line of handmade wire wrapped jewelry. My pieces are fun, colorful, funky pieces of art. I started this business to do something creative and show my daughter that hard work for something you want and believe in is one of the best feelings out there. I have always been a crafty person and as a child my mother always encouraged my creativity so here I am. It took me a little while to find this venture and make it my own. I did spend some time running a direct sale jewelry business. But I knew I needed something different something that expressed my style and love for cool jewelry!
One day after doing some research and taking a loc jewelry class in Baltimore at a Natural Hair convention I was looking online and ran across some wire wrapped rings, each one I saw I thought to myself that I just don’t get it… I ended up getting some wire in different gauges and I made myself a ring. (Nothing like what I saw online) I wore that ring to work and people fell in Love with it.
The ring will always be the start of what I do, and I am always looking to come up with new fun designs. I find that no matter how different my customer is they are always a woman/girl/person who loves to be different wants something unique and knows that it can be achieved in your everyday wears without putting lots of money into it. Each item is handmade by me, sometimes inspired by my daughter.

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

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being a role model in a way. I have been doing this for over 13 years. When I started my daughter who is now 23 years old was 10 years old and I couldn’t leave her home alone so she did a lot of vending. She has been there by myside watching and learning what its like to grind doing something that you love. Now she is a creative and is starting her entrepreneurial journey as an artist. I know she has been inspired and has learned a lot along the way. I also run into so many people when I am out vending and I love giving advice and encouragement to the young people I meet at events.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

One thing that I think non-creatives struggle to understand about my journey is that I really dont’ want to scale my brand to be this mass produced prodcut. I enjoy making jewelry and I love that when you wear the Jewelry With Me brand it was made by me. You may have purchased it from any number of places, but I made the piece and that is important to me.

The other part of this is that I give classes on how to make wire jewelry, I think everyone can do it and I encourage people to learn, but I still dont’ see myself having others make pieces for my clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: WWW.ETSY.COM/SHOP/JEWELRYWITHME
• Instagram: WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/JEWELRYWITHME
• Other: WWW.JEWELRYWITHMESHOP.COM