We recently connected with Kelsey Sorenson and have shared our conversation below.

Kelsey, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I think the biggest thing I would change about the education system (especially on a upper/collegiate level) is really helping students to know and understand that success is not linear, and you don’t have to choose between things that you love.
Let me start by telling my own story and why I feel so passionate about this.
I went to college to be a dance major. As I went through high school I never really questioned what I wanted to do in college, I just knew I wanted to dance and make that my career. While of course it wasn’t perfect, all in all, I really enjoyed my time in college and learned so much about dance, career choices, and about myself. But one thing that I really started to struggle with was the fact that professors and other dance professionals made it pretty clear that if you want to be a dancer you need to make that your whole life, your whole identity, really give your whole self to the art form. That sounds great and all until you start to get burnt out… or when you start to develop other desires or interests for you life as well.
I got married very young, while I was still in my undergrad. While I certainly knew that I wasn’t ready quite yet, I knew I wanted to have children someday. The messaging always felt like you need to choose between dance and a family. That you cannot have both. If you were to make the choice to have kids, that dance is then over for you. That you can have one or the other but not both.
Fast forward to senior year. Spring of 2020……. We all know what comes next.
All my classes moved online for the final few weeks of my bachelor’s program. I went from dancing MANY hours everyday to sitting at home realizing I have no hobbies. I discovered jewelry making as a way to fill my free time and battle some of the lockdown depression. After some time of having a small hobby business, I decided I wanted to really dive in and see where I could take this. I started to learn more about business, about marketing, about branding. I started to look into having my designs manufactured rather than just handmade, and I decided to finally start that family of mine.
I felt like I was learning everything from scratch. That I had to let go of things that I had learned and that had been ingrained in me from college to allow myself to grow.
What I realized was that all of these things made me happy. My company, my baby, and my dancing. And I realized that while maybe I don’t have to pick between the things that make me happy. I can still work on growing my company and serving my customers, while having small children, while still teaching dance and performing with a local dance company. I wish I was taught that you can find a way to do all the things you want to do if you are creative about it.
I think we would be doing a great service to current students to really tell them and show them how everyones journey is so different and it certainly isn’t linear. I use to think life was as simple as graduating high school, graduating college, get your dream job. (And from the people I have talked to, it seems like a lot of young students feel that way too). We feel like a failure if we start pursuing something and have obstacles in our path. As much as I didn’t enjoy lockdown, I know that obstacle caused me to pivot, and I ended up with me creating a successful jewelry company because of it.
My hope is that we not only arm students with knowledge of how to succeed in their chosen field, but also arm them with the knowledge of how to turn obstacles into opportunities, and things you love into things you do daily.

Kelsey, 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?

Rose and Clay is a jewelry brand focused on providing feminine and romantic style jewelry that is dainty and perfect for everyday wear. Our company focuses on providing the highest quality jewelry- jewelry that’s hypoallergenic, tarnish free, and waterproof- to our customers, while keeping it at a very affordable price point for the everyday person. We pride ourselves on the fact that we are women-owned, women-founded and, women-run company. Our mission (especially coming from a team of women) is to design pieces to help women to FEEL as beautiful as they are, because we know first hand how a little extra confidence like that can completely change your day.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Rose and Clay started as (not even side hustle!) but just a hobby. As a broke college student about to graduate, I started to take up the hobby of jewelry making, but quickly realized that I didn’t have any money to buy supplies. Investing a hefty sum of $100, I purchased my first set of essential jewelry making tools and made a few pairs of earrings. I had told myself that maybe if I sold a few pairs on Instagram or Facebook Marketplace, then maybe I could use that money to buy some more supplies that I had wanted. A few sales later, Rose and Clay (the side hustle) was born.
Now bear in mind that all of this was happening during peak lockdown period of 2020, so I had quite a bit of free time on my hands, unlike I ever had before.
I really down into my baby company. Making content on social media, making lots of jewelry, and learning lotsss by trial and much error. I wasn’t focused on growing some big company, I was focused on creating something that gave me some meaning and purpose in a time where I felt a lot of depression.
Fast forward to fall of 2021, my husband and I excitedly find out I am pregnant with our first child and morning sickness takes a TOLL. While at this point my company wasn’t making vast amounts of money by any means, but I cared a lot about it and my small group of loyal followers that had come to support my company. When I realize I simply couldn’t keep up with my company and deal with slew of pregnancy symptoms and the reality of a baby coming soon, I took a huge leap in my business, and hired my first *part-time* employee. She helped to take over a large part of the jewelry making process which allowed me to start to focus on product photography, designing, website design, and social media more.
After a year or so of her working for me we had a bit of a turning point when we had our first ever (*semi-viral*) video blow up. It led to an influx of orders over that weekend for us. It wasn’t a wild or huge number by any means that was life changing, but it helped me to see my company in a new light for the first time and really start to believe in it more. I started to dream a little bigger and actually started to see if I could put some of those dreams into reality. This was the first point in where I decided that no longer is Rose and Clay a side hustle for me. This is an actual and real business, and is my full time job. (A huge shift in mindset for me!)
I also started leaning more into the wholesale side of my company which led me to realize there is absolutely no way that my company could ever grow in the way that I would like to unless I started manufacturing my products. This was a whole journey in and of itself that I just now and starting to feel a little more comfortable iwth.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024. I am now pregnant once again with baby #2 and starting to feel a little discouraged about Rose and Clay’s progress as a company. I had shifted my mindset to really believe in this company, but I wasn’t really sure to how to actually make it grow and scale. I decided to put some work into improving our website and decided to invest in a business mentorship (which was one of the most expensive things I’ve ever done, so it was scaryyy for me). This mentorship taught me about marketing- specifically paid advertising, which is something I had never really thought too much of in the past. I learned sooo much from this and suddenly started to see consistent orders come in for my company which was so amazing and comforting that I am starting to do something right.
There are still so many milestones ahead that I hope to achieve that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. But it is always really cool to look back and realize how far that little hobby to side hustle grew, so I feel confident we can continue to grow and scale even more.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

As my company grew more, I realized I could no longer keep up with demand while hand-making pieces. My focus began to turn to manufacturing. I have learned a lot of lessons along the way- and I’m still learning lessons!- but here are some helpful things I have discovered.
1- Every manufacturer is so different. The types of files/information they need from you is different. The MOQ is different. One with have low fees, while others will have high fees. Some will ask very specific questions of you to make the vision right and others will take general instructions and run with it.
2- You can try out lots of manufacturers! Feel free to find lots of options and order from lots of companies before finding the best fit for you. Sometimes a manufacturer seems like a great fit on paper but doesn’t deliver for your needs when actually trying them out. There is a lot of trial and error here- if it doesn’t work great, move on.
3- Be specific. I have learned to be very specific with my jewelry designs about everythingggg. Sometimes I feel like I have shared every piece of information I need to and sketched it out well, but the end design isn’t exactly like my vision. I have learned to share more info than you think you need to on even the minor details.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.roseandclayjewelry.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseandclayjewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roseandclayjewelry/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@roseandclayjewelry/videos
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@roseandclayjewelry