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

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

I think one of my favorite memories is making a pair of earrings for one of my coworkers when I waitressed in Los Angeles. This sale was probably the first that really opened my eyes to part of my purpose and the impact I could have on people.

It was a pair of clip on earrings for her grandmother. I didn’t think anything too much about it, I made a lot of clip ons at the time….The next time I saw my coworker however she gushed over how her grandmother loved them, she hadn’t been able to wear earring for years because her earlobes were ripped from all the heavy earrings she had been wearing. She told me her grandmother cried and told her she felt so beautiful.

It was so touching to hear how something as small as a pair of earrings could make someone feel so great about themselves.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started in the jewelry industry 12 years ago. I worked on a production set as an intern straight out of college and did hiring for music videos and photo shoots. I conducted interviews and hired stylists, models, photographers, lighting, editors, sound etc.

Long story short randomly…..one day I decided to bring some accessories for the stylist…some things I just whipped up to make the shoot different, didn’t think much of it just a natural instinct. The stylist never really brought jewelry for some reason. A lot of the girls wanted to purchase the jewelry that I made on set. And it hit me that this could actually be a business.

I wasn’t being paid …but selling a piece or 2 a day at the time was equivalent to a regular paying job at the time.

I didn’t know much about the process of running a business at all but Im creative and learn quick so I learned a lot and took necessary steps to build my own blog, website, social media presence and conduct my own photoshoots for my jewelry.

The beginning stages of my career were costume pieces made from found objects. There was a lot of features and photoshoots and it was very fun and carefree for the most part.

I moved from the west coast, to ATL for love, 6 years into my career and it changed my resources, clientele and a lot of other things in my creative process.
I had my daughter Quest and found myself a single mom soon after and it made me look at what I was doing a little differently. I was still loving the jewelry industry and determined to succeed in it but I knew I had to pivot for time, money and the new clientele demand.

I wanted to create more sustainable items, long lasting, things I actually wanted to wear, everyday pieces.
I found my way to where you will find most of the jewelers in ATL that deal with gold, diamonds and precious stones and began to learn as much as I could . Much like in LA, when I started, I would go to the fashion district almost daily, go to each store, meet and build relationships with the owners. I do the same here in ATL.

First thing that really helped me pivot was meeting PI, the owner of Atown Grills. He taught me the process of molding for gold teeth and it was a perfect segway into dealing with gold and letting my clientele know that we are now working with this material.

This helped me dive into learning about gram weight, karats, CAD design etc. All of this was new to me and gave me a second wind and excitement in the jewelry game.

Ive learned to be able to rework precious heirlooms for people, bring old or broken pieces back to life and create wedding rings, baby jewelry and really important sentimental things for people.

I think the thing Im most proud of is sticking with something and learning as much as I can about it. I understand that this is a  unique gift and can take me places I never imagined.

I opened an office in the ATL jewelry district last year and my daughter gets to come and see what I am up to and I can tell she is interested and proud and I think that is a cool experience in itself that I can teach my child to make a living in this industry several different ways if she wanted to.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

A near death moment had to be the beginning of 2020. I just knew it was over for me. Everything was kind of shutting down during the pandemic, I think business was already slow at the time and I wasn’t worried. But I had a friend drop off a cuban necklace to me that the wanted cut down and cleaned and polished, easy peezy right. So I got it done and shipped it back. Someone stole the package. I cant remember the exact gram weight but it was worth a couple thousand dollars. Not to mention I do not know what the sentimental value of this piece was to this person. So I had to file claim and everything and the postal service only honored like a couple hundred on it or something. So with everything shut down and everybody in the house and business almost at a halt I had to find a way to hustle a couple grand to replace this piece.

I definitely could have dropped the ball, throw in the towel etc. But I knew this was a true test of solving an issue, learning how to prevent this in the future, how committed I was to doing the the right thing, reputation as a jewler etc.

2020 actually turned out to be a pivotal year . I replaced the piece, I gained a returning customer and business turned up after that. Praise God the most high!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.glchrst.com
• Instagram: @glchrst