We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melanie McGee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melanie below.

Alright, Melanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

There are so many resources out there with social media, YouTube, and/or the internet that we as humans can pretty much learn anything. I personally learned from social media. I read a lot about Polymer Clay and followed a ton of clay artist sharing their tips and tricks of what they learned.

What I know now and things I could of avoided was mainly spending a lot of money on a bunch of things I don’t really need. To me, it was all about trial and error. I jumped right in and started doing markets. I didn’t have much success in the beginning, but I was able to network with different vendors and they would share a lot of tips and other markets to attend.

Patience is the most essential skill to have. Like anything else, nothing will come over night. Not success, not perfection. You have to go through the good, the bad, the ugly to have a great outcome. At least in my opinion.

The one obstacle I have standing in the way is time. I work a full-time job, take care of a household, and am a mommy to my 3 girls, so creating handmade clay earrings and accessories are my ways of therapy after work. It’s my happy place.

Melanie, 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 Melanie, you can call me Mel for short. Hence my business name Clay Bae by, Mel. I am a polymer clay artist who handcraft earrings and accessories. I started this as a hobby. Got the idea from my oldest daughter who loves unique statement earrings. She definitely inspired me to get into making earrings. Then I saw a TikTok video of someone’s earring made out of clay. I was very intrigued that it was actually handmade out of clay. I started experimenting with clay and started making earrings. My first pieces compared to now was let’s just say not something I would wear now. My style is like me a little bit of everything. I’ve always been the person who has multiple styles. I love cute, sporty, classy, trendy, I love all styles.

Consistency is definitely a huge part of success. I have remained consistent for a year now and have seen the growth in my business. I do have my days like anyone else, but I try keep a positive mindset and push through it by looking back at day 1 and see how far I come. I do still have a long road ahead, but I am proud of where I’m at now.

I believe in great customer service and that’s something that is very important to me. I will provide and continue to provide the best customer service I can. I tell my customers if there’s an issue with the product, I want to know about it and I will make it right.

I am most proud of just putting myself out there and taking the risk. I’m proud that I can show my girls the dream and the hustle. Show them not to be afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone. They’re my biggest supporters and I want to be their role model for the future.

I’ve always been such a shy person, so attending markets and craft fairs is a huge deal for me. I love the environment and my heart is so full to see my customers face light up when they see my earrings. I love when they tag me on social media with my earrings. I’m like “I made that and people love it”

Everything I make is straight from my heart and soul. I wouldn’t make anything I wouldn’t wear.

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

The most rewarding aspect of this hobby turned business is really having so much positive feedback from my customers. I love when people message me with pictures wearing my earrings or people returning to my pop ups and telling me how much they love my product.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I don’t have a big following and I’m ok with that. I’m not about the numbers. I just be myself and share what I love. Food and anything funny like videos or memes are things I like to share. Another thing to keep in mind is social media is just a minor percentage of someone’s life. You can’t know someone from what they share.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Themelaniemcgee
• Facebook: Melanie McGee and Clay Bae by, Mel