Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sara Mizrachi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

So I’ve actually had crazy stories on both sides of the spectrum. I started selling my jewelry at the age of 13(my mom chaperoned) at a local movie theater turned bingo hall in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, NY where they would have a weekly flea market. I only sold there a few times, pretty much because of what I experienced on one of those occasions. I was selling items for $5, I was making pieces out of clay, glass, plastic…nothing out of the ordinary for a 13 year old girl. At one point during a sale this woman comes over and starts looking over my display and showing interest. She shows interest in a pair of earrings with black/silver/gold beads, picks them up and asks about them. Once I tell her they are $5 she literally dropped them, put her hands up and backed away. Now I must tell you at 13 years old, that totally could have affected me negatively, but I must say that once she walked far enough away my mom and I started laughing our butts off. I am now 37 and I remember this moment with a mixture of smiling and head shaking.

Now on the other side of the spectrum, I had the opportunity of a lifetime when Mandy Moore wore my earrings on an episode of This Is Us. I had gifted them through The Artisan Group, but we never know if our pieces will in fact be used on a show/movie, etc. In December of 2019, a member of the group DM’d me and told me to check out her story asap and she posted wearing my earrings while in production of the episode and she was freaking touching the earrings while talking and I started screaming(while holding my sleeping newborn). Fast forward to February 2020 and the episode came out and HOLY MOLY! It was season 4 episode 13 and one of the best moments of my life. My earrings were given such a beautiful close up and I was on cloud 9(and still am a little bit).

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Sara Mizrachi and I am the owner and designer Sara Sela Jewelry. I make small batch and one of a kind jewelry inspired by the colors, shapes and textures of nature and I try to make sure all of my gemstones are ethically produced, supporting other small and local businesses. I have been designing jewelry since childhood, I began with those typical plastic beads and as I evolved as a person, so did my designs.

I have learned A LOT. I am self taught in nearly all aspects of my business and I think the most important has been customer service. I definitely had to learn how to sell my work with confidence and relating that to my customers. I honestly love to work with customers and collaborate. Creative problem solving goes hand in hand with my business. I think this has become a major proponent of maintaining my customers, a few for 15 years!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience is an amazing thing. One of the hardest but best things to happen to me in hindsight was the recession in 2008. That year brought a lot challenges for me both in my business and personal life. My business took a financial hit and it was like needing to start over and in the summer I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. At age 22 I was definitely thrown a few wrenches, but I came out of it all scarred and strong.
In my business I learned to pivot and change my design process to make it work better and I love where it’s taken me. It was hard work and took a while but I have gotten to a happy place.
In my personal life I needed to overcome a health crisis and then learn how to live with testing, a daily medication regiment and the underlying fear of the big “C” even 15 years later, but every day you need to live and stay positive!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn being attached to my pieces. I would make these one of a kind, totally unique designs(and still do) and fall totally in love and not want to let them go. That attachment sets you up for failure when it comes time to selling your work. There is that part of you that prevents you from closing the sale and even that connection to your customers! I had to learn how to have my moment with a piece I love but then take that love and put it out into the social media universe and spread the love to bring in customers instead.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarasela.com www.sarasela.etsy.com
• Instagram: @saraselajewelry
• Facebook: @saraselajewelry
• Twitter: @saraselajewelry