SUCCESSSTORIES
INSPIRING TALES OF STARTUPS, GROWTH AND OVERCOMING HARDSHIPS
Designing Jewelry That Inspires
ftentimes, in one’s journey as an entrepreneur, listening
to one’s inner voice is all it takes to take the plunge.
Rheena Mae, owner of MaeMae Jewelry who holds the
company’s designation “Chief Believer in Your Dreams,” says
becoming a jewelry designer wasn’t initially part of her big plan
in life.
“MaeMae Jewelry found me in 2011. I say ‘found me’ because
I had no idea I would one day own a jewelry company,” she says.
She was led to her calling after she heard an inner voice while
meditating that told her to make a necklace. “I was like, ‘What? I
am not even crafty.’ For two weeks there was this nagging voice
in my head so I finally listened. I walked Downtown L.A. for eight
hours and bought a bunch of jewelry-making materials. I didn’t
know anything about jewelry-making, I literally went on
YouTube to learn how to do it!” she recalls her
earliest experience as a jewelry designer.
For the holidays that same year, she
decided to give her sister a
handmade necklace. When her
sister brought up the idea of
selling her creations at a
farmer’s market, her first
thought was: “What? Who
does that?” The following
week, she found herself in a
booth at a farmer’s market
wherein she made her first sales
worth US$95.
BY MAE
MAÑACAPJOHNSON
O
Affirming One’s Worth
In 2012, a personal struggle led her toward
affirming her self-worth, which eventually, inspired her bestselling creation. “I came into the most difficult time in my life: I
got divorced. When I was in the process of going through it, I
needed to know only one thing: That I was ENOUGH. I made
myself a bracelet as a reminder and I never took it off.”
This life event and her need for affirmation became the
impetus of her I Am Priceless bracelet, which included a simple
affirmation “I Am Enough.” She thought to herself, “If this simple
thing can be such an important reminder for me, imagine all the
other people it could help.” Her gut-feeling was right. The
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PULSE
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December 2016
RHEENA MAE
Owner/Chief Believer in Your Dreams • MaeMae Jewelry
Los Angeles, California
bracelet has been her best-selling piece
in her collection because the message
resonated. “We all have pains,
doubts and fears, and the reminder
that you are enough can make a big
difference in someone’s day,” she
says.
Finally, after years of uncertainty,
Rheena Mae found clarity and
discovered who she is as a designer and
what she wanted her message to be.
“From 2011 to 2014, my company was just
me. I did everything! I wasn’t sure if I wanted MaeMae
to be my business so I did what I needed to do to make a living.
After 2014, something clicked and I went full-board! I have seen
a 400 percent growth in my company in the last two years and
the staff grew from just me to now five!”
In 2015, Rheena Mae decided to expand her retail presence by
selling wholesale. “I did gift shows, trade shows and reached out
to a lot of stores. This was the start of my niche marketing to the
spa world. I love the spa and I knew my collection has a spa-like
feel. So in 2015, I exhibited for the first time at the ISPA
Conference & Expo—boy, that was a game changer!”