We had the good fortune of connecting with Rachel Paga and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We started Rachel Marie Designs back when I was in high school. As a child, my mom would bring back beads and findings from NYC when she would go on buying trips for her boutique and I would play around with them. After years of “playing beads”, I did a business class as part of my high school homeschool curriculum and created the legal documentation for the business, created a business banking account and began to do a profit and loss sheet.
During college and the years after, I went through phases of the business where I grew it or let it just ride. One day when my husband was going through the area that I used for the business and looking around, he said, “we need to make this a business or stop this hobby.” Maybe it looked a little out of control, but it gave me the push to start working with boutiques and selling jewelry around the world.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I think about what I am most proud of when I looking back at where we have been and where we are now, I think of all of the great people that I have met and the wonderful store-owners that have become friends and family to me. There are always challenges to face when trying to break into a market but I think these have been largely overcome by the amount of people who have believed in our product and trusted us to fill their stores with our jewelry. When I think about something that I would like everyone to know about our line, it would be that supporting Rachel Marie Designs is not just touching one shop or one family, but there is a whole network of families and individuals that are touched when you purchase a piece of our jewelry.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We live in Metro Detroit and have the benefit of getting to a lot of great places without needing to fly or drive for too long. If I had a friend visiting the area, I would love to take them to a couple of our downtowns. We have the cutest places to walk around, shop and go out to eat. A few that come to mind are: Milford, Brighton and Plymouth. If we went to Milford, we would have to stop at The Clothing Cove to shop and visit Smoke Street for lunch. All of the downtowns near us have really great retail and the restaurants are unique.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My story definitely stems from the time when I was a little girl and my mom brought back beads and findings for me to create jewelry. She always encouraged me to do better and to keep trying and I am grateful for that encouragement.

Website: WWW.RMDJEWELRY.COM

Instagram: Instagram.com/rachelmariedesigns

Facebook: Facebook.com/rachelmariedesignsjewelry

Image Credits
Credit to Melissa Douglas Co For several of the images above.

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