Women's History Month: Female empowerment is driving force behind Brooklyn-based jewelry company Follow Your Bliss
NEW YORK -- One of the many ways women are celebrating Women's History Month is by empowering other women.
A Brooklyn-based business owner says it's the support of the women in her life that led to her success and inspired a book promoting female empowerment, CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis reported Monday.
'"I grew up playing in my grandmother's jewelry box and I think that's where my love for jewelry began," Alyssa Kuchta said.
It's a love that turned into a living for Kuchta, founder of FYB Jewelry.
"FYB stands for Follow Your Bliss," Kuchta said.
And that's exactly what she did 10 years ago, starting a company from her college apartment.
"I was graduating in a year and felt really lost and that's when I took a step back and did some soul searching and found that designing and making jewelry was an amazing creative outlet," Kuchta said.
She took her passion and the $100 in her bank account to make and sell pieces on campus, investing every dollar earned into building a business.
"I think a big part of how I grew the business on my own was having a supportive network of women, from my friends to my sorority to people in my network that really believed in me and the business," Kuchta said.
None more than her mother, a Chinese immigrant, who inspired the brand by focusing on female empowerment.
"We had a lot of hardship and adversity to overcome financially, and I think my mom has always been a shining example to me of what it means to work hard and pull yourself out of that," Kuchta said.
Perseverance led Kuchta to recently open a showroom in Brooklyn, where she showed CBS2 the collection that got it all started.
She said all of the pieces have "empowering sentiments on them like 'Keep aiming,' and 'Powerful,' 'Ride the wave,'" which are the chapter titles of her new book "Follow Your Bliss," which spotlights 60 diverse, trailblazing women.
"From Olympic medalists, to activists to entrepreneurs, artists and more, all sharing words of wisdom, and the moments of inspiration or hardship that inspired their pathway," Kuchta said. "Mandana Dayani is the creator and co-founder of I am a Voter. She's also an attorney, an incredible woman."
Also featured in the book, is Ali Kriegsman, founder of wholesale marketplace Bulletin.
"The men have been gatekeepers for so long, it's really on women to open the gates for other women and help them network, help them make connections, help them find opportunity, and I think that's what Alyssa's book is all about," Kriegsman said.
"From the early days, the brand has always been about empowering and supporting women. It's always really been bigger than just the jewelry," Kuchta said.
The goal of the showroom is to be more than just a place to shop. Kuchta wants it to be a gathering place for women to showcase their brands, network and connect.
Kuchta sells her jewelry at hundreds of retail businesses around the country, most of which, she says, are female owned, continuing her mission of supporting women.