Meet Jillian Marsh | Sandcastle Jewelry, creator, owner

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

Hi Jillian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My business is strange in the fact that it has honestly been around since I was in Junior High. I made bracelets to sell on the bus to have money for the pop machine. I set up craft fair booths to bring in a little extra income during college and even after I had a “real” job, I still had my creative side hustle. When I decided to stay home with my kids while they were little it gave me both an outlet and a little income. As my kids are all entering schools it’s providing a flexible job for me that lets me continue to put them first while flexing my creative and business skills. As I write all these different facets of what Sandcastle Jewelry has been the foundation has been the same. I have strived to create a business relationship that operates like a dear friend. She provides clarity and outlook and support while knowing my family is my first priority. I remember reading an article probably nearly two decades ago and I lament I can’t give proper sourcing information, anyhow, in this article it talked about lifestyle entrepreneurs. That unlike a generation before that perhaps focused on entrepreneurial endeavors to be a drive to independent wealth, lifestyle entrepreneurs create businesses to support the life they want to create, and I guess that stood out to me because I felt like I was reading an article that was defining what I had done and hoped to continue to do.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a jewelry artist in the Midwest. My mission is to reflect existing strength and beauty through wearable art. While jewelry artists are everywhere I think what sets my work apart is that it’s not really about me as much as it is about the women who wear it. I strive to create pieces that have stories and history that connect with the wearer. I recently did a collection of rings from old political pins and enjoyed meeting people who bought them and hearing why–a nurse bought a red cross blood donor, a non profit worker from KC bought a 1929 KC Charities heart–getting to hear stories and create pieces for them or connect people with pieces that reflect their story is just so rewarding. I think people like to share about their history and I like giving them wearable opportunities to do that. I’m always excited about pieces I work on that I feel are going to really hit home for someone. And I’m always excited to meet the people they hit home with.

I think it’s really easy to look at a person somewhere along thier journey or career and feel like it was easy for them. I can’t say it was easy but I also can’t say it was incredibly difficult. I guess for me I think sometimes creating your own business is just deciding to bet on you and show up for you. That’s the hard part. If you can make yourself show up day in and day out just for you, things are going to happen. They might not happen at the rate you want and they might not happen like you want but they’ll happen. It’s a process. Do the process. I can’t emphasize that enough. Sure something like going viral might make you feel like there are shortcuts to success but honestly, there just isn’t. At the end of the day there’s a process and you have to find it and do the work. There were a lot of things I aimed for well before I was ready (here’s looking at you, Anthropologie contract) and now that I’m further along I have to smile at my confidence and ambition but I also recognize that I needed to spend much more time creating my brand, deciding who I was, what this work was going to consist of, what I wanted with my life, etc. Take the big shots, sure, but also don’t let a miss on those totally take you under. It’s a process. Sometimes it’s a pivot, but just keep showing up consistently and you’ll get there.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated with stories. As my abilities grew and more people wanted to wear my work I began to take commissions that had a specific purpose. That’s where I really found my passions intersecting. People, stories, art. That’s what I hope to be growing my brand into. So at the end of the day, Sandcastle Jewelry is just an opportunity for you to wear something that reflects your story, and an opportunity for me to figure out how to create it in metal and stone. It’s a collaboration and I am so thankful for everyone who has poured out their stories to me over the past several years. From deaths to triumphs to new births and engagements–it is a high honor to be invited in to such sacred spaces of your lives.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh this is the best question ever because I just ADORE our little community!

Our morning would have to start with coffee and breakfast from BrewCo and Dilly Deli where you would likely meet the owner who puts in lots of hours behind the counter. We would shop around downtown hitting the local boutiques, Robin’s, a cornerstone shop where you would likely get to meet Robin herself and her girls do an amazing job styling their clients. There’s a great consignment shop that is a non profit and had some great bargains and a couple of thrift stores that just might have a treasure you never knew you needed. We would need to swing into Reliant Bookstore, which is an amazing midcentury styled property teeming with used and new books and cozy vibes. One of my favorite places and people can be found on Pine street tucked away in a salon called The Rustic Iron. Whitney is a partial owner and one of El Dorado’s best kept secrets. Her organic beauty and wellness line Urban Apothecary features soaps, lotions, scrubs, oils and teas made from her own recipes and her own grown herbs. Both Whitney and her products are gems and have the ability to leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. We would grab lunch at one of our great local restaurants and then maybe head out to the lake for some hiking or kayaking along the beautiful prairie.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think I could write shoutouts all day long. Recently I have thought a lot about a few in particular, so I’ll try to narrow that down. My hometown is a mere 2500 people in the center of rural America. In a culture that, intentionally or unintentionally, boasts big cities are the place of opportunity, my hometown holds more cheerleaders of youth than any place I’ve ever met. Minneapolis, Kansas has turned out doctors and athletes and creatives and entrepreneurs and I find myself reflecting on many of those faces who championed myself and other youth to find our lane, work hard, and seek out what we wanted in life. So much of my courage to go, do, be and try came from the home I was raised in and the town I will forever consider my roots.

If I was to consider one individual shoutout to my art as a whole, that goes to Roger Mathews, a junior college professor and artist I met in my mid to late twenties. I spent years auditing Roger’s classes before his retirement, and he still always answers my phone calls and questions. He has been an incredible friend, mentor and I will never be able to thank him enough for the investment he has made in my life.

Website: www.sandcastlejewelry.com

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Image Credits
Photo credit goes to Rachel Harder, @harderhomestead and Taylor Cooper @audreytaylorphoto