- 3 years ago
Have you ever been preparing for an outing with friends, a fancy party or virtual HH, but just couldn’t seem to find the perfect accessories to complete your look? After years of frustrated accessories shopping, we committed to making our dream of handcrafting bold + classy statement pieces into a reality, and VOILA, Live Laugh Bejeweled was born!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Shop Essence Live. I am your host Noni,
00:06 and this is where we, in partnership with New Voices Family, bring you new Black-owned brands
00:11 to shop every single week. Whether you're watching on essence.com/shopping or you're watching on
00:18 Pinterest TV, make sure that you are supporting these Black-owned brands. We know the holidays
00:23 are coming up and you're looking for incredible gifts to give. When I tell you we got some
00:30 bejewels for you today. And if you're wondering, I know you're already like, "Oh, look at her
00:35 earrings." And you're wondering what that's about. Well, today we're talking to Erica
00:39 of Live Laugh Bejewel to tell us all about her incredible jewelry brand. Erica, welcome.
00:46 Thank you for having me. This is so exciting.
00:49 Well, we're so excited to have you. Before we get into these incredible designs that you have for
00:56 us today, please tell us your story. How did you get started?
00:59 Well, it's a mix of a story, right? So the Live Laugh Bejewel was conceptualized
01:06 because I was tired of going to the store and looking for jewelry to wear to some sort of event,
01:11 and I couldn't find something that really spoke to me that I really wanted to wear.
01:16 And it was really expensive. But then it was just a thought of it. I know I can make some jewelry.
01:21 I can learn how to do this. But then there was a point in time where I got really sick. And
01:27 when you're sick, you have one wish. When you're well, you have a thousand. So when I was sick,
01:33 I was like, "Well, what do I want to do?" I want to figure out ways to better support myself and
01:38 give myself some self-care. And then at the same time, one of my nieces was going off to college,
01:43 and I wanted to be able to help her. So my son, who was probably my first manager,
01:48 publicist, whatever he was at the time, I think he was 10, or no, he was about 15. He was like,
01:54 "Mommy, you just need to sell your jewelry." And I was like, "No, I don't want to sell it. It's
01:59 just for me and making my mom and my sisters wear it because that's in a sister contract."
02:02 But then my nieces started to ask me for pieces. And younger, your nieces aren't that nice,
02:10 but they're just going to be asking you to make things for them just because. So I knew I was
02:14 onto something. So I thought to myself, "Well, if I'm ever going to get myself out there, if I'm
02:19 ever going to do this, now is the time. This young girl needs some assistance with pursuing her
02:24 educational goals, so let's do this." And I'm proud to report right now, she is a recent graduate from
02:30 North Carolina Central University, and she is now a kindergarten teacher.
02:33 Come on, niece. Yes, niece.
02:35 So that's how Live, Laugh, and Go was born.
02:40 Just so, so inspiring. So I would love to get into these designs. Before we do that,
02:46 let me not forget, you actually have a promo code. Can you let the people know what it is?
02:52 Yes, my promo code is Essence Ship, and that will get my Bejeweled Baes, my new and old Bejeweled
03:00 Baes, free shipping until Sunday, November the 19th. Free domestic shipping until November 19th.
03:09 All right. So if you guys are watching, clock is ticking, November the 19th, you get free domestic
03:15 shipping, which is so, so cool. So let's get into the designs. What's the first thing that you'd like
03:20 to highlight for us? Well, the first thing that I would like to highlight for you today is the
03:25 earring that you are wearing. And this particular earring is called Xena 2, like Xena Warrior
03:32 Princess. So this particular earring is made from out of polymer clay. So it's very lightweight,
03:39 but very much a statement piece of earring. And the one thing that I want to say about
03:44 Live, Laugh, Bejeweled earrings is that at Live, Laugh, Bejeweled, we really specialize in creating
03:52 custom statement pieces for our Bejeweled Baes. We want to make every woman feel as beautiful,
03:58 as authentic, as much of herself in every possible way, in every day, in every space that she's in.
04:05 I find that being a Black woman, Black and Brown women are often asked to be a little bit quieter,
04:11 a little bit less of themselves. Don't talk as much, don't wear your natural hair, tame your
04:17 hair, tame your voice, tame everything about you. No more code switching. We're done with that.
04:23 Be you, be who you're meant to be, wear those earrings, say what you need to say, be a boss in
04:28 the street. You know what I'm saying? So with these earrings here, you're going to have people
04:32 on Zooms wondering, what is she wearing today? Who made that? How do I get that? And that's one
04:39 of the things that I really enjoy about these polymer clay earrings. So much statement, so bold,
04:46 and so absolutely lightweight. These are Black and white. And if you kind of take a look at these,
04:52 they've got a little sparkle in them. A little bit of sparkle. Yeah, they've got a little bit
04:57 of sparkle because I feel like my Bejeweled Bays, that's what I call my customers, we've got a lot
05:02 of sparkle in us. So there's nothing wrong with a little sparkle in your earring, right? So I love
05:07 that you're a lot on these. They look so excellent on you. And I have a couple of pairs here. I've
05:12 got a little pink pair here. Oh, you have other colors. Yes, I have other colors. And this one
05:16 has like a metallic-y color onto the pink as well. If you see here, I kind of have like a theme with
05:22 the pink. That's what I mean. No, we love that. We love what you said about just being free to
05:31 express yourselves. We're so naturally fly and naturally creative. And a lot of Black women find
05:42 ourselves in environments where we feel like we have to make ourselves smaller in order to not
05:47 make the next person uncomfortable. And what I love about fashion is you don't have to say anything,
05:54 right? You walk into a room and it's just like, "Oh, I know what she's about." You walk into a
05:59 room with these and it's already kind of letting people know for you what she is about and her
06:06 spirit and all of that just through these earrings. And when I tell you, you guys, this looks like it
06:12 would be a lot heavier than it is. It is just so light. It's as light as just like some plain hoop
06:18 earrings, but they really make a statement. You want to just walk into a room and just like plain
06:23 Black, but still make a splash. Style and profiling. Exactly. And that's what I love about a statement
06:30 earring, right? Is that you can wear a very basic outfit. Like right now, I just have on a white
06:34 tank top that I think that I got from Old Navy, but I've got these orange ostrich feather earrings on
06:40 that I'm going to wear to a fundraiser right after this recording. But you can dress up,
06:46 you can dress down. And I just love the fact that these earrings are so completely versatile.
06:51 There's a pair of Live Laffy Jewel earrings that can match every bood of every bejeweled bae that's
06:57 out there. Whatever the color, whatever the style, whatever the shape, whether you like long and
07:02 luscious or whether you like short and spunky, there's a bejeweled bae pair of earrings out
07:07 there for you. Love, love, love. I love it. I love it. We got a lot of designs.
07:11 Yeah. You know what? I said that those are called Xena. Those are called My Lady Love. So I'm sorry
07:18 about that one. These copper and red leather earrings are called Xena. Yeah. So let's do a
07:28 length check. So I said long and luscious or short and spunky, right? So we got a length check here.
07:32 So this is about six inches, six inches of earring fun here and super duper lightweight. I think that
07:43 you also have a pair of those there with you as well. So what I'm going to do is that I'm going
07:47 to try these earrings on so that you get some reference to what they look like. Are these the
07:53 same ones or different ones? Nope. Those are my feathers. Those are metallic pink feathers.
07:59 So these are black. These are the copper and red. These are made from recycled leather. I just want
08:11 to show you that. Look at that. Look at how the light catches there. And I love the sustainability
08:16 of recycled leather. This is really, really good. Essence, we have a really great story coming out
08:22 about sustainable fashion. So in the importance of it, it's really great. Look at that. Well,
08:27 I love that I use all recycled leathers. I also like to use a lot of materials from when I travel
08:34 to different countries because I feel like, you know, when your earrings or when your jewelry
08:38 has a story, you can wear it a lot more proudly than if you just picked it up from some sort of
08:44 chain place. In my earring, I'll have a story to them. There's always some sort of inspiration to
08:50 them. So we have these Xena copper and red earrings. But if you don't want them as long,
08:56 maybe five inches is a little bit more earring than what you want. We've got these.
09:01 Four. Length check. Length check. This is four inches right here. So this one is dual shades of
09:08 pink. So there is a metallic like bubblegum pink and then more of a little blush pink there. So if
09:15 you don't want the five inch earrings and you want to go a little bit shorter, these might be
09:21 for you. But it's still a lot of boldness as well. So you're not sacrificing the style just because
09:28 you want it a little bit shorter. As a matter of fact, that's how my mother orders earrings. She'll
09:33 see something that I've posted up and she'll text me and say, I like those make them shorter.
09:41 Love, love, love. What's the next thing you want to highlight? I'm going to pull up the
09:45 promo code once again, as you guys remember, if you're just tuning in, this is Shop Essence Live,
09:50 where we shop live with you guys, all black owned brands in partnership with New Voices Family.
09:56 Ooh, those are beautiful. So now, speaking of a story, these earrings here are made from
10:03 recycled leather and Ankara wax fabric that I brought back from a recent trip to Ghana. So
10:09 this is a great way for any woman to bring in a little bit of culture into her outfit and wear
10:18 it to work. And the name of this earring is called Ankara Passion. And recently I made some that were
10:26 called Pink Passion. They were actually named in a naming contest. So I made the earrings and I
10:32 thought how fun would it be for my Bejeweled baes out there to have an opportunity to name the
10:37 earrings. And so I put it out there and one of my friends, 10 year old daughter named the earrings
10:44 Pink Passion. So now this particular style is called Passion. And because this one has Ankara
10:50 wax fabric, it's Ankara Passion. Wow. So super lightweight. I just love these earrings and how
11:01 it shakes and how it moves and catches the light. And so very light. I want Live Laffey Jewel earrings
11:08 to be your favorite pair, no matter which pair it is. I want it to be your favorite pair. It cannot
11:15 be your favorite pair if they're heavy, if they're pinched, if they're uncomfortable. It's like when
11:20 your ponytail is too tight or you have on a pair of shoes that you were dying to get. It's gonna go
11:29 in the back of the closet. Yeah, we don't need fashion that hurts. I love it. We don't need
11:34 fashion that hurts. We need sustainable jewelry. We've got our recycled leather. I'm still
11:42 supporting young girls who are transitioning from between high school into college and out of
11:48 college with profits from Live Laffey Jeweled. So I always tell my women and my men who purchase
11:53 from Live Laffey Jeweled that you're also supporting educational goals of young Black and
11:58 Brown women at the same time. Wow, that is incredible. All right, so what's next? We got,
12:06 she has so many designs. It's easy for you to find something that is your favorite. What do
12:10 you want to highlight? Your absolute favorite. So I won't wear these, but I'm going to show you some
12:15 hoops, right? Like you said, hoops and staples. These are actually my pair of hoops right here.
12:21 I throw these things on all the time and I just go for it. So great. All the time. They're so
12:26 lightweight. Everyone always stops me and says, "Oh, I love your hoops. I love your hoops." And
12:31 I just put them on and I go. I love them so much. And I love those on you. You have the neck for
12:40 modeling these earrings. I just absolutely love it. I've never heard that before in my life,
12:47 but I will take it. And then the red lips. Come on through, come on through. Come through. Red
12:54 lips, the gold hoop earrings. So these are another style that I have as well that are not,
12:59 that you don't have a pair of, but I love pairing the car wax fabric with the hoop earring and the
13:06 leather topper. Oh, that's gorgeous. So you can find these on my website, www.live.laugh.bejeweled
13:14 under hoops. And there we go. One of them fell off because I guess it wants to jump into my ear,
13:20 but I wasn't going to put it on. See, that's what I mean. I love. I love. I'm going to be
13:25 winding down now because I know we can't stay on for forever. But before I choose my last pair,
13:31 which I think that will be the silver. This is the next to the last pair here.
13:37 Now, what woman does not want a pair of fierce leather feather earrings? Leather feather. I
13:45 don't know. Leather feather. Yes, I made you a pink pair. This, this is the Beyonce silver here.
13:52 The Renaissance. The Renaissance. Leather feather. Now, length check. We got a length check one more
14:01 time here. Length check. Length check. So these two are again, six and a half inches long. You
14:12 cannot walk into a room with six inch metallic recycled leather earrings and somebody is not
14:20 like, who is that woman? She could be my friend right there. Now, of course, for those women who
14:26 don't necessarily like the long look, but you still want bold style. We've got our short and
14:33 sassy ones here. And this one has a little bit of a painting that I've done on this particular pair
14:40 right here. So length check for these. Let's see. Length check. Three inches. These are like three
14:46 inches long. I actually have my mother wearing up to three inches of earrings now. Because before
14:55 she would say, Oh no, that's too long. I don't want that on my neck. And now I'm like, well,
15:00 mom, do you like those? She was like, yeah, I like those. I don't mind those on my neck.
15:06 I love those on you. I can't decide which ones are my favorite on you.
15:09 I really don't have to decide. We have them all. I love, love, love. It's something for
15:16 every single one of my closet here. I just want to show you have some really,
15:22 just look at all these incredible designs. I love these. I love these.
15:29 These are beautiful as well. Yeah. We do custom painting. We are into our polymer clay,
15:36 which is the pink ones that you have over there. So the last pair that I'm going to highlight for
15:41 you are the butterfly earrings. These are my Monarch butterfly earrings. And you have a pair
15:46 of those as well. And I paint them, put it in the other ear. Oh, oh, okay. There's a logic to it.
15:52 Okay. I'm supposed to look like a butterfly. There you go. And I paint them in different
15:58 color combinations. So you have the red, the classic Monarch butterfly colors, red,
16:04 orange, and yellow. This one here has a copper, a gold, and a silver. And I started to make Monarch
16:12 butterfly earrings when I first started to make earrings. And I was at an event, probably my first
16:19 event. And the person who organized the event said, "Hey, I have a friend who has a modeling agency,
16:26 and she is having a show soon. And they're going to be highlighting Monarch butterflies. Do you
16:31 make Monarch butterflies?" I said, "Of course I do." I had never made a Monarch butterfly in my life,
16:37 but I figured I could do it. So I called my mother and she was like, "Oh, we need a template,
16:41 and we can go from there." And that's how this started. But the Monarch butterfly earrings have
16:46 become more of my signature earring. And these are all custom painted. They're all, turn it around,
16:53 there you go. Yep. They're all custom painted. I have different shapes that I make. There are
17:00 three different shapes that I make for the Monarch butterfly as well. So that's in the color that you
17:05 currently have. Also have them in this white color here as well. So various colors. But I did not
17:12 recognize the connection that people have to Monarch butterflies or butterflies in general
17:19 until after I started making and selling these earrings. And people started to connect and tell
17:24 me the story about metamorphosis and change. And I didn't even connect it to my own story about how
17:29 I was on my growth journey. We're still on a growth journey, right? But how I started this
17:35 whole thing as a part of my own growth journey, trying to see who am I going to be? Who else am
17:40 I going to be in this big old wild world? And I'll tell you this one story. It was a friend of mine
17:45 from college. She saw the earrings and I sent her a pair in the mail and she burst into tears and
17:51 she started crying. She called me and she burst into tears. And I said, well, why are you crying?
17:55 And she said, because my dad had just passed away not that long ago. And he used to call me Madam
18:00 Butterfly. And so I just stay connected to that. So she's one of my best customers ever, ever,
18:06 ever. But I just started thinking to myself, I have, this is a purpose for me. This is a mission
18:12 for me. This is a passion for me. I'm supposed to be here. And out of this is going to come so
18:19 many things. Not only is it for me and my own growth, but also support for others along the way.
18:25 And I didn't know this as well, but I'm serving as kind of like, or this whole thing is serving
18:31 as inspiration for my son, watching me pursue my goals and my dreams. And my parents watching me
18:37 do that as well. I didn't even realize that they were, I knew that they were in the rear cheering
18:42 me on, but they pulled me aside the other day and said, I'm just so proud of you. You have always
18:49 just stuck your head out there. And even when you were scared, you jumped scared. So I just thank
18:56 my Bejeweled Bays for coming on this journey with me and we can support each other together.
19:01 And I'm just so excited to be a part of Shop Essence Live. I just can't even tell you how
19:06 excited I am. Oh my goodness, Erica, we're so excited to have you as a part of it.
19:11 And speaking of, it's in partnership with New Voices Family, which you are a part of as well.
19:16 Can you talk a little bit about what it's been like being a part of New Voices Family?
19:20 Let me tell you, they put your work, right? But it's a good thing because I think as entrepreneurs,
19:26 especially those of us who are creative and some of neuroscientists by training, I did not think
19:32 that I had a creative ball in my body. You're a what now by training?
19:38 I have a doctorate in neuroscience. So I didn't think that I had any kind of creative bone
19:43 because I thought if you were creative, you could draw. I can't draw a doggone thing.
19:47 But I've just started to discover so many more things about myself along this journey. I'm just
19:53 so happy to be a part of it. But as creatives, and I call myself that now without hesitation,
19:58 I think we tend to focus on the bright and shiny and the fun parts. But what we don't focus on are
20:04 the finances and all of the other things that we think might be a little bit tougher, a little bit
20:09 harder. But those are the very things that once we learn more about them and the more that we work on
20:14 those and secure those, we can continue to focus on the more creative side and not have a fear that
20:20 I'm not going to be able to sustain this because you've really solidified your foundation. And
20:26 that's what participating with New Voices is doing for me. It's helping me to further solidify the
20:32 foundation of Live Laugh Be Jeweled so that this can go on and on and on and on.
20:38 Well, we love that. And we're so excited to see your business continue to grow and continue to
20:47 scale. And you guys can help and support in that by getting these incredible ones. If you want to
20:52 do it for yourself, do that for yourself. If you want to get it as a gift for some loved one or
20:59 that rich auntie that you don't know what to get her, trust me, she would love Live Laugh Be Jeweled.
21:05 Well, Erica, it's been so great to have you guys on. We're going to throw up the promo code one
21:11 more time so you guys can take advantage. We only have until November 19th. And then go to their
21:16 website to see their full array of what they have to offer. If you're watching this on Pinterest,
21:21 we are pinning all these products. If you're watching it on Essence, we have a little hot spot
21:25 that you can click on to buy, but make sure wherever you buy that you are supporting 100%.
21:31 Erica, it's been so great to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. And
21:37 everybody at home, thank you so much for watching and buying. Thank you.
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