OCCUPATION: Jewelry designer and owner of Amanda Sterett Jewelry Design.
PERSONAL STATS: The Texas Tech University graduate launched her career working as a representative of the Ralph Lauren Black Label collection. Sterett, who married technology sales expert Robert seven years ago, noticed a need for high-quality jewelry at a middle-of-the-road price point, so she began creating handmade designs in her Dallas home’s back house. It didn’t take long for the baubles to gain attention: Sterett’s jewelry collection has since tripled in size and is now sold at local retailers Stanley Korshak and Melanie Gayle.
CURRENT PROJECTS: Sterett took a year off from the jewelry business after becoming a first-time mom to Olivia, 3. About a year later, she hired a full-time nanny and purchased a studio, refocusing her vision for the collection. Sterett took some of her designs to market in New York City, where Kate Spade picked up the line for a season (selling six of Sterett’s designs at stores nationwide). Now, the creative thinker continues to branch out, designing playful fish and animal charm necklaces for Anthropologie’s fall 2009 collection, shown in the background of the above photo.
MOST INFLUENTIAL ON YOUR CAREER: Jewelry-making happened as kind of a fluke for me — I leaned a lot on my education and lessons learned from my time at Ralph Lauren when I started my collection. My artist father and stylish mother influenced my creativity while I was growing up, as well as my grandmother, who was so very chic … a grand dame.
HOW OLIVIA VIEWS YOUR JOB: She is a total jewelry freak and shoe fanatic. So, she loves my job. She loves to come to the studio and help us out (or make huge messes!). But probably her favorite part of my job is just the fact that she gets to play dress-up in jewelry anytime she wants.
IMPORTANT LESSON TO TEACH OLIVIA: This business isn’t just a way for me to channel my own self-fulfillment, but also to be a role model for her. I want her to see that when she grows up, she can do anything she wants (if she works hard enough!).
PARENTING STYLE: What you see is what you get. We don’t buffer Olivia from reality, and we don’t have time to cater just to her. Because we’ve established that she fit into our world, she is very adaptable to all environments and is so easy … she just goes with the flow.
A TYPICAL SATURDAY MORNING: Robert and I will lie in bed and fight over who’s going to get up first to make coffee. The other person has to go get Olivia, who, by this time, is probably jumping up and down singing on her bed. Then, daddy makes pancakes — it’s his pride and joy. The rest of the day is about Olivia. One good thing is that she loves to shop, so if I need to run errands, she’s such a great sport. She loves it!
FAVORITE FAMILY HANGOUT: We spend a lot of time at the park, but Olivia really loves The Gap! We also take Olivia to our family lakehouse a lot; I think it’s really important that she be exposed to the outdoors — away from the concrete jungle!
STRATEGY TO BALANCING WORK AND LIFE: For me, it’s essential to take “me time” and recollect myself after a stretch of busy work deadlines or after a busy couple of days with Olivia. My favorite thing to do is watch movies. I love to escape and just sit there. It’s “my time.” When it’s 7:30pm and Olivia goes to bed, I love to lie on the sofa and watch the latest from Netflicks.
