Sacramento Entrepreneur Motivates Students To Explore, Learn And Experience
Cheryl Laughlin is both a business owner and designer at BITS OF LOVE, located in Lodi, California. Laughlin's jewelry has grown quite a fan base with features in Woman's World, CBS News and Marth Stewart's American Made Series.
What does your job entail?
"I work with a wonderfully insightful co-owner and co-designer, Caleb Porter, to discover strong playful words to kickstart inspiration for women with BITS OF LOVE Jewelry. Each day is a swirl of multitasking to create designs and work with American vendors to fulfill recent orders, and then keep connected with our customers through social media and our blog at bitsoflovestyle.com."
What parts of your job do you enjoy?
"Learning about the journeys of the BITS OF LOVE rings keeps me going. Each time I receive a story about a ring, I feel beyond thankful and invigorated.
One woman wrote to let us know her BOLD ring was with her as she hiked Death Valley, another tenacious woman wears a HOPE ring as she puts the smackdown on breast cancer and one lovely woman bought a BOLD ring to mark the awesomeness of her 70th birthday.
All the stories feed my drive to believe in the power of words to inspire and transform."
What was your education history like?
"I received a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications with a minor in English from the University of Denver."
Do you think your education has prepared you for your current position?
"Most definitely! I was lucky to know early on that I love words, and I just needed the guidance to figure out what to do with that. My degree fit that word calling and taught me how to wrangle words and fine tune what I'm trying to say. It was the springboard to finding my entrepreneurial roots."
Do you have any words of advice for someone seeking a similar career?
"Let college be a total learning experience.... You are right where you need to be. So learn from everything around you and change course as needed at any age. I did that exact thing in my late 30s after recovering from Lyme disease. And the tenacity you learn along the way will get you through what I call 'wiggly moments.'
One such wiggly moment was being told I couldn't produce the rings in America, The naysayers said it was too expensive. But I just kept pushing forward and made it happen. Don't let others short-sight thinking become your thinking. You're smarter and savvier than that!
As I often say as a rallying call for BITS OF LOVE Jewelry: 'Be BOLD, LOVE more, HOPE for awesomeness and ROCK everything you do.'"
Paulo Acoba is a California native raised in the Bay Area and living in the Central Valley. He enjoys distance running, cycling and grassroots motorsports. He holds a degree in management from the University of California Merced. Paulo has been writing for Examiner.com since 2012 and covering the Fresno area.
