Today we’d like to introduce you to DeSiree Faith Che’ Woodley.
Hi DeSiree, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My love of jewelry and design began when I was very young. I was always a curious little girl and I loved dressing up in my mom’s clothes and jewelry and I was an outside girl so my older sister and I always loved playing outside, hiking with our dad, you know, being wild children. So, we would always find cool rocks and things to take back home. All in all, my mother is a big jewelry person. Til this day she watches JTV and buys jewelry pieces for my sister, I, and some of the women in our family. So, I guess you can say that my love of jewelry was instilled in me since I was old enough to wear it. Around my late teenage years and early twenties is when I really began wearing statement piece jewelry. And it wasn’t until I was around twenty-five when my older sister took me to a Holistic Boutique in Dallas and I purchased my first unwrapped, tumbled crystals and I fell in love. I purchased three small Green Aventurine, one black moonstone, one sodalite, and three rose quartz. I loved them so much and was so excited to take them home when my sister looked at me and said, “You know, you should wrap these so you can wear them.” I was nervous because I had never made jewelry before. Granted, I was beginning my design and marketing degree, so designing clothes is what I did. Not jewelry. That same day she took me to a crafts store and bought me wire and we went to our grandmother’s house and watched like three videos on how to wrap jewelry. It took me a couple hours but I had wrapped my black moonstone and sodalite and was sooooo excited to wear them.
I wore them at uni and received compliments, I wrapped pieces for my sister and our mom and they received compliments too, so it wasn’t long before I began posting them on my Instagram and Facebook, you know, just to show my friends a new love I found. I began collecting more crystals and wrapping them, placing pictures of them on the QueensANU website, and didn’t get much hits for a long time and thought that maybe they weren’t as good as I thought they were.
My sister told me that I should bring all the pieces I wrapped and take them to the Ubuntu Market at PanAfrican Connection Community bookstore. So, she, my mom, and I booked a spot at the Ubuntu Market and set up a small table selling the necklaces I made. They were a hit! I was so happy seeing people captured by something I made and something I loved making. They were buying them up!
It was a blessing.
I vended another event with my sister at Heyy Healer in Desoto and nearly sold out of all my necklaces and the owner wanted me to begin selling jewelry within the store and I was so honored. I sold jewelry through Heyy Healer for about six months of 2020 until we were deep into the pandemic year. Then in the beginning of fall of 2020, I decided to add an online store to QueensANU.com for Black Friday. I posted everywhere about it, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, let my friends and family know, my in-laws, and told my husband to tell his coworkers. I wanted the world to know!
After Black Friday the sells began slowly but once spring of 2021 hit, I was on fire.
I have developed amazing customers that share me with their friends, and buy the jewelry consistently. My mother adores my pieces and loves to share my pieces with her friends and coworkers, and my mother-in-law too. My sister keeps me encouraged and comes to me when she needs advice on certain crystals or a specific design, she wants me to make. It also wasn’t long into 2021 when my customers had special requests for certain pieces, wanting to know more about crystals for certain meanings and purposes. Soon I began adding rings and bracelets to my inventory, then earrings, and hair jewelry. And the response has been amazing.
The support I have received from my family, my husband, and customers has been amazing and makes my heart full.
I love what I do. And I never thought I’d be very good at designing jewelry but my mom always told me that I have a gift for design and it’ll manifest itself in ways I could never imagine.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh no, it hasn’t always been smooth. For a time, I really thought I wasn’t good at wrapping my crystals. I would post about them on social media and it didn’t seem that people weren’t interested. But my husband, my sister, and mom reminded me that I’m really great at what I do and that I have the gift of creating. On the days that I thought maybe this wasn’t what I’m meant to do, I would get ding from my store app, showing that a purchase had been made. These purchases weren’t small either, they were large purchases. I would get a new customer or a returning customer and they would buy me out! I have some amazing returning customers too, requesting new pieces and new crystals, keeping me on my toes.
I even have a friend who gives me great ideas and always offers encouraging words after he sends some insanely creative designs that I have no idea how it’d be possible to make.
I feel that the main struggles are within myself. I know I’m good but sometimes my own doubts come in and take me off course, but with my support system, my ever-growing confidence, and incredible customers, I know I’m going to be just fine.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am currently finishing my dual degree in Marketing and Fashion Design that was delayed heavily by the pandemic. So, I am currently a dispatcher for a communications corporation but what my heart is in is fashion and jewelry. I’m known for crystal knowledge in crystal wire wrapping and jewelry making. I want to not only have a jewelry brand but a fashion brand that provides clothing for all sizes but specializes in clothing for little people. I’m 29 years old and I’m 4 feet and 6 inches, with a growth disorder called Russell Silver Syndrome. It has never been easy finding clothes for someone of my size and body type and it is something I struggled with since I was born. My mom made it clear that even the smallest diapers didn’t fit me. Being as small as I am, if I wanted a certain dress or garment, it had to be altered to fit me and not just simple alterations either. I had to design my own wedding dress and thank God for my aunt who was more than ecstatic to help me.
So, I want to create beautiful gowns and tailored suits for all people but especially for little people who are often overlooked (no pun intended lol). I want to create for the socialite, for the boss, for the groom, for the bride, clothes, and jewelry. I want little people like me to know that they can have options too.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I was born and raised in Dallas so I think I can say that the events are my favorite thing about the city. There are so many events that are ongoing in the city that I love. I never have an issue finding an event as a possibility to vend at or to network at. I love the many different cultures that the city holds and I’ve met many great people here. I also love the shops and boutiques, the private owned, family-owned shops and businesses that Dallas holds. What I like least about the city is the traffic and construction (I’m sure I’m not the only one lol).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.queensanu.com/store
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queensanu_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/queensanu
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/QueensANU_
