Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcie Ditto.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My start was unique in that I was given seemingly impossible vision in prayer. I wasn’t someone who just knew they were destined to make jewelry. The gift was there, like the seed waiting to be cultivated yet, it took 30 years and prayerful patience for this vision to manifest clearly into my present world.
My degree was in graphic design. Little did I know that later in life, I would be asked to adjust everything I was taught as a graphic artist. Jewelry making was a wholly unfamiliar design medium. My story stems from a vision I received in prayer before I ever considered making jewelry. But, the promise was in the small, powerful message of the mustard seed and I had to reaffirm my faith in life’s early inspiration in order to move the dream forward. I saw it clearly: a fashionable, visually stunning jewelry piece that evoked the essence of Christ’s mustard seed example.
I prayed daily for my hands to be moved to accomplish this big vision and for Mustard Seed Jewelry™ to be able to give back in radically generous ways. No small “mountain” was before me. develop the mustard seed vision. It took me 3 years to prototype the first piece. It was now time, His time. If God wanted to use my hands, I was ready, and prayed that the new Mustard Seed Jewelry™ collection would inspire, ignite and encourage.
Here I am today, heart in hand, anxious to leap out of bed to create for the Creator. I could not be where we are today with out my faith, my family, community and my dream team. I’m ready to move mountains and ignite others to do the same. With each modern mustard seed jewelry piece goes hope that it will inspire woman worldwide to embrace their own unique style but more so will encourage them to access the intrinsic faith within us all. And, in continuing to give “seed cash” with each purchase, in 2017, we gave away 19,000 1-dollar bills to promote acts of kindness. And, we donated over 52,000 to local charities through giving 30% of our income away. My prayer is that acts of kindness and generosity will grow strong like the mustard seed.
Regardless of size, faith is powerful beyond measure. Mountains will move and nothing will be impossible. You are the light – a gift treasured beyond belief. Start your faith journey with me today!
“Move forward in your faith. It’s time to move mountain and allow our highest good to be our reality.”
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
With business endeavor of worth, you will be required to meet challenges head on. I think for me creating a product so unique that had never existed before starts with many production and prototype challenges.
As most entrepreneurs face, you will have people on your side cheering you on and naysayers along the start up path. In the beginning, I had several business professionals tell me that this was just two spiritual and that it might never make it. That small voice in inside me knew that was the outer world’s influence and not the precious vision God had delivered to me in prayer. I went forward in full faith trusting that every challenge would only lead me closer in my relationship with God and then delivering a product to remind and inspire people to be connected to their faith.
Something unique to us is we give away 30% of our gross profit to charity. 30% is no small amount to a small business. In my heart, I knew I wanted to raise the bar instead of just giving the status quo of 15 to 10%. As we give, we find, we receive far more than we could have ever expected and we have seen that in our business we are able to give more than we thought possible and be prosperous as well. Social entrepreneurship is still new but I’m glad to see big business taking notice of the impact it has in the business world.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Mustard Seed Jewelry – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We handcraft beautiful jewelry meant to adorn and remind people of their faith. Each piece is handmade using hundreds of mustard seeds, inlayed into recycled metal and encrusted with crystal and vintage pieces.
We are known for how beautiful our pieces are before anyone even recognizes that the seeds are there. I think that is so special. We’ve created a product that is spiritually based but stands up to a high fashion image.
We’re different in many ways:
• We are truly a hand made product. Last year, I single handily made over 10,000 pieces. In 2017, we produced over 20,000 pieces of jewelry.
• We support small businesses, we source many of our pieces ( crystals ) or vintage center pieces from smaller mom and pop businesses to support shopping local and keep as many supplies as possible in the U.S. Our metals are U. S. made and recycled.
• We go out into the communities to support charities. We donate 30% of our income. We attend galas for charities and love to support anyway we can give back to others.
• We created something so special called “Seed Cash”. We give away $2 cash back with each purpose to promote random acts of kindness. Last year we gave 19,000 away in 1’s. That’s 9,500 acts of kindness that went out into the world.
I’m most proud of our ability to help remind and inspire faith alongside the way we strive for excellence in everything we do. From all the aspects to keep our product handmade, eco-friendly, community outreach and the way we send out our product. We really try to make everyone feel treasured and adored. It’s so important in this world to lift each other up.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We’ve been blessed this year in our National Partnership with The Woodhouse Day Spa. We are in 20 of their locations currently and hope to be in all 60 by the end of next year.
As corny as this might sound, I really try not plan to far out. This business is based in prayer, I really firmly believe and have been shown in its 2.5 years of 200% growth per year, that we are led the way will be provided by staying in relationship with God. All I know is that, the best is yet to come.
Pricing:
- Prices range from $36 – $110
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mustardseedjewelry.com
- Phone: 844.330.5668
- Email: sales@mustardseedjewelry.com
- Instagram: mustardseedjewelry
- Facebook: mustardseedjewelry
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
