Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Quinn Williams.
Hi Kristen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been creating things and crafting as long as I can remember. My love of handmade probably started when I was young watching my mom make beaded art in the evenings after work, or when my dad and I would find old electronics to take apart and put back together in new ways. Making something tangible, especially if it makes someone else happy, is my favorite feeling!
I’ve dabbled in many different mediums, studied fine art in school, but nothing has quite brought me the same joy as jewelry making. I started making jewelry for myself back in high school and hadn’t really picked it up again until lockdown in the start of 2020. I was 29 when everything shut down, had just recovered from surgery for stomach cancer, started a new job in Marketing for FLVS, and had just graduated with two associates degrees and was about to transfer to UCF to study Forensic Biochemistry. In such a time of change in my personal life with my health, lockdown, school plans shifting, and starting a new job; I felt I needed a creative outlet that was purely for myself. So I went back to something I loved and started making jewelry again.
I started working with polymer clay and dove headfirst into improving and dedicating all of my free time to creating. Eventually I decided to start sharing my work with others, joined communities of fellow jewelry makers online, and decided to try and see if I could really do something with my passion that other people would enjoy. Lassoed Moon was created in the summer of 2020, and run from my dining room table. As I continued sharing my pieces on Instagram, as well as behind-the-scenes content, and my personal life and interests, I ended up reaching a much wider audience than I anticipated. I used my past experiences working in many different fields like marketing, customer service, coding, and graphic design to help grow Lassoed Moon and move from Etsy to build my own website. All while discovering the ins-and-outs of small business ownership and still working full time in marketing. Those first two years definitely didn’t involve much sleeping or free time!
Eventually I switched to hand making acrylic pieces using a CO2 laser machine called a Glowforge, which made it possible for me to produce more pieces and grow even more. Thanks to the support of my amazing friends, family, husband, and the thousands of amazing people I was able to connect with online; I was able to leave my 9-5 and make Lassoed Moon my full-time job in 2022! Since then, I’ve hired a wonderful part time assistant, Anastasia, in 2024, and I’ve expanded to offer a wider range of products including hair accessories and home decor. Recently, I’ve been able to have some of my designs brought to life by a manufacturing partner, which has allowed me more freedom to create pieces I don’t have the space or equipment to produce. And just this year I began partnering with some amazing small retailers around the world who now carry my pieces!
I still work out of my home, but I’ve upgraded from the dining room, and transformed my guest bedroom into a studio. Which is where every Lassoed Moon piece is designed, handmade, packed, and shipped from; for the lovely people who are kind (and cool) enough to shop small.
And I only hope the rest and best is yet to come!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As someone who’s always proudly been a jack-of-all-trades and an eternal student, I find owning a small business to be incredibly rewarding. It not only allows, but really requires, me to gain knowledge about so many different topics and areas of business in order to run properly, grow, and improve. There’s so much to do that each day is different, and change is the only constant, so it’s impossible to be bored! After five years I’m still learning every day, and I’m by no means an expert. There have definitely been some obstacles and many, many, many late nights up working, but even with the ups-and-downs, uncertainty, and dreaded tax season, it’s amazing to know that you’ve created something that other people resonate with. Across the world right now there could be someone wearing a pair of earrings or a claw clip I spent hours designing and making, and that connects me to all of these people’s lives in a way, which I think is really beautiful. It makes and challenges worth it!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Lassoed Moon is committed to creating high-quality jewelry and accessories, inspired by decades past, stories that move us, a love of all things glamorous, and an affinity for the truly unique. Handmade with love in small batches, no two Lassoed Moon pieces are ever the same, just like the people that wear them.
Many of our most recent collections have been inspired by fantasy worlds and books that provide an escape to a magical world we all sometimes need.
Unlike a large corporation we’re people you can speak with directly and we stand behind every piece we create. Special care and attention is paid to every single order that we send out and that’s evident in the quality of our products and thoughtfulness of our packaging.
Our mission is to create one-of-a-kind, wearable art that makes you smile, while remaining eco-conscious in our practices, and giving back to our community. All of our packaging is recycled, recyclable, reusable, or compostable.
We believe that everyone is worthy of feeling their best and you deserve the moon, nothing less!
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
There are some challenges in the industry right now, with consumers being less likely to make non-essential purchases and the cost of goods increasing everywhere. I’m hoping that we can come through the other side of these changes to a more economy stability that will allow for growth in small businesses like mine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lassoedmoon.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lassoedmoon
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lassoedmoon
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@lassoedmoon
