How was Andra Jewelry born?
Hello, I am Maria, founder of Andra and I have decided to create this space to get to know you a little more and get to know me too.
We almost always see the tip of the iceberg but we never see what is below it, so today I have come to tell you what is below Andra's iceberg, how it was born and the challenges that I have traveled along this path to success. and of course to inspire you to be encouraged and start your own business.
When I graduated from high school I went to live in London, UK where I learned to speak the English language. Just graduated from high school, I dreamed of studying engineering because I was told that that’s how you make money, but living in a city as cosmopolitan as London, I met young entrepreneurs who were independent and I asked them what they had studied and everyone said that Business Administration So I came back determined that this was what I wanted to study and be a great businesswoman.
I started and finished my studies at the UPB Colombia but throughout my career, I dreamed of working in the largest and most important bank in Colombia because that was "the right thing to do" or what my family and close friends expected of me. When I am in the last semester in search of my work internships, I happily went to the interview of what was, at that moment, the job of my dreams, and I felt that the interview went very well and I remember that the interviewer told me “What vacancy do you want? " and I said "the one that you have available is fine", to my surprise, the list of vacancies had been sent to the emails before the interview and it had not reached me, so I did not choose any and I was not selected for the position. Confused and sad, I continued to appear in interviews until I spent in a recognized company in the country. I felt scared, very scared and anxious to know that I had to give up my free time and adhere to a strict schedule and rules, so I preferred not to do it and start looking for other options. Among those options, I met a former classmate who sold desserts at university and he told me that he was going to do his internship on his dessert entrepreneurship and without thinking twice, I knew that I could do my internship as a creation of Business.
I went on a trip, in the few months that remained to end the semester, looking for a signal and thinking of new ideas, so I went to Guadalajara, Mexico where at that time the largest jewelry show in Latin America was located. Out of curiosity, I went, and I saw a huge sign that said "jewel, the business of your life" and I felt something inside me, I felt that it was the sign I needed. At that precise moment the idea of opening my jewelry and finishing my studies was born.
It has been a great journey with a lot of learning about fashion, accessories, jewelry, manufacturing materials, trends that has not only allowed me to build my company but also to grow as a person and discover talents and convince myself that I am capable, despite the setbacks and to receive many NOs and see how they did not take me seriously.
Today, I can finally say I found myself! And that I decided to undertake not only to be able to have free time, but to be happy and be able to enjoy the simple things that life gives us, have free time to see a sunset, see nature, or the sound of the sea and the rain, a good food and a good wine that perhaps we forget those simple things when being in a “normal” and exhausting job.
I invite you to cheer up and believe in yourself, if I could, you too! And remember: “if you don't work for your dreams, someone will hire you to work for theirs”.
