Female Founders: Beverly Price of Nastava Jewelry On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Emotions are a rollercoaster — they never teach you in business school about the emotions involved with starting a business. Moods can swing up and down with revenue. Fear can paralyze you. I know that I wondered why I had a down day; then I realized I hadn’t earned any revenue the prior 5 days.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Beverly Price.
Beverly Price, founder of Nastava Jewelry, is an intuitive designer whose custom creations reflect the journey of self-empowerment, self-expression, and beauty. Inspired by the elements, Beverly lets the internationally sourced stones speak to her when crafting her bespoke pieces. Through her methodology and endless style options, the artisan jewelry she creates energizes and connects to her clients, reflecting their true self while empowering them to try different looks.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I was a financial services and advertising corporate executive for most of my career (and also a single mom). When I started my career in corporate America, women were taught to dress similar to men and identical to other women. There was even a book called “Dress for Success” to guide us. There was practically a basic uniform — a gray or navy suit with skirt, rounded collar blouse, little bow tie, and black low-heeled pumps. There were no accessories, no makeup,and no jewelry except for a small string of pearls! Everyone looked the same, scattering the workplace.
I went along for several years, until I moved to an advertising agency where everything was creative, colorful, and exciting. But I was insecure because I didn’t know how to dress. So, I made an investment in myself and visited a fashion stylist who showed me that color, style, and accessories including jewelry could change the look of any woman from drab to exceptional, professional elegance. I could express myself in bold statements and feel empowered.
I had always done something creative on the side of my leadership and managerial roles. Being creative let me create visible and tangible outcomes that my corporate life could not. I gave my daughters a gift certificate to a jewelry making shop, and they had fun but I loved it and became obsessed. I began making bold statement jewelry to accentuate everything I wore.
One day a woman that I worked with said, “Is that your piece?” and it was. She said, “It’s gorgeous! You need to sell your jewelry.” That was just the nudge I needed, and Nastava Artisan Jewelry was born. Named after the three women I admire most — my daughter Natalie, my daughter Stephanie, and my mother Virginia — Nastava fueled me with energy and excitement. After a year or so, I decided to take a leap of faith and move full-time into my jewelry business, selling to boutiques and stores. Creativity fueled my choices.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I was hosting a jewelry sale as a part of a fundraiser for a nonprofit, and I got to meet the daughter of Reverend Martin Luther King. She was inspiring, and she fell in love with my jewelry. She modeled several pieces. I felt so blessed. I’ve gotten to meet so many impressive women on my journey. Meeting Cokie Roberts was another thrill.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was working towards my MBA, studying entrepreneurship, and we had two international summer study abroad trips — one to South America and the other to Asia. Since I made all one-of-a-kind pieces, unusual beads were essential to my strategy. So, on both of these trips, I looked everywhere and found lots and lots of unusual beads. So much so that I couldn’t fit them all in my suitcases. I asked all my fellow students to put some in their suitcases. As we were leaving at the airport,one by one, each suitcase went over the weight limit. The heavy bag fees mounted up! Then, when we reached the airport on our return, I had to get beads from over 10 people! Looked pretty silly actually, but those beads let me create some very unique pieces.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many. I would say most of all it would be my daughter Natalie who encouraged every step of the way, even when times were tough. She’s an intelligent, capable, creative woman who has developed strong business acumen and strength. She’s also provided me with a lot of her marketing expertise and a sounding board to bounce things off of. I’m very proud of her.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I think there are three reasons that women are held back from founding companies. The first is a lack of self confidence and fear. So many women have old tapes playing in their head that they can’t do it, entrepreneurship is too risky, they are not talented enough, etc. There is fear of the unknown and fear of failure. This is a great deterrent because as we know, entrepreneurship takes strength and belief in yourself.
The second reason is financial stability. With the gender pay gap continuing to exist, many women do not have the financial resources to create a company and be financially stable while it’s in its early years. Also, single parent homes shouldering the entire financial burden don’t have excess resources to get a strong start. In addition, women may have a difficult time raising the funding necessary for the business set-up.
The third reason women are held back from founding companies is time. Many women have their hands full with raising a family and a full-time job. There is little time left for the investment required for a start up.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Many of the changes that need to be made need to happen at a variety of different levels: changing laws, changing social norms, and changing perceptions passed down from generation to generation. The deepest change needs to be how society sees men and women — a change to see them as equal but different. This could change the double standard by letting the men in power see women as an asset rather than a threat. This could then create changes in work distribution at home, acceptance of stay-at-home parents being men or women, more affordable day care, and pay equity. There’s also a crucial need to provide greater physical, emotional, and financial support for single parent households.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
1. Creativity — many women have a high degree of creativity for start-up ideas.
2. Tremendous work ethic — many women have a voracious work ethic.
3. Determination to prove themselves — women who have grown up being told they can’t do something that is more of a man’s role develop the motivation to prove themselves by proving others wrong.
4. Empathy — research has shown that women have the capability for a higher degree of empathy allowing them to build strong teams, relate well to customers, etc.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
1. That entrepreneurism is only for those who can’t get a “real job.”
2. That you have lots of free time.
3. That life is much easier if you don’t have to answer to anyone.
Entrepreneurship is ultimately a creation of a new path, whether it’s your first job or something you’ve started later in life. It’s a valid career choice, but it takes much more effort and work than society gives credit for.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
Not everyone is cut out to be a founder or an entrepreneur. Founders and entrepreneurs can handle uncertainty and are willing to take risks. They can survive without the security of a regular paycheck and healthcare benefits. They have stamina and patience for the long haul and a stellar work ethic to tackle the times that the amount of work seems insurmountable. They are willing to take a leap of faith to see their vision through and reap the benefits.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. That you need a support system — as a single working mom, I didn’t have time for developing friendships and support systems, but creating your own business has a significant emotional rollercoaster that you need a strong support network for. I had to build my support system after I started my business. I could have benefited greatly from a support system when I first started.
2. Believe in yourself no matter what — no matter what anyone says or does, no matter what old tapes are playing in your head, you need to believe in yourself. Believe that YOU can do it! I use daily affirmations to help with this.
3. It will take longer than you might thin — patience is a virtue. Most startups don’t have rocketship revenue. It takes time to build a strong and stable business. Hard work pays off.
4. You need to delegate things you don’t like and aren’t good at — let go of doing everything. You can find help, even if you’re on a tight budget, to help you do things you’re not good or an expert at and for things you really hate to do.
5. Emotions are a rollercoaster — they never teach you in business school about the emotions involved with starting a business. Moods can swing up and down with revenue. Fear can paralyze you. I know that I wondered why I had a down day; then I realized I hadn’t earned any revenue the prior 5 days.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I have supported a number of nonprofit agencies with causes near and dear to my heart. I have worked on fundraisers, donating my jewelry products for live and silent auctions, donating a portion of my proceeds to the cause, and providing jewelry for awards at large fundraising events.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
1. Self-expression is key to women’s self-empowerment. I’m creating a program that helps women walk through insecurity and doubt with the use of self-expression to become empowered to lead different lives.
2. Believe in yourself, no matter what. If we could inspire these beliefs in all children, we could drastically increase their success while also greatly reducing many forms of depression and anxiety.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
1. Cate Blanchett — her sense of style is the essence of what my jewelry brand offers.
2. Oprah Winfrey — her accomplishments in the face of all odds is heart-stopping.
3. Amal Clooney — her style and grace combined with intelligence and efforts to make the world a better place is amazing.
4. Melinda Gates — her dedication to making this world a better place is inspirational.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Beverly Price of Nastava Jewelry On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.