← Success With Jewelry
Success With Jewelry
153 - Liz Interviews Laryssa About Building Joy Joya, Reinvention, and Finding Joy in Business
00:24:00
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the Success With Jewelry podcast. Your go to source for real conversations about business marketing and what it actually takes to succeed as a jewelry brand.
- [00:09]
B
Today I'm Larissa, the strategist, systems queen and the one who finds joy in turning big marketing challenges into step by step plans that actually work. Email marketing and generating revenue through it is the specialty of my agency, joyjoya.
- [00:26]
A
And I'm Liz, your creative compass and advocate for designers doing things differently. I live for brilliant brand storytelling, beautiful visuals and helping designers confidently show up and shine. I founded the Stay Gold Collective to create community and support for independent jewelry brands.
- [00:42]
B
Together, we bring you nearly two decades of jewelry marketing experience. And on this podcast we're pulling back the curtain on everything we've learned. Whether you're just starting out or scaling to your next big milestone, you'll get honest insights, helpful tips and maybe a few giggles along the way.
- [00:59]
A
This is episode 153. Today we're turning the tables a bit. I'm interviewing my co host, Larissa Wk. If you've been listening for a while, you know Larissa as the strategy and marketing expert behind Joy Joya, where she helps jewelry brands tell their stories and grow through thoughtful, data driven marketing. But today we're diving a little deeper into her journey. How she built her business, what inspires her and the lessons she's learned along the way. We'll talk about her path into the jewelry industry, how she's seen it evolve and what drives her to help designers thrive. And of course, we'll end with a few fun questions because you might be surprised by what Larissa loves outside of marketing and jewelry. Let's get into it.
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B
I might be surprised by what I like.
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A
You might be surprised. Larissa hasn't looked at this these questions yet.
- [01:51]
B
Yeah, I'm excited. Liz. Liz just surprised me this morning saying we were going to interview each other. So next week after this one, I'm going to interview Liz too. But I think it's a fun idea to close out the year.
- [02:04]
A
It's a fun idea. We haven't. We have done an episode where we've introduced ourselves but I thought this would be fun to do it a little longer. Format.
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B
Yeah. And, yeah.
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A
And after you listen to this, we'd love to hear about you too. Maybe that will be a call to action. Tell us about yourselves. Let us know. Send us an email or a DM or something and tell us about you. We'd love to.
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B
I've noticed people been commenting in our Patreon that's also A really good place to engage with us. And we have the free membership and the paid membership and everyone can comment and interact there.
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A
By the way, this is. I haven't even talked with Larissa about this yet, but let me just throw it out there. I just ordered a test sample of a sticker of our new logo.
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B
Oh, and that's awesome.
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A
So I'll let you know how that goes. But I am looking at, now that we have this, like, beautiful rebrand, we gotta do merch. I think a sticker would be gorgeous.
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B
With the beautiful new logo. Yeah, a gorgeous sticker.
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A
So I'll let you know how that turns out. But that would be fun for insiders or. I don't know. We'll do something fun. We'll do something fun next year.
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B
But anyway, I love it.
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A
Let's get into it. So first we're going to hear about Larissa's story. So, Larissa, I know you've shared some.
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B
Of your background before, but for listeners.
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A
Who might not know, how did you first get started in the jewelry industry?
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B
Yes. Yes. So.
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Sorry, I'm stumbling because I don't know where to begin.
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My path to the jewelry industry is unlike a lot of people's who a lot of people are in it because of family or their makers. And for me, I just always really had a passion for jewelry as an accessory and always looking at it and learning about gemstones and getting excited about learning about designers. And prior to jumping into the jewelry industry, I was working as a creative writing teacher. I worked at Rutgers and a few other colleges. And the jump into the jewelry industry coincided also with my desire to move to the west coast from the East Coast. So I was kind of trying to figure out how to uproot my life, move to the West Coast. That would mean I'd have to leave my jobs. I was kind of unsatisfied with what I was doing anyway. And so I'm like, what can I do? I don't know what I want to do. What do I love?
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A
What interests me?
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B
I've always loved marketing. I've always loved jewelry. And so when I moved to the west coast, my goal was to kind of start over completely fresh and get a job marketing for a jewelry brand. And in Los Angeles, where I moved, there's a really strong jewelry industry and community, There's a jewelry district. And so I felt also that that was a good place to start over. But before I actually made the move, I was in between jobs, kind of preparing to make that big move. And I worked at A jewelry store for about nine months, like right before I moved so that I could get hands on experience with it, so that I could like see the retail side of it. And that really helped prime brain for that leap to move to LA and work in the jewelry industry.
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A
I'm always so intrigued because Larissa's from New Jersey and I'm from Philadelphia, the Philadelphia area.
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B
I'm intrigued by people who want to.
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A
Leave the East Coast. And what made you want to go to California?
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B
Yeah, that's a great question.
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It's kind of like a woo woo thing.
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I don't know, I just felt this pull that I can't explain. Like I just, it felt like something that was for me, I tell a lot of people it was because of the weather and that's part of it. Like the past few years before I actually moved, we had the craziest winters and I was living in Jersey City where it was like street parking. I was like commuting to New York and it was just like so much to deal with with the snow in the winter and I'm like, this sucks. Like I don't have to live like this. So that was part of it. But also there was just this.
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Like force. I don't know, I can't explain it. And it was a really big move and there are aspects of the East Coast I still really miss and wish I still had, including my family. But I'm still here. I'm still on the West Coast.
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A
So what inspired you to start your own business? Joy Joya? Did you start. When you started your business, did you come out the gate with Joy Joya?
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B
It was the first iteration of my business. That's what it was called. And it started when I moved to LA in April 2016.
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But it was not, not even close to the business that it is today. At first I was more just like a marketing freelance and I would try to get some clients here and there and that's what I called like the umbrella of my business. But I was also working full time like a normal marketing job and just doing this on the side and having some like side clients basically. But it was called that from the beginning. And what were you doing?
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A
Were you just doing email marketing at that time?
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B
Um, wow. Can I remember? I think I was doing some like blogging content.
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Product description, social media. I actually don't even think I was doing email marketing at that time. It was more like content based stuff.
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What is the biggest thing you've learned.
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A
About yourself as a business owner?
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B
Oh my goodness. That's such a hard question. I feel like the thing about having my business for the past 10 years, I really feel like I've lived a thousand lives and I've become so many, like different iterations of myself and my business has become so many different things.
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What's my biggest lesson from that? I think that I have had to.
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Really learn. You can't be afraid of change. And.
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Especially when you work in a digital space, you work with technology and you work online. Like, you cannot be afraid to like keep evolving and you have to kind of keep looking ahead to the next thing. Because the second you stop doing that and being open to change and trying to push yourself and grow, like you're kind of done, like that's it. You have to keep up. And that's hard. I mean, that's been so hard and probably the cause of much burnout, but I think that that's what's required to like be a digital business today.
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A
What do you think makes marketing in the jewelry industry unique?
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B
Yeah, the thing I like about it and that I think is unique and that I think drew me to it in the first place is that one, it's a non essential purchase. And the reason people buy jewelry is for emotional, an emotional pull, an emotional reason, a story.
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Meaning a memory. And those things are so intangible. And through marketing, you really have to capture that story, that feeling, that thing that's gonna like tug on someone's heartstrings. You know, it's not like marketing a vacuum cleaner, which, which is a household item that someone needs. It's something that even a lot of people, a lot of consumers don't know a lot about. There's so much misinformation about jewelry, about gemstones, about value.
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And so not only is there storytelling, but there's also the educational aspect as well. And I think there's no other industry quite like that in the requirements that are needed to really come, like capture that customer.
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A
Are there any common challenges you see jewelry brands facing when it comes to marketing?
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B
Yeah, good question. I think, I think it's stuff we talk about all the time on this podcast.
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I think that.
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Not enough brands are really getting to the core of differentiating value of what they offer, of what they sell. And I think everyone has that, every brand has that, but they are not necessarily doing a good job of communicating it. And when you sound like everyone else, when your story is like everyone else, it kind of just makes the marketing like you could do all the marketing in the world and it's not Going to work. It's not. Not going to capture your audience because you are just competing.
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In what's called, like a red ocean. It's filled with sharks. Like, everyone's there competing. So you really, really have to differentiate yourself. And I think even a lot of brands think they are, but they're not. Like, there's more that could be pushed.
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A
I just remembered, I know this about you, but you wrote a book.
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B
I did.
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A
I don't know where I was going with that. That's not in my outline here, but I did. You're so knowledgeable about marketing. What inspired you to write a book and how did you do it?
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B
Oh, my gosh, great question. Well, I would consider myself a writer. I mean, I have a graduate degree in creative writing. And that's like, what I knew for so long. Like, writing is the way I communicate with people. And also another thing I knew about marketing for so long is that content marketing can be really effective, especially for a service based business. And one of the ultimate forms of, like, authority in content marketing is to have a published work. And so I felt like, oh, I have a lot to share. This feels comfortable to me. This is a way I know how to do marketing. And so that ended up being my Covid project.
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Actually. I probably would have done it anyway, but it helped that the pandemic was happening and I had more downtime to do it. And also I had my podcast for a few years already up until then. And so I had created a lot of that content, like early drafts of it through, through my podcast. And so it wasn't super hard to like, try to pull it all together.
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That's amazing.
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A
How do you balance creativity and strategy in your own work?
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B
Oh, that's a great question, Liz.
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Oh, my. I want to come up with a really good answer for this.
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A
I feel like just like talking to you every week. I feel like you're more in strategy zone right now. You might not be even thinking about creativity.
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B
Yeah. So.
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I think that actually having my business and working in marketing has strengthened and amplified like, that strategy part of my brain because I've learned that creativity is amazing. I'm a creative person. I admire creative people, love creativity, need more of it. But when you have a business, unfortunately, you have to, like, wrangle that into a strategy. Like there's creativity for creativity's sake, but in business you have to look at it through that lens. And so I pretty much lead in my brain with the strategy first and then the creativity can kind of fit within that and then if you want to be creative just for being create just for the sake of that, like, go do that. But in business, I think it really needs to come through that lens.
- [15:19]
A
Let's talk about our podcast. What inspired you to start success with jewelry, and what has surprised you the most about doing this podcast? And I know you're an avid podcaster. You'd been podcasting for longer than I have, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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B
Yeah, well, I think we've talked about this before. Like, you and I were kind of just doing these weekly calls because we were looking for community and friendship, and we realized we had a lot of opinions about marketing that.
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Like, oh, what if this was, like, a more open conversation? And, you know, the podcast thing, as Liz said, has always been kind of natural to me because I had done it for a long time. So I suggested it to Liz, and thankfully she was into it, and so that's why we started doing it. But it has evolved so much over the years that we've been doing it. Yeah, it's evolved so much.
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A
What do you think makes our collaboration work? Well.
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B
I think we're both on the same page in terms of, like, what we want to be sharing and communicating, and we both have similar values in terms of business relationships and how we want to come across. For example, we're not like, quick fix, scare tactic bro y marketing people. We don't talk in, like, jargon or, like, latest trend or whatever. Like, we're very holistic and grounded, and we think about, like, the foundational basics of marketing. So we're both aligned in that way. I think if one of us was not like that, it wouldn't work out. We wouldn't be here. So we're both pretty chill. I would say we're both pretty chill.
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And it's fun to chat. And we both have shared interests too, so it's like, it feels natural.
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A
How has podcasting changed the way you approach your business and you can speak to.
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B
Obviously, we started our podcast about three.
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A
Years ago, but you've been podcasting much longer.
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B
How.
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A
How's it become part of your business and. And how has it changed the way you approach it?
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B
Yeah, well, I would say the practice of the podcasting, the doing it all these years, I think it really has helped me become like. And more confident speaker overall. I'm like, more of a naturally introverted person, so it's helped me develop this side of me that feels really comfortable speaking about topics. And I think, like, in a meeting or leading a room that gives me an edge over other people that may not feel so confident in that kind of situation. And also, it has pushed me so much to rethink the format over the years, because even in the short, short or long years, depending on how you think of it, it's been like, I don't know, seven or eight years since I've started podcasting, plus YouTubing algorithms, user behavior. So much has changed in that short or long time. And it has also pushed me to keep trying to think about new ways to evolve the content I'm putting out and to kind of keep up with the ways it's being consumed. I think if you're a content creator, you can't just, like, sit on your laurels. Like, even if you are the most successful content creator today, a month from now, you might have to, like, rethink everything and kind of think of a new way to put your content out. So it has really challenged me to stay on my toes. I mean, I've changed my format so many times over the years.
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My presentation, my platforms, and I think that that also makes me a better service provider to my clients, too, because I'm out there just the way they are, like, putting stuff out and understanding, like, how it performs and resonates with the world.
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Okay, let's get.
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A
Let's get into some fun questions. Well, first, a serious one. What does success look like for you right now, both personally and professionally?
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B
I just want to be happy.
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A
I love that.
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B
I don't know. I mean, being happy and being compensated fairly, I think, are my definitions of success.
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And I've been on and off happy, like, with work for the past few years, mostly just because of burnout and trying to.
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Really align my business with what I want to be doing and my values and that constant struggle to, like, get it to the place that you want it to be. Um, and so also the question.
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Jordan actually asked me this one day, he's like, well, you know, business is kind of a journey. So if you never reach, quote, unquote, like, success, are you still going to be, like, happy in that process? Because you have to do the process no matter what. And that's been something I've been really reflecting on a lot because you have to enjoy the day to day. Like you. This is, like, your life, you know, And I don't know the answer to that question yet. So I've been, like, thinking about that a lot.
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A
Success, we gotta get them back on.
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B
Guaranteed, you know, so you have to like what you're doing every day.
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So true.
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A
Outside of jewelry and marketing, what brings you joy?
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B
I have a really good dog that I spend a lot of time with. She.
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Charlotte. She is a 14 year old mini dachshund. She's very cute and I like cooking and eating and I play tennis a lot.
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A
And.
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B
Just chilling. I love going for a walk, like, just chilling.
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A
I love that.
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B
Do you.
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A
Do you have a favorite jewelry trend right now?
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B
Oh, a favorite jewelry trend. Hmm.
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I mean.
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I do love the, like, bolder gold kind of look that's been really popular now. Of course, gold is like crazy expensive, so there's only so many ways you can recreate that. But I do love, like, bolder, chunky, like gold necklaces and all of that.
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A
Yeah, you have that great pair of gold hoop earrings.
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B
Yes. I wore them yesterday. I should have worn them today.
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A
I love those. Okay, last question before we chat with our insiders. Is there a book or podcast that you're loving right now?
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B
What have I been listening to? I consume so much trash, it's like, embarrassing.
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A
Share it.
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B
Tell us.
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Oh, my God. Putting on me on the spot. Let's see.
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A
I did send you this outline yesterday.
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B
I know. You did send me this outline yesterday.
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A
I know. I'm just kidding.
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B
Well, okay. I've been trying to learn Spanish, so I've been listening to a lot of, like, Spanish podcasts. So if you're a Spanish learner, wannabe learner. There's a podcast I like called no I Toast and I've been listening to that a lot.
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Yeah.
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That'S great.
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A
Thanks for.
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B
Thanks for doing this with me, Larissa. Yeah, it was fun.
- [23:48]
A
All right. Do you have any questions for Larissa? Let us know. Visit successwithjewelry.com and if you love the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a message or leave us a review. Thanks for being a part of our community.