Meet Stacy Marshall | Artist & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stacy Marshall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stacy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting my handmade jewelry business was, like many business, born out of necessity! I was pregnant and stuck at home without a job or a car. My husband had our only car at work during the day and I was wanting to put my creative skills to use and make some money from home in any way that I could. Etsy was brand new and I decided to give it a shot! I have a graphic design background, so I whipped up a logo and a shop banner, and my online craft business was born.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
After years of graphic design, I was burnt out on it, so the idea of creating something without a client micromanaging me seemed so fun and freeing! My art started like most do, with various mediums and ideas until finally honing in on one. I started with some random crafts, like découpage baby decor and then resin pouring caught my eye. I was instantly drawn to all the glitter, the bright colors, and the endless possibilities of what you could encase in these little amulets. On the business end, I felt like I was getting a lot of ROI on a large jar of resin when making small earring charms and pendants.

Stacy joined my resin endeavors, and we were both hooked! Many many days during our kids’ nap times were spent talking on the phone about how the last batch of resin came out sticky, or what molds we were going to buy next. As the years passed, we started perfecting our techniques, and we also wrote a book on making “not your grandma’s” resin jewelry. It’s called, Dropping the Resin Bombshell and it’s actually available on Amazon! Although not a best-seller by any means, we were still damn proud of it and got to check off, “published author,” from our bucket list.

This led us to the magical world of laser cutting acrylic! Talk about ROI! We could design our shapes, choose from a huge assortment of colors, and say good bye to the uncertainty that sometimes comes with pouring a batch of resin. No drying times, no bad resin batches, and the ability to make identical pieces for renewing product listings. We started outsourcing our laser cut jewelry pieces and this is where the magic really began!

Today, my magical little home office is where I digitally design all my jewelry pieces for Sparkle Monster. I’ve had my own laser since 2015 (his name is Benjamin). I am most proud of seeing my pieces evolve in complexity and detail over the years. It’s so gratifying to have an idea in my head, be able to create it in the form of a vector shape on a computer screen, then make it come to life as a tangible, glittery and glossy piece of adornment.

The biggest challenge for me, I think, is common with most entrepreneurs and that is wearing so many hats! As much as I thrive on creativity, I still have to be customer service, a shipping department, inventory, R&D, budgeting, payroll, etc. I’ve learned that to battle this, there must be delegation of tasks. Finding trustworthy help, communicating your expectations clearly, and just letting go of some of that “control” is what has helped me grow my business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in the suburb of San Tan Valley, but thanks to our amazing loops of freeways, it’s pretty easy to explore Phoenix and it’s outer areas! My go-to summer day is usually to this great little community pool called Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center in Chandler. I’ve been taking my kids there since they were little and even as teenagers, they still love it. A pool day is a MUST while here in Arizona.

Another great place for my visitor would be shopping and lunch at Tanger Outlets in Glendale. It’s pretty far from where I’m at, but it’s right off the 101 and spending the whole day is worth it.

Downtown Gilbert is perfect for Nighttime dinner and drinks! The parking garages are convenient, and dinner at Culinary Dropout is a nice treat without being too spendy. After dinner, you can easily walk on over to Whiskey Row for drinks, games of cornhole, dancing and live music. And the who knows, the adventure can continue by trying to find the entrance to The White Rabbit!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband at the time definitely deserves credit for supporting my creative dream. Even through the times when I doubted myself and oscillated between my creative business and 9-5 jobs, he was a cheerleader. When I started my Etsy, I actually convinced my bestie, who is also named Stacy, to open a shop as well. At let me tell you, building our businesses concurrently, side by side over the years has been the wildest and most fun ride! Without us supporting one another on this journey, we definitely would not be where we are today, and I’m so grateful.

Website: www.sparklemonster.com

Instagram: @sparklemonster_

Twitter: @sparklemonster.com_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glitterpunkcouture

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SparkleMonster

Other: TikTok: @sparklemonster_