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

Hi Alissa, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m originally from Indiana. I moved out west early 2010 to purse a acting career in LA, and quickly realized that it wasn’t for me. After 3 years living in LA, I visited Yosemite National Park for the fist time and my life was changed from point forward. The only mountains that I had ever seen were the ones I passed along my drive from Indiana to Southern California, so when I saw the Sierra Nevada for the fist time I knew my life would never be the same. Shortly after my visit, I applied to be a park ranger in Yosemite, and then 4 months later I was living and working in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I had been making beaded jewelry as a hobby for a few years at that time, and continued to do so when I worked for the Park Service. After 2 years of working in the park, I decided to take a leap, and go to school for metalsmithing in San Francisco in hopes that I could make a career out of my passion. When I started school, I found myself instantly missing the mountains, and thought to myself, how can carry the mountains with me….and this is when I came up with the idea of combining my two passions; mountains+metal. So, after 7 years of working under master gold smiths, learning the business, and then finally figuring out how to make topographic jewelry work, I went full time in 2020 with Chaparral Jewelry, and it’s been growing ever since.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Simply put, I make topographically accurate jewelry. I can take any place in the world that has at least 500ft of elevation, and turn it into a fully customized piece of jewelry. I call them little wearable mountain memories. I love that you can carry around your beloved place everywhere you go, and that everyone’s special place holds so many different meanings to each person. One of the things I love about what I do is that I get to hear all these incredible stories from my clients like, the place where they met their loved one, where they got married, where they accomplished their first ever summit, where their remote cabin resides, or to honor a loved one lost favorite place. It is such a honor to be able to create such treasured, and meaningful pieces for people. If there is one thing that I have learned over close to 10 years of building my business, is that it takes time! Success definitely does not happen over night, and there are so many learning curves, missteps, and hardships along the way. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way in order to not make the same mistake twice. All of that to say, I absolutely love what I do. It has been a life long dream of mine to be my own boss, and make a living creating art that I’m proud of. So, I am extremely grateful everyday that I’m able to live out my dream.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have had the privilege of working under a handful of mentors in my industry. There was one woman in particular who I took my very first metal smithing class in Indianapolis while I was in between my seasons at Yosemite trying to find out what my role in the jewelry industry would be. Her name is Myra Perrin. She is a very talented sculpture+jeweler based in Indianapolis, IN. She took me under her wing, and guided me towards what would ultimately be my career. She showed me the ropes, gave me encouragement to follow my passions, and told me about this metal smithing school in downtown San Francisco that she highly recommend. At the time, I was like “ok, I could never make that happen” but as luck would have it, it’s exactly what I did, and it paved the way for me to succeed as a jeweler in the Bay Area. I definitely owe where I am today to Myra.

Website: www.chaparraljewelry.com

Instagram: @chaparraljewelry

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfC-wAJqksU&t=46s

Image Credits
the professional photos are from Jess Rankin, of Jess Rankin Photographer here in the Bay Area.

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