A few months ago, I shared here the chance experiences and encounters that helped me start my career in Brazil. I was recently asked how I ended up in New York? Again, the answer can be summed up as: serendipity.
A bit more than a decade ago, at home in Brazil, I reconnected with a man I’d known as a teenager. He had been living in New York for many years, and was visiting Brazil on business. Love, as they say, was in the air and, ten years ago next month, I found myself on a plane to New York—a city I knew nothing about, where people spoke a language I did not speak very well, and a place where I knew only one person: my husband.
Not long after I arrived, I was on the hunt for a salon and my husband mentioned J. Sisters. He also had the idea to bring my jewelry with me so I decided not to book a manicure but, instead, pack up some of my jewelry and drop in at the salon. I asked the owners (who, serendipitously, also speak Portuguese) if they would be interested in selling my jewelry and—the stars must have been aligned that day—because they told me they had just undergone a renovation, were selling several product lines, and needed a jewelry collection. Could I start the following day? Working in the salon selling my jewelry was an incredible (and, at times, hilarious) experience. J. Sisters is known as a salon to the stars, so I was meeting celebrities every day; but being new the country, I often didn’t know who they were. (This led to said hilarity… like the time I, unknowingly, tried to sell some of my pieces to the owner of Bulgari!)
One afternoon, after work, I went to Tiffany & Co., as I’d never been to the famous store. An elegant woman who was shopping noticed my earrings and (despite the salesperson’s glare) bought them on the spot! That was the day I decided: all these coincidences meant something. They were the green light for me… it was time to formally launch my own designer brand. It was serendipity. And the rest, is history!
