“That’s when (Bella and her parents) decided to move into an office and open up as an official social selling company empowering women to start their own businesses,” she said. While working at the kiosk, Bella encountered many customers who asked how they could purchase her jewelry in their hometown. “Now, I didn’t create a locket, those have been around for centuries, but I realized that I wanted to help people tell their personal story within a locket, so I would buy earrings and cut off the backings to create a ‘charm’ to help tell a person’s story,” she said.įollowing such great success with home selling, Bella upgraded her business to a kiosk at the local mall. Inspired, Bella began selling personalizable lockets, or living lockets, at home sale parties and boutiques. “My parents inspired me to turn my dream into a reality and I wasn’t going to stop until that happened.” Origin OwlĪ lover of jewelry, Bella has many memories of making jewelry at bead stores with her mom at the beach. “From then on, I was determined to buy a car for my 16 th birthday,” she said. Instead, Bella’s parents encouraged her to work toward her dream by earning the money for a car herself. Her parents’ response to the then 14-year-old’s request: no. However, Bella is not like most teenagers. Like most teenagers, Bella Weems asked her parents for a car as a gift on her sixteenth birthday. July 2017, Chrissy Weems became CEO.Follow Origami Owl: (Instagram, Facebook & Twitter) In June 2015, Brett Blake replaced Robin Crossman as the company's CEO. In 2015, the company expanded its operations into Canada. The charms are meant to allow individuals to "tell their own story with a locket." The lockets are clear, hollow pendants which can be filled with a selection of charms. Weems designed and produced the company's first line of products, including its main product, the "Living Locket". Chrissy Weems, Bella's mother, is the current President and Co-founder of the company. Though Isabella Weems founded the company, she worked as an intern for it after high school graduation. Jeff Reinhart replaced John Weems as COO. Weems' uncle John Weems was vice president of IT and Weems' aunt, Jessica Reinhart, worked in marketing. The company is owned by the Weems family and a number of executives were members of the family. Consultants buy kits from the company, including chains, charms, and lockets, and make their own jewelry to sell. As of 2015, the company sells through more than 60,000 independent sales consultants (which the company calls "independent designers"), primarily using in-home parties. The company sells materials and tools to the consultants and receives a percentage of their profits. The company runs a direct sales model that uses independent sales consultants. After one and a half years, they transformed the company into a direct sales model. Unable to pay rent, they received a loan from a family friend that allowed them to continue their business long enough to generate enough revenue. Chrissy and Bella Weems began selling the lockets at parties at their home and in 2011 rented a kiosk in the mall to sell from. Weems originally used vintage glass lockets purchased online and pieces of jewelry, gems, and others objects to fill them. Her mother agreed to be her business partner, though she currently is not employed by the company. Intending to generate enough money to buy a car for her 16th birthday, Weems used $350 she saved from babysitting and $350 her parents, Chrissy Weems and Warren Weems, gave her to start her company. The main product is the "Living Locket", a clear-faced hollow pendant which can be filled with a variety of charms that are meant to tell a story.Īt age 14, Isabella "Bella" Weems founded the company in 2010 with the help of her parents, Chrissy and Warren Weems. The company has over 60,000 independent sales consultants who buy materials and tools from the company and sell products to individuals, primarily at in-house sales parties. The company was founded in 2010 by Isabella "Bella" Weems at the age of 14. Origami Owl is an American privately owned multi-level marketing custom jewelry company operating in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
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