Community Highlights: Meet Sheena Ghassemi of Stone & String

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheena Ghassemi.

Hi Sheena, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Started back in 2015, while managing a surf/skate/snow shop called Val Surf and while studying for the Bar exam.

I’ve always been artistic and would make things for myself. I realized I had a great resource available to me working at a store that would be willing to allow me to sell my goodies. I would sell them at Val Surf on a small scale. I continued on for years making and selling my pieces, while continuously studying for the Bar Exam. In about 2018, I began selling at my local workout studio, Pure Barre in Woodland Hills, in order to get my pieces to others outside of the Val Surf clientele.

As more and more people were interested in my pieces, I suddenly started to notice my pieces on random people when out in public. I would ask them where there got their bracelet and they would respond “Val Surf”. I continued to expand my line as I saw how much people liked it. I started working full-time at a Law Firm and would only be at Val Surf 1 day a week. I continued to make more and more pieces and expanded to pop-ups at the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks through the SoCal Etsy Guild and continued pop-ups at Pure Barre. Now as a Full-Time Lawyer for the last year, the success of my jewelry has provided me with a creative outlet and stress relief outside of practicing law and I’m continuously looking for new pop-up locations anywhere that will take me

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It was not a smooth road. I don’t come from a family of entrepreneurs. There are days when I realize that there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish what I’ve needed to do.

To this day, I’m a one-woman operation. I source all of my goods, I make everything by hand, I hand stamp all tags, baggies, and gift boxes; I take my own photos, update my own website, manage my own social, market my items, and work every pop-up (all while working as an attorney full time). It’s exhausting but Stone & String Co. provides me with a good reset going into a new work week as an attorney.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I make by hand crystal jewelry, gold/silver bracelets, and gold/silver necklaces. They’re all made by hand and especially thought out while creating. I include tags on each bracelet indicating the stone used and what are the benefits of the stone to your personal well-being.

I’m most proud of seeing complete strangers wearing and buying my pieces out and around town.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I’m a born and raised Valley Girl who didn’t even leave when I commuted to UCLA for my undergrad. I love that we have everything around us and at our disposal.

I least like the traffic.

Pricing:

• The price range is $11 to $60

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stoneandstringco.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoneandstringco/?hl=en