Oh, hello . . . 

Fast forward a few years and I was just about to turn 16 and I started working in a local bead store. It was there that I learned how amazing it is to work with customers to pick out beads with them, create custom jewelry, and teach classes - lots of them! (I was also simultaneously selling beads on eBay - I was ready to get this dream going!)

 

Also during the "Bead Store Years," I attended Bristol Community College where I earned my Associates Degree in Fine Art and then the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where I earned my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Design, where my concentration was (wait for it . . . ) Jewelry Making! I was also published in some beading magazines as well as a collection book of patterns - what a time to be alive in the Bead World!! And what a time to get completely. burnt. out. 

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I was now 28. I worked part-time at the bead store and part-time for a local jeweler, I was doing production work for 2 other designers out of my home, creating/selling my own jewelry online and providing to several local stores who carried my work, as well as teaching boat-loads of classes. Oh boy . . . I needed a break. This love of mine was becoming near-constant stress.

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In 2010, I got an amazing opportunity to work in "Corporate America" and I took that ball and ran with it. Working in an office setting agreed with me! I was feeling happy, productive, well-paid, APPRECIATED, and much less stressed. Best of all, it allowed my love of beads and jewelry-making to return - because now I only did it for joy, not to pay the bills. Fast forward five more years and I was now married and had a baby on the way. Life was pretty good until one day "Corporate America" decided to do a massive lay-off and I was going to be without a job. How disheartening it was, but I saw a silver lining: the beads and sparkles were calling . . . It was time to return to my originally planned life-path after a short (but necessary) detour.

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Now, with a most amazing bouncing baby boy, I began to explore making beads & jewelry my career again. With the help of a part time job working for "the family business" (not bead related), I was able to also take on a part-time job working for a locally-based e-commerce bead company that was looking for a Designer Extraordinaire. The bug was back!! I was creating and filming projects, doing online demonstrations, blogging, and designing colorful mixes of beads. I fell back in love and ran with it all! I had the reset I needed - it was time to get my teenage dream back on track! But a pretty big piece of the puzzle was missing: I needed to be running the show.

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My Etsy shop was born in December 2018 when I decided to create and sell some downloadable beading patterns as a little side project. At first I didn't know where I was going to take it - but I knew I was at least headed in the right direction. However, I was perhaps still doubting that this new endeavor would go anywhere, so I gave my business a silly little name, based on a childhood nickname - Leah Peah. So, "Leah Peah Bead Patterns" was born!

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I now had a beautiful and energy-filled 2 year-old, 1 less husband, and a bit more free time to work on "Leah Peah" during the times when my kiddo was with his dad. Customers enjoyed the patterns I had listed and they began asking for the materials to go along with the downloadable project instructions so I started carrying some crystals and clasps and found that orders were trickling in. I expanded and carried more items, and more orders came in. Wait, was I starting to get my childhood dream of owning a bead store to materialize? I was! Well, online anyway. I also began to locally teach workshops again! (But then COVID, ya know . . . )

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Fast forward to the present, Summer of 2024, 42 years-old, and a little over 5 years after Leah Peah Bead Patterns came into being. I have the most amazing 7 year-old kiddo you can imagine, love in my life again, fur-babies, and beads all over the place! I have a pretty hefty Etsy shop where I carry lots of items for the beady needs of my online customers all over the world and 15-year old Leah's teenage dream of opening up a brick-and-mortar bead store has happened, right here in Lil' Rhode Island, USA!

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I'm excited for what the future holds, in both cyber space and down the street! Stay tuned and follow along.

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With enormous thanks to all my supporters,

-Leah