Oct 28, 2018
In this episode, Sara talks with Carol Gavhane about her journey from advertising, through years of dealing with secondary infertility, to starting a handcrafted jewelry company with her husband. Carol shares how she got through dark times in her life thanks to a trusted fertility bracelet she found online, how her journey with infertility gave her a "start-before-you're-ready" attitude when it came to building a business, and how she and her husband navigate working together every day. Today, Carol is co-founder of Asha Blooms, a handcrafted, purposeful jewelry company dedicated to inspiring and uplifting people.
Want to make your own career change? Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career
Change Chart.
Sara
and Carol discuss:
- Getting connected through previous podcast guests, Michelle Wong and Judy Lee
- Carol majoring in journalism but realizing it wasn't for her
- Deciding on the field of advertising
- Working as a media assistant at an ad agency
- Wanting more fulfillment and purpose
- Working in fundraising and development at a nonprofit
- Getting pregnant with her daughter and having an easy pregnancy
- Taking 5 years off to be with her daughter
- How our identities are tied to what we do for a living
- Doing everything under the sun to get pregnant again
- Why advertising was a great early career field for Carol
- Feeling burned out and wanting something that fed her soul
- Experiencing 5 pregnancy losses
- How her infertility journey led to founding her business
- Buying herself a fertility bracelet as a daily reminder to continue on
- Starting her business: Asha Blooms, a purposeful, hand-crafted jewelry company
- The meaning behind each piece she produces
- Her husband leaving his corporate job to start the business
- How she decides which gemstones to include in her jewelry
- Her son, Henry, arriving 7 weeks early at 3 lbs., 14 oz.
- Henry spending almost 1 month in the NICU and the impact on their lives
- Realizing that life is short - why not go after what you want?
- Knowing that they could always go back to what they'd done before if it didn't work out
- The right time to start their business
- The difficulties of being an entrepreneur
- Asha Blooms feeding her soul and giving her purpose
- What it's like for Carol to work with her husband
- The importance of communication
- How they organize and distribute the work
- Embracing baby steps
- Realizing that even changing jobs within the same industry takes time to get up to speeds
- Scrum meetings
- Carol learning how to make jewelry
- Honoring the voice that kept telling her: "Do the jewelry, do the jewelry, do the jewelry"
- Interviewing others in the area in the jewelry business to learn more
- The intention behind all of their pieces of jewelry
- Going live with their products before they were "ready"
- Skepticism from their parents, who are immigrants to the U.S.
- The importance of surrounding oneself with the right people
- A local networking group that Carol loves: Business Among Moms
- The perks of working for herself
- The advice that she'd give to herself at the beginning of her entrepreneurship journey
- The advice she has for others
- The meaning behind the name "Asha Blooms"
-
...and more!
Carol's full
bio:
Carol Gavhane is co-founder of
Asha Blooms, a handcrafted, purposeful jewelry company dedicated to
inspiring and uplifting people. Born out of her walk with secondary
infertility, she and her husband created this business when it
dawned on them that words and intentions really do matter. Each
piece of jewelry is tied to a specific intention, and it’s their
vision that others see themselves for who they already are—whole,
loved, complete, courageous, and renewed.
Everything about their first child was fairly typical, but trying to add to the family afterward was incredibly difficult. During those years, they tried everything under the sun to get or sustain pregnancy—clean eating, support groups, fertility yoga, acupuncture, meditation, negotiations with God, many visits to the fertility clinic, and so on. These services absolutely helped, as they provided comfort or bits of positivity, but there were many dark days thrown into the mix.
Who would have thought that a fertility bracelet found online would help as much as it did? It soon became a beacon of hope for Carol, a daily, wearable reminder to continue on—which she did, for nearly three years. Looking back, Carol credits science, hope, and intention with the creation of baby Henry.
Prior to becoming a parent, Carol worked in the advertising and nonprofit industries for 13 years. She lives just outside of Seattle with her family.
Everything about their first child was fairly typical, but trying to add to the family afterward was incredibly difficult. During those years, they tried everything under the sun to get or sustain pregnancy—clean eating, support groups, fertility yoga, acupuncture, meditation, negotiations with God, many visits to the fertility clinic, and so on. These services absolutely helped, as they provided comfort or bits of positivity, but there were many dark days thrown into the mix.
Who would have thought that a fertility bracelet found online would help as much as it did? It soon became a beacon of hope for Carol, a daily, wearable reminder to continue on—which she did, for nearly three years. Looking back, Carol credits science, hope, and intention with the creation of baby Henry.
Prior to becoming a parent, Carol worked in the advertising and nonprofit industries for 13 years. She lives just outside of Seattle with her family.
Connect
with Asha Blooms:
Website: https://www.ashablooms.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashablooms
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashabloomsjewelry
Work with Sara:
Want to make your own career change? Take the first step and download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.
Work with Sara:
Want to make your own career change? Take the first step and download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.