Meet Jessi Beebe | Disabled Jewelry Maker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessi Beebe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessi Beebe, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
For me personally work/life balance looks a bit different than it does for most small business owners. I’m disabled with multiple chronic illnesses (meaning illnesses that there is not currently a cure for), so a big part of my work/life balance is resting. When I first became too sick to work a traditional job I would run myself into the ground trying to make jewelry so hopefully I could sell some of it and still feel like i was being productive. Of course burnout is a very real thing even in physically healthy people, and for a chronically ill person the effects are even worse. It became a cycle of burning myself out working (which caused my mental health to get worse and my other symptoms to flare up until I was unable to work or do much of anything else) and then taking care of myself and being taken care of by my amazing fiancee until I was able to do some jewelry work again. Then I would feel behind from all of the days I couldn’t work on it and burn myself out even faster.

Over time I have learned the importance of rest. I have finally begun to incorporate rest days into my normal life without hating every second of feeling like I’m not doing anything productive. I have learned that rest is one of the most productive things I can do for myself and, in turn, my business. Rest doesn’t have to be sleeping or just sitting and doing absolutely nothing. It can be any activity where I’m not using my muscles much and my brain isn’t being too actively engaged. Some of my rest activities are: reading a book, listening to a podcast, watching a show that isn’t too plot-heavy, or doing some light stretching. I’m still working on figuring out a good work/life balance, but I have learned that taking enough rest days allows me to get more jewelry made and listed for sale and everything else in between my symptom flare-ups. I have also finally learned to enjoy my rest days just as much as I enjoy making jewelry.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I first started making jewelry i was making embroidery floss friendship bracelets out of a design book I was given when I was 12 year old. I started sending them along with my family friend, who was like an aunt to me, when she went to her chemotherapy appointments after her breast cancer spread. I wanted the other chemo patients to have something to show them that someone cared about them and was praying for them, even though I had never met them. She gave them to the patients from me and to the nurses too. I didn’t realize it at the time but making the bracelets for people was helping me process my difficult emotions about the situation.

I was making more jewelry when I was in college 6 years later and had become unable to walk for the first time. I started making jewelry to try to sell online, really simple things like pendants on chain and small bead earrings. I made a few sales, but I didn’t really understand my why yet. I continued to sell online ever since then, but everything really came full circle when I was unable to walk the second time, when I was 23. I was too sick to work a traditional job. It was really hard, but on the better days I could still make jewelry. I realized that I wanted to make it for people like me, with chronic illnesses and mental illnesses or other difficult struggles, to remind them that they are never alone in whatever they’re going through. I’ve been making jewelry ever since, but also sharing my story, especially the vulnerable parts, about my tough times and hard feelings like I’ve experienced, things that help and lessons I’ve learned along the way. It’s my mission in life to encourage others and cheer them on, and make sure they never feel alone in their struggles.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If it was an exceptional health week for me and I could leave my house more than once we would take a picnic lunch down to the Stevenson waterfront and watch the windsurfers and kiteboarders while we ate. If we were very lucky there would be a sternwheeler boat docked and we could take pictures of it. If not we would take photos down on the dock with the river and the mountains of the Columbia River Gorge in the background. Another day we would go into the woods of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and look for wildflowers. And the last day we would drive along the historic highway in Oregon to see all of the different waterfalls along the way.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family, my fiancee Elliott, and my online support network have all helped me through my toughest times so I can keep doing what I love: making jewelry

Website: https://honeybeealley.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honeybeealley

Facebook: https://facebook.com/HoneybeeAlley