Chrissy Leighton turns bad news into business success
Designer Chrissy Leighton has been touched by breast cancer not once, but twice. But her story is an inspiring one of hope and business success. Here she explains how she turned bad news into business success.
When Chrissy Leighton’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she felt like her world had fallen apart. But somehow she managed to channel her sadness into creativity, producing some of her best jewellery designs and making the big decision to start her own business. Add a four-year struggle to conceive into the equation, and her story is one of keeping positive despite what life throws at you, juggling motherhood with business and, ultimately, reaping the rewards of hard work and determination.
The 35-year-old is now proud mum to test tube baby Mia and although waiting on test results of a suspicious breast lump herself, she carries on smiling as her jewellery business really starts to take off.
“I started the business in 2004 as a hobby,” she says. “When my mum got really sick with breast cancer, designing jewellery was a release for me. It was my escape. I kept thinking about different pieces mum would like to wear when she was better and we could go out for lunch together. Step by step, it gave me a little bit of hope.
“Friends, then friends of friends, started asking if they could buy my stuff. At first, I thought they were joking! I wasn’t really enjoying my job in advertising that much so I decided to take some time out and find me and spend time with Mum. I was also trying for a baby.
“Each season, my collections grew and so did my customer base, from just selling in my suburb, to across to Sydney, to across Australia. Now I’ve got 97 stockists in Australia, New Zealand and New York!” Australian stockists include chains Gripp Jeans and Ojay, and a new e-commerce site is launching any day at www.chrissyl.com.au
Despite this growth, the Chrissy L label is still very much a one-man band. Working from her studio in Sans Souci, NSW, Chrissy shares an assistant with her husband. “I love working from home and wouldn’t have it any other way, especially now I have Mia,” she says. “It does make it hard to switch off but I’m working on that!”
She’s now looking at the US market and some strategic celebrity endorsements, although she adds: “I don’t want to get too caught up in the hype. I don’t buy into that. The product has to be good first and foremost. I also don’t want to grow too fast and lose sight of where we want to be as a business.”
Chrissy’s jewellery is designed in Sydney and manufactured overseas. She’s currently employing a sales agent and a PR person part-time and jokes that the next employee might have to be a therapist, as she juggles her non-stop life of business owner, wife, mother and daughter! She still finds it hard to talk about her mum’s cancer battle, which is thankfully now over, but encourages all women to check their breasts regularly. She is currently awaiting results on her own suspicious breast lump.
And as much as we already know it’s more than possible to be a successful businesswoman and mother, she adds: “Sometimes as a woman you feel guilty for doing something on your own, for yourself. But you can still find a way to do it and to have it all.”
ENDS
BREAKOUT 1: Think pink this October
One in every nine Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. It could be a mother, sister, aunt, cousin, niece or friend. Whoever they are, one thing they have in common is that they will all need our help and support.
This year, Cancer Council’s Pink Ribbon Day is 26 October. Pink Ribbon Day is your chance to help raise money and awareness for all Australian women affected by breast cancer. As much as charities like Cancer Council do to help improve survival rates and treatments, the fact is there is still so much more to be done.
Show your support for breast cancer by ordering pink products to sell, volunteering your time to help, buying pink, holding a pink fundraiser, or making a donation.
For more information visit www.pinkribbonday.com.au
Breakout 2: How to check your breasts
The following advice is offered by the McGrath Foundation.
You can check your breasts by:
* Looking at the shape and appearance of your breasts and nipples in the mirror with your hands by your sides
* Raising your arms above your head and looking for a change in the shape of the breasts
* Feeling for lumps in the breasts either while lying down or standing
* Feeling for lumps in the nipples area and in the armpits.
Breakout 3: Useful websites
www.pinkribbonday.com.au
www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au
www.nbcf.org.au
www.cancer.org.au
Designer Chrissy Leighton has been touched by breast cancer not once, but twice. But her story is an inspiring one of hope and business success. Here she explains how she turned bad news into business success.
When Chrissy Leighton’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she felt like her world had fallen apart. But somehow she managed to channel her sadness into creativity, producing some of her best jewellery designs and making the big decision to start her own business. Add a four-year struggle to conceive into the equation, and her story is one of keeping positive despite what life throws at you, juggling motherhood with business and, ultimately, reaping the rewards of hard work and determination.
The 35-year-old is now proud mum to test tube baby Mia and although waiting on test results of a suspicious breast lump herself, she carries on smiling as her jewellery business really starts to take off.
“I started the business in 2004 as a hobby,” she says. “When my mum got really sick with breast cancer, designing jewellery was a release for me. It was my escape. I kept thinking about different pieces mum would like to wear when she was better and we could go out for lunch together. Step by step, it gave me a little bit of hope.
“Friends, then friends of friends, started asking if they could buy my stuff. At first, I thought they were joking! I wasn’t really enjoying my job in advertising that much so I decided to take some time out and find me and spend time with Mum. I was also trying for a baby.
“Each season, my collections grew and so did my customer base, from just selling in my suburb, to across to Sydney, to across Australia. Now I’ve got 97 stockists in Australia, New Zealand and New York!” Australian stockists include chains Gripp Jeans and Ojay, and a new e-commerce site is launching any day at www.chrissyl.com.au
Despite this growth, the Chrissy L label is still very much a one-man band. Working from her studio in Sans Souci, NSW, Chrissy shares an assistant with her husband. “I love working from home and wouldn’t have it any other way, especially now I have Mia,” she says. “It does make it hard to switch off but I’m working on that!”
She’s now looking at the US market and some strategic celebrity endorsements, although she adds: “I don’t want to get too caught up in the hype. I don’t buy into that. The product has to be good first and foremost. I also don’t want to grow too fast and lose sight of where we want to be as a business.”
Chrissy’s jewellery is designed in Sydney and manufactured overseas. She’s currently employing a sales agent and a PR person part-time and jokes that the next employee might have to be a therapist, as she juggles her non-stop life of business owner, wife, mother and daughter! She still finds it hard to talk about her mum’s cancer battle, which is thankfully now over, but encourages all women to check their breasts regularly. She is currently awaiting results on her own suspicious breast lump.
And as much as we already know it’s more than possible to be a successful businesswoman and mother, she adds: “Sometimes as a woman you feel guilty for doing something on your own, for yourself. But you can still find a way to do it and to have it all.” Think pink this October
One in every nine Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. It could be a mother, sister, aunt, cousin, niece or friend. Whoever they are, one thing they have in common is that they will all need our help and support.
This year, Cancer Council’s Pink Ribbon Day is 26 October. Pink Ribbon Day is your chance to help raise money and awareness for all Australian women affected by breast cancer. As much as charities like Cancer Council do to help improve survival rates and treatments, the fact is there is still so much more to be done.
Show your support for breast cancer by ordering pink products to sell, volunteering your time to help, buying pink, holding a pink fundraiser, or making a donation.
Jen was the publisher at Loyalty Media and editor of Dynamic Business, Australia's largest circulating small business magazine, from 2008 until 2012. She is now a full-time blogger at The Interiors Addict.
