“Leap and the net will appear” has been my mantra for the past three years since stumbling upon The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron while working on Wall Street in a cutthroat, male-dominated environment. The book focuses on unleashing your inner creative, and I rediscovered my imagination, sense of play and ability to find beauty in everyday objects. I began writing poetry and decided I needed to change the
direction of my life.
After traveling to Turkey in the spring of 2019 and falling in love with the culture, history, people and traditions of Istanbul, I tossed around the idea of bringing back items to sell to friends and family. This mantra was my internal cue to leave finance and start a textile business, Elysian, working with artisans in Istanbul, selling silk and silk velvet fabrics that I had made into products. I set out doing pop-ups at friends’ stores and then went on to build a brand in the midst of the pandemic, feeding off the enthusiasm of my customers.
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