Today we’d like to introduce you to Steph Benitez
Hi Steph, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Moonchild Jewelry launched back in March 2022. I was working full time doing marketing as well, MC started as a hobby to be honest, I was passionate about doing marketing such as, PR, social media etc. and I started MC to gain for experience towards that. I never thought that I was going to fall in love with this. Now it’s been over a year that I am focusing on doing this full time. This is what I want to do and pursue 100%.
Here at Moonchild Jewelry we provide unique 18k gold plated jewelry. Here we embrace at being different, that’s why with us you will find unique pieces for everyone and anyone.
We also started Maya Foundation which is an non-profit organization presented by Moonchild Jewelry where we help local shelters.
We also won Best Jewelry Designer for 2023 from Texas Fashion Week by non-profit organization Texas Fashion Industry Initiative.
We were invited by one designer ‘Rosa Isela’ where we participated as a collaboration for NYFW in 2023 as well.
We are always looking for new ways to work with our community, we do pop-ops every weekend where we love to connect with our community. As well as do online all in the US. We also provide custom pieces, making them even more unique for our Moonchild Fam!
We love what we do and we are very passionate in bringing affordable, durable and unique pieces to everyone.
Me, founder and creative director of Moonchild Jewelry can’t imagine doing something else. And I’m so excited to see what the future holds for our brand. We still have so many plans that we can’t wait to share. 🙂
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Some struggles at the beginning was doing this while also doing a full time job. But once I followed my passion and decided I wanted to do this full time, that part became easier.
Now the struggle I would say is that being a business owner, you are the one who makes everything happen. My team right now is most of the part just me. So you can imagine how that can be hard sometimes. But I enjoy every bit of it and that’s how I know I’m very passionate about it and that it’s what I want to do no matter what.
Also the markets that we do, at the beginning it was hard to know which ones to do, due that sometimes your markets it’s different, as the time went by and we were able to know our community, now we know which markets to do and works best for us.
We are still working on getting our brand out there, outside Texas, which has been a struggle as well, we want our online sales to be higher and we are still working on that to make it happen. It’s truly a journey more than a struggle and it’s always good to learn from what we are doing wrong or right.
An example would be that a few months back we decided to open a little spot in a boutique in Austin, it didn’t really worked with us and we decided to focus more on putting the energy online as well as continue doing pop-ops every weekend mostly in our city, San Antonio!
Like I mentioned before it’s a journey, we have learned so much and we continue to do so. But we love every single thing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I graduated from Texas A&M – San Antonio back in 2019 with a BA in Communications and a minor in Psychology. I did Marketing for a few years and then started MC in 2022. Now I focus 100% in my brand. Where I do mostly everything, from PR, social media, sales, entrepreneurship, business, you name it.
I’m most proud of that I started something from zero and continue to do so. Me being a women and Latina business owner makes me very proud, and i never believed that I could find what I’m really passionate about. I feel very lucky and blessed and proud of me.
What sets me apart from others is that I just don’t want to have a local brand, I want to continue growing and share this feeling with everyone. I also want to help my community, that’s why I created Maya Foundation, I want to connect with people in another level and make a positive change. I want to make awareness that being different it’s a good thing that’s why here at Moonchild Jewelry you find something unique for everyone and anyone. We embrace uniqueness.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Meeting my community. I had made so many friends that are also business owners and that had always giving me the courage to continue doing so. When it gets hard just seeing other small businesses doing their thing, gives me the strength to continue believing in myself, getting new ideas, and continue to reach my goals.
Pricing:
- Necklaces: $20-75
- Rings: $20 for 1 $35 for 2
- Earrings: $20-35
- Bracelets: $10-30
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.moonchild-jewelry.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonchildjewelry_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moonchildjewelryyy
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/moonchild.jewelry
