In March, Gibsonlook focused on supporting and bringing awareness to Women's Empowerment Month.

To kick off the celebration, we dropped a collection of Spring Essentials which have proven to be some of our best sellers for the month!

Every Monday at Gibsonlook, we pick another team member and give them a Monday Quote. We thought it would be fun to extend that to our audience, so we posted a few of our favorites weekly! 
Every Tuesday, we shared stories of women who invented things we use every day, which changed how we live.
On Wednesdays, we teamed up with some fabulous female-owned brands for giveaways which everyone loved!! We also interviewed these extraordinary women (read their stories below),
and every Friday, a portion of our sales went toward organizations supporting women and to further support Ukrainians and refugees worldwide; we are matching those donations! 

In our FIRST LOOK: Women's Empowerment, we shared books to read, music to listen to, and weekly female empowerment quotes. 

Check out the recap of these exciting events, and thank you for coming along on this journey with us! We hope these events brought just a little awareness to this important month. 

 

electric picks 

Electric Picks is a jewelry company founded by best friends MJ Carlson and Chantel Gia in 2011. A piece from Electric Picks is “not just another gold chain.” Their pieces tell a story and allow those who wear them to create their own, too. Electric Picks offers vintage and new necklace chains and charms, along with rings, bracelets, earrings, and anklets. MJ and Chantel shared their stories, thoughts, and advice for women in business. Here are some of the highlights from their conversation with Suzie Turner, Gibsonlook founder and CEO.

 

What women in your life empower or inspire you most?

MJ: 
I’m gonna say Chantel — We’re each other's biggest supporters, and when you share a dream with someone else, it is a type of bond on a whole different level. She always blows me away and I am constantly impressed by her. 

What is your favorite part of being a female entrepreneur? 

Chantel: 
Having the chance to do what I love to do most. The jewelry we make gets to be shared with the public, it’s amazing to know something that we made is in a woman’s jewelry box somewhere!

What was your biggest goal when starting Electric Picks? 

Chantel: 
To have Electric Picks be a household name. 

MJ: 
I have made jewelry since I was 6, so my goal was to get to be around jewelry everyday! I wanted to create jewelry that helped women feel beautiful and confident. 

What piece of advice would you give to a female entrepreneur who is wanting to start a company? 

MJ: 
I used to always say they should intern or work for 6 months in that industry that they want to be in, because I did not do that. I had 0 experience in fashion, but the longer i’ve been in the industry, I actually think that the lack of experience was an advantage. I learned everything along the way. I hear from so many people in the fashion industry that it is so hard to break into, or that it seems like such a daunting industry, but I never had that stigma in my head when I started. We started at the dining room table so now I tell people: Don’t wait till things are perfect - it is never going to be perfectly aligned to start, so start imperfectly. We pursued what we loved with persistence and passion. 

Chantel: 
Stick to what your true passion is. Pay attention to the things that you love to do just for fun or for yourself, and try to make a business out of that. 

What is your favorite Electric Picks piece? Why? 

MJ: 
It’s so hard to choose! When you design things you get really connected to them. But I would have to say our Fortune Coin Necklace. Our Coin necklaces were really our first vintage pieces that gave us the idea that we wanted to tell a story with each piece of jewelry to the customer. We started including story tags on every single piece of our jewelry. So for this specific coin, it’s from 1894, from Italy and has a wreath on it that resembles eternity. We started including this type of info on cute tags for our customers. One of our pillars or values in our company is being thoughtful, so it gave us the idea to add that meaningful, thoughtful touch to our jewelry. 

Chantel: 
We did an old cast of a NYC Subway token — it reminded me of being a little girl in New York with my parents. I remember thinking as a kid that it was so neat, and using those tokens was so exciting to me, so it was exciting for me to get to wear it. It reminds me of such a happy time in my life and I love that we named it Yankee since my family loves them. 

You can support MJ and Chantel by shopping for Electric Picks jewelry at https://electricpicks.com. 

e marie 

E Marie is a lush comfort company founded by Eula Smith in 2019. E Marie is where luxurious comfort meets sophisticated style. Their pieces are designed to perfectly adapt to your lifestyle. Eula offered insight on her inspiration, shared her vision, celebrated E Marie’s success stories, and gave advice to female entrepreneurs. Here are some of the highlights from her conversation with friend Suzie Turner, Gibsonlook founder and CEO.

 

Tell us a little about the inspiration behind E Marie!

Eula:
E Marie was born out of a need for warmth and comfort whenever, wherever. I wanted to create something that combined portability, comfort, and style that I could easily use when I needed to layer up quickly.
That’s how the Travel Blanket came to be. It’s a soft and versatile blanket that’s luxuriously large when spread out but compact enough to pack up in a pinch and conveniently store in your bag. It became so popular that we couldn’t wait to create an oversized version called the Boss Blanket. It has the same great feel as the Travel Blanket, just more of it! This season, we've added more to our product mix. We're excited to introduce the "Journey Hoodie." From traveling to tackling to-do’s and everything in between, feel comfortable and stylish no matter where your journey takes you in our first-ever hoodie.

What was it like to have Oprah Winfrey pick your products to be included in her “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list?

Eula:
A dream come true! I have such respect for Oprah and it was truly a life-changing moment. Our products have actually made Oprah's List of Favorite Things 3 years in a row!

What is your goal for the brand?

Eula:
My goal is to create an international brand. E MARIE products can truly work for anyone and anywhere! 

Which women in your life empower you the most?

Eula:
My friends Anastasia Soire, Audrey McLoughin and Jerri Devard. All of these women are incredibly hardworking, great leaders, driven with an unparalleled giving spirit. They have served as mentors to me and they are supportive of women in general.

What piece of advice would you give to a female entrepreneur wanting to start a brand? 

Eula:
Just do it! Don't listen to the nay-sayer and only share your vision with people who believe in you. 

You can support Eula by shopping for E Marie products at https://getemarie.com.

 

And now, as we are in full swing of SPRING, keep an eye out next week for our FIRST LOOK: APRIL (subscribe here to stay in the know) newsletter.