November 12, 2016

Meet the Sharp & Talented Susana Vega

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Susana Vega.

Susana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The beginning of my story started in Venezuela as a little girl. I use to observe my father work in his goldsmith shop, which was the family business and where I grew up. I spent my childhood learning and trying to design jewelry pieces and I would make them for my friends with craft materials that I used to find hidden and forgotten around my father’s shop. In 2010 I began to study industrial design at the University of Los Andes knowing that my passion was goldsmith. Here is where I was able to gain all the knowledge and the tools that have helped me continue pursuing my passion and create my personal brand. Since then, I started my brand with personalized designs based on the client’s request. Slowly my brand began to be recognized inside my country until my brand reached different stores at a national level. In 2015, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I moved to Atlanta and I desire to continue with what I started and expand my brand inside the USA with the hope of making my brand international

My pieces are inspired by nature, in its colors and its shapes. This is exemplified in my last two collections. One inspired by Frida Kahlo and my very last one inspired on Jellyfish. Even tho these are very separate inspirations I believe they both have a few things in common: extravagance, color, and exoticism. To me, it makes them special and it brings character to my designs. I am passionate about creating pieces for someone that has a good sense of fashion. I get inspired by the women that step outside of the normal. What I enjoy from my job the most is to make elaborate and complex pieces.

My future goals are not far from what I love the most: My work and my roots…. My short term objective is to get my brand out there and to partner with bloggers and designers that will highlight and share similar expressions of fashion as mine. My long term goal is to continue my studies for goldsmith and to have my own shop like my father once had and left for us as an inheritance and legacy

Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been an easy road. Since starting my brand in 2009, I was also majoring in Industrial Design in college back in my native Venezuela. I had to always manage my time well between school, family, and friends. My social life took a back a seat countless times because juggling school and work were challenging.

Being an entrepreneur, you are faced with doing the entire work yourself. When I first started I did it all, from designs, manufacturing, photography, managing social networks, selling and distributing. That is when I built my amazing team and my brand began to grow

I left my country and everything I had built because of the political, social and economic problems it was facing, and still is, to this day. In coming to the USA and my team staying back home, I found myself back to my beginnings and starting from scratch but that will not stop me because I truly love what I do. My inspiration now comes from the new experiences I am thankful for living in this beautiful city of Atlanta.

Have you ever felt like giving up?
The hardest moment I’ve had is when my brand started to grow! There was a time when I had so many orders of stores and customers that I had to deliver in so little time that I was about to cancel several of them because I did not want to break the time I had already estimated for delivery. It was a stressful moment and I felt paralyzed. That joined in addition to the responsibilities of my career. That is, it was too much work for me and my work team, who also studied with me. The decision I made was to generate in order of importance the things I had to do and ask my mom and brother to join our team. Spend some sleepless nights working non-stop to have everything ready on time. My team was a fundamental piece to finish so much work.
From that moment the range of time to make the orders is wider and did not happen again

Let’s change gears – is there any advice you’d like to give?
The truth is that I am also starting as an entrepreneur in this city But, I have been able to see the diversity of styles and personalities, Many nationalities and different likings . So my advice is that whatever you do be authentic … That will attract the View of other people. There is always someone who loves what you do and you will find customers and lovers that will last in time .. Forever

What are you looking forward to?
What excites me the most is the opportunity to re-assemble the team here in Atlanta with local talent! To make grow the brand just like it did in my native Venezuela. I feel it is a very important part of any brand and the growth of it.

I would love to study goldsmithing as a profession. In my career, I did some seminar and also I learned a lot of my family, But I would like to enter more scientifically and put together all my knowledge of industrial design with the goldsmiths.

Something that has always fascinated me is fashion. It is like a great dream that I would like to make, not only to study Fashion but to do Fashion . In clothing.

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