Lori Anderson

I've led a very eclectic life!

I’ll start with my first real-world job. It’s as far from jewelry design as it could possibly be — four years in the US Air Force. Joining right from high school, I spent a year in California learning Korean, and then off to Osan AB, Korea, to work an Intel position. Lots of fun (except for chemical warfare exercises), but no beading. I never even thought of it.

After four years in Korea, I left the military for the civilian world and held a few different jobs, mostly in marketing. While marketing didn’t have a thing to do with making cool things, it DID give me a solid background that I now use everyday in how to market myself and my company.

A quick jaunt to Italy occurred when I realized I was never going to quite be complete without a college degree. I spent the three months before classes began living in Italy, teaching aerobics for spending money. I fell in love with Venice and, of course, Murano glass. I spent my time admiring the vases and large sculptures, never dreaming that glass beads were going to become an integral part of my future career. Oh, if I’d only known then what I know now, and had unlimited money to spend on Venetian beads!

Next came college — two years at community college, then finishing off a four-year degree at the University of Virginia, majoring in Biology. I’d taken nearly every microbiology and teeny-tiny-things biology class I could and was in pre-med, so I’d had lots of time in chemistry labs. That gave me an attention to detail that I use now in each piece I make — it has to be JUST so, down to the ending bit.

After self-imposed poverty while getting that degree, I decided to take a year off to make some money before medical school, and ended up in the IT world, smack-dab in the middle of the dot.com explosion. Once again, I found myself working in sales and marketing, and gained more skills that would eventually serve me well when I owned my own company.

Another twist in the road — meeting my husband! Deciding to have a family rather than spending up to age 40 in internships, I happily changed courses and got married, and while making wedding programs, table cards, and favors, discovered I had a bit of a creative side. I very nearly took the tests to become a wedding coordinator but then, oh joy, we were expecting a baby!

While I was pregnant, I spent part of the time on bed rest, and my friend brought me some beads to keep me busy. Uh oh. Kinda got hooked. I didn’t have time until after Zack was about eight months old to really play around seriously with the beads, but it was addictive. I sent some things to my mom, who took them to her office, and they sold. All of a sudden, I had a business!

Now I exhibit at art and craft shows, have tutorials in magazines and books, mentor some new crafters, and have never had a job I loved more. I feel so lucky. All of those twists and turns in my life could have led me anywhere — a career military sergeant, an IT professional, a doctor, a wedding planner. Each of those stops along the way gave me something to take with me to this part of my journey.

And I couldn’t be happier.