Defne’s Mismatched Earrings! (and the gifts of trust)

Today’s post is very special to me.

Yes, of course it includes a jewelry reveal (a pair of mismatched custom  earrings that give you a pretty good idea about my upcoming earring collection!) but! this is more about a brief story of how I’ve been able to connect with beautiful, smart, inspiring, kind and creative women all over the world, because of VeruDesigns. And most importantly, this is a short story about the gifts of trust, kindness and appreciation in the internet age.

Let me start by introducing the beautiful woman that inspired today’s earrings: Meet Defne, a young (and gorgeous!) Architect and business woman who owns and runs her own architectural and restoration company, all the way in beautiful Istanbul, Turkey 🙂

This is the story of how I connected with Defne in Istanbul, and why it matters.

If you follow my blog, you may recall that a month ago, Marie Claire Magazine, Turkey published a full page feature article about VeruDesigns as part of their May magazine edition.

Before the article came out I had lots of communication and email exchanges with the editors. But afterwards, understandably my contacts were busy working on the June edition. I was very appreciative when they sent me an electronic copy of the issue, but of course, I really wanted to get a physical copy as well.

Quick update: As a result of our May article, I was recently informed that our feature article is being considered for publication in Paris as well! (Marie Claire France!). So grateful! Will keep you posted when it comes out! 🙂

Back to our story:

Instead of bothering the Marie Claire team, I inquired with our VeruDesigns’ facebook followers and asked if anyone had a connection in Instabul.

Within an hour, I received several e-mails, as well as a message from the wonderful Maria Stathi-Soto (from Athens, Greece), who immediately connected me with Defne.

What ensued next, is one of those things that I absolutely ADORE about the Internet.

There are endless negatives, risks, dangers that have become possible because of the internet. But there are also incredible opportunities and magical encounters that would never happen without it.

My private life is filled with stories like this. The internet has enabled some of the most amazing and important relationships in my life. For instance, I met my husband online! (ha!…you probably didn’t know that!). I’ve connected and formed an amazing support group of women entrepreneurs that have guided me and supported me unconditionally, making a huge difference in my businesses and life. So, yes. I’m slightly bias towards the good and the beautiful possibilities that the internet creates.

When I connected with Defne, I asked her to:

1. Take time of her very busy life (which includes running a company!), to find and go to a magazine stand or store in Istanbul.
2. Buy the May issue of MarieClaire May edition, and ship it to my studio in the US. And to do it all with her own money!
3. In exchange, I promised, I would design, create a custom set of earrings just for her, and ship them to her for free as well.

In other words, I asked her to trust me, in exchange of my trust towards her.

There is no way we can know with certainty if we can trust someone. Especially if they are thousands of miles away and we have never met them. But I believe firmly in the guidance that we all receive from our heart (instinct, gut). When I saw Defne’s picture, I felt right away the beauty of her spirit. I “knew” she is a beautiful human being I would like to connect with.

It’s this guidance that directed me to ask her to engage in this “exchange of trust and kindness” with me.

Without knowing me and having no reason to trust me, and despite her (very!) busy schedule she said yes!

Within a few days she bought the magazine.

And I went to work right away! Inspired by her beautiful eyes and complexion, the gorgeous mismatched DEFNE earrings came to be.

Shortly after, Defne’s earrings arrived safe and sound! (as you can see in the pictures above!) and they look AMAZING on her! And my magazine is scheduled to arrive tomorrow!

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, I believe it’s more important than ever before to believe in the goodness of the human spirit. Language, culture, religion and politics have been dividers for far too long. Will this wishful attitude eliminate any chance for bad things to happen? No. Of course not. But we cannot let them become the predominant stories that paint the picture of our humanity.

My small exchange with Defne didn’t require for us to trust each other with anything BIG (our lives, or health). But this is exactly why I wanted to share my little story with you.

Learning to trust our fellow human beings around the world is much easier to do with “small things”. Small reasons. Small excuses to connect and uncover the best in each other.

Enjoy our jewelry reveal! They were purposefully designed to be a mismatched pair. Because…why not?! However, I’ve also included an extra “matching” pair, for those occasions in which Defne may want to keep it more simple 🙂

The matching pair!

I’m thinking about writing another post as soon as my printed magazine arrives, called: “How did I get to be featured in a major magazine”. Would this be of interest to you?

I’d LOVE to read what you think! Please share your thoughts/comments/questions in the comment section below.

Stay well, stay happy and stay healthy. See you in two weeks !!

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