- Our Story -
Our Story
I've operated Hey Lola in some form or another since 2003.
In 2014, life started to change, and in 2015 the bottom completely dropped out of my life. I became the subject of really ugly rumors and gossip and I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and PTSD. 2015 was a really dark time and it flipped my entire world upside down. As I struggled to heal, I found healing in art and in writing. And the more I shared my struggle through these mediums, the more people came to me and said "Me too!"
Strangely, as I was going through my own healing process, I began connecting with my father. My dad died a few years ago, and without much in the way of monetary value. When we went through his home, I found a big box of pennies. For some reason, I really wanted this. I took the box home and filled it with his things, and I took the pennies and put them in a jar. And for years now, whenever I've seen a penny, I've picked it up and kept it. I always feel like my dad is saying hello.
When I was coming up with ideas for jewelry, I came across this jar of pennies and I wondered if I could turn them into something else. Something with value instead of something considered worthless.
So I started what I call "The Penny Project." And as I was working on the Penny Project, I also discovered that my dad had struggled with depression, and that I had never known. He felt isolated and scared and he never talked about it.
Life can be really hard and so often we take these struggles and we suffer with them in silence. We end up feeling alone and isolated and unloved. It feels like being at the bottom of a well and there is absolutely no one in the world that can help you out.
I still struggle. I have good days and I have bad days. But if I can turn my good days into something positive, then that's what I want to do. So I write. I create jewelry with messages of hope. I create bright and beautiful things that speak of joy. I turn pennies into items that we can wear to remind us that we are not worthless, regardless of what it seems like our minds or the world is tellling us. I write about my own life in the hope that it might make other people feel less alone.
I would never have imagined that Hey Lola would end up here, but I'm so happy that it has. I love this journey and I love the people that I've met along the way.
I'm so glad you're here!
