How did I become an entrepreneur?
This whole thing is run by a fairly ordinary scatterbrained woman from Espoo. I'm Elli, and after many twists and turns, perhaps a little by accident, I ended up in my dream profession.
Making jewelry was not my childhood dream job. I was supposed to become a violinist or a ballet dancer. Neither happened, and with age, my dreams changed from an animal caretaker to a carpenter, but I found myself at a McDonald's cash register and on a sailing ship's crew.
I might still be on that path if I hadn't become paralyzed at the end of 2020. Functional paresis turned my life upside down, and I was adrift for several years.
Three years later, I was filming the documentary "Mun Maailma" when I heard that my final episode would be filmed at a festival. Shortly before that, I had seen a video of a chainmail top on TikTok and wanted to make one for myself as part of my festival outfit. I had never made anything like it before, and once the materials arrived, it quickly became clear that the number of rings I had estimated wouldn't even be enough for a shoulder strap. Instead of a partial strap, I ended up making the necklace shown in the picture. Although it no longer meets my quality standards in terms of technique or material, it is still displayed in my studio, reminding me of where it all began.
The making of the necklace had been on my mind for a few months until I ordered more jump rings and started making jewelry as a hobby. Soon, my friends started asking if I would make some for them too, and suddenly, the idea of entrepreneurship began to knock at the back of my mind. I fell more and more in love with making jewelry, and the feeling of having found the right profession only grew with time. For the next year, I took entrepreneurship courses, learned to build and maintain an online store, tested different materials, and learned new techniques. Eventually, all the hard work paid off, and on November 18, 2024, I opened Jelea's online store.
I can no longer imagine doing anything else. Although during all of this, I have also been rehabilitating my legs and will walk again someday, other professions no longer appeal to me. My goal in the future is to train as a goldsmith artisan and then continue on to become a goldsmith. I want to bring jewelry to the Finnish market that has not been seen here before.