Fanny Marcus, the founder of MyAleph Jewelry, created her brand to transform jewelry into more than just an accessory. Starting with phone wristlets and evolving into bracelets & necklaces, MyAleph is made for the woman who loves to have fun and embrace the energy of the colorful world around her. Utilizing the energy of gemstones, as well as her study of Reiki, Fanny infuses every piece of jewelry with intention, beautifully capturing the essence of luxury, mindfulness, and girl power.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
When my youngest daughter, Stella, had her bat mitzvah I created the party favors for all of the guests, which were phone straps made out of plastic beads. For weeks and months after the event, guests were asking me to make more. That’s when I realized there was not only something here that I loved making, but also a gap in the market. There were no phone accessories made of high-quality materials for the women who like a little luxury in their everyday lives — so MyAleph was born!
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
Starting a company from scratch is tough. The movement of things is very come and go, making it vital for you to always keep your eyes on the prize and remember why you started! We are still a very young company (only 9 months old!) and still working everyday to create a brand that people trust and recognize as a pioneer in female jewelry. Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard? Fully believing in my products and my vision, along with the customer feedback we get. Every customer we have has been so supportive of our products and the recent launch of our necklaces and bracelets. It reminds me I am on a good path, even on the hard days :)
So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?
Things are going great considering how young we are. We are all super excited because we were able to launch a complete jewelry line only 6 months after starting. Also, we are working on partnering with a retail brand to get into our first store this fall! Big things are happening
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In the super early stages of designing our phone wristlets, we had a funny measurement mishap. I had been sending designs back and forth to our manufacturer, assuming it was understood the numbers I sent over were in inches. They read all numbers as centimeters, so when our first prototype was ready, we got a phone wristlet that looked like it was made for a barbie doll. We all got a good laugh, but very quickly learned to be meticulous and hyper-aware of the metric system and including units in designs!
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Our love for our customers! We listen to our customers and their opinions everytime we get feedback, and are constantly keeping the customer in mind throughout the whole design and production process. We have our jewelry line because of our customers who encouraged us to making matching pieces to our original phone straps!
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Don’t be afraid of taking wrong steps. You learn the most through ‘bad’ experiences, but everything that happens is a learning experience.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My daughter, Leah, is always eager and willing to help me put my best foot forward with MyAleph. We both started our own companies at the same time, but as a Gen Z girl, she is able to help me so much with the trendy marketing side of things and always has great social media tips. I love you Leah!
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
The best thing about being at the helm of a fashion-related company is being able to make someone feel like their most beautiful self through a tangible product! I truly believe feeling your best always makes you look your best — shining from the inside out.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why?
- Don’t underestimate the power of social media!
- Ignore the ‘professional advice’ from people who don’t have your best interest at heart.
- Always keep your customer in mind and your personal common sense first.
- Organization. When you are organized, your whole team will be organized as well, it makes life a lot easier.
- As a founder, your company will be your 24/7.
Can you share a few ideas or stories from your experience about how to successfully ride the emotional highs & lows of being a founder”?
Always remember the big picture. You can have highs and lows within a single hour (I for sure have), but keeping your eyes on the prizes keeps you from drowning.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Teaching people to live a life not caring what other people think. Once you can master this, a whole new world opens up to you!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can keep up with our day-to-day on Instagram (@myaleph) — I just discovered editing in CapCut and have been having so much fun posting GRWM videos and little clips of my everyday life on our stories.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
