We're a small team at The Locket Sisters, just the two of us working full-time in the studio and a team of creative contractors who also contribute to this work in varying ways at varying times throughout the year. Our studio is located in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, in a spacious loft with 14-foot ceilings and a 30 foot wall of south-facing windows. There's a coffee shop below our studio serving up delicious brunch and arguably the best espresso in town. We bring our dogs to work with us everyday, we often light candles and incense, and we listen to podcasts and music that make us feel good and think deeply. It's a gift to work in this space making your lockets.

MEET ALLYSSA, owner

To give you the full "about" for this work and these lockets, I also have to include a little about my sister, Amy, who launched this with me from our parent's kitchen table in December 2017. You can learn all about our work together, and her making the leap onto different work, too, in this article here.

Since it's just me forging this path now, I wanna introduce you to what makes me race to work everyday. 
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I've always wanted to make jewelry, but before this I worked in the non-profit world. I was on an intervention team that supported families who were at risk of having their kids taken away because of abuse, neglect, poverty, and abuses of power, too. I also did more hopeful work, connecting kids with mentors, connecting adults with resources like jobs, food, housing. I met immigrants who were not here legally and a lot who were. I built relationships with refugees forced to run from, and for, their lives. I listened to so many stories from people who'd experienced more than I even knew was happening. That work gave me an education I needed, and it showed me how much I value humanity.⠀
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This work here brings me full circle in many ways, because so many of you share the most sacred details about your own lives with me, too. Your hopes, profound loss, joy you want to remember forever, milestones threading your life, healing and adventure and sorrow and resiliency. It's your humanity. You've also given me an education that I needed, one that put a flashlight on experiences I didn't know were happening.⠀
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Making lockets for people around the world is my dream job. I am so grateful to be here. And grateful that you're here, too.

Warmly,

Allyssa (owner)

MEET MANDY, Production Manager

My love for jewelry making goes way, way back! Whatever jewelry fad the craft store was advertising when I was a kid, I was into it. As an adult I created jewelry pieces and even dabbled in selling my creations at craft fairs. While making lockets isn’t quite the same as the latest crafty fad, I’m definitely in my happy place getting back to my love of jewelry making.  

I majored in Elementary Education and I have used that degree in some pretty unique ways. After college, I spent a couple years teaching abroad which sparked my love for travel,  for learning new cultures, and really kick-started the idea that my career(s) can just be the next right thing whether it’s part of my “degree” or not. That mindset has brought me through some pretty amazing jobs and experiences.  

I enjoyed teaching and still occasionally find myself in the classroom at my kids’ schools. I spent the last 15 years leading kids and families in their spiritual journeys as a director of kids programming at 2 different churches. I also had the opportunity to be a part of a non-profit that employed at-risk women and students from Cambodia and Nepal which gave perspective and experiences that have shaped how my family sees the world, our lives, and the people around us. Each next right thing or career step for me has been well thought out and intricate to becoming the person I want to be. 

I am grateful to be on staff at The Locket Sisters. Its attention to people and stories, grief and joy, and ultimately giving a little piece of hope through a locket that holds a story is beautiful. Beauty is all around us, even when some days it’s harder to see, and getting the chance to bring more beauty to this world makes me so very happy. It is an honor to hold your stories as each locket is created to be uniquely yours for whatever you need it to be.

Mandy 

MEET SHEYENNE, Permanent Jeweler

Sheyenne joins us with a background in animation and design, and the multi-tasking force of barista work. Her primary focus at the Locket Sisters is permanent jewelry appointments on-location and in our gorgeous studio, but she's learning a lot more about the work we do than just those zaps by the welder.