Dolores Forsythe, jewelry designer

My jewelry adventure began 25 years ago when I moved from New York City to Coronado, California at the age of 50 wanting a fresh start from the corporate world. While still trying to figure this out, my new husband Allan and I took a trip to Southeast Asia.

In Vietnam I was struck by the hard working women, and for some reason, the ones stringing pearls especially tugged at my heart and I wanted to help. One woman I met, Huong, invited me for tea and we talked about her life, her small pearl jewelry business and her desire to do business in America. I promised to help her and brought home 13 strands of pearls and a renewed sense of purpose: helping women and children in need

The thirteen strands of pearls were quickly sold and the adventure took off as I began to buy more jewelry and set up booths at the weekend markets and traveling around the US selling pearls at women’s events. As my husband and I traveled to other countries such as India, Turkey, Nepal, Thailand, France, England, and of course Vietnam, I began to meet other women making amazing jewelry in other countries and finally opened a jewelry store in Coronado, an island extension of San Diego.

The freedom and space of having my own store allowed me to start buying gemstones, charms, beads, icons and metals for designing my own jewelry. However, when COVID hit, I closed my store and moved into the studio apartment at my home and began to focus on building an online presence.

I am fascinated by life and the aging process even though I keep forgetting that I will be 75 in a few weeks. I love meeting people of all ages and my friends span at least five decades. This affords me the opportunity to constantly be in a flexible learning mode but also comforts me to be with women older than me to experience their graceful aging. 

Age is really a state of mind and a conscious choice about how I want to show up in life. I want to keep dancing until the band stops.