Episode 215: She Left Corporate to Build a Jewelry Brand with Soul | Gemma Totten | Founder, Chapter Six Jewelry
What does it look like to build a business where your values actually lead the way? Gemma Totten is the founder of Chapter Six Jewelry, a jewelry brand rooted in sustainability, community, and impact. In this episode, she shares how she transitioned from environmental activism into entrepreneurship without compromising her beliefs. We talk about creative entrepreneurship, mindset coaching for women, redefining success, purpose-driven careers, and the power of doing things differently. Whether you’re growing a brand, building a mission-led business, or just rethinking how to align your work with your values, this conversation is packed with clarity and inspiration.
“Anyone who is trying to build a better world should believe in collaboration over competition.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 - Asking competitors for help (and getting it)
01:00 - Meet Gemma Totten: activist turned founder
02:00 - Building a business that doesn’t cause harm
03:00 - Learning about waste in fashion
05:00 - Reaching out to values-aligned jewelry brands
06:00 - Embracing small, long-term change
07:00 - Grappling with cognitive dissonance in business
09:00 - Going vegetarian at 7 years old
10:00 - Why alternatives can be freeing
11:00 - Facing the truth of our impact
12:00 - The power of asking for help
13:00 - Building clear boundaries in mentorship
14:00 - Celebrating progress, not perfection
And I reached out to all of my direct competitors and I told them that I wanted to start this business, and I asked for advice and surprisingly, I heard back from quite a few people who were willing to talk to me, wanted to help me, and so I just started gathering information and it was almost like, okay, here's a problem.
Like you're at point A. How do we get to point B?
That's Gemma Totten. I'm Kara Duffy and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I heard all about you because of Lindsay White and Buna Beach Living and article that she did on you and Amanda on my team saw it and she's you have to talk. Like you have to talk to her like she sounds so cool. So let's tell everyone right away your name, where you are and what you're up to.
So my name is Gemma Totten.
I'm currently based in Laguna Beach and I'm up to many things, but two of the main things that I do right now are marketing and photography. And then I have also started a fine jewelry company called Chapter Six Jewelry.
And I wanna jump right into chapter six. So where did the idea come from and what is it that makes Chapter six so special?
So I graduated university. I had gone to school in Switzerland and studied environmental science. And honestly, it was like this doomsday educational experience where you're constantly just hearing of all the bad things that were gonna come and all the bad. Systems that we have in place.
And so I became really aware of all the systems of oppression and destruction that were happening around us and made a commitment and a vow to myself not to contribute to those both by forms of personal activism and through the work that I was doing in the world. So when I graduated, that was my only guiding principle of I don't wanna contribute to things that are causing harm.
But that's way easier said than done because. In the world that we're living in, almost everything indirectly impacts someone. And that kind of leads to someone not getting paid fairly or an environmental disaster. So I just was at this loss of like, how do I wanna contribute my skills and my voice and my passion?
And I had never really considered becoming an entrepreneur, but. I also knew I didn't wanna work for anyone else. I really valued play and creativity and so it all led to me realizing I needed to have my own idea. So I started thinking of what could I do? And I had this idea. I had studied a lot of sustainable fashion, so I was really interested in the fashion industry and waste.
And water processing. And I recognized that many companies were actually starting to create the change that I would wanna see. And then I realized that I did wear a few pieces of nice fine jewelry and I had this aha moment where I was like, wow, the jewelry industry is really behind. There are so many systems that need reforming.
How can I contribute to this? So then I realized I wanted to work in jewelry. I started recognizing different designs and seeing this common thread that a lot of people wore animals. But none of the jewelry companies were actually talking about how those animals were on the brink of extinction.
So I realized wow, we could use design as this way to start a conversation. And every time someone compliments you on the butterfly that you're wearing, you can talk about how. Butterflies are actually losing their habitat and their simple solutions like planting milkweed outside of your garden.
And so that was the main idea. And from there I just said what if I brought this into the world and followed it every step of the way until it became a reality? Yeah, it's been a long journey. I've learned so much through it, and starting that company has actually led me to doing the marketing and photography today too.
So it's been this beautiful building upon things
well, and starting a business in general can be really intimidating and to challenging and starting a business in fine jewelry that requires access to resources and. High level skills, like that's a whole other level of intimidation. Yeah. How did you go from not being a jewelry maker to having this business?
So
one of my mottos that I used again and again is like. Anyone who's trying to build a better world should believe in collaboration over competition. So I had this motto, the answer is always no if you don't ask. And I reached out to all of my direct competitors, so find jewelry companies that were doing what I wanted to do, had aspects that I wanted to emulate, and I told them that I wanted to start this business.
And I asked for advice. And surprisingly I heard back from quite a few people who were willing to talk to me, wanted to help me. And so I just started gathering information and it was almost like, okay, here's a problem. Like you're at point A, how do we get to point B? And I would figure out how to solve it.
I would reach out to people and then I would just keep going. And it definitely is still overwhelming there. What I learned is I had. Such high ideals. And there are systematic reasons why these things don't get changed. Because at every level there is a block, but there are so many people in the world who care and wanna make a difference and are working on these issues too.
And that's really inspiring. But, I think I was really idealistic and wanted to create an impact and a change right away. And realizing it's just. Things take years of small reformation and change.
I think that's the hardest part for anyone who really is committed to making an impact, that it can't just happen overnight, even if we have the answers.
Like I, that's something I struggle with a lot of. We know how to solve hunger, like we know how to stop homelessness. Like we know how to do these things. Knowing doesn't mean that we can snap our fingers. How do you manage that on a day-to-day basis, having such high expectations and knowing that you're someone resourceful enough to make the impact?
Like how do you balance. Being human and that things take time and not losing your mind all at once.
That's honestly been something I've grappled with my entire life. I've gone through periods of like real frustration and looking at everyone and my favorite word was cognitive dissonance.
I was like, how do they not understand that what they're doing is causing harm? And I was really frustrated and I think I've just come to this place of understanding that we are all human and we all have. The capabilities within our days of choosing what we wanna focus on. And some people just don't have the time or energy to focus on it.
And for me, what inspires me and ignites me is that one idea, one sentence, one design, one photo can spark something in someone that will go out and create ripples of change. And so just that one person can have a huge impact on the world. So trying to inspire and do that for as many people as possible.
By continuing to just stay true to my values and put them out in the world, hopefully causing that ripple effect and knowing that like maybe it doesn't also have to be me that we can all play off of each other's skillsets in this collaborative world.
You've mentioned so many things that I think are so important.
It's knowing that the impact can be small. It's knowing that we have to collaborate and how you've approached this business and how you've seen me approaching just problem solving in life in general. I, it occurs to common sense to me, but I don't think that it is for most people. And I don't know if it's a missing of, maybe you and I are crazy enough to believe it's possible, and that's why we're like, of course it can be done.
We'll figure it out. But I wish other people knew that they had so much more power. And how things go and how things look and especially for themselves. Is that what you were born with? Did you have a pivot moment when you realized it? Like where does that kind of moxie that you have come from? Yeah.
It's funny,
I think. I've definitely always been like this, but there was a moment when I was about five years old when I decided to become a vegetarian. And I, up until that point, my parents had fed me meat and I never really liked it. I was always like repulsed by it, didn't really want it, but they always told me that I had to eat it.
And then I had met someone who told me they were vegetarian and I had never heard of the concept and they explained to me they don't eat meat for ethical reasons. And I was like. This is what, this is who I am. Like the second I put together also that it was like a dead animal on my plate. I was like, I want nothing to do with this.
So once I heard that term, I was like, that's who I am at my core. I'm a vegetarian. And I told my parents like, this is what I'm doing. And. They were like, okay, you're really young. We don't know anything about this diet. But if you really wanna do it we'll educate ourselves alongside of you and we'll become a vegetarian family basically and help you do it.
And so how nice of them? I know my parents are amazing. So that moment was when I realized wow, the way everyone says you have to do something, there's. Actually an alternative. And that alternative can be exciting. It can make you feel good, it can be whatever you want it to be, but there is another way.
So from that moment on in my mind, I was always questioning what do people say you have to do? Do I have to do it that way? Or is there another different. Way that I can approach things. So that like small switch, and I think it was really the support of my family telling me like, okay, we don't know, but we will be willing to learn.
That showed me that's how we need to approach our problems is really admitting okay, we might not have the answers, but there's. This open-minded and heartedness of wanting to create a solution that's better for our all parties involved and that's honestly what I've seen the hardest in our world as well, is people admitting that because our egos get involved or it'll be something really personal to us, and so we wanna fight against it and say, we're not causing harm, we're not, contributing to these things instead of saying okay, I am and there's no judgment.
And by admitting that I can now become part of the solution,
Or just even part of the conversation. Like it's, I think it's heartbreaking to see people not wanna engage in a conversation because they just are so walled off to whatever the topic is. And. Yeah you've been around the world.
I've been around the world. Like we know that most people are exactly the same,
right?
Yeah. We care about the same things. We want the same things. We worry about the same things. It doesn't matter what passport we have, it doesn't matter what we look like. We all have the same kind of core fundamental hopes and fears, and.
I think just knowing that everything is solvable through talking about it, and especially talking about it with other people. I have to coach people regularly about tell people in your life what you're up to. You never know who has the key that you need. To take the next step. And we're so nervous to tell people we're starting the business, we're passionate about, we're so nervous to ask people for help.
How has asking people for help changed your life and your trajectory?
Oh yeah. So similar to what you just said is like if they don't know, they can't help. And I think I. The process of asking has forced me to get out of my comfort zone. And there will always be people that say no, but the one person that says yes is so exciting and gives you that little spark or inspiration to keep going.
Yeah, I've just learned that really people. Want to help. They wanna contribute and often they don't know how to, and that extends to like larger global issues as well. Like we all want to contribute and make someone's day in life better. We just might not know how our individual skills can be a part of that.
And what I've learned in asking for help is asking really specifically for what I want. Like telling someone, Hey, I want you to help me mentor me and give me help with organization. Can you do that? What are like the boundaries that we need to put in place in order to make this work, make it fair to you?
How can I give back? And I found that when I'm really specific and honest with what I need, people are so receptive to it and If they don't have time, they don't have time. And that's not something that I need to take on personally. But, i've definitely worked through a lot of fear around it because it's scary.
You don't want them to say no, you don't want them to laugh at you,
if we look back at 8-year-old, you would, she have imagined that you have a jewelry business, that you are a yogi, that you ha have your own marketing company now? Would she have imagined all the things that you're up to?
No, and that's one of my present day things that I try and be so grateful and appreciative of what I have because I'm so focused on the bigger picture. I'm like, oh, I'm one third of the weight to the like, ultimate plan I have laid outta my mind and looking back really helps me put it into perspective of how much I've already done and how far I've come and.
Just all the infinite possibilities that unfold in our lives that we could never have imagined years ago. So 8-year-old me would be proud and very happy. And I think something that I've left in journals for myself over the years is just this reminder to have fun. Like in my high school yearbook, I wrote this quote you better be having so much fun right now.
And I just leave it for myself throughout my life. And so I'm definitely still having so much fun and that I think is what she would want me to
focus on as well. What did 8-year-old do imagine you would be doing for work?
I always wanted to write. It's actually funny. I've always written in journals throughout my life.
So I did find a journal entry where I said I wanted to be a boss. And my idea of being a boss was owning a lemonade company and writing and then becoming a lawyer. So those were but I always had this word like boss edged into my math. So I definitely have done that. The law part.
I am up in the air. I still see that being a pass. I may choose to pursue at some point, but it's not in my immediate plans for now.
It's on my list always, also,
right? Yeah. And then you're like, okay, if I'm really gonna do this, I have to prep two years in advance to take the test. So when am I doing that?
But.
Yeah, I think, and maybe you see it the same way, where I feel like the missing pieces of power that I'm looking for to make the impact and to be a bigger help fall into that lost space. Like it's the one area where I can't. Help at the magnitude that I want to. That's why I'm always like, maybe I should do that because would it give me one extra way to help him make an impact?
Me too. I don't know if you've heard of Steve Inger, he might be butchering his last name. He is a lawyer who was working in the Amazon and he discovered like infractions. That Chevron was committing, like just destroying indigenous communities, and he sued Chevron and it led, look him up. It's like crazy.
But they basically imprisoned him and put him in jail for suing them and like bringing up all of the like wrongs that they were. Doing in the world. And so he's just been like fighting. He got out of jail now and he's just committed to ending like deforestation in the Amazon and the destruction of indigenous peoples.
So he's someone that really inspires me and I just see how he's using law in the right way. And I guess a limiting belief. I've always told myself it's I want to practice law, but I wanna do it for free. Yeah. Like I wanna just take on pro bono cases and so I have to be like so financially stable that I can just have this free career.
That might not always be true. And there are definitely paths that you can take where you get paid and you can help people. So we'll see.
There's an amazing documentary. Have you ever heard of, mountain Film Festival in ide. Oh, it's so amazing. It's every Memorial Day weekend.
I got the to go last year, and you basically get a whole series of days to watch all these amazing films about, it started off as like an action sports kind of ski snowboard festival, but it's expanded for environmentalism and social justice. And just a lot of really juicy topics and I saw some of the best films ever.
And there's one currently on Disney Plus that's about the Amazon that with National Geographic made, I'm actually just gonna Google it real quick so I can Yes. Please properly say what it is. Because it was so cool. The territory Amazing. Yeah. And what did you say the name of the film festival was?
Mountain Film. Yeah, I'm trying to go again this year and I'm actually hoping that we get to be a sponsor we'll, we're figuring that out, but Oh, amazing. But it, the documentary is so cool because they, it's initially a bunch of Americans that are going and doing the audio recording the film recording and directing it.
And they were partnering with the indigenous population there to make it. But then because of COVID, they had to give them all the equipment and teach them how to do it themselves. Wow. And so it went to this like next layer of telling your own story. And they now have a podcast and they're now creating content all the time.
And it's such a moving story. And it talks about how the land's being destroyed and what people aren't doing about it. And it's an 18-year-old kid is in charge of this, is the leader of this tribe. Wow. And it's really amazing to see how giving them new technological tools to tell stories, how it's shifting the dialogue.
But a great movie. Yeah,
I've learned that through photography, how powerful an image can be and even within images, there's the bias of the photographer because you're snapping your version of reality and this frame that you see and you have in your mind. And so when you give this.
Technology and ability to tell the stories over to the people that whose stories need to be told. That's where really the impact is, and that excites me a lot and is something that I'm looking to move into in my future as well. So can't wait to watch that.
Oh, it's, you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it.
Yeah. A friend of mine is a. Three, almost 4-year-old, and they gave her an old iPhone and she runs around, just takes pictures of everybody with it, and it's so amazing to see what she wants to photograph. And then every once in a while she takes an amazing photo. You're like, can you send that to me?
I need that one. That's my new background.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. And what kind of encouragement for her? To also see, because photography's one of those things I think people tell you like you can't make a career in it. It's so hard to pursue that. But if you have the passion behind it, it's actually right now we're living in the best time, I think to be a photographer.
Everyone needs content, everyone needs photos. It's definitely a fun career to have.
It's a great career and I think one of my secret missions in this lifetime, and definitely with, being a business coach is like breaking and permanently removing the starving artist. Messaging like it is such bs.
Hundred percent. It's such bs and there are so many amazing, talented people who don't think it's possible to make the money that they want doing what they love, and it is a lie. Yeah,
a total
lie.
What I've witnessed in myself and in other artists around me it's like you have to do the self work because you have to realize.
You're worthy of charging certain rates. And I think a lot of people get stuck in charging like a rate and then they never wanna change it for fear of losing like different clients. But as you grow, expand your skillset, learn new things, you have to be raising your rates. And it's advice that I give to my friends and then have to give back to myself.
Yeah. I've done a lot, but so many people are just out of fear, stay there. Okay, people are accepting these rates and yeah, just, it's a lot of work, but it's worth it in the end. Yeah.
And there's a woman who I was talking to, she's a home organizer and she's my schedule's so full, I have 40 hours a week.
I'm like, if you're schedule's full, you're charging too low. She's what? I'm like, just double your price and see what happens. And then when you're full, again, double it again and see what happens. Like it's, we're so afraid of numbers and you just, you never know what someone's gonna say.
When I pitch someone and I tell them my price and they say yes automatically, I'm like, dammit, I was too low.
It's true. And yeah, that's something that I've been reminding myself as well, like recently I was, I don't love being busy. I also think busyness is not a sign of productivity or success in any way, and I have found myself.
Being scattered and overwhelmed. So it's okay, how can I restructure this because I need free time to be able to do nothing and lay on the beach and stare at the water. And that's when I recognize how important the ocean is to my life. And then that inspires me to wanna protect it. And then I will get this I idea oh, let me take photos and write a caption about this and inspire other people and tell them how amazing the ocean is.
But all that wouldn't have happened if I didn't give myself the three hours or three days. That I needed to really get to that, yeah. One of my biggest commitments has been like, the higher that I rise, the higher my level of preventative self care is. So doing things like getting massages, going to acupuncture, working out even when I don't want to or feel like I don't have time.
And just really taking care of my body so that I'm able to handle the responsibilities that I've taken on and called in.
Yeah, we're. We don't think about the fact that we have to be prepared for what we're manifesting to show up.
And sometimes if we're fully booked, we have no time for the thing that we really want.
And if we're not in the right conditioning or mindset or whatever else it is that we need to be able to be a hell's yes to what we've always been asking for. There's so many ways that our subconscious fights against what we really want to be doing and. Achieving and just being honestly.
I heard a quote that really resonated with me.
It was a blessing before It's time is a curse. And that was something that I've always struggled with impatience, like seeing the bigger picture and wanting all my manifestations and dreams to come in quickly. In this past year, I've really just been like head down, working and recognizing wow, I'm not ready for some of the things that I thought I was so ready for.
And if it actually came true, I would be. In deep over my head, stressed out beyond belief, and I wouldn't enjoy a minute of it. And it finally clicked. I was like, oh, that's why it hasn't happened yet. I'm really not prepared for it, but I'll get there. And when I do it, I'm gonna glide into it and I'm gonna enjoy every moment of it.
So that's helped me when I feel like I'm not where I wanna be.
I feel like so many people put that pressure because of a financial thing, right? We're putting pressure to reach the next financial milestone that we have, and it's always, we're always trading our time and wellbeing for money, it seems.
How have you not fit into that system, or when you catch yourself doing it, how do you get back out of it?
Yeah. Oof. It's difficult. I really don't consume a lot and that's been like things that I've deprogrammed for the past, like six years. It started with a commitment not to buy anything new.
So I didn't buy any new clothes. For three years and then since I've just been like so aware of who I'm buying from, who I'm supporting and what I actually need. But in doing so, I just realized that we, we all get to choose what's important for us, but often the things that we think are important have been fed to us by society or by our peers, or by social media.
And when you strip back and really get to your core values, whatever they are, that. Doesn't have to be something that is driving this need to always be making more. So yeah, I, I do love, like luxury. Like I said, I love massages. I love acupuncture. They're expensive, so I do need to make money to be able to do that for myself.
But I, I don't need a. New clothes every week or going out to restaurants. Like those are things that I don't value. And so I strip away all the things that I really don't need, and I focus on what I do and when I give them to myself, I really appreciate 'em. And so I just am always looking at what I'm consuming, why I'm consuming it, seeing where the money that I'm earning goes and how that's like benefiting me and my life.
And I think just paying attention to it really helps. But it's hard because. We're so busy, and some people like do not have the opportunity to do that because they're nine to fives, and so they have to buy the lunch out and they're wasting money, and so then they have to take on the side hustle to pay for all the lunches that they're eating out, and it's this cycle.
But yeah, I've really just focused on always being content with what I have and gratitude. Focusing on everything that I have around me and recognizing that I have so much so I don't know if that answered your question,
but It sure does. So coming back to your business, obviously, how can we tell people how fine jewelry can be really detrimental to the environment, and how have you made changes to make it better?
Yeah,
so it's a difficult one. Basically every aspect of fine jewelry. Is pretty destructive. Gold mining in particular happens all over the world, but in the Amazon and in many countries in Africa is where it's occurring. And it's often just in these desolate places where they mine the earth, destroy everything around it in pursuit of finding gold, and then in that destruction, the waste that they use.
Goes into the waterways, destroys everything down river. And all the people who are part of that mining process get paid absolutely nothing. And then from there, the gold gets sold to someone in the nearby town. They make a little profit from the miners. It's all run by. Big companies as well, and then that will get sold probably somewhere in Europe where they'll receive the gold and then the gold will be distributed around the world at the like gold value price.
So all the hands before it have not really earned anything while the earth is getting destroyed. And then it's just been going around everywhere. The thing that I, so we use recycled gold. But basically almost all gold is recycled because it is a precious metal. So that's the one really positive thing about using it as a material is once it's mined, it is not gonna go to waste and it will be reused and recycled for.
As long as possible, which is a very long time. And so that's something that, that was like a non-negotiable for me, but then it's not enough of a step. So even though we're using recycled gold, I'm proud of that. It's just like a standard and a baseline that I think everyone should have, and most companies do to an extent incorporate recycled gold.
But the only kind of solution that I've seen is Fair Mind Gold, but there are only like two mines, I think, certified Fair Mind right now. So the gold that's coming out of those mines is five times higher. Than the, any other gold that you're buying. And so you have to prep your consumers like, hey.
The ring that normally costs already $300, it's about to be $800 and the gold is the same, but it has this Fair Mind certification. And that's really hard to do. And and it's hard to get the gold as well. So that's my goal to go towards. But I thought it would just be so easy. It's like, why is everyone not using this Fair Mind gold?
And it, that's why. It's just like there are all these price barriers throughout the process. So that's one thing that I've learned about gold. But it is cool that Fair Mind as a label is starting to work in precious metals and doing that. And of course there's all these. Discrepancies in labeling as well.
Are they really doing what they're saying they're doing? How fair are they paying them? And it's things that like even people in the jewelry industry don't really have answers to. My ultimate goal is to be able to go to mines and document it. That was always something that I dreamed of doing when I started the jewelry company and just getting on the ground and taking photos, but.
It is really dangerous because if you leak information that companies who are making billions of dollars don't want other people to find out it can be scary. So that's a gold side of it. And then the diamonds side, I did not want to use any. Precious stones because I was like, okay, how can I not contribute to mining as much as possible?
So we use lab grown diamonds and I think that technology is absolutely mind blowing. Hus have been trying to recreate a diamond for many centuries, and we finally have been able to do it. And they're almost indistinguishable. So the diamond industry actually created the machine that. Can test and tell the difference, but it's this machine that they specifically created so that they could have like a marketing ploy
saying that.
And it's so small, right? Like it's like I was told I had another jewelry company on recently and they said they use lab grown diamonds as well. And they said that from a, like a molecular structure. It's 99.99% identical.
Yeah. Because it is, they're suppressing carbon and just speeding up the process.
So anything that's happening in the earth, they're doing that in a lab and just making it happen 10 times faster. So it's, I think it's mine blowing, but again, then the job is on the jewelry company to educate the consumer about that choice and why that should be. Something that they're buying into.
But over the past few years, like we launched chapter six in 2020. And I felt like at that time people had heard of lab grown diamonds, but now, like a lot of people are choosing them for their engagement rings. I don't know. They've become a lot less stigmatized because people, the narrative around it was, oh, they're not natural.
They're not earth mined. Yeah. They're like lab grown, even though they're anatomically the same. That's been fascinating. But there's one company that I know of in San Francisco called the Diamond Foundry, and they're actually carbon neutral diamond growers, but they don't produce the size of diamonds that.
We're in the designs. So that's why I haven't been able to use them, but that's something that, again, like in the future I would love to work with them. They're like my dream supplier to work with. And then, yeah every part of the process is just like you start to see these little things and why people haven't done them.
And it's been such a learning process for me. But exciting, definitely long.
It. It is and I think people, no matter what people wanna create and sell, whether it is a t-shirt or a piece of fine jewelry, the product creation process is not linear.
It's
just not, we think it's like step one, step two, step three, but you get to step two, then you go back to step one, then you go to four and you go back to two.
And I always draw it as a spiral. Because we're gonna overlap. If you, the spirograph, you could draw as a kid. That's really what it looks like because you loop back on processes so many times, right? 'cause you're gonna change your marketing based on what's in the product. And once you change the product, you have to go back and change the marketing and oh, now the price should change.
And we need to give ourselves so much more patience when we're like it's you. We know how hard it is. Or we can fathom how hard it is to create a human. And we never give ourselves that much magnitude to create a product or a brand, and we really should.
I love that comparison. It's so true.
Yeah. I think for me, the hardest part is like, as I mentioned before, I really don't consume. So selling a product to someone has been really hard for me because in the back of my mind I'm like, but you don't need anything. Like you already have a necklace that your grandma gave you, go wear that.
And so that's why switching over to marketing for companies has really just in my mind, like I've loved doing that so much more than selling a product. When the product is not quite where I wanna be, where I want it to be, but then I also know that it will get there and it takes time. So it's been this like beautiful balance of wow, the product that came from all my values and this idea has led me to impacting all these other companies who are doing good and giving back.
Contributing to the same industries. So yeah, that's just been my personal thing of I'm like, buy it if you really need it, but then keep it forever and pass it down three generations. In our marketing it's hard and because everything is my husband is involved as well, and so ITing is we're doing the marketing, we did the website.
We do everything. It's hard to detach ourselves. Yes. From the process. And so I think, our next step is probably hiring someone and then I'm gonna make them do the marketing.
Yeah. And for so many creative heartland entrepreneurs, the selling part is hard because you're making something, not because you are motivated by the money you're making something 'cause you're motivated by the product and the service and the impact that you're having.
But we should be really proud about that. Like we should be screaming from the rooftops, look at what I made and look at why it's better. And yes, of course you should want it because you know there's such a gap in so many people want to make positive choices.
And
they just don't have access or know that these brands exist and so we almost have to be screaming louder and prouder because we're competing against large global brands who aren't making the same choices, but have more marketing spend.
Very true. And like people are going to buy things. People want beautiful things like. There's nothing wrong with going to surround yourself with amazing things, so let's give people choices that are less negative than the other ones. Yes. And it's like moving people slowly over. I don't know if you follow re Lauren.
No. She's amazing. You'll love her. Her. Okay. All her handles are re Lauren. Okay. And she's a eco talker, I think is like what the term's called. So she's all about reducing the impact and positive environmental changes. She's amazing. She's been on this podcast and when you watch, she does a lot of videos about how to.
How to, be an environmentalist but still drive a gas car or still work for a large corporation as your day job or to still love fashion or to this, we feel like it has to be an all or nothing, and we feel like we're a fraud because we have 1% of choices that are not good. And it's like the goal isn't perfection.
The goal is everyone moving a little bit towards this. Cause So I think it's we're so hard on ourselves all the time.
So true. That kind of goes back to our conversation about just being open and willing to admit we're part of the problem. Yeah. But by doing so, we can be part of the change.
And No, that's something I used to post a lot about. Plastic, like I hate plastic so much. I want it to disappear from the world. And then if I my friends would make fun of me. And if I ever had touched a plastic, they'd be like, you're a fraud. It's not true. And so it was almost like I got scared to post about it because I was like, if I ever mess up, like they're all gonna come at me and like they were just my friends luckily.
But I think when you do post about things that you care about, people do want. There's a certain percentage of people that want you to not. Value those things as much as you say you do. And it's just knowing is your mission bigger than their opinion of you? And can you build an audience that's educated, that can understand that you're human?
Yeah. But I've seen that on social media too. The second someone who's been like perfectly influencing or doing something, they mess up and then they're just like out to get them and attack them. And it's such an interesting phenomenon. But when you put yourself out there in your message, it. Is opens you up to criticism, which can be good and can be really negative.
Yeah, and I think it's also a reminder of how are we giving everyone space to be human?
Cancel culture is wide and vicious. Yeah. And it doesn't, it does not need to be. Yeah, I think it's, we're in a really interesting space right now of how can we advocate and how can we say what we care about?
And to your point, not be worried about it. Coming back to. To bite us and we just, there's a quote that I saved from literally over 20 years ago when I was in high school, and it was a Vogue article, I think from like Brad Pitt, and he said something like, if you're making decisions outta fear, you're already fucked.
Love it and love it, and I kept that in my back pocket like forever because it's so true. If that's why we're making decisions for, we are making the wrong choices, guaranteed. Thanks Brad Pitt so good. He probably doesn't even remembers. Saying it. Who know if he did? Yeah.
I love that.
No, it's very true. And it's, for me, the work has been like, okay, what's the worst thing that can happen? If I I will post something about plastic on an Instagram story and my heart will start beating and I'm like, people are gonna think I'm judging them. How do I let them know that this is just me educating them and I just want everyone to know and.
It's okay. Yeah. Like just remove yourself, put your phone down, go outside, go pick up a few pieces of trash focus on what you love. But that's also something we haven't even touched upon yet. I think so many people doing the hard work are extra sensitive and i've always been like highly sensitive and often have found it hard to exist in a world that doesn't.
Make space for people who are sensitive or tell you to grow tougher skin and get over it when that's just not my reaction, but I've really learned to. Alchemize all my sensitivity and use it to benefit me, but it doesn't mean that I'm not scared, it just means that I'm doing it anyways. Yeah.
And continuing to move forward and move past everything
I have. I think it's so funny when you don't need to read a book because it gives you the answer on the cover already. And there's two books in particular. One is feel the Fear and do It anyway. As you just mentioned, and then the only way through is the other one.
I'm like, I'm not gonna read those, but thank you for giving me everything I needed on the cover.
It's so funny. I'm gonna go to a bookstore, just pull stuff out, like what can I take away? Yeah. I haven't read either of those, but I guess I, we already know.
We already know the, I have read the Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Book it's good. I read it ages ago, but I do think it's like. I don't know who thought that was a good idea from a marketing perspective to give it all away on the cover. I think I got it. You're like, okay, you're gonna tell me to do it anyway and I probably wanna read it so I know the practical tips how, but I got it.
Love it. When you hear the words powerful and ladies, what do they mean to you? And do their definitions change when they're put next to each other?
Ooh. Okay.
No, the definition doesn't change. Probably because I am a lady, so when I think of power, I think of like I just see, honestly my vision when that comes to me is I just see women in a circle like holding each other and talking to each other and supporting each other. And I see women of all ages, like a new mother and a maiden and a crone and all the archetypes of women and they're just like holding each other and letting.
Each other know that they're gonna make it through and that they got each other's back. And for me that connection and love is true power. And I think that's the gift that women give to the world is being able to rise together in our community. And when we're supporting each other, we know that we're more powerful and spreading our love in that way.
Yeah, powerful women are just women leaning on each other, loving on each other cheering each other on, and that also leads to powerful men as well. And we're walking side by side and feeding each other things. So that's what I think about.
We also ask everybody on the podcast where you put yourself on the powerful 80 scale.
If zero is average everyday human and 10 is most powerful human you can imagine. Where would you put yourself today and on average?
Oh, I would say I'm a good seven right now. I feel like probably most people answer that. They're like, oh I don't know. I definitely nine. I'm gonna go with a nine because I.
Have done. I feel so like sovereign. I know and love myself so deeply and every choice that I make extends from the work and the love that I've poured into myself. So everything that I'm doing moves and creates from that space, and that is really powerful. And I'm aware of that and I've done so much work to cultivate that power, but there is still a lot of room to grow.
So I think that it's always changing.
As one woman on the podcast said, she's I'm a 10, but we're trying to be a 20, so let's go.
Yes, exactly. Where would you rank yourself right now?
Ooh, good question. It's, I just got back from being in Europe for three weeks and I was definitely a 10, 12 when I was hanging out there.
Like things were just working. I was in flow. And just feeling like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, which is my favorite feeling. And then coming back it was like really rainy and gloomy. I felt really overwhelmed by my to-do list and had a little bit of that feeling of I think I'm just gonna run away again, 'cause that was a better choice.
And I'm like, that's not the adult choice, but good idea. And I had my coaching session with my coach yesterday, which always puts me back in a place. So I think today I'm feeling probably like a seven today. There's things I need to get back into my routine, get back into the rituals that fill me up.
And I think once I get reset I'll feel more powerful for me being in integrity. With what I've committed to myself and what I've committed to my clients and my team members, that gives me a lot of power.
And right now, I'm not feeling like I've got all of that under control right now, so I'm giving myself the next 24 hours to buckle down and get organized and move things into the spaces they need to be.
And I'll feel more like a 10 tomorrow.
I love that. I definitely see it as almost like this battery. Yeah. I always just ask myself like, where am I giving my power away? Like to who or to what? Yeah. And my answer recently has been to my phone. That's like I've been giving a lot of power away to just scrolling and being on my phone way more than I should be.
And. It's cool because once I've identified that, I'm like, okay, I can take it back easy. Yeah. Like once I know, but I wasn't admitting to myself that I was like misusing this technology that we have in our hands and just scrolling
way too much. So it's so easy to be unintentional. It's so easy.
And I have to give myself grace a lot because. Owning a company called Powerful Ladies means that there's no days off. And then I'm like, no, I need a day off. So I don't need to be powerful today. Yes. And that is powerful. Exactly. I read it, I'm read the book I'm reading right now, the quote that I'm working on from a.
Not even like manifesting it, but just asking, like being intentional with it is this choice going to lead to a healthier future for myself?
And I like that question 'cause we can ask it about time, about food, about sleep, about, wellness, about our phone. And I was joking with a client yesterday, I'm like, I think I need to set a timer for every five minutes to keep asking the question.
'cause that's how fast we can make choices that are not good for ourselves. Hundred percent and how quickly
we can forget that framework. Yeah. I love that
you have a bad day and you're like. I wanna eat and drink, whatever just makes me feel good right now. And that's never the stuff that makes us feel good tomorrow.
Never so true. I've actually discovered that really recently with getting home from photo shoots. I am so focused and in the moment, and I'll shoot for hours and I'll get home and I'm like puffy and tired and drained and I just want, this is where the phone scrolling came from. I'm like, I cannot do anything.
I need to like lay down, go on my phone. Completely disconnect for hours. Wake up tomorrow and I'll be fine. And I've started telling myself I need this like de winding protocol. So I get home and I immediately put my legs up the wall. I drink a glass of water, like I have all these things. I'm like, okay, that's what's actually gonna make you feel better, even though it's.
Seems for some reason, like just putting my legs up the wall feels like the hardest step I could take.
Oh yeah.
Getting my shoes off, I'm like exhausted from, but it's been helping me so much. I'm like, wow. I like have so much more energy and I can even schedule more photo shoots into my schedule because I've figured out how to like really quickly unwind afterwards and give myself what I
need.
I'm such a big believer in needing like the pre, the before, during, and after kind of checklists and guides. 'cause I'd even be curious to know what could you implement during the photo shoots that you even need less of that list later. But it's so true.
Good question. I try and hydrate like.
I'm always sipping on water. I probably, I get myself in really weird positions, which is why I think I get sore because I'll be like standing on my tiptoes with a 10 pound camera and buttons on me that just holding my shoulders like this. Yeah, I don't know. I need to think about that before taking really deep breaths and be right back.
Exactly.
For everyone who is excited to meet you and wants to support the fine jewelry, and wants to maybe hire you for marketing and maybe just wants to hang out with you, where can they find you, follow you, and support you?
So Instagram is where I keep most up to date, and that's at Gemma Totten.
And then I do have a website as well, that's just gemma totten.com. And then my jewelry company is chapter six jewelry, and it's chapter six jewelry.com. And something we didn't even touch upon is I do throw a lot of health and wellness events. I do journaling, meditation, yoga. They're my passions.
So when I have all the time to give to them properly, that's when I start doing them. I've found that I stop in the winter completely and then start again in spring and summer. So I'll probably start doing events again really soon. And I just post all those on Instagram, but I try and upload them to my website as well.
I love it. It's been such a pleasure to get to talk to you today and meet you. Thank you so much for the work you're doing in the world and how you're not just prioritizing the impact in others, but also yourself. I think that's such a key message in this episode of you repeatedly said, the things that you do for yourself and the work you've done to allow yourself to make this impact and to create space for other people on the planet and animals.
It's always a relief to me knowing that there are women like you out there who care as much as I do. And if we all do our parts, we will certainly be making the impact that we all crave. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was beautiful.
All the links to connect with Gemma and chapter six earn our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @gemmatotten @chaptersixjewelry
Website: www.gemmatotten.com
Email: gemmatotten@gmail.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
