This is Inspired By A Little Girl Who Now Is Dreaming Big
It’s your story. Your self-expression. Your passion for life, spoken through beautiful accessories, carefully crafted and chosen to tell the world just a little bit about who you are and what you stand for.
For me, the story of my jewelry started when I was a little girl growing up in Rochester, New York. My dad emigrated to New York from Colombia with his family when he was 16 and they built their version of the American Dream. He graduated college and began working as an engineer. It was on a business trip to Brazil that he met my mother and they fell in love and decided to build a life together in the states.
Growing up in a home with Brazilian and Colombian heritage meant that I had a front row seat to the passion, vibrance, and energy that are the trademarks of Latin culture - love, laughter, bright colors, and big personalities. I was fascinated by Brazilian Telenovelas and still believe that nothing else holds a candle to the fire and passion of a Telenovela. I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to inspire human connection through the power of storytelling, the way the actresses in those shows told the story of my culture with their own unique flair.
As a little girl, I was amazed with the beauty behind self-expression. From ensuring I had the complete Jasmine costume for Halloween (especially the accessories) to putting together my own #OutfitOfTheDay with my mother’s closet, I have always found power in the ability for jewelry to express our story and chapter in the making. I was raised to believe that I could be anything I wanted to be…and I want to help empower other women to feel the same way.
I started Jessica Santander jewelry while working a full-time job in marketing. But my soul yearned for a more creative way to express myself 100%, 24/7. I have experienced rock-bottom and the feeling that reinvention or starting over were for “someone else” - not for me. And in one of those rock-bottom moments, I remembered what I was told as a little girl from my parents - “you can be anything you want to be in this world.” And I wanted to be a beacon of hope for women and girls who are reinventing themselves, taking back control of their lives and telling the next chapter from their point of view, not letting someone else narrate it.
