Clarissa Foster felt excited to open her first physical location in Dayton last March. However, a stay-at-home order only 21 days later left Foster struggling, as many local businesses did.
Since 2007, Foster spent her free time making hand-made jewelry with her sister. The two eventually stopped amid their busy lives. Foster returned to the craft in pursuit of self-care while traversing a corporate job and responsibilities as a mother.
Determined to turn her hobby into a business, Foster set out to create Charmed by Riss, a local, online hand-crafted jewelry and gift store in early 2017.
“I just got bored with my career in accounting and really found my passion in jewelry," Foster said. "I needed to tap back into myself, both self-love and self-care. It motivated me."
Charmed by Riss offers pre-made and custom necklaces, bracelets, earrings, engraved accessory items and other craft gifts. Foster makes her beads out of clay by hands and purchases stones from gemstone and precious stone shows across the country.
"People like jewelry customization, having something they don't see on someone else," Foster said.
With business on a good track and a strong marketing team behind her, Foster purchased a physical location in Dayton to expand her clientele and sales.
The pandemic took the world by storm shortly after, leaving Foster in a constant state of stress as she wondered how she would make ends meet and continue to pursue her pass time turned passion. Over the last year and a half, Foster has managed to keep her business afloat, a challenge which many have failed locally and nationally due to the pandemic.
Foster admitted every day remains hard for her. She works 80 hours a week, creating all her jewelry by hand, while running the store. Foster’s marketing team slowly came to an end as funds were stretched.
“It’s very, very stressful,” Foster said. “I give up almost every day and then, I talk myself out of it.”
She hopes to rehire a new team soon as business is starting to pick up thanks to word of mouth, social media marketing tactics and local pop-up shops.
As the company approaches its third anniversary, Fosters hopes Charmed by Riss will overcome its struggles seeking regular foot-traffic in-store and hopes to give back to the community by hosting pop-up shops of her own at her location.
“I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Foster said. “I do see things picking up. I'm getting a little bit more creative with, you know revenue sources, but just being one person trying to do everything is just really a struggle. My main struggle is just the lack of hands and capital.”
Foster is looking to the future with determination. Her current breast cancer awareness collection is in high demand, taking her focus for the month.
She hopes to launch her first tiered subscription box and release her next set of Christmas-themed products before the 2021 holiday season. Sometime in 2022, Foster will begin teaching workshop classes to allow locals to come and learn how to make their own jewelry.
Depending on the item, Foster can spend 30 minutes to over an hour crafting each individual piece, costing between $15 and $35 both in store and on her website. Charmed by Riss is located at 1336 Woodman Drive in Dayton, operating Tuesday through Saturday.
Charmed by Riss
Address: 1336 Woodman Dr., Dayton
Founded: 2017
Services: Hand-crafted jewelry and gifts
Website: https://charmedbyrissllc.com/
