This week we sat down with Adriana Carrig, CEO & Founder of Little Words Project, a woman-owned jewelry company founded on kindness. We spoke to Adriana about her professional journey and founding of Little Words Project, how she leverages technology to create community, and how she lives her own company values!
You are an entrepreneur with a special story. Can you share with us the moment that you knew you were ready to ‘go out on your own’ and how you found the courage to do it?
I was always encouraged by my family (my mom especially) to follow my dreams, regardless of how big or intimidating they were. I knew once I left college and noticed girls from my sorority still passing their bracelets to each other that I was ready to take a leap and turn the bracelets into a real business.
The courage to take risks started at a young age for me and was largely inspired by my parents’ belief in me. That desire to follow my gut and just go for it truly follows me to this day.
Little Words Project is about kindness and connection. How (and which) has technology enabled you to create community, and practice those values?
Technology has been an important part of our business, and honestly has been a differentiator for us since the beginning. I always knew that the “trackable” and “connectable” component of the Little Word would help us go the distance because it was different, and it helped us meet our customers right where they’re at- on the internet!
The connectable tag allows customers to truly “track” their acts of kindness in a seamless way and feel that their piece of jewelry is much more than that. This helps us practice our values each and every day with the help of our app and website.
Beyond that, we leveraged social media from the very start to access our community and let them in “behind the scenes” – it was always a great way to show them what we were up to and I credit Instagram and Meta specifically for so much of our early growth.
At The Lead Summit in July, you’re speaking about the unique experiences you have created in LWP stores. Can you give us a sneak peek of the session?
Creating unique experiences in stores has arguably been the best part of my business building journey thus far. It is so fun to see how this product comes to life IRL and our community has responded with open arms.
We have really focused on creating a welcoming experience in each of our retail stores by prioritizing customer service, and gamifying the bracelet making process.
We have some new elements in the works for future stores that we’re so excited to see come to life!
You describe Little Words Project as being, ‘The wearable affirmations reminded us of our worth, and got us through the tough times together.’ Can you share a little more of what this means to you personally?
I always think back to the days of being in the NICU with either of my babies. I would be holding their tiny little hands looking down at my bracelets knowing that I could get through anything.
Maybe the bracelets didn’t take away my natural fears or anxiety, but they gave me words of affirmations to read over and over again when I needed them most. That’s the whole point of our bracelets, not to be the solution to your low moments in life, but to be the words that help remind you that you CAN get through anything.
For me, the wearable affirmations during moments of doubt in being a mom was always a small but mighty reminder of my strength.
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