While Cyndi Thomson was away from singing professionally, she was clearly not idle. In fact, her creativity found a new method of expressing itself. She plunged into the jewelry business, starting her own successful brand called Haybelle Co. (The name is a blend of her two children's first names.) The adornments Thomson sells have a highly detailed, vintage look, couple with superb craftsmanship that enhances their glam appeal. Her clients include high-profile, fashion-forward females such as Lizzo, Lainey Wilson, Kimberley Williams Paisley, Lauren Alaina, and many others.
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How Haybelle Co. Began For Cyndi Thomson
Thomson admits that she is not really a devotee of wearing baubles herself. Still, the notion of being in the jewelry business galvanized her. "I started a jewelry company," she explains. "That creativity inside needed something, some outlet of some sort."
The first spark that pointed her in the direction of launching the company came to Thomson like an epiphany, out of the blue. "I saw these earrings in a store one night at the beach," she recalls. "I just looked at my husband and I said, 'I think I'm gonna start making jewelry.'"
Thomson was onto something. This was no fleeting whim. She was determined to triumph just as she had done years before with her singing career.
She Had A Plan To Get Haybelle Co. Off The Ground
Thomson began visiting local antique stores in town. She scoured their inventory for necklaces, bracelets, rings, and the like that she could refurbish for a contemporary look that still retained an opulent throwback feel. Thomson discovered things that "were broken or discarded and just started making them new again into different creations."
There were plenty of corollary issues to address. As anyone who has ever taken an idea for selling a product or service from the drawing board to reality knows, all kinds of red tape and prep have to be navigated. Thomson was a solo dynamo in that regard. She said she came up with the distinctive Haybelle logo, got an LLC, built the company's web site, and takes all the alluring pics of the items herself.
"I've really truly done it all alone," Thomson declares. "It's been great."
Thomson Hit The Jackpot Very Quickly
Thomson succeeded - and it happened for her real fast. What she initially thought would be a hobby blossomed into a flourishing enterprise. "I would say within two weeks of starting that process [of hunting for treasures to restore], my first pair of earrings were on the red carpet at the CMA Awards. I was thinking the whole time, 'Please don't let them break!'"
She finds the endeavor exhilarating. It rejuvenated her. "It gave me life, it was exciting, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Every day, I wanted to work on jewelry. When Lainey Wilson won Entertainer of the Year, she had my necklace on. Now it's in the Country Music Hall of Fame. It just all came together at a really beautiful pace, the kind that I could kind of breathe through."
