Theresa Wing Hines is our featured guest on June 10, 2009. Theresa founded One Pearl in 2004, after her son entered wilderness therapy for behavioral problems. She explains how the core concept of One Pearl came to her in this excerpt from a blog post:
“the analogy of the pearl and my son popped into my head. An epiphany. The perfect metaphor. The pearl. An object placed in a foreign environment, nurtured and coated with nacre, emerging a beautiful and unique gem. My son, placed in a foreign environment, cut off from the rest of the world, nurtured and coated with therapy, emerging a beautiful and unique gem. Perfect. My Pearl.
After that idea came to me, I had to figure out how to market it, how to make people notice it. It was then that I decided to put one contrasting pearl on every piece of jewelry to symbolize the transformation of someone, if only given the chance.
A black or white pearl, on every piece, with the hope that someone will ask why is that one pearl there? To then be given the chance to say, this pearl represents a child who has been transformed with my help, through the purchase of this necklace/bracelet. BAM! One Pearl was born.”
Wow…it’s not often that we hear stories like this. It’s incredibly admirable what Theresa did in creating One Pearl, and what she has continued to do with her company since then. One Pearl has its origins in a rise-from-the-ashes story worthy of a Lifetime Original Movie, as well as supporting several charities via “retail philanthropy”.
What this means is that One Pearl is a for-profit company, but consistently donates over fifty percent of its profits to the various charities it supports. I’ve rarely heard of a for-profit business voluntarily giving up some of its profits for any reason, and I was absolutely excited when I heard about the great things One Pearl is doing.
Theresa Wing Hines is the mother of two sons, ages 17 and 20. She says that “Of my life experiences, travel has probably had the biggest impact on me.” At a very young age, Theresa’s family moved to Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) and stayed for two and a half years.
The family traveled extensively in Asia and Africa during this time, forming the basis for Theresa’s lifelong wanderlust. When her son (then sixteen, now 20) attended wilderness therapy camp followed immediately by therapeutic boarding school, Theresa fought off her depression, guilt, and grief by starting One Pearl. Five years later Theresa, her son, and her company are all going strong.
This seems like it’s going to be an incredible show. Divas, tune in to hear about Theresa’s amazing story.
Be sure to visit Theresa’s site at OnePearl.com
You can listen live and interact with us by going to DivaTalkRadio.com/live.
That’s it for now. Until next time, wear your heels well and we’ll see YOU at the show!
P.S. You’ve gotta check out Theresa’s gorgeous jewelry. I’m so jones’in for the pearl bracelet. Okay…I want EVERYTHING on the site. Yep, I’m making a wishlist!!
doing whatever it takes to guide a business to success. After using half of her divorce settlement to launch Tennessee T-cakes in 1993, Barkley now sells over one million Tennessee T-cakes per year to customers around the world. She has gone from pawning her diamond earrings (multiple times!) in order to afford extra ingredients and employee wages and from driving a cargo van across the South for four months selling T-cakes at Christmas fairs to being featured on Oprah when Tennessee T-cakes were lauded as one of the four best cakes in the country.
In the polite society of ante-bellum Tennessee, one young woman was renowned for both her beauty and her culinary ability. Though only seventeen, she had perfected recipes that had been in her family for generations. Tea cakes were one of her most sought-after specialties.
I really like the Truffles and the Lime…they are my favorite. But best of all is having the opportunity to talk with Frances and getting to know her. She is such a delightful lady and I’m proud to call her a fellow Diva!
