Aunt happy to show off and sell niece’s designer jewelry
Daily Mail – Charleston, WV
Kathy Stansfield said she knew her niece, Jennie Long, was hooked on fashion at a very young age.
It’s not a bit surprising to Stansfield that Long now works for a New York jewelry designer. And Stansfield is happy to help her 22-year-old niece’s career.
On Thursday, Long will be in town to show pieces from the Wendy Nichol collection. She’s got the perfect spot in which to do it — Stansfield’s shop on Bridge Road, Geraniums.
Stansfield said she would have ordered some of the jewelry whether she liked it or not to support her niece and her budding career.
“I was hoping I would like it,” she said. “And we loved it — so we placed a big order.”
Long, a 2003 graduate of George Washington High and a spring graduate of Wake Forest University, worked at her aunt’s store from the time she was old enough to wrap gifts.
In high school and college, she worked at Geraniums during holidays and summers.
Stansfield said her own daughter, Katie, also worked there, but she realized early Katie’s interests were different. She’s now in medical school at the University of Virginia.
Long, on the other hand, loved fashion.
“Here’s an example,” Stansfield said. “I can remember when Katie was 4 and Jennie was 2, and I was this mother of an only child — so Katie’s dresser was filled with neatly ironed clothes. And Jennie was visiting and before she left, every piece of clothing was on the floor — she had tried them all on.
“She never left our house without borrowing something.”
Long doesn’t dispute any tales about her love of fashion.
“My mom makes fun of me because I get every magazine that comes out,” she said. Her parents are Sara and Scott Long and she has two younger brothers, Chris and James.
When Long headed off to Wake Forest to study journalism and public relations, Long said she knew she wanted to apply her skills to the fashion industry.
“At the end of the school year, I sat down one day and applied to 150 different companies — that may be an exaggeration, but I applied to every PR firm I could find on the Internet,” she said.
“My first choice at the time was Washington, D.C., because it’s closer to home and I’ve been there. But New York was the other option. I knew I wanted to get the big city out of my system while I was young.”
“I maybe heard back from 10 places,” she said, and no one was encouraging.
Then she discovered an internship program offered by University of Dreams, which places college students all over the world and landed a summer internship with Bradbury Lewis, a small New York firm.
Up and coming jewelry designer Wendy Nichol was one of its clients.
Long said she and Nichol hit it off and when her internship ended, her boss at Bradbury Lewis mentioned that Nichol was looking for an assistant, not exactly the PR job Long sought, but a great opportunity nonetheless.
“She since then has (dropped) Bradbury Lewis as her PR firm, and I’m in charge of her PR, too,” Long said.
Her duties involve everything from answering e-mails to scheduling appointments, delivering samples to major magazines and accompanying Nichol to sales appointments with boutiques.
Nichol’s jewelry has been featured in Elle magazine, gracing actress Scarlett Johansson, as well as Lucky, Teen Vogue and People. A producer from Julia Roberts’ new movie recently called to say an actress in the movie was shot in several scenes wearing Nichol’s jewelry.
“It’s been so fun and interesting to see everything from the inside,” Long said. “I call my mom and tell her I can’t believe this is my job, first of all. I feel like I’m going in to hang out with my friends every day.”
“I love it — I never in a million years thought I’d be working and living in New York.”
Contact writer Monica Orosz at monica@dailymail.com or 348-4830.
Jewelry show
Geraniums, Bridge Road, will feature a show of Wendy Nichols jewelry from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday. Refreshments will be served. Pieces range in price from $50 to $400.
