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From 20 years with NBC Networks doing TV Studio Production Work

to Small Business Owner/ Entrepreneur!

Sew Lovely By Kelly is a small business founded in 2012 by Kelly, while she was working full time as a studio technical associate for CNBC for over 20 years doing TV production work. Kelly, a former triathlete and marathon runner, began her Etsy shop at that time, selling only custom running headbands for about $5 a piece. She was inspired by a successful shop at the time called, Sweaty Bands, after reading a story about how the woman was able to work from home, make more money and leave her long time job. Kelly’s shop was mostly for fun and a way to make some extra spending money. She called it, “Be Snappy.” Things had slowed at her corporate job and she had her first baby and started to think about the possibility of leaving her career and doing her business full time, which seemed like a very risky move.

She started to think of other products that she could add to her Etsy shop that might be unique and custom and more budget friendly for customers than most custom shops offer. Years prior, she had made a custom roman shade for her home and she had the idea to maybe add this to her headband shop. She added the shade to her shop for about $55 and didn’t know what to expect. Suddenly, people began messaging for custom shades! She was very excited. She then took her headbands off the shop page and changed her name to, “Sew Lovely By Kelly,” and rebranded her shop. At the time, Sew Lovely By Kelly was one of the few custom roman shade shops on Etsy! She looked for ways to make her product very affordable, yet still high quality, and spent many hours finding the best shade making methods and sourcing supplies to make her items less expensive than many shops. Sew Lovely By Kelly strives to keep prices down for customers and the shop has stood out and been mentioned many times for being a great budget friendly option for custom home goods!

For about 2 years, Kelly did all the sewing and construction, as well as customer service. Things got very busy and she’d be up until 3am some nights trying to keep up with her orders, as well as having a full time job in TV and also being a new mom. It was a bit tough at times, but she wanted to see how much she could grow and if it was possible to leave her career, or not. Around that 2 year mark, Kelly decided to hire a professional seamstress to do the sewing portion of the job. This was a huge relief for her and she found the most amazing lady, Yolanda, who was her sole seamstress until about 2025, until she retired. Kelly now continues to do the customer service, marketing, construction and basically everything except the sewing portion of the job. Our team now has 5 talented seamstresses sewing!

When she’s not making shades, Kelly enjoys spending time with her two young boys, husband and new kitty. She loves going on family trips, running, working out, boating, the outdoors, concerts, decorating her home, gardening, and she especially loves music, mostly rock and metal music! Kelly and her family also love to go BIG on holidays, especially, Halloween and Christmas and create custom handmade props and designs, and are well known in New Jersey for being an over the top, decorated holiday house. They’ve been televised before and every year thousands of visitors come to see their handmade props and unique displays.