HOUSTON – Kendra Scott is quickly becoming a household name. Her jewelry is worn by famous and not-so-famous fashionistas alike. What you may not know is the story behind the woman. She went to high school here in Houston and now she's opening two shops here. I got to tour her new store with her.
She started making jewelry for friends and family and giving them as gifts. Then, years ago, while pregnant, her doctor put her on bed-rest. To occupy her time, she started making more jewelry. Once she had her baby she said, "I put my son Kade in a baby Bjorn when he was 3 months old and went to a store in Austin."
She took $500 from her and her husband's savings and made several pieces of jewelry.
"My husband was out of work at the time. It was right after 9/11. I also wasn't working because I had just had this baby so it was a lot of money. It was a big deal for us. I remember promising I would bring him home $1,000 from that $500 and I did!"
Today, Kendra has stores all over the country and dozens of employees. Although she lives and works out of Austin now, opening her stores in Houston is a bit of a homecoming.
"I graduated from Klein High School. I'm a bearcat! It's fun. I feel like I'm coming home," she said.
While her store in Rice Village is open, she's opening another location in City Center in West Houston. So what's her advice to creating the next big trend?
"Look for the white space. Look for the things out there that you want that you can't find and usually other people want the same thing. That's a great place to start," Kendra said.
She keeps creating new lines every season and new concepts for her stores, like the Color Bar. There you can basically design your own piece of jewelry and the employees put it together for you right there.
She loves creating and she's thankful where she started.
"Texas, in general, I think supports their local designers, so I'm very fortunate that I started in this state," she said.
She says she does plan on expanding her line. When we asked her if clothing or shoes or handbags were next, she wouldn't say! Like Coco Chanel, she started out making hats so maybe she'll return to that or try something completely new!