Ten years ago, Bomb Party was not a company with thousands of Representatives, major events, beautiful jewelry collections, and a community that stretches far beyond anything we could have imagined. It was an idea shared between two sisters. Founding the brand with my sister took courage mixed with uncertainty, creativity mixed with hope, and a decision to try before we had every answer.
Looking back now, I realize Bomb Party was built long before we revealed our first piece of jewelry. It was built through every experience that taught me what it felt like to be underestimated, misunderstood, or made to feel like I did not belong.
Growing up, I was the black sheep. I was the big girl in the room. I was the LGBTQ+ girl in the Bible Belt of Alabama. I was picked on. I often felt different in rooms where sameness seemed to be rewarded, and for a long time, those experiences made me question whether there was a place for someone like me in the kind of life I dreamed about creating.
When people repeatedly make you feel like you are too much, too different, too loud, too ambitious, or somehow not enough, you can begin shrinking yourself without realizing it. You stop sharing your ideas. You stop taking up space. You convince yourself that the dream belongs to someone else, someone more polished, more beautiful, more accepted, or more likely to succeed.
But even during the years when I doubted myself, I never stopped dreaming.
I loved creating. I loved imagining. I loved telling stories in ways that made people feel transported. I wanted to build experiences filled with color, emotion, surprise, and meaning. I wanted people to feel included, celebrated, and connected. That part of me kept pushing forward, even when I was not fully confident enough to understand where it would lead.
Eventually, I decided to listen to it.
When Bella and I founded Bomb Party, we were not standing at the edge of certainty. We were standing at the edge of possibility, and there is a very important difference between the two. Certainty promises an outcome. Possibility simply asks whether you are brave enough to take the first step.
We took the step.
We started small. As young female entrepreneurs we learned as we went. We made mistakes, changed direction, listened closely, and kept building and never gave up. Some days the vision felt incredibly clear, and other days we could only see the next few feet in front of us. That is one of the hardest parts of entrepreneurship. In the beginning, you are carrying a dream that may not make sense to anyone else yet. You have to protect it before there is proof. You have to believe in it before other people understand it.
We kept showing up, and little by little, the idea began to grow. One reveal became another. One customer became a community. One Representative became hundreds, and eventually thousands. What began as a small spark started becoming something real.
But the middle of the story was not a smooth, beautiful climb.
There were long nights, difficult decisions, growing pains, setbacks, and moments when quitting would have been easier than continuing. We outgrew systems. We made choices that did not always work. We had to learn how to lead while the business was changing beneath our feet. There were seasons of incredible momentum and seasons that tested every part of us.
Growth is beautiful, but growth also asks more from you than people often realize. It asks you to become someone new without losing who you were. It asks you to carry responsibility, make hard decisions, stay open to feedback, and keep the vision alive even when the next chapter still feels blurry.
The middle taught me that resilience is not always dramatic. Sometimes resilience is simply waking up the next morning and trying again. Sometimes it is apologizing. Sometimes it is admitting that something is not working. Sometimes it is changing the plan. Sometimes it is choosing courage when confidence has temporarily disappeared.
Bomb Party did not grow because everything went perfectly. It grew because we kept learning, kept creating, kept adapting, and kept believing that what we were building mattered.
Over time, Bomb Party became far more than jewelry. It became a place where people found confidence, friendship, opportunity, and community. It became a business for people who may never have pictured themselves as entrepreneurs. It became a source of joy for customers who needed something bright to look forward to. It became connection, entertainment, celebration, and belonging.
The jewelry is beautiful, but the greatest thing we have created is not something you can wear. It is the feeling of being part of something and having the true ability to be yourself. It is the Party Rep turning on their first live while their hands are shaking. It is the customer who finds their people during a lonely season. It is the leader who discovers their voice. It is the person who takes one brave step and realizes they are capable of more than they ever believed.
That is the story I am proudest of.
Sometimes I think about the younger version of me, the girl who felt different, the girl who was picked on, the girl who wondered whether she would ever fully belong. She could not have known that the very things that made her feel like an outsider would one day help her build a company centered on inclusion, imagination, connection, and joy.
I wish I could sit beside her and tell her that she was never too much. She was never disqualified. She did not need to become thinner, quieter, more accepted, more polished, or less afraid before she was allowed to begin.
She could begin exactly as she was.
Over the last ten years, I became a founder, a CEO, a Chief Creative Officer, a wife, a mother, a leader, and a storyteller. But more importantly, I became someone who finally understood that she did not need permission to build the life she imagined. She did not need permission to take up space in the room and be uniquely herself.
Everything changed when I took a chance on myself.
Now, ten years later, I do not feel like the Bomb Party story is finished. I feel like we are standing at the beginning of something new. The next chapter will be more innovative, more digitally-immersive, and more connected than anything we have created before. We are dreaming about new ways to tell Bomb Party Rep stories, new ways to create unforgettable reveal shopping experiences, and new ways to bring people together.
But no matter how much Bomb Party grows, the heart of it will remain the same. It will always be about how people feel. It will always be about creating joy. It will always be about belonging. It will always be about the belief that one idea, one opportunity, or one brave decision can change everything.
Maybe you are reading this while carrying a dream of your own to be an entrepreneur. Maybe you have been waiting for the right time, the right amount of confidence, or the approval of people who may never fully understand your vision. Maybe you have spent your life feeling underestimated, overlooked, or different. Maybe you are the black sheep.
I need you to know that you do not have to look like everyone else to build your own successful business. You do not need the perfect resume. You do not need everyone to believe in your idea. You do not need to feel completely ready. You simply have to be willing to begin and bet on yourself.
Building the business of your dreams may take longer than you hoped. It may ask more from you than you expected. It may stretch you, humble you, and change you. Let it. The person you become while building the dream may be just as important as the dream itself.
Ten years ago, I made a quiet decision to take a chance on myself. That decision changed my life, changed my family's lives, created Bomb Party, and built a community of female entrepreneurs, LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and even more diverse entrepreneurs than we could never have imagined.
It also proved that the girl who once felt like she did not belong could build a world where thousands of other people finally did.
This is what can happen when you stop waiting for permission. This is what can happen when you believe your story is still being written. This is what can happen when you take the chance.
Ten years down, and we are only getting started.