The Cord That Started It All

It was 2020, and like most people, I wasn't going anywhere.

I was teaching online, keeping two small kids alive—five and eight years old—and trying not to lose my mind inside four walls. I've always needed to make things with my hands. So I started knotting cord. That's actually where the name Mooncord comes from—those early days of 0.8mm nylon thread and YouTube tutorials and a neck that ached by evening.

My early work on Etsy

But knotting cord has its limits. The work is intense, the materials are inexpensive, and there's a ceiling on what people will pay. So I pivoted. I started learning to make pearl jewelry—first from videos, then by just buying everything and figuring it out.

My early design with pearls, back in 2021

Pearls made sense to me in a way I couldn't quite explain at first. They're versatile. They're understated but quietly beautiful. And in the American market, they were oddly scarce—department store strands running hundreds of dollars, all the same round shape, nothing that felt personal or alive.

So I started making things I actually wanted to wear.

From 2020 to 2024, I listed over 400 designs. I wasn't thinking about branding or strategy. I just kept making. I'd work while sitting with the kids during their TV time, stringing pearls while half-watching whatever was on, because doing only one thing always felt like wasted time.

I didn't study business. I had no framework, no plan, no marketing knowledge. Looking back, I can only call it grace—the right hands finding the right material at the right moment.

This is where Mooncord began.