Hello and welcome to my new website!
My name is Teresa Sarzoza and I am a wife and mother (of one) who is passionate about beading and recently had my husband create this website (as well as my Etsy shop) for me so that I could display and sell my jewelry creations and contribute (financially) to our family’s financial situation.
I am originally from Rochester Minnesota and now live in Faribault. I am FT homemaker and create jewelry in my spare time. I fell in love with beading (as a hoby) years ago and over the years have amassed quite a collection of rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Four years ago my husband and I built a new home and I now have (in addition to my new dream house) my own studio where I can spend time alone designing and creating new bead jewelry. I’m already running out of space and if you know anyone who is a [bead] jeweler, you know what I’m talking about.
A few years back I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and needed emergency surgery to prevent becoming a paraplegic. My spinal cord was being severed in multiple spots and although the surgery was a success, it left me permanently disabled…and, I still have another surgery to look forward to and hope that it will allow me to have a better quality of life.
In addition to all that, my husband was diagnosed with stage 3c colorectal cancer (CRC) in 2017 and was given 6-9 months to live (if he did nothing). He then spent the better part of a year and a half fighting for his life by going through six weeks of daily chemotherapy and radiation treatments, robotic LAR surgery and then six months of post surgical chemotherapy to clean up the pieces. Because of his resection surgery, he was given a temporary ileostomy and . Last August he had his reversal surgery and was declared cancer free!!
Thankfully he won the war and is now a cancer survivor! You can visit his website HERE where he is raising awareness to colorectal cancer (the second deadliest cancer in the US) and providing valuable information to cancer patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals who seek to gain more information about the CRC community.
So as you can imagine, both these events (my disability and his cancer) left us financially strapped and almost bankrupt. Needless to say, this was the spark I needed to begin selling all my creations online both here (in my online store) and on my Etsy shop.
Now, although my husband John is a social butterfly, I am the complete opposite and am not involved with social media or any sort of online activity. In fact, I still use a flip phone since I had no use for email or surfing the web on a smart phone.
Moving forward however, I will begin blogging (about jewelry of course) and will try to get a YouTube channel setup where I can help others with this craft known as beading. I will also answer any questions you might have about the craft or any questions you have about items listed in my online store.
In the meantime, please feel free to check out some of my blog posts and if you’d like to help support me and my family (financially) as we struggle to stay afloat, please consider purchasing some of my jewelry creations (and other items) listed in the online store.
In addition to my jewelry, I’m also selling hats, t-shirts, accessories and home living items in my store for very little profit to me. But, it’s my way of contributing and helping our family pay all these medical bills.
I will also be sending out a newsletter (from time to time) that will have tips and tricks to creating jewelry, blog articles about my personal life and discount coupons for sale items in my store.
So thanks again for checking out my website and, thank you SO much for your support as I build my new brand, Pathway Jewelry.