For thirty five years, Cindy Stumpo has been a female home builder with a
passion for design, a mastery of detail, and a commitment to her crack.
With daughter Samantha Stumpo by her side, I don't need my whole family
on a date with me. That's a good note. It's goddymn weird.
See. Stumpo Development is the only second generation female construction company in the country.
You're crazy, You're a wacko, You're insane. I mean, it
just doesn't end together. Cindy and Samantha welcome guests to explore the world of
construction, real estate, development, design and more. You're unpredictable. Every
time I think I know what you want, you switch it out. But
that's what makes your houses all your day. Discuss anything that happens between the
roof and the foundation. Nothing is off limits. You truly do care about
everybody. She can yell at, you can scream, but when you get
her alone, she's the best person on the planet. Cindy Stumpo is tough
as nails. Okay, welcome to Sidney Stuffle Tough as Nails on WBC News
Radio ten thirty and I'm here with Samantha who is in the studio besides my
daughter Samantha that keeps talking. Go ahead, I'm Holly dan Yeah, Hi,
I'm Holly Daniels Christiansen, and I'm so happy to be here. Thanks
for having me. I love having you here. Okay, the topic tonight
is what we're going to talk about, entrepreneurship. I have a couple of
businesses we can talk about and just how the road to entrepreneurship and business business
ownership. Okay, what is my pronounces right, Dune Jewelry. Doune Jewelry.
What is that? It is a jewelry business. I started fourteen years
ago at my kitchen table using sand and earth elements from Cape Cod where I
grew up. So I was creating jewelry. I was working in real estate
at the time, which I'm not even sure anyone told you, and I
was doing it as a side hustle, a hobby, just making jewelry for
friends and family, and people started bringing me back sand from like Bermuda and
Iceland and the Caribbean and Saint Martin and Italy and saying, hey, can
you make something with this. I just got back. It was the most
incredible trip of my life. I'll want to hold on to it. I
was like, of course I can, and so I just started honing in
on that skill, and fourteen years later we shipped to six hundred locations worldwide.
We have over fifty five hundred sands in earth elements that we inlay into
our jewelry to capture people's memories. Really, yeah, so how do you
do this? How does they bring you home sand? Can you put in
something and they can wear it in their jewelry? Yeah? Everything I have
on pretty much has sand in it. Let me say, I'm sorry listeners
that you can't see. Yeah, so I'm going to pass you over.
This is Chinquitare Italy in the middle and set into fourteen carret gold with malachite
on the sides. And essentially, I mean the idea is that we're able
to give people a tangible reminder and in the middle. Yeah, crazy,
it's beautiful. Thank you, very pretty, thank you. Okay, so
that's where we are right now. We started in real estate. Your side
hustle was this jewelry. Now this jewelry became one of year bigger and the
side the main job left to the side hustle became I always say that,
don't I say you hear me say that. Make that your side. Hustle
until you're making a good living at it, and then you can move on.
Yeah, I remember distinctly, starting in twenty ten. In two thousand
and fourteen was the first time I didn't have a real estate commission on my
on my tax returns. You're a broker, yeah, and you got scared.
No, No, I know. My husband was like, why are
you doing both? He's like, you have a real shot at this business.
He said, it's not rocket science. You'll figure it out. He
said, be done with the real estate. And I loved real estate,
so that's where the decision was hard. I had a great, great job,
and so I loved both. But he was right. He was like,
you got to give it your all. Well, thank you to the
husband. Yeah, because she's a leader, right, and she can't make
a decision, so she needed her husband to push it. Amen. Yeah,
I hear that. You've had some whatever you want to call your your
drama or your trauma or your being of your life. What went on that?
Yeah? I mean I think everyone has a story. Mine just happens
to be really colorful. I left home when I was fifteen, dropped out
of high school. I my father passed. I let me hold you.
Why would you leave home at fifteen? My mother turned to drugs after my
father passed and I was an only child, and the family kind of fell
apart after that. You said bye, I said bye. It didn't there
was nothing. It was just made a decision. Then it was all I
did make a decision. Then, yeah, that goes to show you I
do have cancer rising So oh there you go. Okay, she's partling me.
Yeah, I just even at that age, I knew it was toxic.
Fifteen goodbye. So things were normal while your dad was alive or whatever
normal was. Whatever normal was. He was very sick. So he right
after I was born, he went blind and from type one diabetes, and
so it was a struggle. I mean, my mom did her best,
but once he passed. They had been together since she was fourteen, he
was eighteen, she was fourteen, and so that was the love of her
life, and she turned to drugs and just could never quite so prid of
that. While he was alive, she didn't touch drugs. No, just
came out of nowhere, came well, came out of nowhere. We had
a little farm, we had horses, so she had taken a few falls
off the horses, and then of course the doctors prescribed their percocet and Brian,
yeah, it's it's unfortunately, it's no different then a lot of people's
story, and it just progressively got worse and worse and worse and worse.
And for me, and maybe it's because I was an only child, I
didn't feel the need to hold on forever. I mean I held on to
you know, probably my third When you left at fifteen, did she say
don't go or she was like whatever, she was in her own world.
She was in her own world. I think it was almost a relief that
because I think I was a pretty energetic child or teenager, so it was
probably a little bit of a relief for her to not have to worry about
me anymore and just do any grandparents, yes, but also not okay,
whatever them is. So where did you go at fifteen? I was couch
surfing friends, friends houses, parents' houses, sorry friends parents' houses up in
Maine, and that because we had moved from the Cape to Maine, so
of course she could be alone with no one bothering her my mom and then
and then I was CouchSurfing and then I came back down to the Cape and
I started. I found like a I remember, like a room to rent.
I found a room to rent. Remember I was sixteen to rent?
Yeah, yeah, room to rent. And started working. And I've had
probably fifty different jobs throughout my I've done everything. But you're on your own
and you're paying yours. Yeah. I never, I mean knock on wood.
I never. I always had a roof over my head. I bartended
a waitressed. I learned to hustle early on. So you learned grit and
grind by the time you were sixteen years old, for sure. But even
if it was fourteen or fifteen, there was trouble along the way that you.
I always say this, and my saying is, the football gets thrown
at you. Either you can do one or two things. Really catch that
football and you jump and you run, or you fumble, and that's it.
And that's how life is. Right. At some point's going to throw
that football at you, and you better go, yeah, because the other
way is fumble and your dumble and your triple and you fell over your feet.
Now maybe you get back up. Me that was me at twenty six,
grab the football, win and never looked back. Right, So it's
always a situation that makes that football come at you. You picked it up
and you were in. Yeah, and through all this trauma and leaving in
the house and not having really anywhere to go, no feeling to turn to,
no feeling to turn to. No, my mom did a good job
at making sure the family didn't want anything to do with us. Really,
she she alienated everybody. Yeah, and now do you talk to her or
she passed passed? Yep, she passed about five years ago and we still
weren't fully so she never got clean, now, Nope, she did not,
but we tried. We tried over and over again. It's a shame
because I have two daughters that you know, have a lot of questions now,
so and we have to be careful with the daughters because genetics play a
major role, as we know absolutely in all of this. Right. We
didn't know this back twenty years ago, but we know it now. But
let's hold that thought we're going to break. I'm Sitney Stumbling listening to Toughest
Nails on w b Z News Radio ten thirty sponsored by Floor and Decor,
National Lumber, and Village Banks is going to come and happen. I'm at
and welcome back to Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio tenthor and I'm city stumping.
I'm here with Samantha and Holly. Okay, go ahead on it.
Pick it up from where you were. So I was, I was just
saying that I think that adversity in childhood does kind of breed entrepreneurs. I
think that I remember distinct Put you back from minute. Yeah, I'm gonna
take you back in time. How'd you meet your husband? Blinded? And
it words yeah okay, and he knew about your past and you broke that
out to him pretty fast on and you said, I'm gonna hide this and
let it go with No, I have to be transparent. What's the point.
We both were raised by single moms for the most part. So his
single mom wasn't doing drugs no, no, nor was she even having a
cocktail no. Okay. Yeah, and then you guys got married and now
you have how many children? Two? Two children? How old you are?
The girls? Boys ten and twelve? Of their girls they grow so
the baby they yeah, they're amazing. Do they help you at all.
Yeah, they do, they do. They're I mean, they're no,
but they like to come in and like venture with the jewelry or yes when
I allow them. Yeah, yeah, it can be chaotic. I've had
her on construction site since she can, since she's been on my hip,
little hard hat everything. I love that everything. So you have the two
kids, you have a husband, good life, right yeah, but you
made that good life for you for sure. No one's done that for you,
so I know me. I hate when people say to me, oh,
Cyny, you got lucky, okay city, there's a million reasons now
right why I'm successful, right yeah? And I just laughed, like yeah,
if I knew that, I would have just stood on a job set
and let them let the let the money flow on me. Right. Absolutely,
No one understands the grit and grind that goes into building a company.
I do not use the word entrepreneur. I've never used that. I never
call myself that's not just I just have to call myself a businesswoman. I
set out to build a great business and that's what I did. So,
like you never hear me use words like mindset and entrepreneur because life balance.
No, they're just words to me, right, they have no meaning.
But that's okay. For other people it works great, right, and they're
good words for them. But I'll say, oh, so you're an entrepreneur,
does that mean well I walk dogs for a living? Oh okay,
let me know when you get to like you literally own a company that you
have about fifty employees working for you and you're walking about three thousand dogs,
like I just that's fair. I believe that. I believe in so like,
just throw that out there like that, right, that's just me.
Everybody's different. So now you take your side hustle and you make it your
main focus. But then you said you have other businesses too, I do
now, I mean Dune has been my number one priority. Forced to feed
the other companies exactly exactly, So I have Dune. I have a little
gift boutique called The Cove in Norwood, and we just launched a yeah,
nine thirty five Washington, and we just launched a sub brand called Mitezorro,
which is a secondary jewelry line. So just a little something new to try
out. As I've learned so much over the past fourteen years. And what's
your goals here? My goal I want to ask you how old you because
some people get like upset about that one. Yeah, women, why I
mean? My goal is to build an incredible business that captures people's memories,
makes people happy that I can hopefully leave to my daughters so that they have
something that they love doing. Hopefully they love doing. Were you manufacturing all
Australia, Norwood, Massachusetts? So do you have like factory space that you
use? Yeah? So I just I bought my first commercial building. Okay,
yeah, thank you, And we have the cove boutique in front,
and then we have the manufacturing and back. We don't do the metal casting.
We do buy our castings all over the world, Rhode Island, India,
China, everywhere, but the actual sand inlay and the artistry is done
right there in Norwood. That's where the whole studio is. And how much
you if you don't mind me asking? Your sales keep growing you? Yeah?
Last year we hit five million in revenue, which is and so we've
organically been growing year over year over year. We're bootstrap. I never wanted
to take on an investor. I never wanted any of that because I didn't
know. Again, without a formal education, I did not have enough trust
in myself In the beginning. I didn't think I'd be able to pay anyone
back. I didn't know what I was doing. Now, in hindsight,
it cool. She didn't have a high school education or a college education.
That your brain could only take you so far in this business. I was
insecure for the first six years of my business. Yeah, I would say
it took me six or seven years to get my footing. You know.
It's it's funny because let me tell you something. Yeah, we all are,
and we all were. Yeah. No one comes out of the gate
going, yeah, I'm so confident. Yeah, I'm sure. No,
no one does. Neybody tells you that's a liar, say to their face,
of course, you're learning as you're going along. What do you think
I knew at twenty three, But I know now. No, it took
me five, six seven years to get out there and be confident and comfortable.
And anybody that says anything different, I won't believe you. I'll end
the conversation right then and there. Yeah, oh I knew what I was
doing them, and I know you did. But there are people out there
like that, trust me. I meet them all the time. But you
know what. And I always say, they're full of bologna. And they're
the ones that have the best husband, the best kids, the best this,
the best, that mean mother, the most miserable people. Okay,
and they qulinn tell the truth that they tried. So I just kind of
laugh at that. I'm so happy anybody tells me they're so happy, they're
not happy. Yeah, how's that. Everybody's got there? Everyone has there?
Yeah, and we live in this world of Instagram and social media where
everyone's glossy, everyone's happy, everyone's so follow my stories. That's not true.
Yeah, it's you're an idiot, you're a moral ye, get your
head out of you that Okay, Yeah, I'm sorry. I can't apologize.
No, I live in the real world, am I and my own
hat? I hope I live in the real world. Right, Look all
you have and I always say this, what's the moment most important common that
you have in your life? Time? Family? That's it. You just
said it. Health. I ask people this all the time and they never
can answer it. It's time. Yeah, right, that's your biggest and
most important commondity because at the time you don't have the chance of the opportunity
to be with your family and your children. Right, So you need time,
and you have plenty of time because I'm looking at you, so I
don't think you're near my age. Maybe you look really good. I don't
know. I haven't day see if I have got Yeah, I got almost
eleven year old. Those eleven years a dog years. Those are dog years.
But at forty eight, I was you couldn't start me, unstoppable.
Yeah, the yo yo was going like you just couldn't. Yeah. Now
at fifty nine, it's like, okay, I'm ready for you. Aka,
No, it's it's I never go on vacation. I'm constantly working.
I work eighteen days, but all day, every day, seven days a
week. I don't care if it's Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Every day's a workday. Yeah. Right, But that's again personality. But
then you get to a point where you go, I am kind of feeling
it a little bit, right, so like you will not now you're too
young. Now I'm ready. I mean I'm just getting started, and I'm
on the back three of my career. You've been saying that forever. No,
I said I was on the back nine. Then I said, Now
it's back three seven at eighty you'll say I'm on the back two. No,
I'm not talking to be out there yelling at guys. It's seventy years
old. That's not going to happen. I'll send you out to do it.
But I feel like Sam knows. It's like I said, anybody that
I like to meet women in business that talk truth, that say, Cindy,
this is tough, this is hard. This has been a hard struggle.
This has not been easy. Yeah, because that is that's having an
honest conversation with somebody. Anyone who says it's easy is, I mean,
it's just and then it's just not no matter not And then you're you're a
mom. Yeah, and then you're trying to do the mom things right.
So go back into my generation, which that ten eleven years makes a difference
when none of the same as friends I had same yet twenty three I get
right of twenty and they didn't work. No, Now that was the bad
moment, I know, trust me. Still, I mean there's still moments
like that, Oh the bad mommy with the next toil running through her cell
phone, the next tail and a beepa and then everybody while she's playing softball.
Everybody's looking at me like, can you shut the beaber up? Lady?
And I'm like turning your head around. Okay, the beep bis gotta
stay on. I'll put on vibrate. I did this to more mothers on
those called like bleachers. Yeah do this, yeah, ninth really, Oh,
I love it because good for you. I'm not married to some CEO
of you know of IBM, and I'm not married to a brain surgeon.
So just turn your head around right now, okay, right, and then
no one would screw with me. Ever, it was like, okay,
turn my head around, but it was true. You saw me running to
the field, right. So you live with guilt, you know, every
day. Every maternal guilt is one of It's another thing that that is just
it's inevitable, it's undeniable. Everyone has it, whether they say they do
or not. And I feel guilty all the time, even though my daughters
are happy and healthy, and but you just want to be there sometimes a
little bit more, and sometimes you get there a little lad or whatever because
you're right. And and the worst thing was when if I have and they
I could give you advice on when they get to that age when you're on
the phone talk and somebody don't do this with the hend Yeah. I look
back now and I go, how many times did I go? Five minutes?
Five minutes? Right? If I could, if I had to do
over, I would not do that because now I can see their faces walking
away as children, going just give me five minutes. Yeah, and there
with no whole buttons. There was no new button. I'm covering the phone
going five minutes. It was we're going off to break. I'm sitting stumbling,
and we'll send top his nails on w BZ News Radio ten thirty.
We'll be right back, sponsored by Pillow Windows of Boston. Next day Molding
and Kennedy Carter want me out mail one Land Town? Were we out mail
down people's down and comment and do with Justin ram Sam. We got out
of the way out and I'm sitting stumbling. It's the toughest nails on WBZ
News Radio ten thirty. And I'm here with Holly Christensen and Samantha. I'm
sorry, folks, but we just went off to break and we're just talking
about we went totally off I ninety five. We're on four ninety five we
went on age seventeen, and we're talking about the decades. So there's a
decade between you and Sammy thinking all that, right, yep, and she
you're married to kids. I was married, divorced two kids, and then
you got Sammy in the back of going, I ain't get married because I'm
going to find the right guy. Like, I'm not going to end up
with what Sammy is a loser, A loser, a loser, right,
So there was another colorful word that will be in Sammy. They are losers
because why they don't want more for themselves and they're intimidated by someone that does
do well. Can't you just be happy because someone's making money in the relationship.
I would think that, But again it's that competition that a woman should
make more money than me, and I think, please go not in my
household. Yeah, it wasn't my household. Now it's like who cares?
That's what I think too, Who cares? But she goes on dates and
guys will say, well, you make more money than me, and she'll
be like, well, I didn't go on a date with you, and
thank you for letting me know that. Well, that was her age,
and I took him on vacation and he drove me nuts about the cost of
everything. No that he was paying for it. Yeah, he's like,
can you believe the cost of the hot dog? Can you believe the cost
of this? And I was like, would you like anything with Starbucks?
I don't support that establishment that's for rich people. Are like, it was
a yes or no, thank you. I'm out. And then she's texting
me. She goes, oh my god, I can't get out of here.
I'm like, stop being so mean. She's like, oh no.
He's like, I don't mind you, and that Louis Vuittade never before.
But leave the burke in at home. You know what it is? Are
you serious? My berkan was ugly. I go, please take a picture
of say this to your mom and your sister and tell him. It's like,
I think it's it's something about him pretentious. I bought her the bag,
but as you were able to. But we're in like the Bahamas at
the casino, I can throw my money away. Yeah he doesn't care there.
But if I can taste, touch and feel, there's something messed up
here. No, that doesn't work. Okay. Well, see, so
we've got three generations in here because every ten years is pretty much the generation.
Right. Yeah, so the three generations oddly enough twenty six to twenty
nine have there together more than thirty to thirty five that they are way more
hustlers than that. The next one behind her seems to be waking up.
It alternates generations. I'm telling you certain traits within generations, Allele. I
take yoga with have like multiple jumps, really all of them. So date
younger. There's like the girls and the guys will have like that's say good,
you don't think I don't think it can work. Women age fast and
men number one true. Okay, men stay looking better if they don't lose.
They hear, so they don't listen, they don't lose, they hear
close share within two years either way, like does it. I don't think
she is younger. It makes a big difference. But if you start doing
that five seven, Yeah, comes a time where you start to look like
his you know mom, Yeah, that's right. We don't want that.
You definitely don't want that. So it can look fine the other way,
an older man younger woman. But that also is a sign that you know,
listen, I'm marrying because I don't want I want to take the easy
way out. Yeah, like at twenty five, because I'd be in love
with an eighty year old man. I highly doubt it. Okay, especially
my father when I was twenty five, was twenty three years old than me,
so that would have brought him to like, I don't know, forty
eight or whatever. But it's just amazing that we get three generis, like
I said, and three different stories. And Sammy, your friends at are
your age that are parents. And I remember Danielle call me saying, your
friends call me ma, and my son's friends call me ma. I can't
do the smile like I have. I have a daughter and I'm a lawyer,
and I don't know how you did all this. You just do it.
You just do it. But you find that they live at guilt going
to work and no, you're a general there and say, I don't know
how people do without a nanny. Okay, we just we did it without
a nanny. I had family. Their mentality is well Janelle specifically, she's
like, if I can't be there because I'm working, then I'm paying for
the nanny. But if it's costing me, if I'm making more money,
that it makes sense for me to be at work or I'll switch. And
but what about your other friends, Like, I don't know, babe,
I don't have a friend that doesn't have a nanny. I don't. I
can tell you this. Most of my friends had somewhat jobs, but mine
was a job. It was it was building up a business. Yeah,
I mean so Empire. There was a career there. So it was like
I'm going to work nine to five and I come home and you worry about
how the lights are coming on tomorrow, and you worry about where the bill's
gonna hip. When it's your business, you don't stop worrying. You got
to worry on everything you're worrying about next month and how you're you gonna pay
your bills next month, next week. I believe the bigger difference is that
you all had kids younger than we did, so your parents were there more.
Not me, No, my general Sammy, Come on, you know
that the average parent your age was ten years old than me. Yeah.
But all between where my friends are having kids and their parents now, like
their parents are retired, they're not there to babysit and help. They have
to have the nanny. Oh, they don't have the age gap is too
far between for them to like feel what he's saying. If grandparents are retired
now are still working. They're retired, But I don't think the parents trust
their kid fully with their parents that's retired down because they're so much older and
they forget how to be with a baby. Now listen, and I retire.
Last thing I want to do. I'm going during my life. I
got ten years left here wanting more babies. I'm still raising you and your
brother and everybody else. This is what I say all the time. Meanwhile,
something happens to me. She wants the rights to my eggs. Oh
have you signed anything? Now? They died with me like that, said
what do you do if something happened with your eggs? Like you know,
yeah, no one's getting my eggs like they get tossed the word she wants
to remake me. I said, well what if I want to remake it?
You? This is getting very interesting. You know, it could make
somebody else needed it, like to have a baby and bring another little And
she said no, because I don't want someone else raising my children. Well,
because what if they what if they do something messed up to a kid
and ruin that kid's life and it's my eggs and they come looking for me
like I did tonight. Great point, aries aries. Yeah, we're so
different. We're so different, but we're in love. But it's just I
know, our conversation was supposed to be about the jewelry stores and and the
blah blah bah. But but sometimes women just need to hear and maybe men
need to hear. Yeah that this hasn't been an easy ride. And I
just laugh at people and they go, oh, Cidney Stumple's got panic attacks.
Oh what's how could ship panic attacks? Her life is this? Well,
guess what. We all have our stuff. Yeah, we all have
our crap. Right, it doesn't matter. I mean, like you said,
every single you've got, you've got the weight of the world on your
shoulders. When you're a business owner twenty four seven unless you're sleeping. Unless
you're sleeping, and then you wake up. When you wake up, what's
the first thing in your face? Uh? Well, get my kids on
the bus, okay, phone, but right, well, of course,
yeah, the first th eyes the phones in my face. And that's like
such a no no. With any sort of mental health, do you read
about and They're like, do not look at your phone when you first wake
up. I'm like, how can you not missed? Just make sure there's
no fires to put out? Correct, and then move on, you know,
and then go back to it. But you have to. But you
hear what you just said. You looking at your phone for the fire,
because when you own a business, you don't get HI, how are you
you get the roof just fell in? Oh god, Billy just fell off
a stud I mean like you're looking for the nine one one calls, right,
yep, because that's what the brain is already set absolutely for a problem
after problem after problem. And I'm sure like all of us out here in
business, you're looking for help too every day and looking for skilled labor because
what you do you need skilled labor? Yeah? Yeah, we handcraft every
single piece in the studio. Correct. So you can't just find skilled labor,
and you can't find young kids that want to go to work. And
it's I out here right now right Yeah for me, there's like a know,
it was great, but now it's like no one wants to work?
Is it different now for you? After COVID, did your business change at
all? No? Because we were essential so we had to work through COVID,
so there was no shutdown, but we worked differently in the fact that
couldn't pigpile the subs on. Yeah, we were in taiveex suit's masks,
couldn't breathe. It's a hundred degrees in that suit, even though it was
sixty degrees out. Then when it gets to eighty degrees you're like drenched in
there. Horrible. Yeah, we were crazy. I mean it was I
look back. How about this washing. I used to say to wait,
if you go grocery shopping, wash the fruit and stuff before you put in
the refrigerator. He used to lie to me, told me after I didn't
wash it nothing, I'm getting undressed in the garage, put in my stuff
and bring it. I'm dressing in the garage now, and then bringing my
stuff into the laundry room to put to the washing machine. And then some
of the stuff we did was in the singes insane. Yes, and it
has it. I would say if we had never had COVID, I would
have had another good ten years in my career. I think COVID took a
little bit of a beating on me. Sure, okay, because then we
went through no product. We were running out of product. Yeah, the
supply chain was is still a little bit jammed down, jammed up. Yeah,
something will jam it up again. Yeah, but it is what it
is. So yeah, I mean you've had I've had to learn how to
work differently. Yeah, you know AI is not going to build buildings,
okay, not commercial for us, not resime your AI proof, which is
so I have robots right now, I count on human beings. Right.
They will sit there and say, oh, i've been on ninety five,
it's been three days. As you've been on. You're coming to work,
man, So I don't know if you're dealing with the same aggravation that we're
dealing with out there. Yeah, we're finally starting to stabilize our workforce.
We have some really, really good team members. But it was dicey for
a while and now it's all smooth. No, it's not why why she
said that, I love you, Holly. I so hate people that full
of blogey old that I thought we're going to go to break. I'm Sydney
Stumble and you're listening to Tough Nails on w BZ News Radio ten thirty,
sponsored by new Brook Realty Group, Boston Wood Smaller Insurance, World Auto Body
and Tosca Drive Auto Body and welcome back to ten Nails on w BZ News
Radio ten thirty. And I'm Sindy and I'm here with Samantha and Sammy.
What are you doing right now? And I'm sorry and you are Holly.
Yeah, okay, you didn't introduce yourself. Okay, so all just passed
out gifts to us, Sam and I and my mom wants hold on.
I got this beautiful necklace, and I'll explain to people. First of all,
it kind of resembles a little bit different, but the Tiffany's necklace,
remember the Tiffanys I do, yeah, with the Tiffany sterling. Yeah,
you can see. I like chunky things, but that one is filled with
sand, sand and earth elements. But that one has sand from Marco Island,
Florida, and crushed turquoise, which is just one of my favorite stones.
But you could have she brought Maco Island because the last name was Stumpo
and Everyrandon macawell has a vowel at the end of the name. Sammy,
Yes, let me see, because you're hiding over there, I'm reading about
mine. Let me see I have lots of sand from the Nope, I'm
connected to my ears. Oh you can't. Can you bring me that over
place so I can see Sammy gift? This is beautiful. This is really
stunning. This cuff that's all sterling silver. It's actually recycled sterling. We
try to be eco conscious. You put it, yeah, exactly, and
you can squeeze that right to yours. Okay, I love it. Kind
of get a left because you look at this and you look at this right,
yeah, and then you're string bracelet. Yeah, that's me. Like
just that has sand from Saint Martin. It has turquoise. I think it
has Bermuda. Sammy does that. So it says beach sand from Miami Beach
and then beach sand from Boc Grande, Aruba, and then beach sand from
Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Oh perfect, Okay, I was way off.
Never mind, this is lying to me. But how cool is it?
I mean the sand is like the different textures everything. Of course,
I love it. That actually, would I love that on you? That
for the record, you're turning into your mother right now? Where is that?
Because Nana does that? Do you? Oh? But it looks pretty
on me. It does look pretty U Nana doesn't but me it does.
No, no, no, I would never take this break from you.
But see for me, I this this would make me smile in the winter
time because it reminds me of summer. Yeah, and what's my favorite time
of the year is warm weather? So the blue. I love the brown
sand though, because I'm a Brownie person. But the blue. Where's your
favorite place? Do you have like your happy place? Her bedroom? But
that yeah, my bad and my under a massive duvet down comforter. That's
like this thing is I don't know. The blankets that are feel crest blankets
would soakle the around though my whole life were chasing around. It's beautiful though,
actually, but what is my favorite I love the heat. Yeah,
I'd rather work in ninety degree weather than the cold. Same, okay,
so I don't mind being looking. I'm in the field every day so it
doesn't matter. So are you the hell like I'm bundled up? Are you
a Cape girl? Are you a Florida girl? You Florida being a girl
beach in Florida? I stay, okay, I'm a cancer as you know,
right, so I don't leave I've grown up at the Diplomat Hotel and
I still stay with the love it. Okay, okay, we don't change.
It doesn't like change. We no, No, my life is a
destiny, not a journey. You're on a journey, Sami's on the journey.
My life has been laid out. Yeah, like the book's been written.
So in the winter, so we could make you a little piece of
jewelry with a stand from where the Diplomat is, and then in the winter
you can kind of look at it. Looked at the Florida San Laly is
it all dredged in? Is it the Miami Sands? It's not looking so
great. Yeah, yeah, I mean these are really beautiful there because the
same keeps getting washed away. Yeah. You guys, you have a website,
right, we do. Yeah, we're everywhere. It's dune jewelry dot
com. Repeat that, because if I'm saying it's beautiful, you guys people
follow me, know me? You know what I with my jewelry. You've
got good taste. Yeah again, you've got this song and we won't say
that. We let my head cut off, right, but then you give
my seven dollar bracelets right right? Next, what's kind of but see these
things, they all mean something to me. Yeah, this was one place,
another place, another place. So they all have just followed you on
Instagram. Oh perfect, Yeah, we have a really fun Instagram. It's
Dune Jewelry. So what can we let the people know we're not having a
private conversation. Well, we kind of are, but we are in the
studio, Sammy. Well, let people know what Instagram is done jewelry.
Well, it's duny, like a sand dune Jewelry dot com and we're everywhere.
You'll find us everywhere, from fine jewelry stores with our higher end pieces
to the Paper Store just brought in a whole new collection that is beautiful.
The Paper Store is a chain of ninety Hallmark stores up and down East Coast,
mostly New England. There's one in them by the dry bar and Starbucks.
Really yeah, across the street. It's a great gift store. You're
welcome paying Field Mall or the street the other side near a dry bar.
What that store? Oh yeah, the paper you're right, I can just
I just saw it in my head. The logo. Yeah, it's recognizable.
So we're we're kind of everywhere. And not only do we do sand
in earth elements in our jewelry. But people have sent us wedding flowers,
funeral flowers, ashes, human creamin's animal creamine. I know, I'm just
throwing it out there. They do because it's their experience, it's their memory.
So people say, Pa, don't write in your world that I have
to wear you. Yeah, no, just put me in my mike.
What's that thing she does? She does have a list of people that are
not allowed to come to her. Is that right? Oh? Yeah,
there's people I don't want my funeral. That's amazing, and you have it
written down. Oh, Samuel, though I love you, we'll have you
the bodyguids escort right out. You didn't like me while I was alive.
Now you want to come right right? You shall your tribute now? Yeah,
pay your So here's a question I have for you. Well, I
it's kind of hard to ask a question because did you take any like junior
high school, high school friends with you into your future or is all that
in the reay view mirror forel No, my high school best friend, Samantha.
We have been friends since we were twelve years old, and she does
ninety percent of our photography. Cancer cancer Okay, so she's loyal, so
you're never going to give her up. But how much, Like someone's asked
me, how many friends did you make on the lad of success? I
said, you mean how many friends I lose? Yeah? How many acquaintances
did I make? But how many friends I lose? So as your business
is growing, people around you, they proud of you, or do they
want is your competition or whatever? I want to see you not do so
well? It's a good question. I don't know one hundred percent. I
don't have a lot of close friends, so you keep your world at a
distance. I do. I don't know if I mean to. I think
I'm so busy. I really prioritize my business. I work twenty four to
seven, truly, and then when I'm not working, it's about the kids.
So it's it is a little bit challenging. You know, there's a
husband in that spot too, right, I know, I know, I
know, uh huh and him but he's so supportive, that's all I mean.
And he can tell little advice. Yeah, pay attention to him to
absolutely. Okay, Okay, so you know it takes two people to make
a marriage. It takes two people to break a marriage. Right. So
I've been with Ray for thirteen years, which I was married for twenty six
years. But it's hard to be with a woman that has a career.
And it's hard because you're coming home and the last thing you want to do
is talk about your day. And then you lost sometimes in your own brain.
Once the kids go to sleep and everybody the house goes down. Now
you're stuck in your own brain and you don't want to talk to the person
you're with with it. You do, but you talk about the surface stuff.
Yeah, once in a while, you talk with the nitty gritty,
but most of it's in your head and you're alone in your own brain.
Yeah, right, always. Yeah, I know it's a terrible feeling,
but that's part of being a woman and owning companies and whatever you do.
And I think men have been alone in their own heads forever like that.
So imagine that, because they'd come home and they'll be like, oh,
I bought this, I bought that, I bought this, and IgE like,
can you give me a break? Can you get off the credit cards?
Right? You know what that's like. Right, You're out there making
a living and then everybody's like drawing from that money and you're trying to get
more money to make that business world that business more and then you take care
of a family and we have those conversations. I mean the girls when I
do travel quite a bit for work now, trunk shows and events and trade
shows, and we have those conversations because they'll be like, Mom, please
don't go. I don't want you to go. Daddy gets crumpy, and
then we all sit down as a family and I'm like, okay, so
we can have have the swimming pool and your gymnastics and because I do all
this, but mom has to work or truly, do you want me to
stay home? Daddy can work. You know, we can have less,
do it less and and I really I'm not saying it in a a in
a silly way. I'm asking and they're like, no, Mom, bye,
here's your suitcase. You have a nice trip. I mean, at
the end of the day, they're going to dislike us or something. One
of the problems going to be our problems. You know, we didn't create
the problem. They create the problem, but you're gonna be the one that
gets blamed, trust me. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with
they're just a little too young. Right now, talk to me ten more
years if you called me and say no, ten to twelve years saying,
Cindy, what I do wrong? I gave this feel me a great life.
Bah blah bah blah blah blah blah. And I'm getting I'm the one
getting it all over the place, right, But that's just how it is.
And you gotta be tough skited, She tells me, since you've been
through metopause, you're so emotional. Very it does. Oh my god,
this are you more emotional? Oh my gosh, because things now are creeping
up. Yeah. We used to call her the tuner. Now it's emotional.
So I was a tuner rupper. Now I just like maybe. But
again, we're all going to have our regrets. So that's just how life
is. But I've given them a great life, so you know it.
Then the other side of me goes shut up. Yeah, like, I'm
not listening to your crap anymore. Ok, you've got a great life.
Off my back. Now stand up and be held accountable and do your thing.
Yeah, we're going to break you. Never say anything. You're good,
that's what we love you. I'm cdny stuff, But you listened Toughest
Nails on WBZ News Radio ten thirty. It'll be right back and welcome back
to Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio ten thirty. And I'm here with Samantha
and Holly. Holly, take us out. Thanks for having me, No,
it was my pleasure. This has been such a fun conversation. We
kind of came on to talk about doing jewelry and being a business owner and
things like that. And we got and we went down nine ninety five,
We went to Florida, We and Tisrael were in Germany, went everywhere.
Okay, So well now, I mean, I just I'm excited to let
everyone know about Dune Jewelry, which you can find us at dunjewelry dot com.
All of our designs are handcrafted. We've donated over two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to Coastal Preservation and other global charities over the past ten years.
We have a lifetime warranty on all our jewelry and it's all personalized and customized
with your memories from your travels or special moments. Thank you Holly for coming
in and everybody, have a great, safe weekend and we will see you
next weekend on WBZ news Radio ten thirty