We were lucky to catch up with Regan Caton and Betsy Milliken recently and have shared our conversation below.

Regan and Betsy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

We founded a costume jewelry company some years before Charmed by a Cause that was very successful. After 6 years in business our lives took different directions but we continued our close friendship. Fast forward to 2018 and we launched Charmed by a Cause a socially and eco responsible jewelry brand.

We felt that we wanted to give back and our skills as designers allowed us to do what we love and setup our online store to give a percentage of sales to non-profits. We also wanted to be transparent in how much of the retail profit was going to the non-profits so we show that amount as the customer shops our product pages. The customer can also choose which non-profit from our list to donate to.

Our excitement comes from having a jewelry company that aligns with our core values, giving back to worthy causes and being part of the larger picture that has a positive impact.

Regan Caton and Betsy Milliken, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Betsy’s background in fine jewelry as a bench jeweler in NYC. Her jewelry education came from an apprenticeship in a fine jewelry and diamond finishing factory.

Regan’s entree into jewelry came with a love of vintage jewelry and the deconstruction and redesign of her finds. Working at Bloomingdales at the time co-workers would buy her small handmade collections as quickly as they were made.

Fate brought Regan and Betsy together answering an ad for ‘jewelry designers’ for a costume jewelry manufacture in NYC. After working there for a few months together we hatched a plan to design our own jewelry and start our own brand, Rumblefish. The duo gained experience and notoriety in the industry with their successful line of costume jewelry. The pieces garnered praise from celebrities and high fashion magazines such as Vogue, WWD and Harper’s Bazaar. The line was sold through Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Saks Fifth and various high-end boutiques.

We are proud that we craft our jewelry in NYC using sustainable materials. Our metals are 100% recycled 14K gold and sterling silver. We use ethically-sources stones and diamonds are either reclaimed or lab grown. Our production partner in NYC goes the extra mile to ensure all jewelry is crafted with the lightest carbon footprint possible.

We give 10% of retail profit from our website sales to our cause partners + we also donate 20 trees to the rainforest per order through our partner One Tribe Global.

2023 brings us to pivot more toward the non-profit world and how we can help. Our focus is collaborating and creating custom jewelry for non-profits. The jewelry opens up a dialog, spreads awareness and raises funds for their specific cause. 100 % of the retail profit benefits the non-profit. We are also enabling non-profit organizations to use our website as an online fundraiser. We create a code for the non-profit, they invite their network to shop and 20% of each piece sold is donated to the non-profit at the end of the shopping event.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As friends and business partners we have moved through a lot of personal experiences that have shown a light on some of the causes close to our heart over the years. As an example close family members of both Regan and Betsy have had mental health challenges and we feel strongly about supporting non-profits that support and uplift this community.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

With our new focus on creating custom non-profit jewelry and hosting online fundraiser we have found non-profit networking groups both online and in person have been our new source of clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.charmedbyacause.com
• Instagram: charmedbyacause
• Facebook: charmedbyacause
• Linkedin: Regan Caton

Image Credits
Charmed by a Cause LLC