The History of Laurel Denise: From Jewelry to Planners

What happens when a small business starts with glass jewelry, takes a detour into leather bracelets, and then happens to create the best planners ever? Yep, it’s the Laurel Denise origin story (aka: the LD “how we went from bracelets to short pages” saga).

In this video, you’ll get the full behind-the-scenes: Lolly’s cubicle-hating days in DC, the prophetic jewelry dream that kicked it all off, the first planner she designed in 2007 to juggle wedding planning + business chaos, the big jewelry vs. planner breakup of 2014, and the full-on comeback tour when COVID hit in 2020. By 2022, jewelry was officially out, planners were officially in, and the rest is reinforced-tab history.

It’s equal parts planner nerd joy and small business rollercoaster, with plenty of “can you believe this?” moments sprinkled in. Whether you’re a fellow entrepreneur or just here for the stationery drama, you’ll leave with the receipts.

#Planners #SmallBusiness #LaurelDenise #PlannerCommunity

🕒 Chapters 🕒
00:00 - Intro
00:52 - 1996: Lolly meets Mabby
01:16 - 1997: Becomes handwriting girlie
01:37 - 2003: Graduates college
01:47 - 2004: Moves to big city
02:46 - 2005: Has prophetic jewelry dream
03:47 - 2006: Moves to even bigger city
06:00 - 2007: Launches 2008 planner
08:49 - 2009: Should she make a 2010 planner?
11:23 - 2010: Moves back to Virginia
13:30 - 2011: Still making jewelry, not giving up on planners
15:35 - 2012: Has first (human) baby + launches 2013 planner
15:53 - 2013: Launches 2014 planner
16:29 - 2014: Chose jewelry over planners + started making leather bracelets
17:35 - 2015: Nancy is hired + leather bracelets take off
21:14 - 2015-2019: Introduces new products, attends many gift + trade shows
22:57 - 2019: Nancy + Aline leave, 4 new people are hired
23:44 - 2020: COVID hits, launches 2021 planner, moves into larger office
28:31 - 2021: Bracelet sales decline, launches 2022 planner
31:02 - 2022: Nancy moves back, jewelry is officially done, Mabby + Aline are hired
34:13 - 2023: 2023 planners sell out in 2022
35:57 - 2024: 2024 planners sell out in January, hire Jenn for customer service
36:32 - 2025: 2026 collection launches October 1st, 2025
37:48 - Outro

✨ mentioned in this video ✨
Leather bracelets: https://floraleeliving.com/
Letter press greeting cards: belleandunion.com

✨ let's be friends! ✨
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💕 tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_laureldenise...
💕 facebook group:   / laureldeniseloves  

✨ compare our planners ✨
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✨check out Pattie's favorite things!✨
🛒 https://www.amazon.com/shop/laureldenise

✨ questions? concerns? pen advice? ✨
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