Every good piece of jewelry has a story or meaning behind it. For years I had a ring I bought on the street in Santa Fe that always reminded me of the fun Thanksgiving I spent there with my parents, uncle and cousin. I bought a necklace at Stein-Mart (the South’s premiere discount department store) to wear to one of my last frat parties senior year of college for $9 and I still get compliments on (yep, still wearing it). Then there are the kinds of pieces that serve as living reminders to chill the hell out, stay true to yourself, or not pick up a drink or drug—and look really chic while doing it.
Lust Worthy Bling
Enter Courtney Chilton, the founder and creative mastermind behind Speechlust, a jewelry line driven by and embodying the concept of living an inspired life. When she finished college in Canada just a few years ago, Chilton, like many people, wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. What she did know is that she loved a class that introduced her to Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics,” and its principles of virtue, particularly the word “eudaimonia” (which means, for the uninitiated, “to live well and do well”). Her initial inclination was to get a tattoo of the word but after traveling through an outdoor jewelry market in Asia, she decided to get it engraved on a gleaming piece of bling instead. With that move, Chilton had inadvertently created Speechlust—a line that allows people to carry words they want to live by, without any permanent ink involved.
As Chilton’s creativity flourished, so did her arsenal of uplifting words. In fact, when you go to the official Speechlust site, you can search for merch by word or style. With words like, “halcyon,” “cynosure” “efflorescence” and “meraki,” I had to ask Chilton: how did you pick these, where did you find them and am I ignorant-sounding for not knowing what language they’re in? She explained, “I actually just scoured the Internet for untranslatable words and unique words that I thought really connected with areas that brought positivity to people’s life—whether it’s travel, relationships, work…areas that people would want a reminder to work on every day.”
Special Pieces For Special (Sober) Folks
We first learned of her bad ass jewelry line when Chilton reached out to AfterParty’s Anna David. An avid fan of the AfterPartyPod, Chilton thought Anna would appreciate her “Sophrosyne” pendant—it’s the one she dubs “the addiction necklace.” Not sure what that magical sounding word means? I wasn’t either. The translation is: “A healthy state of mind characterized by self-control; moderation and a deep awareness of one’s true being.” Being cognizant of one’s true being really resonates with me since I definitely feel like I embody it (my true being, that is) more and more every day since getting off the sauce.
While Chilton isn’t personally in recovery, she has a lot of friends who are. I asked what inspired her to label one word specifically as addiction. “I’ve never been in a 12-step program but it made me sad [to think]about how many people shied away from them because of the religious and Higher Power aspects,” she says. “I wanted to create a pendant that still had a lot of meaning but no connection to any religious beliefs. I loved the word because it was existentially empowering.” In fact she has an entire sect of words in her collection dubbed the empowerment words and Sophrosyne falls into it.
Mindfully Taking Care of Business
Chilton knows a thing or two about needing empowerment. While her business is currently thriving, she had to build it from the ground up. For a while she lived with her parents to cut back on costs and it took her some time to secure a trusted and quality supplier for her product. She counts on a few independent contractors as support staff but for the most part, it’s still sort of a one-woman operation. Every day Chilton is filling orders, making sure everything goes smoothly, focusing on marketing and creating more awareness. She’s also trying to continually expand her men’s collection so there’s plenty of dude-friendly jewelry too.
Ultimately, Chilton wants to create a supportive, meaningful community among her clientele, and isn’t overly eager to mass market her unique brand of accessory. She doesn’t want that much space between herself and her customers, because she knows her personal touch and the story behind the line, are part of what drives people to it so much. That, and the fact that what she’s created provides people with a sort of perma BFF who can offer up support without ever letting an outreach call go to voicemail. “I want meaningful words to be able to go out the door with people and be able to seen at moments of weakness,” she says. “And really jewelry is the only way to make sure that it’s always with you.”
Be sure to check out Speechlust on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter
Photo provided by Courtney Chilton. Used with permission.
Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
