Meet Yurima Crowley: Founder of I Love ME Gems

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yurima Crowley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yurima, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk for me is an opportunity to grow. It is challenging myself and trusting that I have the ability to achieve what I want. The risk makes the goals achieved much more pleasant. I am from Venezuela and one of the most important risks that I have taken in my life was to come to live in the United States with my son in 2015. To leave a whole life in my country to start a new one with only 2 suitcases of luggage. The confidence that everything would always be fine, even in critical moments, and the grateful attitude toward the generosity that we find in the people of Colorado, gave us the foundation to create the company that I now have. The universe is giving us signs that we are doing well along a path, unexpected opportunities open up that help me make decisions that involve a lot of risk, but internal conviction overrides the fear of the unknown.

What should our readers know about your business?
I Love ME Gems, (ME) Manos Emprendedoras , in English translates to entrepreneurial hands. We provide growth opportunities to immigrant women from around the world living in Colorado. With our help, they are able to better provide for their families and adapt to our culture in a peaceful and beautiful way. I offer immigrant women a chance to transcend language barriers and use their hands to transmit their inner beauty. By creating beautiful pieces of jewelry with extreme care, they express gratitude for their new home and hope for a better life. After being a wholesale jewelry importer in my country and having several years of experience in design, I came to Colorado and took business classes, always with the idea of creating my own company again. Then I was working in a non-profit organization that helps the Aurora community, I wanted to combine the two things, my business knowledge, talent for designing jewelry and the need to help the community, especially immigrant women like me. It was not easy to understand how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to finally create a life project, but little by little the different lessons that I had to learn came to me. I had to be patient until the time was right. At I Love ME Gems we make all the pieces by hand with high quality materials. I have a group of participants (immigrant women) that we meet once a week for jewelry class. Class is much more than just work time, it is therapy for everyone. My students say that it is the best day of the week because they can do what they like and share time with their classmates talking about their experiences, problems, joys, fears etc., without having to worry about their husbands, their children, cleaning the house., prepare food or all the obligations they have in their lives. It is quality time for their mental health.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In Colorado the most beautiful are the mountains, the immense sky with sunny days. That was what motivated me to move to Denver. Going to any town in the mountains, for example Vail or Winter park, among many others, makes the trip from anywhere else worthwhile. Visiting the Farmers Market and trying the full variety of home-grown food is a must. Going to downtown and the 16th Street mall makes a perfect shopping day, tasting any of the delicious restaurants found there. Boulder is also a small city that you must visit, it is very beautiful, clean, as if it were taken from a model. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are many people and organizations that have supported me in my process. Starting with my family, my son and my husband have been the pillars of this process, with their patience and love they helped me to achieve the transition from my full-time job in a non-profit agency to now being 100% of my time dedicated to my company, having to do both for a long time and taking family time. There are two Organizations that have helped me a lot to achieve success, one is Mi Casa Resource Center, where I received business classes and they helped me create the company. The other organization is Aurora Community Connection, where I learned to understand and help the community. A very special thanks to the City of Aurora and the Small Business Department because they have always offered me financial support and free advice to grow my business. Finally, another non-profit organization that from the beginning has been my unconditional support called R-Bazaar. They help immigrants and refugees to grow their small businesses and they helped me participate in different events to make myself known

Website: www.ilovemegems.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilovemegems/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ilovemegems