The four women who started S&S Beaded Jewelry and More earlier this year were simply piggy-backing off the success of S&S Beaded Jewelry, which mother-daughter team Stephanie and Savannah Williams opened in 2011.
“Angelia Wicker, Shirley Mitchell, Savannah and I started S&S Beaded Jewelry and More,” Stephanie Williams said. “Manning needed a place that sold affordable jewelry sets and accessories.”
A Brooklyn, New York native, Williams finished high school at Alfred E. Beach High School in Savannah, Georgia, in 1996, after which she joined the military.
“Then I joined the U.S. Navy,” Williams said. “(That’s where) I met my husband. We moved here in 2001. I love the small-town people with a city-sized heart.”
She enjoys the freedom that comes from owning her own business.
“Being a business owner is wonderful!” she said. “I love opening my shop daily. I enjoy creating jewelry, and I will do it until I am no longer physically able to.”
She said “keeping up with customer demands is the most difficult aspect of running the business.”
“But the most fun is creating unexpected items,” Williams noted.
And although the business was expanded just this year, Williams doesn’t plan to rest.
“A year from now I see myself with more than 1,000 items in inventory,” she said. “Five years from now, I see myself opening a second location or moving to a bigger location.”
She uses what free time she has “looking for more inspiration.”
“I attend church regularly with my family,” she said. “I’ve been married for 17 years, and we have two children, Jonathan, a junior at Manning High School; and Savannah, 13, a seventh-grader at Manning Junior High School.”
