Maria Dueñas Jacobs: Super Smalls Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

Second Life

Who What Wear

Business, Fashion & Beauty, Society & Culture, Arts, Personal Journals, Careers

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Super Smalls is a line of playful, gem-studded accessories inspired by and made for kids. After years as an accessories editor and director at fashion publications Glamour and Elle, as well as working on brand development at personal styling company Stitch Fix, Maria Dueñas Jacobs developed a deep knowledge of the accessories space. So when her daughter, who was five at the time, began playing with her beautiful (and expensive) jewelry, a lightbulb went off for Dueñas Jacobs. Soon, she began channeling both her inner child and her trained editorial eye to bring the luxury jewelry experience she knew and loved to a kid-safe jewelry line. Today, Super Smalls has made Oprah’s Favorite Things list three years in a row and expanded into a stunning range of jewelry, shoes, crafts, and more. Each item is made for play and is sure to bring joy to any kid (or “kidult,” as Dueñas Jacobs refers to herself in this episode) who wears it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone I'm Hillary Kerr, the co-founder and chief content officer of who
0:10.3	what wear and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting women who have truly inspiring careers.
0:18.3	We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the process of setting
0:22.1	aside their doubts or fears and what happens when they embark on their second life.
0:27.0	Today on the show, I'm speaking with Maria Duanez Jacobs, who is the founder and chief creative officer of one of my favorite
0:35.8	brands, Super Smalls.
0:38.1	In the last few years, the playful Jem Studded Kids Accessories brand Super Smalls has become a staple at children's birthday parties
0:46.5	guaranteed to make any kids smile on their big day. And it's no surprise Super Smalls is a hit because Maria drew on real life
0:54.8	inspiration to develop the brand. She watched how her three young daughters
1:00.3	loved playing with her jewelry and her oldest, who was five at the time,
1:04.8	cut her a deal. She promised Maria that she would stop playing with the
1:08.8	expensive jewelry if she had accessories of her own that were just as beautiful.
1:14.0	A likable went off for Maria, with over a decade of experience as an accessories director,
1:19.4	a publications like L, plus experience working at Stitch Fix and Brand Development, Maria knew that she was
1:27.4	perfectly primed to take on this project.
1:30.6	She began developing exquisite kid-friendly jewelry for her daughters, enclosing the creations
1:36.5	in stunning yellow packaging to recreate the experience of unboxing accessories from luxury brands like Cartier or Tiffany.
1:45.0	With her daughter's seal of approval,
1:48.0	Super Small's launched in 2019,
1:50.0	and since then, the brand has grown into other categories like Shoes and Crafts,
1:55.3	collaborated with major brands like Disney, and made Oprah's favorite things
2:00.1	list three years in a row.
	...

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