From Macrame to Millions: How a 20-Year Cancer Survivor Built a Jewelry Empire While Healing Her Soul with Scosha Woolridge
When Crisis Becomes Your Greatest Teacher: Lessons from 20 Years in Jewelry
What do you do when everything you've built starts feeling like a beautiful prison?
That's the question Australian jewelry designer Natasha Scosha faced after two decades of building what looked like the perfect creative business. Scosha Jewelry had survived market crashes, worked with major brands, and earned celebrity endorsements. From the outside, everything appeared successful.
But inside, Scosha felt like she was dying.
The Accidental Beginning
Scosha's journey started in the most unexpected way. While traveling through Brazil, she learned macrame from a street artist—literally using her toes to hold the cord while crafting friendship bracelets. When she arrived in New York in 2003 for medical reasons, she had no intention of starting a business.
“I seriously knew nothing about New York,” she laughs. “I wasn't ever going to come to America. I wasn't interested.”
But sometimes the universe has other plans. Those simple Brazilian-inspired pieces caught attention, orders started flowing, and before she knew it, Scotia had accidentally built a jewelry empire.
Surviving and Thriving Through Crisis
While many businesses crumbled during the 2008 financial crisis, Scosha made a strategic pivot that actually grew her company. She shifted from gold to brass and silver, hitting a more accessible price point just when consumers needed it most.
“Every time there's some kind of situation going on in the world, we actually grow,” she reveals. “It's the weirdest thing.”
This adaptability served her well as she navigated wholesale relationships with brands like Abercrombie and Ralph Lauren, caught the Daily Candy wave when online marketing was still in its infancy, and built what she calls the “trifecta”: a business model balancing wholesale, retail, and online sales.
The Gift Disguised as Crisis
But Scosha's biggest transformation came five years ago with a breast cancer diagnosis. Instead of viewing it as a setback, she calls it “the gift that changed my life.”
“When you're faced with the potentiality of death, even though I believe we're always on the verge of death, it was really like a wake-up call,” she explains. “I wasn't happy in my marriage. I always felt like I was in the wrong place. Jewelry had been amazing, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do.”
The Courage to Choose Yourself
What followed was a complete life renovation. Scosha left her 20-year marriage, dove into healing work including ayahuasca ceremonies, and perhaps most importantly, learned to set boundaries with people who weren't supporting her growth.
“I just will no longer tolerate certain things,” she says with quiet strength. “I'm not going to be the peacemaker anymore. I can't get better if I don't.”
This level of radical self-honesty is rare in business conversations, but it's exactly what makes Scotia's story so powerful. She proves that sometimes the greatest act of entrepreneurship is choosing to honor your authentic self, even when it means disappointing others.
Creativity as Spiritual Practice
Today, Scosha continues creating jewelry while also launching Shama Shama Productions with her healing guide Emanuel. Her creative process has evolved from pure artistic expression to something deeper: a practice of self-discovery and service.
“Self-love is a major game changer,” she reflects. “For so long I was always thinking, ‘If I could just…' then I could be happy. But no, you're good. You're worthy just for being alive.”
The Takeaway
Scosha's story reminds us that our greatest challenges often become our greatest teachers. Sometimes what looks like crisis is actually life calling us toward our most authentic expression.
Whether you're a creative entrepreneur feeling trapped in your own success, or someone sensing it's time for a major life change, Scosha's journey offers a roadmap: Honor your truth, set boundaries that protect your energy, and trust that choosing yourself isn't selfish but necessary.
Because when we heal ourselves, we naturally create space for others to do the same.
Ready to hear the full conversation? Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.
xo, Tracy
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Links in this episode:
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Creative Force of Nature Mastermind Retreat (October 6-8, Scottsdale, AZ)
The Desired Brand Effect Jewelry Sales Accelerator
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