A shining example

"Go with what you know" is familiar advice for budding entrepreneurs.

Courtney Hennessey, the 24-year-old founder of Codi Jewelry LLC, took that advice. She knows jewelry.

More importantly, she knows people who buy jewelry.

The former St. Louis debutante (Fleur de Lis Ball, 1997; Veiled Prophet Maid, 1998) parlayed a Christmas craft project funded by her father's credit card into a jet-set business. She sells fashion jewelry to high-end customers in their homes in Aspen, Palm Beach and New York City.

She says her gross sales topped $600,000 in the first three years of business.

Hennessey won the North American Studen Entrepreneur Award in 2001, sponsored by her alma mater, St. Louis University. She is one of several previous award-winners featured in a book coming out this fall, "Student Entrepreneurs: 15 Undergraduate All-Stars Tell Their Stories."

Hennessey's story begins during Christmas vacation in 1999. Hennessey, then a college junior, decided to make stretchy crystal-bead bracelets that were all the rage that season. She walked out of a local storewith $400 worth of beads and a "what-have-I-done" queasiness in the pit of her stomach.

"I had never spent that kind of money before in one place, especially without asking Dad," Hennessey says in her entry in the book. She resolved to sell enough bracelets to pay him back.

Later that month, Hennessey's mother, Diane Griesedieck Hennessey, suggested the young jewelry-maker take along her sample rack to her great aunt's wake - as a way of distracting family members from their grief.

"When I walked in, my cousins said my bracelets were awesome," Hennessey said in a recent interview.

She left with $800 worth of orders and a new career.

That winter, Hennessey handed out 500 business cards for Codi Jewelry - a combination of her given name, Courtney Diane - and sold to friends of friends.

That kind of word-of-mouth marketing had drawbacks. When the inexpensive bracelets broke, her customers called for replacements.

The experience convinced Hennessey to take her jewelry "to the next level" - using more durable and more expensive materials, including a small signature silver heart charm on every piece. And she charged more for the finished product.

"I don't cut any corners." says Hennessey. "I'm not afraid to spend money to make it quality jewelry." Her pieces - rings, bracelets and necklaces made of sterling silver, crystal beads, turquoise, garnet and other semi-precious stones - sell for $20 to $400.

The business cards she handed out paid off, too. Her customers wore her jewelry when they shopped, said Hennessey, who lives in Warson Woods, but grew up in Frontenac and is a graduate of Villa Duchesne High School. Some of her friends shop at Plaza Frontenac. Neiman Marcus ended up calling her, said Hennessey.

A sales clerk for the jewelry counter at the Plaza Frontenac Neiman Marcus had asked her customers where they got their jewelry and one of them produced Hennessey's business card.

The clerk called and suggested Hennessey talk to the manager of the designer jewelry department. That led to Codi Jewelry's first department store trunk show, in September 2000, and a second one two months later, together about $20,000.

Hennessey had just began using connections in offbeat, but financially savvy ways. Her then-boyfriend-now-fiance, Mike Hopson, a graduate of Chaminade, attended the University of Colorado. During the summers, Hopson caddied in Aspen.

"He nurtured some quality relationships," Hennessey said. "He'd be looping with these people, blabing about, 'my girlfriend makes this awesome jewelry.'"

After Hennessey graduated in 2001, she moved to Aspen. Hopson introduced her to his caddy clients, who bought jewelry for their wives.

"Word really spread fast," Hennessey said.

After that summer, Hennessey and Hopson decided to "follow our customer base," and moved to Jupiter, Fla., just north of Palm Beach.

Hopson who majored in finance, became Codi's chief financial officer, freeing Hennessey to concerntrate on production.

"Florida has been our best market," Hennessey said. "People there have disposable income; they're on vacation and in a spending mode. Plus, my jewelry looks best on people who are tanned."

Hennessey made jewelry every morning. And while she did, she watched the Live with Regis and Kelly morning show, josted by Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa.

One Day in Feburary 2002, Hennessey heard the talk show was planning to braodcast from the Bahamas, around the time of Hopson's birthday. Hennessey decided to book a birthday vacation at the same hotel as the planned broadcast.

"I always thought, 'Kelly needs to wear one of my necklaces,'" she said.

On their first day their, the two Codi Jewelry principals happened to eat lunch at the same resaurant as Philbin and his family. Naturally, Hennessey had her samples with her.

She approached Philbin -- "I'm so sorry to bother you . . . I' a huge fan . . ." -- and gave him a necklace for Ripa.

The next day, Philbin gave the necklace to Ripa during the show--with Hennessey and Hopson in the audience. The next week, the company Web site (www.codijewelry.com) got 103,000 hits, and was flooded with emails asking the price of "the Kelly necklase."

Despite the success of the Web site, "you need to see my jewelry in person," said Hennessey, who recently hired two high school students to string beads so she can concetrate on designs. Her busiest season is coming up and she's building inventory.

Home shows are still Codi's beast marketing tool, she said.

The most successful show -- at a cousin's Michigan cottage over a long weekend recently -- grossed more than $30,000.

"If an opportunity comes along, we jump on it," Hennessey said. "It's worth the hotel and airfare. If someone mentions they'd love to have a party, I'm there."

--reporter Virginia Baldwin Gilbert