“Kicking the Cubicle” is a weekly interview series on The Blonde Abroad featuring women around the world sharing their inspiring pursuits of dream-worthy jobs, how they got where they are and what a day in their shoes looks like. This week, lifestyle brand designer, Blaine Muhl, 27, shares her story.

Blaine Bowen is a lifestyle brand created upon the many facets of its namesake founder’s life. Since 2011, Blaine Bowen has been built on a love for art, travel and philanthropy. Designs are inspired by cultural beauty found at home and abroad, reflecting a sense of wanderlust in each piece.

Driven by empowering others, Blaine Bowen is a brand that everyone can enjoy whether they want something to throw on day-to-day, or if they are looking for the complimentary piece to a fantastic evening out. Blaine Bowen is handcrafted, artistic and always dedicated to reflecting the internal and external beauty of her clients.

Blaine and I met earlier this year and the Sundance Film Festival and became fast friends. As a woman that has translated her passion (and wanderlust) into a successful business, Blaine Bowen is exactly the sort of female entrepreneur I am excited to hear from.

Blaine, you have successfully built a unique jewelry and apparel line for women. Where did you get your inspiration to enter the jewelry and fashion design world?

My mom was head buyer for all of the Macy’s stores in the US, so I grew up hearing all of her amazing stories about traveling to international fashion weeks and buying trips abroad.  I always thought it was amazing how she was a woman in an industry, oddly enough, dominated by men at the time, and was killing it. She’s always had a powerful presence and really knows how to hold her own with grace and integrity. She’s really inspired me to follow a similar path in life with this inner power and strength, and that as long as I believe in myself and what I’m doing, it’s all good. I have loved art since I was really young, I’ve always been drawn to it, and it is something peaceful and therapeutic to me. Unfortunately, I had a really aggressive and difficult art teacher in High School, and he pretty much ruined drawing/painting for me for a long time. Thankfully, I randomly stumbled back to it.

My mom had a rule that if I went to University in state, that I had to move somewhere out of state in the summers and get a job. My first summer I went out on a whim and applied to The New School in New York and took acting and a Fashion Illustration class. The fashion illustration really stuck, but was more of a hobby at the time. Eventually, fashion and creative projects kept coming back around and I started out by cutting and sewing my own game day apparel at KUI noticed a gap in the market for feminine game day apparel and sought to fill it.

The jewelry came about in a much more random way. A few years ago I was driving back to KU from my parents in Kansas City in a snow storm. In just a matter of miles, the storm grew worse. I swerved to avoid an accident that had happened right in front of me and I ended up off the road and nailed the left side of my head against the window. What started out as a bruised head/face and migraine, out of nowhere turned into numbness in my legs, arms and the back of my neck, that quickly became constant.

Consequently, I was shuffled around the medical system with misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis. We finally found a great Neurosurgeon who explained long term complications from concussions, and how they can affect your whole body and that I just needed to let the side effects run their course. I had to do something to get my mind off the pain, so I went back to sketching fashion illustrations, which led to me just drawing accessories and jewelry.  Jordan, my fiancé, saw some of the jewelry and suggested that I find someone to make it. I shopped my sketches around to different manufacturers until i found the right one. Before I knew it I was sourcing stones and findings to handcraft jewelry myself.

You attended the University of Kansas; what did you study? What part of your education did you find most useful when entering this industry and building your own brand?

I actually studied Psychology with a concentration in Sports Psychology and a minor in Italian.  Surprisingly enough, my major has really helped me with this industry and building the company.  My psychology classes helped me to understand people better.  It helped me handle stressful situations and facilitate working relationship to be successful. It sounds odd, but it’s been really helpful… I was a one man show for a long time and managed everything from Intern work, Customer Service, facilitating overseas manufacturers, making the jewelry and clothing, to working with editors and the celebrities… so you have to understand people when your working with such a diverse group.

The Sports Psychology sector was all about problem-solving physical performance issues by dealing with the mental aspects of competition and performance. Whether it’s a deal gone bad, a hiccup in the manufacturing, to just a day where everything is going wrong, the way you think and handle these things can impact things tremendously. Sports psychology really helped me to realize that when you recognize the issue, you can find a coping mechanism, put your big girls panties on and get moving. I need to let my parents know my major wasn’t a total waste!

You have designed multiple clothing and jewelry collections, from fine jewelry to your Simply Gameday apparel, to designs that give back to a variety of charities globally. How do all of these contribute to the Blaine Bowen brand?

They all represent different parts of my personality and style. The Wanderlust Collection is very much my day-to-day laid back, beach-look that I have from being an Island child, but I still love to dress up and be a Fancy Nancy girly-girl at times, which is where the fine jewelry came in. The Gameday line is a result of me being a sports fanatic. All of these aspects represent the brand perfectly because they are all different facets of my personality and lifestyle.

Your Pay It Forward collection benefits a variety of different charities including Free The Children and the African Wildlife Foundation; why did you decide to create this collection?

I’ve been involved in charity work since high school when our sports teams would volunteer, but it really stemmed from all the traveling that my parents exposed us to. I’ve seen different cultures, how they live, and how beautiful the world is, and that has always made me want to give back when I can. I realize how fortunate I am, so giving back to others has always been really important to me.

For our spring collection a lot of my supplies come from a Mama Masai group in Kenya, and by purchasing my product through them it helps give the women a trade and income for their families. It’s things like this that make me believe even more in my product, and then the more my customer buys, the more they help me give back and support these women, their business and their families. The feeling is indescribable.

I am also a huge advocate for wildlife and environmental groups. I want my kids, grandkids and generations to come to be able to experience the beauty this world has to offer. Doing what I can to help preserve the environment and save wildlife is something that I am so thankful to be able to incorporate into my work. The ability to bring awareness to others is such a gift.

You are well-traveled and frequent Cat Island in the Bahamas. How have your world travels inspired some of your pieces?

Since I was little we spent months out of the year on Cat, it’s an out island, so it is very untouched by tourism. I find everything there inspiring.  The people, sunsets, ocean, food, the bright colored homes and beach shacks, the hint of pink in the sand… it all plays a role. My acacia wood beaded sets and Cat Island set are actually inspired by the costumes the Bahamians wear on New Years during the Junkanoo festival. I recently traveled to Greece, Istanbul, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and Italy, where I picked up endless inspiration in each place- it was amazing.

I buy supplies while on these trips, and this time my favorite pieces that I picked up are these brass, handmade, Virgin Mary medals that I bought at the House of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus. Pilgrimages are made there because it is commonly believed this is where the Virgin Mary lived until her assumption.  I found these medals to be so amazing and beautiful, so I’ve incorporated them into a chain and gemstone bracelet called ‘Koressos’ (“Nightingale” in Turkish and also the name of the mountain the home is located on).

These trips are phenomenal because sometimes I get to come home with actual authentic pieces, not just ideas, and I love being able to share this with our customers.  My Travel inspirations are also seen in the names of all of our products as they are all travel-inspired or related to my Nordic and Irish Heritage.

How do you keep a balanced work and life schedule?

At first, I was horrible about it. We moved my office into my home because I was working so much and didn’t want to be at the office in the middle of the night. Having my office at home, and my fiancé living a thousand miles away, made it easy to work all the time… but it got to the point where my fiancé would be in town and we would rent a movie and he’d say, “are you designing t-shirts/answering emails while we’re watching this movie?!”

I’d go to lunch with family or friends and be on my phone answering emails and work texts the whole time, I just really wasn’t engaged outside of work. Technology and social media have made it so easy to be accessible 110 percent of the time, but personally, I don’t think it’s a good thing. I can’t say I’m 100 percent better at it, but I try to set hours for my work day now and only work within those hours . Once 6:30 hits, unless we have some big project, I’m done.

I’ve also started having a close friend come over and personal train with me during my lunch hour so that frees up a lot of time after work and gives me good head clearing mid-day. I can’t stress enough how important it is to find some sort of balance. It won’t be perfect or possible all the time-it can’t be when you own your own company, but you need that peaceful space to just take care of you and nourish your soul.

There are ups and downs with any business. What inspires you, and what motivates you to keep going?

Being happy is what really inspires me. Creating this company has allowed me to do the things I love everyday, and meet people with similar interests. I’ve made so many new amazing friendships because of my job, with people I would have never otherwise met, and they’ve brought so much joy to this already crazy ride. My employees motivate me because it is quite inspiring to see others believe in your company as much as you do.

To see them work so hard day in and day out and really care about the brand, just makes me want to work so hard and make this a success for them as well. There’s definitely ups and downs, but that is part of what makes the highs so high, and you don’t want to give up on something you’ve put so much work into. This company was something I created for myself and my happiness, and to prove that I could do it, so definitely most of my motivation starting out was not wanting to let myself down.

We all need something of our own, something to be proud of and to fight tooth and nail for, and for me, at this point in my life, it’s my company.

What advice would you give someone hoping to start their own jewelry or clothing brand?

Ask for help. The biggest mistake I made was having all of these amazing resources at my disposal, but being too stubborn at first to ask for help. Asking for help, I believe, shows more strength than continuing down a bad path because you don’t want to look like you rely on anyone else. At the end of the day, you can’t do it alone. I think being able to work with others and take constructive criticism is huge.

My second piece of advice is to do your research and start small. A big mistake I made was doing too much, too fast And I had too many designs and stretched myself too thin. Most people will try to get you to start with a collection that is 9-12 pieces, I say cut that in half and switch things in and out if it’s not working. You don’t want sitting inventory because someone talked you into something for their production benefit.  You need to start small and figure out what sells, while staying true to your design aesthetic.  My mom calls these designs the “bread and butter.” For me, our bread and butter is Gameday, which allows me to explore with the other collections.

Thirdly, gain experience. Take the internship. I learned so much just observing at my internships and entry level jobs that saved me a lot of headaches and gave me a starting point and direction. You can’t start your own company without experience.

My final advice is to stay true to you and your vision. I had so many people trying to push me different directions that just felt wrong. If you believe in your vision, stick with it. Trying to design for others doesn’t work, because the lack of passion will show. I’ve found that listening to my gut is the most consistent and safe bet.

What does success look like to you?

Being happy, healthy and having the ability to really savor and enjoy life. Success to me is being able to look in the mirror at the end of every day and being proud of who I see, and continuing to improve on myself every day. We get this trip once, I want to make the most of it and be able to feel peaceful on my last day knowing that I didn’t regret a thing and lived a full life.

Lastly, what are you working on now that you are particularly excited about?

We are working on so much right now. We are basically doing a complete brand revamp for Spring 2015, including a new website. The new look and aesthetic is definitely more true to myself and my vision and I am so proud of what we have in store. We focused on quality rather than quantity, and I made sure that for this line, each piece is something that I would want to wear every day. I wanted to look at the collection and struggle as to what I’d want to wear because it was all that good. I definitely feel like I achieved that.

Lastly, a few fun questions!

What did you want to be when you grew up? An Archaeologist… I was obsessed. I still want to be one when I grow up.

Where in the world is #1 on your travel bucket list? I’m torn… but, Scotland, Bali and the Maldives

Song that has you dancing: “Pompeii” by Bastille

Quote that keeps you smiling: “You’d be crazy to believe that anyone in this world actually knows what they’re doing either.” and “Always go the extra mile, it’s never crowded”

Be sure to visit Blaine Bowen to shop jewelry and Gameday apparel!