Raised near Birmingham with a deep-rooted Sicilian heritage, sisters Francesca Kelly and Marianna Doyle dreamt of designing jewellery. Inspired by their fashionable Sicilian aunties, the dream simmered while they raised their young children.

Finally, they took a leap and founded Soru, combining their childhood passion with their mother’s strong Black Country work ethic. Starting with limited funds, they designed their pieces but had little left for marketing or web design. Resourceful and determined, they used YouTube tutorials to launch their website and mastered Instagram to build a loyal community.

A decade later, Soru boasts celebrity fans like Kate Middleton, and the sisters remain hands-on, recently adding a collaboration with Needles and Thread to their growing list of achievements. In this What A Woman, we sit down with Francesca to find out more…

It goes without saying that you are *quite* the woman! Tell us a bit about your business journey so far… 

Actually in all honesty I fell into being a business owner without much intention to begin with. I wanted to be more independent and be there for my young daughter whenever I wanted to be (for school pick-ups and the like), while still earning my own money and hopefully doing something I liked. I was driven by this in the early days and so Soru was born. 10 years later and we are now a small team of six, shipping our jewellery all over the world, stocked in stores such as Harvey Nichols, and being worn by many influencers and celebrities including HRH The Princess of Wales.

What inspired you to set up your business and what have been the most significant steps in growing it to where you have to date?

I loved my previous job as a jewellery buyer (before that I also loved my job working on the shop floor of Selfridges, which looking back I see all these different aspects gave me great experience). However it was very demanding of my time once I became a parent this had to change as I needed flexibility.

I took what I loved about my previous jobs and the fact that I also enjoyed styling and fashion, bringing it all together to create a jewellery business. My sister was at home with two young children also; we get on well and she also loves jewellery and styling, so we decided it was a great time to take a chance and do something we love while we had the time.

Did you dive straight into entrepreneurial life, or did you take your time planning?

Once we decided this is what we wanted to do – with no great plans of where we are now, just thinking we could earn a bit of money and have a creative outlet – we spent about a month making mood boards for styles we liked, target customers, brand names etc. It was all very basic… I remember just buying a scrap book from Hobby Craft and drawing out some bubble maps!

Then I spent another couple of weeks building the website from scratch on the free Shopify platform, designing a logo with a free font and setting up our social media channels; before we finally launched by just hitting to “go live” on our homemade store! In this time we also looked for manufacturers online (just via Google) and went back and forth on some designs to secure a small amount of stock. It took about 2-3 months from idea to launch.

Business support comes in so many forms – accelerators, mentors, finance, and networking, to name a few. What support have you found the most significant in helping you to start and scale?

I would have loved a mentor to be honest, but in the absence of this I have actively searched for founders that inspire me; listening to any podcasts they have been on and reading any books they have written. This is what has inspired me along the way and helped me to make difficult choices or given me direction when I’m feeling lost.

Through Instagram I have made a couple of friends also in similar businesses, which is invaluable as it can sometimes be a lonely place if everyone who surrounds you either doesn’t want to talk about business or really is not interested.

What’s on your vision board this year?

Our expansion into the US – 15% of our sales already come from this market, but we really want to focus on expansion here.

They say “if you don’t ask, you don’t get” so what’s the magic bullet that will help you scale and who do you need to make it happen?

Being truthful to yourself about what you really want, what your goals are and asking yourself to be dedicated enough to never give up. You need only yourself to make it happen. I think its very important to understand that from the start.

Apparently, a founder’s morning routine says a lot about them. Talk us through yours…

Well yes, I’m all about the morning! It can change slightly but this is what my morning currently looks like: weekdays and weekends (it’s quite long so ill bullet point!).

• Rise at 6am, journal and gratitude, hydrate with water
• Brisk walk for 30 mins, (I now live surrounded by lots of nature, an intentional move)
• Back home to get my dog and to then walk him (he can’t keep up with me on my first walk :-0)
• I’ll take my supplements then do some yoga or pilates, mixed and a bit of weight lifting at home
• Have my matcha and check all my messages, emails, and socials. At this point, I may answer anything urgent or create a post.
• Three times a week I will then use my infrared sauna while meditating.
• Followed by eating breakfast, preparing a fresh lunch to take to work, and head to the office.

What are your non-negotiables, in both business and life?

My daughter always comes first.

As a successful founder, how easy do you actually find it trying to have work/life balance?

It’s not easy at all and is something I have worked on over the years. I love my job and I’m constantly working at all hours of yje day, so I have had to give myself boundaries, which is hard when your business is your phone. The key is always the phone: if you can successfully find a way to put it away when you have set time aside to not be working – and stay away from it – you can get balance and focus.

Being aware of the issue is the first step. It took me overworking to the point of exhaustion and illness to get on top of this.

Are there any go-to resources you’d recommend to fellow founders – be that books, podcasts, memberships, or something else entirely?

Yes! Business Podcasts that I love: How I Built This, Guy Raz; Second Life, Hillary Kerr; The Dream Bigger Podcast, Siff Haider; and Conversations of Inspiration, Holly Tucker.

Business books: How To Be An Overnight Success, Maria Hatzistefanis; Girlboss, Sophia Amoruso; The 4 Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferriss (next on my list to read are the $100 Start Up and Start With Why).

Advice I read that Anya Hindmarch gave out was something like this….to always keep trying, keep putting feelers out, keep doing what you are doing as not everything will lead to something but over time little by little things will start to come back to you.

On the subject of advice, what’s the most BS advice you’ve ever received? Did you ignore it straight away or learn the hard way?

I will listen to all advice given to me, even consider it for a while, but if my gut feeling is no that’s what I listen to… always my gut. It’s never wrong.

We have had loads of advice over the years but I didn’t take any of it on board if it didn’t resonate with us. For example, we were advised not to sell crosses within our jewellery range as they’re too religious. We produce what we personally like so if something doesn’t work, we’re still happy as we’ve created something that we love and will wear it ourselves. That was our approach with the crosses, and yet, they went on to be best sellers!

Finally, we believe in the power of celebrating your wins. What are you most proud of?

Well this is something I need to get better at! What I am most proud of is creating my own independence and being able to provide for my family. There is no better feeling than the freedom that brings.

Also, at a company level I am proud to have a great team of ladies who love the brand as much as I do, and that the future queen of England has chosen to wear us a number of times.

Level up your jewellery game by visiting sorujewellery.com. 

WHAT. A. WOMAN!

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Get in touch with us and tell us a bit about her story: girlpower@the51percent.club