Listen to the interview here!
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Amanda Zeigler with me. Hi, Amanda.
Amanda Zeigler: Hi, Toni. Thank you so much for having me.
Toni: You are quite welcome. Amanda, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Amanda: I like to say I lead a very sparkling life. I know that your listeners can't see, but right now I’m just draped in tons of Sorrelli Jewelry, which is who I work for. I’m actually their Marketing Manager. We’re a designer of costume jewelry. It’s a national brand. We’re based right in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and we are sold all over the country including on www.amazon.com and in Anthropology. We’re working with Bloomingdale’s department stores as well as Lord and Taylor, so hopefully you’ll see us there soon, and in independent boutiques all over the country. We have our own retail division, www.sorrelli.com. I have a really fantastic opportunity to work with people and make them feel beautiful by wearing our jewelry.
Toni: I love that – and it is a shame they can't see you, because I can see that!
Amanda: They can check out our website at www.sorrelli.com. When you put this on, the whole premise of creating this was to make women feel beautiful, and it really does. When you get dressed for the day, it’s like putting on some armor or some putting on some extra sparkle to make you feel that much better. It really makes you shine from the inside out.
Toni: You are shining today.
Amanda: Thank you.
Toni: Thank you for being part of the Project. Let’s go into the first question. What does inspiration mean to you?
Amanda: I’m really fortunate. I get to travel all over the country, and I get to meet all different kinds of people, all different kinds of inspiring stories. I think the thing that inspires me the most is that we have those very same things right here in Berks County. I’m able to go out and work with people at all different skill sets, all different jobs, students, and I take a little bit of inspiration away from each of them, because we’re all unique and we’re all individual, and you do learn something from each and every one of them. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned in my travels is that it always feels really great to come home and all of the inspiring things that happen right here in Berks County.
Toni: If you were to think of that one thing, that one characteristic or that one feeling that you get that when you are inspired and you say, “That’s it!” whether it’s when you’re out or when you come home, what would that be?
Amanda: I have to think about this. I work in the fashion industry, so I’m really inspired by visual, by beauty, by actual physical beauty, so when I’m traveling and I see the beauty … it sounds so superficial, but this truly is inspiring to me, especially in what I do. The beauty of individuals. What people are wearing. How they carry themselves. They carry themselves with such a confidence and style that it’s inspiring to me.
When I come here, when I see that beauty, whether it’s how beautiful Pennsylvania is – the land, the trees, nature, things like that – or how people dress around here and the confidence that they exude and the confidence in their ability, in their jobs, the beauty that comes from the inside and shines out, I think that’s extremely inspiring to me.
Toni: So how do you take that when you see it and it moves you, and how do you put that into practice here in Berks County?
Amanda: I’m involved with the Greater Reading Young Professionals. I have been. I worked very closely with them in their G!G! Gala. The whole premise about that when it started was to make people understand that there are beautiful, amazing things happening here in Berks County each and every day.
We would take a raw space and build it from the ground up. What was really great about that was infusing all of these beautiful elements, all of the confidences of Berks County, and making that really shine for an evening. The people were on it then and there.
Sometimes you step out of the spotlight and you don’t fully understand the beauty of the area that we live in. Whether it’s taking the raw space and seeing the opportunity in it, what it could be for a local business to move in there and actually use that space to better the community, or people getting dressed up for an evening, to feel like it’s a special night out on the town – it’s metropolitan, it’s cosmopolitan, and they can take that opportunity to go above and beyond what they do every day in Berks County.
I get to see people in all occasions. You go to black tie functions for business or you go out with the girls on the town. I get to go to New York Fashion Week, which is an amazing experience in and of itself, but you see people exude confidence. They dress the part, and they want to feel beautiful and put that out there for people, and I really love when we can do that here in Berks County through events like G!G! or every day when we’re working with customers. People dress the part, put on their confidence, put out their style, and that’s very inspiring to me.
Toni: There’s a word that’s running through my head as I’m listening to you and watching your expression. You’re so full of expression and life when you talk about this, but the word that I’m hearing is transformation.
Amanda: It is. It’s hard for me to talk about this, because I think people are inspired by people and activities, and those are things that are motivating. I am very inspired by dare I say superficial things, but it is a transformation. It is about you putting your best foot forward, and what it takes to do that. The transformation of the beauty of Berks County. The transformation of people as they grow into themselves. The transformation of a life that you create for yourself, where it goes. That is very inspiring to me to watch that process.
Toni: I don’t think that’s superficial at all.
Amanda: Good.
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Amanda: I could give a list of people, but I have to say the people that inspire me the most about Berks County are the people that have invested to stay here in Berks County. I have chosen to have my life here. My husband and I have chosen to be here. My parents chose to come here and make a life for us and stay here to make it better.
There’s opportunity all around the world. I see it every day. I get to visit amazing corporations, amazing businesses, but I’m inspired by the people that choose to make this a better place. People that have decided that Berks County is the place for their multimillion dollar business to grow, and Berks County is the place to raise a family, and Berks County is the place to find their significant other and create a life here. I’m very inspired by that. I come across a lot of people who are always looking for the next best thing. I think the next best thing can happen right here.
Toni: I absolutely love that. What do you want your legacy to be, Amanda?
Amanda: It sounds terrible, but a well-dressed world. It really, truly is. I want people to be confident, I want people to be stylish, and I want people to transform into exactly what they want to be. I want people to give back. I think it’s really important to give back to the community that you choose to live in. There are many ways to do it. You can give a little; you can give a lot; you can give on your terms.
For me, I try to be philanthropic. I also try to talk to people about what I believe and also what they believe is a really important part of who I am. I’ve been a fashion writer for BCL for a number of years. People ask my fashion advice. If that’s what I have to give back to the community, then so be it. Who am I to judge? If people think I have good taste, I’m happy to bestow it. I’m happy for them to listen to me, to ask my advice, and that they read that article all the time, that they buy the jewelry that I sell. That means a lot to me.
There’s beauty in everyone. Everyone has a touch of style about them. I just hope to bring that out.
Toni: I’ll tell you what, Amanda, I also think that your legacy is being a – because you’re living it now – this amazing spokesperson for this community in Berks County. Just in this short interview what you’ve said about it is amazing.
Amanda: I think that people – I said this before – they feel they have to go someplace else to have this amazing life. I think if you carve out your own little corner of the world, it can be amazing anywhere you go, but the truth of the matter is Reading is amazing. Berks County is amazing. When you step back and you look at all of the things that come out of this region, it’s remarkable. There are great people at work. There are inspiring leaders that do things every day.
It’s kind of funny – I always say that Berks County has its own celebrity division. When you get to work with amazing people in the community like Kim and Kevin Murphy – they’re so inspiring. Jon Scott – what they’re doing. The shop owners on Penn Avenue. These little celebrities – it’s like a Who’s Who in Berks County, and I love being in the know about that. I love seeing those people rise to success. But they chose to stay here. They chose to be here. I think that says a lot about this area.
Toni: Thank you so much for believing in Berks County, speaking about it the way that you do, and helping bring that sparkle to community, to peoples’ lives. Thank you for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Amanda: Of course. Thank you for having me.
