Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracy Grogan.
Hi Tracy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In 2025, my career took an unexpected turn when I was impacted by a corporate reorganization. At the time, it was unsettling, but it also fueled something in me that had probably been building for a while.
My husband and I had been talking about purchasing a beach home at the coast. Instead, we started asking ourselves a bigger question: why not actually move there?
So we did.
We left Durham and moved to Wilmington, and that decision became the beginning of a completely new chapter for both me and Marie & Oakley.
I had spent most of my career in retail, ecommerce and digital marketing, helping build brands, grow digital businesses and connect with customers. I loved the work and learned so much about storytelling, customer behavior, branding and what it takes to build a business people genuinely connect with.
But I had always had a creative side that needed somewhere to go.
And I have always been a beach girl. The coast and the sea have always worked their magic on me, and long before we moved to Wilmington, they were already finding their way into my jewelry and painting. The colors, textures and feeling of the water have always influenced the way I create.
Jewelry became my creative outlet, and after the move, I finally had the space to see what could happen if I brought that creativity together with everything I had learned throughout my career in digital marketing and ecommerce.
Living near the water made that connection even stronger. Turquoise, aquamarine, pearls, gold and pieces that feel collected rather than overly perfect started to define the look and feel of Marie & Oakley. I also found my way back to painting, something I had loved for years.
Marie & Oakley became the place where all of those pieces of my life could finally come together: creativity, craftsmanship, storytelling, digital marketing and my lifelong love of the coast.
Today I create small-batch, handcrafted jewelry and original art inspired by coastal living. I think of the brand as more than simply jewelry or art. It is my interpretation of a life shaped by the sea: relaxed, collected, creative and a little unexpected.
And I’m building it at a point in my life when some people might assume you should be slowing down. I’m turning 60 this year, and I feel almost the opposite.
I feel like I’m just getting started.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the biggest challenges has been learning how to be both the creative person and the business owner at the same time.
I came into Marie & Oakley with decades of marketing and ecommerce experience, so I understood branding, digital strategy and retail. But it is very different when the product is something you personally made and the business is your own. Suddenly you’re the designer, photographer, marketer, salesperson, inventory manager, website manager and person packing the order.
There has also been a lot of learning around pricing creative work appropriately. When you make something yourself, it can be very easy to undervalue the time, materials, experience and creativity that went into it. I’ve had to become much more comfortable treating Marie & Oakley as a real business, not simply something I love to do.
And then there is the challenge of visibility. There are so many talented makers and small brands competing for attention. Markets have been wonderful for meeting customers face-to-face, but I’m also very focused on building the online and wholesale sides of the business so growth doesn’t depend entirely on how many events I can physically attend.
Probably the biggest lesson has been that starting over requires a willingness to be a beginner again. After spending years being very experienced in my corporate career, building Marie & Oakley has meant asking questions, experimenting, getting things wrong and trying again.
I actually think that has been one of the best parts.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m the founder, designer and maker behind Marie & Oakley.
I design handcrafted, small-batch jewelry using materials like 14k gold-filled components, turquoise, aquamarine, pearls and other natural stones. Many pieces are one-of-a-kind or made in very limited quantities because I tend to design organically rather than following a traditional production model.
The coast is always somewhere in the work, but I try not to interpret that too literally. I’m much more interested in the color of the water, the shape of something found along the shoreline, an old fisherman’s necklace, a worn-in pair of boots, or the way gold looks against turquoise.
Recently, my painting has become a bigger part of Marie & Oakley as well. I create whimsical coastal paintings, especially oysters, fish, florals and other things I encounter living near the water.
What I love most is that jewelry and painting feed each other creatively. A color combination in a painting might become a necklace, or a collection of gemstones might inspire what I want to put on canvas.
Ultimately, I want Marie & Oakley to feel like something you’ve collected along the way. Something beautiful, personal and a little different from what everyone else has.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I’ve learned that mentorship doesn’t necessarily have to come from one person with an official “mentor” title.
At this stage of my career, I’m fortunate to have decades of experience I can draw from, but I also intentionally surround myself with people who know things I don’t. Other makers, boutique owners, artists, customers, friends and business owners have all taught me something.
I think one of the most valuable things you can do as a creative entrepreneur is stay curious enough to ask questions and humble enough to listen to the answers.
I also believe mentorship can work in both directions. There are people I look to for advice about art, wholesale or running a creative business, and there are younger entrepreneurs and makers I can help with ecommerce, marketing and brand strategy because of my own background.
That exchange of ideas is really important to me.
And my husband Jayson deserves a mention here, too. He has become my sounding board and, unofficially, the person who helps turn a lot of my creative ideas into an actual plan. I’m very much the “what if we did this?” person. He’s often the one asking, “Okay, how are we going to do it?” We make a pretty good team.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.marieandoakley.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marieandoakley
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marieandoakleyhome/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marie-oakley-llc/
