We’re looking forward to introducing you to Juliet Hurley. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Juliet , we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Crocheting is something that is bringing me joy lately. Back in June I had ACL replacement surgery on my left knee. I knew it would be a long recovery because I had my right ACL replaced in 2009 so I prepared in advance for living on my recliner for a while. Prior to surgery, I bought a fun project at Barnes and Nobles, which was a tiger pattern that you affix small plastic crystals to. The project was similar to paint by numbers where a certain color went into the numbers on the pattern. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the tiger until I was able to sit without elevating my leg, so I brainstormed what types of project I could do sitting with my leg straight and elevated and chose crocheting. My Facebook feed had been showing a lot of videos of crocheting and it reminded me of knitting. I learned to knit by a friend’s mom when I was in middle school. I remember that I made a sweater for my stuffed animal and people at school wanted me to make one for their stuffed animals, for a fee. Fast forward to 2025 and the crochet videos did not look hard. In fact, it looked easier to me than knitting. So I went to Michael’s and bought a size 4 ergonomic crochet hook and three skeins of yarn. I joined a crochet group on Facebook where people post a lot of patterns. I found a sheet that looked like a foreign language, which were symbols of a pattern for various techniques. I then would practice one stitch only, finding YouTube videos to teach me single crochet, double crochet, treble crochet and more. After my husband saw my freestyle work, which I hung around the house, he wanted me to make him a dragon, which I did. And now I am using techniques I learned from the dragon pattern to make a hanging art piece called “Wino”. I had a bowl full of wine corks and decided I would make something fun and then find art contests and submit the project. I have finished crocheting the individual corks, and the next step is to somehow connect them into a tapestry. Wish me luck!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My dream career was to make money making fine arts jewelry that I learned how to make at Cranbrook Schools. I tired weaving, but I found that I couldn’t keep consistency at the ends of my projects, so areas of a square would grow and shrink. Then I tried jewelry and was fascinated. Instead of having a free period because of my high grades, I chose to take a second jewelry class, one where I did the boring assignments and one where I could do anything. I made lots of fun projects, and three won awards and were showcased at a local art gallery. I remember making a silver ring that looked like a large crystal with several small crystals attaches, but they are all silver. I carved the wax and made the ring and then used a sand blaster to give it an interesting look. For a bridge pin, I used Niobium and electrical currents through water to make the bridge multi-colored. And you can’t solder Niobium, so I drilled holes and used tiny screws to assemble my art project. Another unique one was a large pin of a bull where I hammered in a matador inside the bull’s shape. I used a tar bucket to heat up the metal and then hammered shapes, lines, and texture. My favorite was a chicken bone bracelet made with Kentucky Fried chicken bones. I created my own fastener to hold the bones down by soldering a rectangle onto the silver band and then curved it to attach the bones. Then I set 4 garnets on the bracelet to signify the blood of the chicken. I think that bracelet earned 3rd place, and I think my ebony ring won 2nd, which was a difficult piece. I wanted to set ebony on the slides and that wood was hard to cut and sand to make perfect curves around the fingers. I set the ebony in a tension setting and then put an onyx on top using a cabashon setting. Today, I have a tiny jewelry studio at home, which is a table and lots of tools like saws, files, wax for casting, gems I mined and tumbled, epoxy, sheets of copper and bronze, and more. I like to make gifts for people using stones of their favorite color and patterns that fit their personality.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me how to behave I was really into ESP. I bought books on how to hone our natural ESP abilities. I tried to teleport in the air even though it didn’t seem possible. One book taught how to have an out of body experience and be able to look down at yourself. I also tried really hard to make a bowl of water swirl with my mind. Supposedly, if you visualized hard enough and then let go of the thought, the water would swirl. That failed as well as making my closet door open and close with my mind. One trick that might have worked was visualizing a person was filing your phone number and then literally that person would call. It was hard to get feedback from people I was trying to do things. For example, if a friend called me within the timeframe I was visualizing the call, I would ask what prompted the phone call and the person usually said, I don’t know.” I expanded into crystal and gem powers, and even programmed crystals to help me win in Track races.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Lots of trauma from childhood stuck with me as an adult. Then life kept on compounding until I got diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The emotions from that diagnosis were flooding and the Duke Cancer Center tried to scare me into taking chemotherapy, radiation and hormone drugs. I kept repeating that I didn’t want that, that I value quality of life over quantity, and got enraged. I researched foods and found a protocol of raw ginger, raw garlic, red cabbage, and broccoli that was supposed to be like chemotherapy, but with positive side effects instead of negative side effects. I was diligent and disciplined to cut up raw ginger and squeeze fresh garlic every night (with some minor exceptions when we travelled) for a snack before bed. I mixed it with goat cheese so my mouth wouldn’t burn. I ate that nighttime snack for five years. The best part was that through my research of foods, I found a Holistic Nutrition program that backed up my research, and helped me start my Holistic Nutrition journey. I remember starting to add purple cabbage to my dinner salads and my husband was not interested in trying that at all. But here’s the cool part. I started making small tweaks to his food because I do the grocery shopping. A tiny change of brand of yogurt to have less sugars and additives, and more protein got rid of my husband’s morning crankiness. Over time, my husband started trying the new foods I tried, and the more time passes, the more he’s on board with new things I try, such as Turkey Tail mushroom, Reishi Mushroom, licorice root tea, schisandra berry tea, and more. Together we are the healthiest we have ever been. Several modalities have helped me heal from past trauma. One counselor gave me a great name to describe my situation in 2021, Complex PTSD, and that was the start of my healing. She taught me Dialectical Behavior Therapy and a book with lots of exercises. In addition, I used an App that had Cognitive Behavior Therapy and within 3 weeks of using that I noticed a huge change. A podcast on Complex CPTSD on trauma recovery had interviews with practitioners and talks about what worked for her. I tried some of her suggestions and kept making progress. I attended several group therapy classes, but at one point I stopped going because I literally tried all the advice possible with the woman who adopted me: setting healthy boundaries, CBT skills, DBT Skills, and nothing worked. So for my 50th birthday I gave myself the gift of no contact and cut the people who adopted me out of my life. I made myself grief, as if they no longer existed, to break the chemical reaction that happens with the cycle of abuse – you keep going back because of chemical changes in your head, not because you actually care about the person. Once I grieved, my life kept getting better and better. Now I am on maintenance. I found tapping helps with residual trauma. I tried accupoints on myself and that seemed to help. Now it takes a short walk to the park to reset myself, and I don’t get anxiety anymore. I finally got my body to be at baseline and it’s so amazing that anxiety and depression have exited my life.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
I believe I am a powerful human being with my mind. I used manifestation to help me land a new job in Accounting. I had exited Accounting after my Breast Cancer diagnosis and went into the Holistic Nutrition field, but was not able to make a living doing that. My ACL surgery didn’t fit with the job I had that required heavy lifting and standing on my feet all day. So I hopped on Indeed, used AI to make a first draft of my resume, and used Indeed’s human proofreading service for $35 to review my resume. In my mind, I wanted to manifest a 100% work from home job with part-time hours. I focused my power on getting selected and several companies chose me for their initial assessments. Then I focused my power on getting a second interview and three companies selected me. A week later I used my power to get job offers, and that week got my first offer. My husband believes I am powerful, but others would probably think I am crazy if they knew the ceremonies I do at home to tap into my Indigenous DNA from Bolivia, Columbia and Mexico. I identify as being a Chicago Curendera from Oaxaca, Mexico and there are Shamans and healers in Bolivia and Columbia. And looking back at my youth, I think my gravitational pull to honing my ESP was my Indigenous DNA.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What false labels are you still carrying?
This is an interesting question because it is something I am facing today. Somewhere in my past I still believe I am too slow. Where I get that from is probably the man who adopted me and rushed me to do things who never met me rest. I was constantly doing chore after chore with zero time to develop friendships or hobbies. My neck is getting tense just thinking about him. At my new job, while performing at my peak, there’s a loop that keeps judging me, making wonder if I am going fast enough, am I going too slow, and worries about making errors and getting fired. I downloaded a DBT and CBT app today to try out so I can explore these untrue thoughts and purge them out of my essence.
