Hey lovely!

I'm Cheyenne, the Founder of The Wholeness Shop!

I am a detribalized native, descendent of the Jemez Pueblo tribe in New Mexico. I was born and raised in San Francisco, but now live in the countryside of United Kingdom.

I began my beading journey in 2021, when my life was dark and chaotic.

I was struggling with PTSD from years of work rescuing animals and investigating factory farms. The trauma had impacted me much more than I knew and the forced break the pandemic caused brought all my suppressed emotions to the surface.

My mom fell sick with a mystery illness that caused her to be in the hospital for long periods of time. Not knowing her fate was terrifying.

I was really struggling to hold it together while working full-time as a nanny.

One day I was sat with my mom sorting through the assortment of jewelry my great grandma left us when she passed. I found a gorgeous pair of fringe earrings that I thought she had brought home from a visit to New Mexico, but my mom told me that she had made them when she was pregnant with me. This was an amazing discovery because I had never seen her beadwork before.

She taught me my very first stitch, brick stitch, when she was on bedrest home from the hospital. We used what we had - one beading needle, some wonky beads, and we waxed the thread with candle wax. It was perfect.

Of course, I was hooked. I was determined to learn how to make a pair of earrings. It took many many failed attempts and lots of research and trying different materials, but finally I made a decent pair of fringe earrings and felt so proud of myself. I didn't even realize it, but I was healing.

All the evenings spent stitching after work, the little wins, and the feeling of accomplishment when I finished, it all soothed my soul.

Beading became my meditation and my sanctuary.

As my knowledge grew, I started helping others learn which lead to me creating my very first tutorial on YouTube. The response was unbelievable. It felt amazing to help so many others along their beading journey and help them find healing through beadwork as I did.

I continued to heal and my mom did too, but unfortunately she lost a significant portion of her eyesight due to complications with the illness she battled. Call it divine timing, but it's still crazy to me that had I not found those earring when I did, she wouldn't have taught me. It made a big impact on me and made me even more determined to share beading with the world.

Flash forward and now I am blessed to say that this is my full-time job! The Wholeness Shop has grown into a global community of bead artists and I enjoy my life and my business so deeply.

Beading is medicine ❤︎