Her first encounter with metalsmithing was in San Miguel de Allende, where she moved to pursue her dream of connecting with her own Mexican heritage. Romero quickly found community among traders and merchants at the local market who taught her the skill of creating wire from a slab of silver. Little did Romero know that this would become the main framework to express her passion for nature and desire to share that with others.
“That’s my goal: to help people feel more connected with nature and to feel beautiful … which nature is beautiful,” said Romero.
The art found Romero, but the way of becoming an artist and businesswoman is not as simple as social media had promised! Romero, like so many others, found that beginning a new art form tends to be expensive.
Romero attests to the hardship of purchasing tools and supplies, establishing an adequate workspace, and balancing other aspects of life, including personal relationships and a full-time work schedule.
“I was still in college and just needed to make pieces, and my skill wasn’t there yet. So I would just make pieces to kind of practice, to sell, to be able to buy more metal. And those were just purely like, I was trying to survive. And there’s those pieces where it’s just like … I have to pay my rent this month,” she explained.
At an early point in her journey, Romero cleverly moved to living in a camper (which she named “Dale”) that she renovated into a mobile studio/home.
“Dale was a way to make jewelry in the places that completely inspire me because nature inspires everything that I create. So, being able to create, or at least design, pieces in nature, in a space that represented my freedom in my early 20’s was so fun,” said Romero.
