Susan Horowitz
Susan Horowitz is a Minneapolis-based jewelry designer and the owner of SHExclusive Jewelry, a brand she has built through decades of artistic exploration and entrepreneurial drive. Her creative journey began in classical ballet, starting lessons at the age of five and continuing through her studies at the University of Minnesota, where she performed with a professional ballet company. Dance became her first artistic language and remained a defining influence throughout her early life. She went on to teach dance for 16 years, working with children in pre-ballet, movement, and tap, and further refined her instruction through certification seminars with well-known dancers. Her creative path later expanded beyond dance into design and fashion. In the late 1980s, while living in Los Angeles and working for a prominent graphic designer, she began designing tennis shoes during her lunch breaks—sourcing materials downtown, developing prototypes, and independently building a small business that sold to retail stores nationwide through persistence and cold calling. After years dedicated to teaching dance and raising her daughter, she returned to her artistic roots about 17 years ago, this time through jewelry design. What began as a personal creative outlet evolved into SHE Exclusive, a business she has been fully operating for the past five years. Her work is known for one-of-a-kind statement pieces featuring distinctive gemstones and unique clasps, each designed with its own story and artistic identity. Today, Susan operates as a one-person business, managing every aspect of SHE Exclusive—from design and production to marketing and sales. Her jewelry has been showcased at New York Fashion Week, featured in galleries and retail stores, and included in numerous fashion shows and curated events throughout Minneapolis. A lifelong creative, she continues to evolve her craft with persistence and resilience, navigating challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting market conditions. Now 73 years old, she stands as a testament to lifelong artistry and reinvention, proving that creativity can continue to grow, deepen, and thrive at every stage of life.
• Certified Dance Instructor
• University of Minnesota
• Previous marketing committee member for 50th & France Association
• Supporting housing stability organizations in Minneapolis through donation of sales proceeds
• Ballet Minnesota (Non-profit organization)
• 50th & France Business & Professional Association
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to dedication and persistence more than anything else. I am persistent, and I keep at it. The creative part is easy for me - I can sit and create all day. But if you're going to take creativity into a business, then the hardest part is the promotion and the marketing and getting out there and networking, and being out there in person, talking to people, and staying with it. That's where my persistence really shows up. I've had to push through hard times, including coming back from COVID and how difficult that's been. The ability to stay with it through those challenging moments, to keep showing up even when it's uncomfortable or hard, is what I consider my greatest strength. It's not really about hard work in the traditional sense - it's about dedication and the willingness to keep going, to keep putting myself out there, and to never give up on what I'm building.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Honestly, I can't say that I've ever had that kind of defining career advice that stuck with me. I have literally found my own way. When I have gone to people for advice, nothing ever really resonated or stayed with me. So I've had to rely on myself, ask questions, and figure things out through my own experience. I've learned by doing, by making my own decisions, and by navigating challenges on my own terms. That's just the reality of my journey - I haven't had that one mentor or that one piece of wisdom that shaped my path. Instead, I've built my career through years of different experiences, working in retail, working in offices, working at a big ad agency in LA, always with that underlying feeling that I wanted to get out and do my own thing. The advice I've received, like 'work hard,' feels like an old standard that doesn't really capture what it takes. I've had to create my own path and trust my own instincts.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to a young person, especially someone creative, would be to have a career or a job that sustains you financially first. Then, from that stable foundation, find out if being creative is really your passion and what you love, and whether you can turn it into a business and sustain all that it takes to be an entrepreneur. Being creative and artistic is beautiful, but it's very challenging. My daughter was also a dancer, and I've seen firsthand how difficult those paths can be. I hate to give this advice, but honestly, I wish I would have found a sustainable long-term career that I liked enough to stick with it, and then evolved into what I'm doing now. I'm in retirement years now - I'm going to be 74 - and I chose this later in life even though I've been creative my whole life. It's been a struggle because I wanted to use that creativity, but our society sometimes says otherwise. So my honest advice is to protect your financial stability while you explore whether your creative passion can become a viable business. It's not easy, and it takes more than just talent - it takes the ability to handle all the challenges of entrepreneurship.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunities in my field are things I've already experienced - I've been to New York Fashion Week, I've been in retail stores and galleries, and I've participated in major fashion shows. Those moments are incredible highlights. But the real challenge is that this business is always changing and evolving, and right now it's more important for me to evolve in a way where I can sustain it. Sustaining the business means actually selling consistently, and I've been in many retail stores, I'm still in a couple, and I've been in some galleries. All of those placements are both what's really great about being in the business and also really challenging to sustain and keep going. Every opportunity brings both excitement and pressure. The challenge isn't just achieving those milestones like Fashion Week or gallery placements - it's sustaining them, maintaining visibility, and keeping the business moving forward through the ups and downs of retail partnerships and the broader creative market. This past year was particularly difficult, with a horrible holiday season and then ice hitting Minneapolis, which meant there was no business. I'm coming back from that, but it's slow.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Kindness is one of my core values, and it's really important to me. I'm a very kind person, and I value kindness in all aspects of my life. I bring that with me wherever I go. Sometimes I'm not always sure if that's to my advantage, but I will never let go of that value in kindness. I'm also honest, and those are important values that I take with me everywhere. I have a lot of integrity, and that's really important to me. Even in a world that can be tough, even when I'm not sure if kindness works in my favor, I refuse to compromise on these values. Being honest, being good to others, and maintaining my integrity are non-negotiable parts of who I am, both in my work and in my personal life.