Who is Antoinette?

We get this question a lot – at least once at every event we attend.

Who is Antoinette?

Which one of you is Antoinette?

You’re Antoinette?

The short answer is yes, but if you’ve been a long-time reader or shopper – or take a glimpse to the name of the author on this blog – you’ll find the name Kimberley instead. And to fully understand where the name Antoinette comes into the picture, I invite you to join me back in April/May 2019, shortly before we opened for business…

One of the greatest challenges I had when starting up my small business was deciding on the name. Since making the decision to take my working life into my own hands, I had a reasonable idea on the products I wanted to sell. But all in all, I didn’t want to limit myself to anything in particular – like just jewellery. I had ideas and an itch to try new things, and I knew the name of my business could heavily limit my options for the future.

Antoinette AKA Me!

I knew that I didn’t want to use my real name as the ‘face’ of the business. After escaping domestic violence and several years of bullying and harassment, I knew I wanted to maintain a certain degree of anonymity and privacy when it came to running my small business. And that is still something I value to this day.

I debated many non-name business names, but there was nothing that really spoke or seemed to reflect what I was hoping this business would be.

With time ticking down to the day I decided I wanted to open, I looked at my middle name ‘Ann’. It didn’t feel right, no matter how hard I tried to pair it up with other words. And just like that – it came to me.

Accessories by Antoinette.

Antoinette, an unprecedented extension of my middle name. I was named after a woman who revealed that her morals and values don’t reflect my own. I could never name something so important to me after her, after the terrible memories forged. But I can absolutely build up from the devastation to make a legacy of something new and something better. A name that is kinder and represents growth and opportunity against the odds.

And I would be lying if I said I didn’t love the alliteration.

Accessories by Antoinette has a much better ring to it than Accessories by Ann does.

Over the years, I’ve been called many names. Annette. Antoine. Even Antonio. And most of the time, I don’t worry about correcting them.

To me, a name is a name is a name.

Antoinette isn’t my real name – it’s a stage name, if anything. It’s a front, a face, a curtain of privacy for my real life. It’s a shadow of safety where I can step back and take a deep breath for a moment when business becomes overwhelming. And it has been one of the greatest opportunities in my life to spread my wings and be limitlessly creative.

Thank you for reading,

Kimberley (they/them)

Accessories by Antoinette