Power Women: Anna Bario and Page Neal of Bario Neal On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As A Powerful Woman
An Interview With Ming Zhao
“Finding the balance between business and career is a common struggle in our culture, but if we look elsewhere, we can see that it doesn’t always have to be. We can prioritize things outside of the office. It’s not a new observation that our culture is so oriented toward work. So I love going to parties in other countries and talking to people for hours without ever learning what they do for work. Here, it’s essentially the second thing you learn about someone after their name. In my twenties, ambition combined with the demands of a growing company made me fall into that, with work being pretty central to my life. But having children reoriented me and reminded me of those conversations, where your life can be the center of your life and that’s it. So I’ve enjoyed that adjustment. It can make work more difficult, but it definitely makes life more interesting.” — Anna
How does a successful, strong, and powerful woman navigate work, employee relationships, love, and life in a world that still feels uncomfortable with strong women? In this interview series, called “Power Women” we are talking to accomplished women leaders who share their stories and experiences navigating work, love and life as a powerful woman.
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Anna Bario and Page Neal.
Anna Bario and Page Neal are co-founders of Bario Neal, a sustainable, women-owned jewelry company whose work reflects individualism, gender and marriage equality, and conscious values rooted in ethical origin from mine to market. They hold great appreciation for making objects that represent deeply felt experiences, loves, and losses — armor, glitter, vessels for meaning and value. In addition to e-commerce, they have showrooms in Philadelphia, PA and Brooklyn, NY.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
We share the idea that the most precious things come with a story.
Here’s a bit of ours — Leading up to 2008, Page worked in design research at an architecture firm, as well as in education at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. Anna was headed for a graduate program in conflict resolution, while studying metal arts and making jewelry in a home studio off her kitchen to sell at San Francisco shops.
Eventually, their paths crossed.
Out of a desire to unite their creative, social and environmental passions, they decided to dive into the jewelry world together.
Yet, they didn’t start with Bario Neal right away. Instead, they began researching, attending conferences, and exploring deep questions about the origins of the materials that jewelry is made from, and the people and places that those materials passed through.
They saw how conventional metal and gemstone mining had caused great damage to miners and their communities — and wanted to change that.
From there, they put pencil to paper and started their usual creative process — one that’s intentional, honest and can’t be rushed. The result? Bario Neal, a women-owned jewelry company rooted in ethical, sustainable values.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
While we were drawn to the imaginative possibilities of jewelry, we were disillusioned by industry standards that turned a blind eye to the harmful, widespread effects of mining. So, before we launched, we committed to doing things better — for the earth, the people and communities within the supply chain, our customers, and in turn, our business.
Today, we’re proud to be an industry leader in ethical sourcing and mindful production.
Our jewelry reflects individualism, gender and marriage equality, and conscious values rooted in ethical origin from mine to market.
You are successful business leaders. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?
Thoughtfulness — Throughout our business, in every detail. For example, we take such care in our design process to ensure that we are building ethically sourced jewelry that will last. We ask a lot of questions to ensure that our work is not generic, such as, “Is this the right prong setting for this very specific ring?” or “How can we make this so that it does not look like all the other jewelry out there?” We dissect shapes and proportions. We don’t let anything escape attention.
Transparency — We work hard to be what we present ourselves to be and we come to everything we do with strong intentions. We search for sources of gemstones that benefit miners and their communities. We created a sustainability report to measure the impacts of materials and processes we use to make our jewelry at home in Philadelphia, at our spaces in New York and Vermont, and internationally. We hold ourselves accountable so that we may continuously improve and create new sustainable standards within the jewelry industry, while recognizing that responsible or sustainable practices will always be a work in progress and it’s not something to be ‘achieved.’ Really we want to have the greatest possible positive impact and the smallest possible negative impact, and make something beautiful along the way.
Curiosity — Before starting Bario Neal together, we were both designing and making jewelry and running into questions of material origin. We work so closely with our materials, and realized early on that jewelry carries so much significance. We began to ask ourselves ‘How do we create symbolic objects without knowing our materials’ origin and history?’ We believe that the maker imparts the value of their making, and the wearer attaches their own significance when wearing the jewelry as an amulet, a marker, for remembrance, or just for joy. Asking those questions and staying curious has allowed us to stand out.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. The premise of this series assumes that our society still feels uncomfortable with strong women. Why do you think this is so?
It’s all about what your eye is trained to see.
For us, our eyes get so trained to look at jewelry in specific ways when you’re doing it every day. If we weren’t open to change and constantly trying to evolve our designs, who knows where our company would be today.
It’s the same for women — the world is not always accustomed to strong women in work, love or life.
“I’ve learned so much from our partnership,” says Anna. “As co-leaders who started very young, we’ve grown into our strength together, and we’re able to talk about our challenges as we adjust to being women in leadership.”
As a society we are still working to shed the generations of false assumptions about women and power. But as more women take positions of power, as the world opens up their collective consciousness to new possibilities, diverse lifestyles, and greater respect for individualism, we believe that the paradigm will shift.
Can you share a story from your own experience that illustrates this idea?
Often people are just scared of breaking the rules, so when going against norms, there will always be people who have differing opinions or comfort levels. But in order to pave the way for the women after us, we need to be those rulebreakers.
When we were new to jewelry, we had a fresh design perspective and freedom about us. We were coming from a more artistic and less technical background, so we didn’t have preconceived ideas about how to do things. Instead of shying away from doing things differently, that rulebreaking has become something of a theme for Bario Neal. We even wrote a blog titled, “12 Reasons We Love Breaking the Old “Rules’ About Wedding Rings.”
Back then, and continuing today, we love to make unrealistic plans. We’ve always had ideas larger than the framework of a small design label — regardless of what the industry might dictate as the norm.
What should a powerful woman do in a context where she feels that people are uneasy around her?
As women we’ve been acculturated to contort ourselves to make other people comfortable, and we have to unlearn that. Stay true to your authenticity. We create pieces that celebrate and reflect every identity and experience. To symbolize that there is always a perfect fit for you — just the way you are, just the way you envision yourself to become. Whether that fit is jewelry, a partner, a job, it does not matter. Your most authentic self will always be in style.
What do we need to do as a society to change the unease around powerful women?
We need to continue advocating for change. Great strides and historical moments will be made, but there will always be more work to do.
You can see this in the right for every person to love who they choose — something we have stood for from the start despite working in an industry that perpetuates heteronormative ideals. Looking back on the changes in the last 10 years, one of the most exciting moments was when same sex marriage was legalized in the U.S. Yet there is still such a great need to expand our consciousness for an overall more inclusive, open, and non-gendered industry.
As more women honor their power, monumental stories will be created. But these moments are just one part of a greater narrative. A story that together, we can rewrite time and time again until fully embraced.
In my own experience, I have observed that often women have to endure ridiculous or uncomfortable situations to achieve success that men don’t have to endure. Do you have a story like this from your own experience? Can you share it with us?
“Like most women in the world, I experienced quite a bit of sexism early on in my education and career. It motivated me to do my own thing and chase after the independence of working for myself, rather than a boss telling me what to do.
We still experience a fair amount of sexism as women business owners, but if you use it as fuel, then you will achieve that success no matter what others might say or how they might treat you. You will show the world who you are and how you deserve to be treated.” — Page
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women leaders that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Women leaders still have to deal with a lot of stereotypes around gender roles. Women often do so much more than is typically acknowledged in our culture. Even if they wholeheartedly enjoy their work in business alongside their work as a mother, caretaker or homemaker, they have to face a lot more criticism in trying to juggle it all.
For example, sometimes as working moms we’ll struggle with responding to emails on our iPhones while at the playground. It can make us feel badly if we look at it one way — that we’re not being present mothers as many on the outside might think… or we can look at it a different way: That we have built our own business that allows us to work remotely and on the playground with our kids during the middle of the day. That we are providing for our children and their future.
Every woman should be able to decide where and in what areas of their life they want to be a leader — and how they want to do it. Whether that’s at home, at the office, or both.
Let’s now shift our discussion to a slightly different direction. This is a question that nearly everyone with a job has to contend with. Was it difficult to fit your personal and family life into your business and career? For the benefit of our readers, can you articulate precisely what the struggle was?
“Finding the balance between business and career is a common struggle in our culture, but if we look elsewhere, we can see that it doesn’t always have to be. We can prioritize things outside of the office. It’s not a new observation that our culture is so oriented toward work. So I love going to parties in other countries and talking to people for hours without ever learning what they do for work. Here, it’s essentially the second thing you learn about someone after their name. In my twenties, ambition combined with the demands of a growing company made me fall into that, with work being pretty central to my life. But having children reoriented me and reminded me of those conversations, where your life can be the center of your life and that’s it. So I’ve enjoyed that adjustment. It can make work more difficult, but it definitely makes life more interesting.” — Anna
“Similar to Anna, before kids, I was much more of a workaholic. Now, I try to strike a balance where I feel devoted and confident in my job, but also remember my primary responsibility as parent. I’m home with the kids if they are sick. I keep my cell phone on me all day in case my kids school calls. The kids always win. Everyone has to decide what their primary responsibilities are and find that balance for themselves. But these things can also shift over time, and that’s ok. ” — Page
What was a tipping point that helped you achieve a greater balance or greater equilibrium between your work life and personal life? What did you do to reach this equilibrium?
“Finding perspective. Perspective is everything. It’s definitely difficult having less time for work, though I love the moment when I leave to pick up my kids. Motherhood is so all-encompassing when I’m with them. I try to let everything else disappear in that time. And becoming a parent has taught me to work faster in the time that I do have.” — Anna
“Finding childcare! Lol… and deciding to be more thoughtful with my ambition and intention. I ask myself more frequently now, ‘What’s the long-term goal of this?’ so that I can focus on what matters, spend my time wisely, and not be overwhelmed when I go home to my kids because I know I covered the single top priority for that day.” — Page
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Powerful Woman?”
- Be confident in what you want.
- Find your powerful woman partner to have by your side — in friendship, business or both.
- Keep perspective while being adaptable. Business realities will shift, consumer trends will change, but if you stay focused on your goal and true to who you are, you’ll be able to ride the highs and lows.
- Create a strong culture.
- Don’t be afraid to dream big and do things differently.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with?
Abby Wambach, Adrienne Marie Brown, and Jamie C. Beard
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
