By Katie Bartel
Whether it be travelling to a new country or taking on a new career, Ashley Wrays gut has always led her in the right direction; just as it did last year on a 45-minute flight from Bali, Indonesia to Phuket, Thailand.
The 25-year-old co-owner of never imagined shed one day be importing and selling jewelry, not when her dreams were planted so deep in the journalism field.
But that was before she met Soma Temple, creator of Aum Rudraksha Designs.
The meeting took place during a trip that was initially supposed to take Wray and her fiancé, Matt Bateman, to New Zealand only.
They wound up travelling through England, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bali, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
On their flight to Thailand, Temple sat next to them, drawn to their beautiful aura and, perhaps, the fact that Bateman was wearing a Aum Rudraksha Designs bracelet that hed bought in Bali. Temple told them about her company, which promotes sustainability and fair trade, and about the history of rudraksha beads, which grow on trees in Southeast Asia and have been used in varying prayer and spiritual rituals for centuries.
By the end of the flight, Wray and Bateman were so taken by the beads, they shook hands with Temple and became the official Canadian importers of Aum Rudraksha Designs.
If you had asked us a year ago what we would be doing in a year, we never would have said wed be spending every waking hour outside of our 9-5 jobs working with jewelry, said Wray, a communications specialist at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, who has been employed by the Liverpool Free Press, Chilliwack Progress, Abbotsford News, Shaw TV and Star FM. Its just not something we ever would have imagined to be in our future.
Yet, theyre excelling.
Last month, Mala Imports attended the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Health and Wellness Show, and next week will be featured in April 11 at 7pm.
Theyve also developed a partnership with , a California-based fashion house that has been featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
La Isla is keen on taking Mala Imports to Miami Fashion Week in July, as well as showcasing the jewelry with its brand in several fashion magazine spreads. Mala Imports is also working on creating an exclusive line of jewelry for La Islas 2013 swim and beachwear line.
We dont plan it, said Wray. We let our instinct guide us.
Eco Fashion Week is April 10 to 12 at Robson Square. Tickets for runway shows are $20 plus fees; they are available online at TicketsTonight.ca. (EcoFashion-Week.com)
