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Key Takeaways Hudick began to explore her passion for design at a jewelry-making class in 2006.
She honed her craft over the years, and friends suggested she start to sell her pieces.
Now retired as an engineer, she’s focusing on the business and teaching workshops.
In 2024, Anna Hudick, then 58 years old, retired from a decades-long engineering career to go all-in on her hobby turned business: handmade jewelry line Inside My Locket.
Hudick, who lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia, always had a creative side, but when she was a young adult considering careers, having a comfortable income was top of mind.
With an aptitude for math, Hudick studied mechanical engineering in college, then launched her career. She was a certified lighting designer and focused on building systems — from designing homes to small-scale industrial commercial buildings.
However, Hudick’s interest in jewelry, which began at eight years old when she tagged along with her mother and a friend to gem and jewelry shows, never waned. In 2006, Hudick reignited the spark during Las Vegas Jewelry Week at a jewelry-making class.
“[The instructor] was beading jewelry with freshwater pearls and custom focal beads made of hand-blown glass,” Hudick tells Entrepreneur, “so that was my first design.”
The next year, Hudick took another class with the same instructor. Then she started taking classes in different mediums. More than a decade into her creative hobby, in 2018, Hudick had settled on her favorite design mode: traditional metalsmithing.
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