Entrepreneur Profile: Lili Daliessio of Lili Daliessio Designs, LLC

Lili Daliessio, creator of Lili Daliessio Designs, LLC, describes herself as “a true believer of my dreams who wants to show that every woman is unique,” and her life and business stories certainly confirm her words. Born in Colombia, Lili and her daughter Susy moved to the U.S. in 2003, knowing very little English. She married her husband Brian and began working but didn’t want to end up like others she met who had lived in the country for decades without become fluent in English. “One of my goals when I came here was to be able to read, speak, and write English, so I studied English as a Second Language at Delaware County Community College.”

Although she was learning a new language and culture, Lili decided not to leave her native culture behind. “I brought jewelry, handbags, jeans, art, and other traditional and cultural things from Colombia to sell to my friends, family, and a few stores in Delaware County.”

And despite having great interest in fashion design as a young girl, and growing up designing her own clothes, it wasn’t until 2005, when a customer asked Lili to design a necklace for her wedding anniversary that she transitioned into being the designer behind her pieces. “That was the first time I designed a piece of jewelry. I used to design dresses in Colombia and I would sew headbands for my daughter because I wanted her to have something made by me, but the jewelry really brought out my creativity in a new way.”

Lili found that customers loved her designs so she created two jewelry lines: a high fashion jewelry line, using Swarovski crystal, fresh and cultured pearls, semi-precious stones, murano, sterling silver, silver plated, and more, and a second, organic jewelry line, using materials such as leather, coconut, shells, horn, wood, and imported Colombian materials like coffee beans, tagua, bamboo, acai, tairona stones, cana flecha, and more.

Lili says she is inspired by her native country and by each woman who plays different roles in everyday life, and she certainly does just that as a mother and entrepreneur. In addition to her daughters Susy and Alanna, Lili also has her new son Dominic Anthony to keep her busy. “It’s very hard to be both a mother and an entrepreneur. In my country I had help from my mom, aunt, cousin, nanny. Here, you only have yourself. It’s hard to be a mother and be able to make my business into what I want it to be. But I work harder because I want to raise my baby and not miss any of his life.” When she took Dominic to the park for the first time, Lili says she saw his joyful reaction and thought, “I don’t want to miss any of this.” She hopes that business success will allow her to have more time with all her children.

And her business certainly shows signs of growing success. In 2009, Lili’s designs were noticed by Walmart. “I learned from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that Walmart was seeking jewelry designed by minorities for their stores, and so I went to an event they had, just to learn what Walmart was looking for. I brought my eco-friendly jewelry and was confident and showed them who I am and what I am doing, and they were so in love with my jewelry!”

But the process of creating enough products for Walmart to sell takes time to complete. “When they picked us, my business wasn’t ready yet. There are lots of certifications you have to have and insurance. And you have to be able to pay to manufacture your merchandise. It is taking time for me to prepare my business for the Walmart project.”

Lili’s business goals changed to include both growing on a small scale, and also getting her business Walmart-ready. “My focus now is trying to prepare my business for the Walmart opportunity and to establish it as a brand.” But throughout her business’ development, her desire has remained the same, “I want people to be able to see Colombia in a new way—in the positive way I see it.”