Northwestern Alumni Transform Antique Jewelry Passion Into Thriving Full-Time Business

Three generations of jewelry knowledge converged on the Gulf Coast of Florida when Bogdanowicz, a Northwestern alumna, opened antique jewelry booths in Fort Myers and Naples alongside her daughter, Maggie Christensen (Weinberg '23, Kellogg '25), and husband, Anders Christensen. What began at college flea markets and trunk shows at Northwestern has since grown into a full-time family enterprise, with a third location planned for downtown Naples where customers will be able to rent jewelry for special occasions.

The business carries a lineage that predates any university affiliation. Bogdanowicz said her grandmother, a Polish immigrant who arrived in the United States during World War II, traded antique jewelry as a livelihood. That grandmother gifted Bogdanowicz pieces on special occasions and eventually opened her own antique jewelry store in Madison, Wisconsin. The granddaughter who received those gifts now holds a certificate from the Gemological Institute of America, having taken gem studies classes and sat for exams while on maternity leave.

That credential is not incidental. In a market where customers must trust they are paying for what a piece actually is, Bogdanowicz said certification matters: it proves one's ability to verify authentic pieces. She has also had to become conversant in permits, regulations, and corporate leases, the operational infrastructure that separates a passion project from a scalable business. "It's not without risk, and it's not without work," she said.

Anders Christensen offered the clearest-eyed account of what that risk looks like in practice. Florida's antique market runs on snowbird economics: the temporary residents who fill the state in cooler months and thin out when summer heat arrives. "You have to be able to live with the insecurity of not knowing if you've made the next sale or if it's big enough to cover all your expenses," he said. The planned jewelry rental service at the downtown Naples location may offer one avenue for smoothing that seasonal volatility, extending revenue beyond outright sales to customers seeking pieces for weddings and other occasions.

Maggie Christensen, who graduated from Northwestern's Weinberg College in 2023 and completed her Kellogg MBA in 2025, situated the business within a broader shift she observed on campus. She pointed to the growing popularity of Northwestern's entrepreneurship concentration and campus resources like The Garage as evidence of a generational change in how students translate creative interests into careers. "I think more and more people are realizing that you can turn your passions and interests into a business," she said.

For the Bogdanowicz family, that realization came with gemological credentials, a GIA certificate earned between feedings, and the unglamorous work of reading corporate leases in a state where the selling season ends when the snowbirds fly home.