Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Ricketts.
Hi Angela, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My childhood consisted of going to regular art shows with my family to sell stoneware pottery. My father was a potter and introduced me to what would be my first business as a five year old making and selling worry stones. These were small lumps of clay, with a thumbprint in each of them. I didn’t realize at the time that years later as an adult, these simple stones would be having worldwide impact.
Ten years ago at the age of five years old my son received a diagnosis of having a progressive retinal eye disease that leads to blindness. This would be the same eye disease that caused my grandfather to go blind. Through the efforts of genetic testing it is called Choroideremia. We learned it was rare and that much needed funding would be crucial to finding a cure in his lifetime.
That same year the idea came to me one day that I could make a worry stone again only this time placing a hole in it, to raise awareness about vision loss, and hoping to raise money for research. My dad and I were excited about the idea and hopeful but due to his health issues we never had a chance to make them together. I lost my dad two years ago and it was lost I had felt since my sons diagnosis.
A year after his passing I set out to make the stones, following this dream we shared together. Today Sight Stones carries the message to all to Never Lose Sight. That it doesn’t take vision loss to lose sight of what matter most but that everyday we can choose what to focus on. What started out as a fight for my sons vision, has restored my own in the way I view challenges today. Somtimes we cannot change the things around us but can change our perpective of how we view them. Sight Stones connects people with stories of perseverence, and reminds us that we never have to do it alone, but together. You can carry one in your pocket or wear it on a necklace to remind yourself and others that despite all the challenges we experience to Never Lose Sight of how important our vision is in this world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Receiving my sons diagnosis was the first time I experienced real grief. I was scared for my son, the future, and was fearful of the fact the doctors told me that I would slowly watch my son lose his vision over time. I will forever remember that day, It changed me in a way that i cant fully describe, but I knew I couldn’t change it, and over time have found some acceptance. That acceptance has not kept me from dreaming of the research that is needed and the cure that could happen in my son’s lifetime. Not necessarily to regain vision but to stop the disease in its tracks to prevent future loss.
The struggle has been real. I have attended conferences, where men come that are legally blind, that also follow the research and assure me that it will be in my sons lifetime. They have continued to support the research and fight for the cures that may not impact their vision but one that would prevent this struggle for future children diagnosed.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have been on the the enterpreneur path, having another business here in St. Louis for 18 years Better Life Home. It is a residential cleaning company. We focus on creating a postive work culture which is carried forward into the homes that we serve. Better Life has been the foundation for learning and really understanding business. I am thankful for everyone that is part of the team because it has allowed me this past year to focus solely on the Sight Stones, forming non-profit, where 100 percent of the proceeds go back to research for blinding eye diseases.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I actually LOVE cleaning and organizing other houses despite my own! But really I love having visions, creating businesses, and all the work that happens in a start up. The funny thing is I don’t have an art background, but these days I really feel my dad guiding me through this process of the Sight Stones. Things that have never interested me, I am drawn too, and I could spend all day in the studio, which is were I would finds my father growing up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sightstones.org
- Instagram: thesightstones
