PODCAST. Small Business Success with ADHD with Brooklyn Charm’s Tracie Campbell
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Brooklyn Charm: Entrepreneurship with ADHD and the Art of Handmade Jewelry
What happens when ADHD hyperfocus meets raw creativity and fearless entrepreneurship? For Tracie Campbell, founder of the beloved jewelry brand Brooklyn Charm, it meant turning a teenage hobby into a thriving business with loyal customers around the globe.
In this episode of ADHD Wise Squirrels, Tracie shares the remarkable journey from making jewelry at 15 to running a business that’s spanned Etsy, international markets, and brick-and-mortar locations in New York and California. Along the way, she’s been featured in and collaborated with major brands like the Broadway musical Chicago, Forbes, Urban Outfitters, Color Pop Cosmetics, and even Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty Rare Impact Benefit.
But behind the sparkle and success is a candid story of what it’s really like to build and sustain a small business with ADHD, the highs of hyperfocus and creativity, and the lows of anxiety, people-pleasing tendencies, and managing people.
From Etsy to Brick-and-Mortar Success
Brooklyn Charm’s story began in 2007, when Etsy was still in its infancy. Tracie’s unique wholesale jewelry supplies, hard to find anywhere else, sold out overnight. That unexpected success funded the leap from part-time creator to full-time entrepreneur. Within a few years, the business expanded to artisan markets and then to a permanent storefront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at the height of its “hipster era.”
The real game-changer? A custom charm bar that lets customers design one-of-a-kind pieces on the spot. What started as an experiment at the Brooklyn Flea became the signature experience that fueled Brooklyn Charm’s brick-and-mortar expansion.
The ADHD Advantage and the Challenges
Diagnosed with ADD (now ADHD) in the third grade, Tracie has spent her entire life aware of how her brain works. Hyperfocus became her superpower in the jewelry studio, while her ability to juggle multiple projects brought creative breakthroughs. But running a growing team brought new challenges, including managing up to sixteen staff members at once and balancing the constant demands of customers, vendors, and collaborators.
Tracie opens up about moments of intense anxiety, including a panic attack at the post office that led to her first hire, and the ongoing challenge of finding employees who thrive alongside her neurodivergent style. We also share how ADHD often pairs with anxiety and depression, and how therapy and the proper medication can help find stability.
People-Pleasing and the Cost of Caring
One of the most relatable parts of our conversation is Tracie’s honesty about being a people-pleaser, a trait that can be both a strength and a liability for entrepreneurs. We explore how ADHD, empathy, and even early life experiences can amplify the need to keep everyone happy, and how that can create unnecessary stress in leadership roles.
Tracie reflects on the importance of setting boundaries, learning to say no, and accepting that not everyone will like you even as you strive to create a kind, collaborative work environment.
A Charm That Captures ADHD
In a special moment during the episode, I ask Tracie to design a charm that represents ADHD. Her answer is pure artistry: a spiral within a bursting sun. The spiral reflects the cyclical nature of ADHD and the process of finding one’s center, while the sun captures the sense of constant movement, energy, and potential. It’s a symbol that blends beauty with meaning, much like her work at Brooklyn Charm. Now that’s a charm I would wear with pride, wouldn’t you?
Why You Should Listen
If you’ve ever wondered how neurodivergence shapes an entrepreneurial journey, or if you’re a creative with ADHD dreaming of starting your own business, this episode is packed with inspiration and real-world insight. We talk about:
How Brooklyn Charm went viral and attracted major brand collaborations
The reality of scaling a small business with ADHD
The unique advantages and challenges of ADHD hyperfocus in entrepreneurship
Balancing creativity with the demands of leadership and operations
How to turn a personal challenge into a source of connection with customers
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Tracie’s unfiltered take on creativity, business, and living with ADHD, plus her thoughts on why Nashville might be the next chapter in her entrepreneurial story.
