Pictures: Prodeuce
When Devon Eastwood was seven years old, a medical specialist told her mother she had either dyslexia or low intelligence.
“It must have been so upsetting for my mother to hear them basically say I was stupid,” says Devon, now 28. “You’d never be able to get away with saying that today.”
The Waikato jewellery designer was subsequently diagnosed with dyslexia, a condition that involves difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters and symbols.
“Finally having a name for what was wrong with me was huge because I knew I wasn’t stupid!” she says.
Devon admits the signs of dyslexia, which affects 780 million people globally, were there early.
“As a child, every night Dad would try to get me to read a few pages of a book. It would always end in tears,” she recalls. “The fact that I didn’t know the words frustrated me so much. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Because her condition wasn’t severe enough to have the assistance of a reader/writer at school, the mother of one struggled through lessons.
“My parents weren’t wealthy but they put everything into helping me, getting me extra tutoring, even though I often cried and didn’t want to attend!”
She endured her fair share of bullies, including a girl at school who once told her that she “couldn’t blame dyslexia for being dumb!”
“Even a decade later that comment hurts,” she admits. “I hid it at the time and often joked about my dyslexia as a coping mechanism, using humour to navigate the challenges it brought.”
Devon’s saving grace was sport and she went on to play netball for North Harbour, North Shore and a Māori representative team.
“If I couldn’t be clever at school, then I figured I could be good at netball!” she shares. “I had height on my side and although I didn’t have much confidence in class, netball really helped me build my self-belief and made me feel like I was good at something.”
The ultimate dream was to get into the Silver Ferns squad, but a devastating injury and a couple of knee surgeries signalled an end to Devon’s playing career.
“I knew I’d never play as well or want to take risks because I was afraid of hurting myself.”
Although Devon passed her final NCEA exams, she left school and got a job in a magazine’s mail room. But within three months, she was promoted to managing circulations.
“I’m a visual learner. I learnt how to deal with spreadsheets and complex information by watching others doing it first.”
After a two-year stint in London, where she worked in bars, Devon landed a job as an assistant buyer at Mitre 10’s head office in Auckland. That role changed her life.
“For three years, I learnt everything there was about buying and selling, dealing with manufacturers and profit margins. I never planned to start my own business, but what I learnt was invaluable.”
Devon had long loved jewellery and decided to teach herself how to make earrings. She spent many late nights researching and talking to manufacturers in India, China and Bali. She didn’t let dyslexia get in the way of negotiating contracts and deals with a supplier in China.
In 2018, Devon launched Silver Linings Collective, which she juggled with her day job for a few years. Success came early when a friend who worked for A&C Homestore was spotted wearing a pair of her earrings.
“Their buyer reached out to ask if they could stock our earrings. That opened doors to another retailer, Flo & Frankie,” she says. “Six years after starting the business, 18 stores around New Zealand stock our designs and we’re now moving into Australia.”
In 2019, Devon met her partner Campbell Witheford, a diesel mechanic. Shortly after, they moved from Auckland to a lifestyle block in the Waikato.
“I love living here,” she reveals. “I feel like I can breathe again after so long in the city. Being in the country also makes me far more creative.”
The self-taught designer creates her sterling silver and gold earrings, plus necklaces from a home office. She works around the couple’s two-year-old daughter Beau. Devon’s expecting her second child in January.
While every day still presents challenges related to dyslexia, Devon says she’s never wanted to pull the plug on her thriving business.
“I’ve had to learn how to ask for help. But the key for me has been to surround myself with people who encourage me,” she says. “As clichéd as the saying ‘anything is possible’ is, if you find something that you’re passionate about and put your mind to it, you won’t fail!”
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