I lived for the summertime tides! At age 11, a five-and-a-half foot wooden dingy, just a scant bigger than I, took me to a little island I called Shell Chip. There, my summertime friends lay waiting for me, glittering and sparkling in the sunshine. Only at low tide could I collect my treasures. The shells were like little pearls and the sea glass like precious gems. There were never two alike! The hours passed like minutes, and before I knew it my playground was being lost to the rising tide and I would have to say goodbye to my friends for another day."

"Back to my little boat, with my treasures in hand, I would row toward home. I couldn't wait to inspect the sun-drenched treasures that were now exclusively mine. There were only 90 tomorrows during my summer vacation, and as I looked towards the winter months I remember being happy, anticipating the endless hours filled with stories I'd make up for each shell and piece of sea glass I'd strung. This is how it all began...this is how my Sea Strands continue. Like a shell found on shores all over the world, each woman is exclusively their own."

Extraordinarily and intricately defined, Francesca's journey through life shines in her exclusively handcrafted jewelry.

Francesca exudes a sense of self she says she fought hard to achieve, but her love for life inspired courage to overcome the obstacles ahead and follow her dreams. Her life reflected the power of love when times turned harsh. "The rogue wave is not the issue," she says, "it's how you right yourself." In fact, islands and oceans have been Francesca's environment since she grew up - spending summers on 68 acres 15 miles off the New England coast. The seashore became her playground. Rowboats and shell necklaces, fingers painting on lobster buoys, picking berries and making jam helped shape a very creative Francesca.

As a young chef she learned that "spice wasn't used just for food, but that in language, style, and passion it was equally as important." As a young yacht captain in the Caribbean she was enveloped by the sea's pulse - an entity of motion - always moving and ever changing. This was what shaped her years ahead. Francesca eventually took her years of yachting and cooking ashore and became a food enthusiast - designing and launching several restaurants, including her own Café in Camden, Maine. Inevitably the tides changed, and Francesca headed west to further pepper her portfolio in the warmth of the California sun.

Francesca believes that a woman's beauty is an innate strength. It is a gift at birth, she says, that requires recognition and honor each day just as the sun's radiance spotlights the beauty of Mother Earth.

"Like a shell found on shores all over the world," she adds with certainty, "each woman is one of a kind."