I Never Left. I Was Becoming.

If you've been following 12th Summer for a while, you may have noticed things got quiet around here.

No new pieces dropping every few weeks. No pop-up announcements. No behind-the-scenes content from the bench. Just...quiet.

I want to tell you what that quiet was about. Because it wasn't absence. It was the most intentional season of growth I've moved through in a long time. And everything that's coming next grew directly out of it.

Where it started

I launched 12th Summer with a simple idea — extend the warmth. Keep that summer energy alive through the pieces you wear, the intentions you carry, the way you move through your days. But something shifted early on, as it tends to when you follow your curiosity honestly.

I started researching the stones. The energies. The history of adornment across cultures. And somewhere in that research, around 2021,  I stumbled into something that would quietly change the direction of everything: the multiple dimensions of wellbeing.

Not just physical health. Not just mental health. But the full, interconnected spectrum of what it means for a human being to truly flourish. That discovery lit something in me that jewelry alone couldn't contain.

What the quiet was

In 2025 I made a deliberate choice to step back from the visible parts of 12th Summer so I could finish what I had started.

From January through May I completed a professional internship. From May through August I finished my final semester of graduate school (including my thesis!) On August 31st, 2025, I graduated with my Master of Science in Applied Psychology from the University of Southern California.

I also, somewhere in the middle of all of that, co-authored a book.

Resilience & Reinvention in a Chaotic World, written alongside my colleague and collaborator Dr. Tamika Sanders, is about navigating complexity, rediscovering yourself on the other side of disruption, and building the kind of inner resilience that doesn't depend on circumstances staying stable. Because they never do.

And after graduation I did something I don't do enough: I let myself adjust. I sat with what I had just accomplished. I asked myself what I actually wanted to build next. I gave myself time to answer honestly before I started moving again.

That time is complete. And what's coming is the fullest expression of everything 12th Summer has always been reaching toward.

The through-line you may have missed

Here's what I've come to understand looking back: 12th Summer was never just about jewelry.

It was always about wellbeing. About the ritual of adorning yourself with intention. About what it means to move through the world feeling resourced, grounded, and alive to your own story. The jewelry was the entry point...a tangible, wearable practice of that belief.

The psychology training deepened it. The book named it. The retreat we held, our first Sacred Adornment & Healing Retreat, which was one of the most beautiful experiences I've been part of, proved that when women gather in intentional space, something real and lasting happens.

Now I'm ready to offer more of that.

What's coming

The Sanctuary

A private half-day restoration experience held here in Carmichael. For women who need somewhere to land. To rest, think, breathe, or simply exist somewhere beautiful without performing for anyone. You can book your solo or group mini retreats here.

A word before you go

If you've been here since the early days, thank you for staying. If you're new here, welcome. You arrived at the right time.

12th Summer has always been intentionally made for your journey. That hasn't changed. What's expanded is my understanding of what that journey actually requires, and my capacity to support it.

The jewelry is still here. The sacred design sessions are still here. And now there's more.

I'm glad to be back in full.

With intention,

Chey

Founder, 12th Summer