Jackie Zeman Interview

Jackie Zeman: Well, I continue to design jewelry. I haven’t been on HSN for a while now. I was just talking to my jewelry manufacturer like a week ago. I said to him that I would like to start a new line of jewelry because I’ve had a few lines. I’ve done fashion, beaded jewelry, precious metals, gold over sterling silver and semi-precious gems but because of the economy and everything that’s going on in this country. Its been really hard for people so I stepped back from the jewelry. I could have stayed on but I was having a hard time going on and saying to people, ‘Watch me, buy my things. You’re gonna love this. You need this. You should buy this. You should have this.’ Because a lot of people just don’t have the money right now. So, for me to go and say, ‘Spend $40 or $50 on a piece of jewelry’ and then they can’t pay their water bill or have the money come out of some other place in their life so I took a step back because to me, jewelry is supposed to make you happy and cheerful and fun and you give it as a gift or for yourself to make you feel happy. I don’t want someone to spend $50 they shouldn’t have and then they get their Visa bill at the end of the month and say, ‘Wow, I shouldn’t have done that.’ I’d think this country’s economy is getting better. I don’t think we’re there yet, we still have a long ways to go. So, I was saying to my jewelry manufacturer that I’d like to start something. I told him I want to come up with something that’s affordable for people. I think right now, gold is like $1,500 an ounce. I don’t want to do solid gold because it’s too expensive for people. I figure if I can come up with some ideas for things that look really beautiful and I can find materials to make them high quality, that’s what I want to do.

Sari N. Kent: I’m so glad to hear you say that because I watch HSN and QVC from time to time and I see celebrities come on with their lines of jewelry or clothes and they can be expensive and yet they say, like you said, ‘Buy this. You need this. Your wardrobe won’t be complete without this.’ So, like you said, someone gets dazzled, they buy the item but when the bill comes, in order to pay it, they can’t pay their water bill or their electric bill. I really respect that you’re thinking of the average person who doesn’t have the luxury, like many celebrities do, to splurge and not worry about the everyday bills. I think your fans, when they read that you said that, will really appreciate that.

Jackie Zeman: Well, I want anyone who buys my jewelry to enjoy it not look at it and say, ‘Boy, I shouldn’t have bought this. I believe a good deal is a good deal for everybody.

Sari N. Kent: That’s true. Now, on a more serious subject, I read recently that you gave the eulogy at Shell Kepler’s, who played Amy Vining on GH, funeral in 2008. I was so upset to hear of her passing. I always thought she brought a ray of sunshine to every scene she was in. Was it overly difficult to deliver the eulogy given that you two were so close?

Jackie Zeman: Oh, gosh, it was. Shell was such a happy person. When I think of her, I think her alive and gorgeous with her great smile and those big eyes and that gorgeous blonde hair, funny and laughing and happy. We were very close friends. I could walk to her house from where I live. When my kids were little, she was designing clothes, doing lots of stuff for the home shopping channel and she would make things for my girls, Cassidy and Lacey. Beautiful outfits. They’d get so excited when we would go over her house. She never had any children of her own but she said to me, ‘I don’t need my own. I have yours.’ She was like the best aunt in the world. She had her little dogs and my girls loved her teeny tiny dogs. So, I had so much to say. We called it a celebration, a celebration of her life because we wanted people to come. We didn’t want a lot of people crying and feeling badly. We wanted everyone to remember the wonderful things about Shell, the highlights of her life, celebrating how much she loved people and kids. She had a beautiful home and she was always cooking. We’d come over and she was always, ‘Have this’ and ‘Try this.’ She’d never serve just one meal. Oh my gosh! It would be four or five things. That was how she took care of her friends. I miss her. I miss her a lot. And we say, ‘Hey, something’s not right here.’ But, she led a full life. She was a happy person. She was not a victim. She was a successful, smart, professional woman. She had a great husband, a beautiful home. If people would look at her life and say, ‘What do you really want?’ She had it! If you look at it like that, you have to celebrate because I believe her spirit lives on.