Twin sisters continue to battle cancer by making jewelry

By Craig Schneider

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The twin sisters started stringing necklaces as an easy hobby while coping with their individual battles with breast cancer.

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Craig Schneider, cschneider@ajc.com Joan Shuler (above), of Marietta, and her sister Jan McMullen, of Kennesaw, have each beaten cancer twice and have a successful jewelry business.

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The sisters -- Joan Shuler of Marietta and Jan McMullen of Kennesaw -- grew their pastime into a living-room business that served 35 shops from New Orleans to Hilton Head to stores on the Marietta Square.

When they were featured in a front-page story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in November of 2006 -- replete with photos of their folding tables overflowing with bangles, baubles and beads -- they were preparing to elevate to the next level.

Well, they did. The sisters went on to triple the number of stores they served. They reveled when "Good Morning America" host Robin Roberts sent them an e-mail praising some jewelry they sent her. They were blown away when their work was chosen for the shop of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Throughout, cancer has remained a concern in their lives, as it does for every person who survives it. Both sisters had contracted cancer twice, and both beat back the disease. Their older sister, Linda Brown of Marietta, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

These days, the sisters still enjoy stringing together pearls, beads and semi-precious jewels. Indeed, they enjoy it more since they scaled back their aspirations, Shuler said.

Back in 2006, the sisters invested $15,000 to create a series of sample kits, and they hired a traveling sales rep company to market their creations across the country. They ran a website called www.twincreation.info. Sales grew in a few years to include about 110 stores. Their brightly colored necklaces and bracelets sold particularly well in resort gift shops, where people said the strings of shells, pearls and polished stones reminded them of their vacations in those beautiful places.

But their jewelry also found a home in art shops and specialty boutiques, where people appreciated the creative designs. Their store displays often included information about their struggles against breast cancer and that 10 percent of their proceeds went to find a cure.

Last year, they sent some designs to Roberts of the ABC morning show, who has chronicled her own battle with breast cancer.

Roberts sent back an e-mail saying, "Your designs are spectacular, and you two are an inspiration."

The two sisters have always shared. They had cut out paper dolls together as children, joined Tri Delta sorority at the University of Georgia, carried the same major of home economics, and planned a double ceremony when they married in 1985.

Breast cancer has long been a scourge of their family, snaking its way through generations. Their mother fought it. Their Aunt Evelyn fought it. Their cousin Karen fought it. They call it a family curse, and they view their jewelry business as a way to turn a curse into a blessing. Shuler, the eldest by six minutes, is the creative force, McMullen the business brain.

Over time, the two tired of the harried work required to keep up their business. The profits weren't big enough to make it work, and the overhead -- as much as $6,000 to enter some shows -- was too much.

Even though they hired a firm to re-create their most popular pieces, the pair made sure to do the finishing touches themselves to ensure quality. They also did the billing and shipping. They started to feel like an assembly line doing mass production.

So about two years ago they decided to keep things simple and local. They stopped the mass production and focused on working with local stores and creating artistic, often one-of-a-kind pieces again. They still have the website.

Susie Mauldin, owner of the Limelight gift boutique in Marietta, said she likes to carry the sisters' jewelry because it is trendy and linked to a good cause. "We call that a purchase with a purpose," she said.

She likes the way the sisters work with customers to create just what they want in a piece of jewelry.

"It's not just that they make great jewelry. It goes beyond that," Mauldin said. "They are excited about life."