By William Thornton
Alabama Media Group, Birmingham
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Ashley Morrow is the creator of “Alchemy Jewelry Spray.” This week she will get the opportunity to showcase her product on HSN. The spray creates an invisible barrier to keep jewelry from tarnishing, and turning your skin green. It also prevents itching and irritation and works with earrings, eyeglasses and clothing grommets.
Alabama Media Group, Birmingham
Ashley Morrow’s journey has taken her from the Shoals to Birmingham and back, and she’ll get a national audience this week to hear part of her story.
The Muscle Shoals entrepreneur is scheduled to appear twice on the Home Shopping Network this Wednesday with her product, Alchemy Jewelry Spray.
She is scheduled to demonstrate the water-based jewelry sealer twice — at 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. on HSN.
Morrow said she got the idea for the spray in the early 2000s. While she was living with her husband, Micah Colonna, in Trussville, they decided to go into business together to develop it.
“It creates an invisible barrier to keep jewelry from tarnishing, and turning your skin green,” she said. It prevents itching and irritation and works with earrings, eyeglasses and clothing grommets.
The spray was still in development on May 14, 2014, when Ashley said she awakened to a unusually quiet house. When she went in search of Micah, she found his body at the bottom of a stairwell. He had fallen in the night, injured his head, and died. He was 35.
“He was the one who came up with the name — Alchemy,” she said. “Nothing is ever quite the same after something like that. It’s weird that my life didn’t end because his did. It hangs over you all the time, some days more than others. Everything shifts, and you have to live in that shift.”
Morrow moved back home to reconnect with family and continued working on the product. She credits many people will helping her to overcome the emotional pain and loss and find a reset button for life.
“I was really lucky that so many people saw worth in me, worth in my product, and encouraged me to take one step at a time, one breath at a time, one day at a time, and move forward,” she said.
She also found a home for her company in the Shoals Entrepreneurial Center, a business incubator in Florence. In addition to fixed rent and utilities costs, she said the center has helped her with the networking necessary to launch and sustain her product.
“They actually care about innovation and job creation,” she said. “They take the time to introduce you to the people and link up with other entrepreneurs. That’s helps you get in there and grow your business.”
And now comes her closeup. Morrow said she never had any desire to be on television, though she does personal appearances to share her story and the story of her product. She spent part of Monday in training in St. Petersburg, Fla., for her television appearance, signing lots of paperwork, she said.
Morrow says she’s grateful for the support she’s received at home. A watch party is planned back in Florence for her afternoon appearance.
But the appeal of sharing her personal story is something she enjoys.
“One of the things that has helped my product and my business is that people can look at me and say, ‘If that girl can do it, I can too,'” she said. “It’s important for young girls to see someone who isn’t traditionally beautiful or skinny to go out there and do something.”
