Member Since March 2013
About
Vanessa Nornberg got her start in accessories at the tender age of 11, by amassing the most notorious collection of chandelier earrings in the whole 5th grade. At age 18, her love of fashion drew her to New York City, where she received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from New York University in Romance Languages and European Studies. While living abroad in France, Vanessa worked in communications and business development. She returned to the United States and to her roots in the jewelry world, and in 2004, opened Metal Mafia, a wholesale body piercing and costume jewelry company. Now one of the top body jewelry suppliers in the US tattoo and piercing industry, Metal Mafia sells to 5000+ independent specialty shops and large retail chains in 23 different countries. Vanessa believes the company’ s incredible growth stems from its commitment to doing business in an ethically and morally correct manner. Metal Mafia was named to the Inc 500 list of America’ s fastest growing privately owned companies in 2009. Vanessa is often asked to speak to high school and college students from across the country about her experience as an entrepreneur and loves helping to spread to the word that everyone is capable of writing their own dream job description.
Vanessa Nornberg
Published content
expert panel
Feb 2, 2024
Organizational success relies heavily on a supervisor's ability to manage their team. When led properly, a well-managed team works cohesively to reach company goals, navigate challenges and explore new opportunities for growth. To help leaders looking to create cohesion and productivity within their own teams, 13 Young Entrepreneur Council members dive into the most potent methods for managing high-performing teams. From servant leadership to delegation, these effective strategies are instrumental in empowering teams and driving organizational success.
expert panel
While not every day will be perfect in terms of motivation, if you discover your employees generally aren’t finding fulfillment or satisfaction in their work, it’s paramount you find a solution and help get them back to feeling their best as soon as possible. If you don’t, you risk your employees becoming burned out and unhappy, which could lead to them leaving your company in search of something more exciting. To prevent your staff from reaching that point, you’ll need to take a few key actions both before and after you notice a problem. According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, taking the following seven steps could ensure employee morale stays high and your staff feel both motivated and fulfilled on a regular basis.
expert panel
The holidays is a special time of year which often reminds everyone to feel thankful for what they have and for what others do for them. This is even true in the workplace, where employers, managers and colleagues alike share their gratitude for their teams and peers and all the hard work they put in each and every day. However, gratitude doesn’t have to be reserved for a particular time of year. In fact, in order to keep morale high and relationships strong, professionals may find it beneficial to show their gratitude all year long. To help you find ways to do so, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the steps professionals can take to be thankful each day, no matter the time, and why it’s so important to do so.
expert panel
In an effort to be unique, informative and persuasive, many businesses can end up with overly complicated and wordy websites that may be doing more to push customers away than pull them in. When it comes to building an effective website, often simplifying its content and design is the most effective approach, giving visitors the space they need to find the answers to their problems. But when you’re trying to ensure visitors have all the information they need to determine your product or service is the best solution for them, you may not know where to start reining it in. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each offer one piece of advice they'd give well-intentioned business owners for simplifying their websites and why these tips are so effective.
expert panel
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on what it takes to stay happy as a business owner. Owning a business can be a trying journey. If you’re in it for the long haul, you may find your passion or motivation — or maybe both — waning over time. With the stress of running and scaling the business, plus dedicating the time necessary to develop your skills as an employer and industry leader, you can too easily let your own happiness and fulfillment take a back seat to the success of the company. As business leaders themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand the stressors of entrepreneurship, but they also know what it takes to thrive despite them. Below, they share some of the secrets to staying happy and fulfilled as an entrepreneur and why doing so is important.
Company details
Metal Mafia
Company bio
Ethics matters--in life and in business. Metal Mafia trades on that principle. In the era of cutthroat and carelessness, we choose commitment and accountability. No excuses. No slack. No margin for error. Metal Mafia is the result of three people’s dedication to doing it right every time, in a world where things being done wrong has become the norm. We make jewelry, but our company also makes a home for both the people who work here and the people we serve. Our style is as persuasive as our honesty. Our quality is as irreproachable as our integrity. Our designs are as righteous as we are.