For more than twenty-five years, Krista Cavanaugh built a successful career as a recruiter helping other people find theirs. She loved the relationships, the conversations, and the opportunity to connect talented people with meaningful work. She was well known in the Minneapolis' technology community, building a reputation that opened doors for both candidates and employers.

Life had other plans. While raising three children, divorcing, and remarrying, Krista moved to Texas, leaving behind the professional network she had spent decades building. She joined PepsiCo and later Gartner, working with talented colleagues at these respected organizations. From the outside, her career looked enviable. Yet recruiting had become increasingly transactional. "I loved it because I loved the relationships," she said.

Her life outside work was difficult. Family challenges, her parents' declining health, and struggles within her marriage gradually took their toll. She sought help which she describes as life changing. She got the opportunity to begin rebuilding her life intentionally and to redirect her talent and values.

What She Pivoted From

When Krista left corporate recruiting, she wasn't simply walking away from a career. She was walking away from a way of living that no longer reflected who she wanted to be. She realized she'd been enduring rather than thriving. Success once measured by titles, steady employment, and doing what was expected no longer energized her.

During the time spent rebuilding her life intentionally, she made one promise. "If there isn't joy in my life," she said, "I'm out." That commitment became the lens through which every future decision would be made.

Transition Process

A conversation with a longtime friend unexpectedly changed everything. Her friend, a successful jeweler, mentioned that estate jewelry was the one part of her business she never had enough time to develop because it was so labor intensive.

Krista asked a simple question. "Could I develop that?" What began as curiosity quickly became fascination. While still working full time, she immersed herself in estate sales, gemstones, auctions, pawn shops, and learning the business one piece at a time. "I was like a kid in a candy store," she said.

Instead of feeling drained, she felt energized. She wasn't building a business; she was rediscovering herself. "I didn't have a strategic plan. I didn't have a business plan. I didn't do this to create a company," she said. "I did it to create joy."

Financial stability gave Krista the freedom to explore, something she readily acknowledges not everyone has. Coming from what she describes as a place of abundance rather than scarcity allowed curiosity to become commitment to a new joyful passion.

Current Direction

Today, Krista is founder of Spoleto Designs. As she immersed herself in estate jewelry, she recognized an overlooked problem. Jewelry is often one of the least documented assets in an estate. Families may know valuable pieces exist but have little understanding of their financial value, their history, or how the owner hoped they would be passed to future generations.

Krista has built an independent advisory practice focused on this overlooked area. Her role is helping private clients, estate attorneys, wealth advisors, trustees, and fiduciaries understand and make informed decisions about inherited and legacy jewelry before decisions are made about distribution, redesign, resale, or preservation. She's still doing what first drew her to recruiting: connecting people. Only now those connections are between generations, treasured possessions, and family legacy. She says, “one thing that felt important to me is that I didn’t really leave my life’s work behind. Whether I was recruiting, coaching, mediating, or now advising families about jewelry, I’ve always been helping people navigate meaningful decisions. The asset changed, but the work I love – listening, advising, and helping people move through important transitions – didn’t. That connection is why this pivot has been so fulfilling.”

The business continues to evolve. The business began as something she built because it brought her joy. Her daughter already works with her while studying economics in Ireland, and her son has expressed interest as well. As her children have become interested, it’s changed how she is thinking about the future. What started as a lifestyle business is becoming something she is intentionally building to be scalable and enduring. The possibility it could one day become a family enterprise has become part of the story too.

Advice for Others Searching for Joy

Her success criteria is finding joy. Krista is quick to say she doesn't have a playbook for finding joy. What she has are a few lessons she’s discovered along the way.

Trust your body. "Your body knows," she said. Long before our minds catch up, our bodies often tell us when we're energized, peaceful, or quietly depleted.

Intentionally discover what joy feels like. During her transition, Krista challenged herself to try something new every month. Yoga, jujitsu, shooting sports, and other experiences weren't just about becoming accomplished. They were about learning to recognize the feeling of joy in her own body. Some stayed. Others didn't. Every experience taught her something.

Be more analytical about fear. “Fear exists for a reason”, she says, but it's worth asking what it's actually protecting. Too often, fear keeps us attached to lives we've already outgrown,  convincing us they're the safer choice.

Trust the people who know you well. Friends, mentors, and trusted advisors often see possibilities we can't yet see ourselves. Their perspective can help us step outside our own narratives and imagine a different future.

Looking back, Krista doesn't describe her story as leaving recruiting for estate jewelry. The jewelry simply became the vehicle. The real pivot was choosing to let joy become her compass. Once she made that decision, the business, the purpose, and even the peace she had been searching followed.