The Big Ask: Behind Our Yearly Co. Shoot with Ben Christensen

The Big Ask: Behind our Yearly Co. Shoot with Ben Christensen

When I first saw Ben Christensen’s viral video of his daughter’s dance team, I felt it immediately— that magnetic pull of authenticity. These young girls were fierce and confident, dancing in a style so unique it stopped me mid-scroll. It reminded me of the beauty and power of watching my nieces charging their horses powerfully around a barrel. I had one of those wild thoughts: What if we could work with him?

Here’s what I’ve learned building Yearly Co.— the distance between a wild idea and reality is often just one ask. So I reached out to Ben’s team that day, fully expecting to hear nothing back. I figured with his viral video and talent he would be booked out for months, if not years, and too “big” for a small brand like mine. But when his management team called me back, the excitement was palpable from the first moment. What struck me most was how deeply Ben and his team valued telling authentic stories—especially women’s stories. This wasn’t about celebrity or follower count. It was about connection.

The Brand Lesson: Just Ask

I’ve built Yearly Co. largely through organic marketing, and the foundation of that approach is simple: I don’t wait for permission. I don’t spend weeks wondering should I reach out? Are we big enough? I just do it. I message the influencer, pitch the collaboration, make the big ask.

Too often, people have brilliant ideas but immediately talk themselves out of pursuing them.

They assume someone is too busy, too successful, or too expensive. They prematurely reject themselves. But here’s the truth: the worst thing that happens is someone says no. The best thing? You create something extraordinary. This fearlessness has opened doors I never imagined. And this shoot with Ben—it proved once again that the right people respond to authentic passion and a good story.

Why This Matters: Family Is Our Brand

While many jewelry brands promote letting “your jewelry tell a story,” Yearly Co. was truly born from story. The tradition started with my grandmother who received a gold bangle from my grandfather each anniversary.

Slowly, year by year, she built a visual legacy on her wrist—a stack that jingled softly as she cooked, turned the pages of bedtime stories, and wrapped her arms around her children.

She died when my dad was 22 years old of breast cancer. Those bangles became tangible memories for her five children, something they could hold and wear and pass on. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year at 37, the weight of that legacy hit me differently. These aren’t just beautiful objects—they’re reminders of the strong women who came before me and all the women in generations to come.

That soft jingle of a mother’s bangles becomes ingrained in memory. It’s the soundtrack to how she cared for her family.

Just like a grandmother’s signature scent or a recipe made every year, these details aren’t about how a woman looked—they represent how she showed up in the world. Her confidence. Her individuality. Her love.

The Power of Real Stories in Today’s Market

When I imagined this shoot, I imagined it with my sister Mary Heffernan in mind. She and her husband Brian run Five Marys Farm—a working cattle ranch with their four daughters who rope, ride, and run the operation alongside their parents. These women are rugged, hardworking, and inspiring. They don’t pose in jewelry, they wear jewelry while mending fences and tagging calves in the fields of their ranch.

Today’s consumers crave authenticity. They’re drawn to heritage, tradition, and family—not in a nostalgic, sepia-toned way, but in a visceral, honest way.

They want to buy from brands rooted in something real, something that connects them to values and legacy. When Ben and I walked the ranch property that first day, scouting locations in the Can-am, I watched him frame shots with his hands—the weathered barn, the baby pigs, the chipped green paint on fence posts. He kept talking about how the gold would pop against dried grass and blue sky, how dirt would only make the jewelry shine brighter. He understood instinctively what we were after: beauty because of the realness, not in spite of it.

What We Captured: Rugged Yet Delicate

Call time was 5:45am. We needed to catch the golden hour and the morning chores—the real rhythm of ranch life.

As fog lifted over the pasture and sunlight flooded the valley, Ben directed my nieces and sister with precision: tipping hats to just the right angle, cuffing coat sleeves, capturing hands stacked with gold bangles as they worked. He snapped shot after shot while his crew panned behind him, capturing the beauty in motion.

There was a moment when it all came together—the creativity, the setting, the people, the product. That feeling when everyone is operating in their genius and the energy just flows. I stood there thinking, This is part of my job. I was overwhelmed with pride for what my sister’s family has built, for what I’ve built, and for getting to do this work together.

And the juxtaposition so beautifully captured in the images—rugged yet delicate, tough yet beautiful, dirt and gold—is a visual metaphor for everything Yearly Co. stands for.

Our jewelry is made for women who work hard, who show up fully in their lives, who want something beautiful that can withstand everything they throw at it.

The Takeaway

If you’re sitting on a big idea—the collaboration that feels just out of reach, the project that seems too ambitious—I’m telling you: make the ask.

Reach out. The people who are meant to work with you will feel it too. And when you’re building a brand, remember that your story is your greatest asset. Not a manufactured story, but the real one—the one rooted in your family, your history, your truth. That authenticity is what people are hungry for. It’s what makes them stop scrolling. It’s what makes them remember you.

What Ben captured is more than a brand shoot—it’s a love letter to the women in my family, to the tradition that started with my grandmother’s first bangle, and to every woman who will add to her own stack and create her own legacy.

So what’s the big ask you’ve been putting off? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

Photography and videography by Ben Christensen. Shot on location at Five Marys Farm. Styling by Carson Love, with pieces from Buck Mason, Stetson, Tecovas, and Carhartt.

A Great Skincare Sale

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