Crossing 34th Street in the Garment District at 5 p.m. can be a challenge, what with the hundreds of thousands of people getting off of work, heading home or to grab a few drinks with friends.

Jocelyn Negron finds herself in this chaotic storm pretty often as she tries to navigate her way through the crowd to head to the fabric store.Initially, the amount of people living and working in New York City was mind-boggling for Negron and so was the subway. But she has managed to find her way around the metro, though the millions of people packed into the city still astounds her.

For most of us New York City remains only a thought, a fleeting notion, a simple dream.

Not for Jocelyn Negron, founder of the jewelry line, Nico Necklaces.

Negron turned that dream into reality when she packed her bags and moved to the Empire State in July of 2009.

The jewelry designer graduated from the University of Georgia in 2008 with a degree in digital media. She grew up in Snellville and later moved to Athens for school. But Negron grew tired of the small town feel a year after graduation.

“I just wasn’t learning anything anymore and that’s why I’m up here,” said Negron.

New York City has long been considered the center of arts, a hub of innovation. It’s where people go to make it as actors, designers, singers and models. For Negron, it seemed like a no-brainer to move up north.

“New York is the most creative, fast-paced city in the world, and it would make sense for a creative person like me to want to be there.”

And the Big Apple helped get Negron’s imagination running. A few months after her move, Negron started her line of jewelry, Nico Necklaces. Featuring rings and necklaces, Nico Necklaces is “more like an accessory that acts like jewelry.”

One ring, sold at the Brooklyn, N.Y. boutique, Honey & Hazel, is decorated with long ostrich feathers. Her necklaces, often made of spandex, are not for people who want to blend into the crowd. Colors range from hot pink to fluorescent yellow. There are others, like a white, double rope necklace, which are subtler, but still demand attention.

Despite their bold colors and patterns, Negron describes her pieces as simplistic.

“It’s a really simple accessory that will accent an outfit,” said Negron. “Simple is the key word. It’s for anyone who has a boring outfit, which we all have.”

Negron has always been the industrious type. Teaching herself how to sew, she used to make her own clothes and reinvent old ones. Now she’ s reinventing herself with her accessories line and with her daily life in New York.

Moving to New York can be a frightening thought for someone from a small city like

Athens, especially when you consider that Athens has a population of about 115,000. New York has about 8.4 million people.

Wrapping her head around that population difference was definitely a challenge.

“I think it was just the size. I think that was obviously one of the biggest things that was hard for me,” said Negron.

Even the small tasks, like grocery shopping and doing her laundry can be daily challenges for the young designer. There’s no Super Wal-Mart that she can just drive to just to grab some tomatoes.

“It’s true that things happen in a New York minute here, which means quickly,” said

Negron. “ It’s a very crowded city and if you think that going grocery shopping in the middle of a Thursday is a good idea, so does everyone else. It’s always crowded everywhere, and it’s weird if it’s not.”

Despite its fast pace and dense population, New York still offers hopes for Negron.

It promises anonymity and transformation.

“In New York, you have the chance to be anonymous. Everyday is a new day, and no one knows what you wore the day before, so there’s always a chance to reinvent yourself.”

Negron, along with designing Nico Necklaces, works at the Fashion Institute of Technology in the fabric lab of the fashion design department. Working with hundreds, sometimes thousands of different types of fabrics and seeing the different colors and patterns inspire Negron.

Although New York may be full of inspiration and has celebrities, major companies and big-name fashion designers, there’s one thing that the city is missing: Transmetropolitan.

“I miss being so close to my family, but I also miss Transmet pizza,” said Negron. “I used to work there for a long time.”

But New York has treated her well. And just because she has made a name for herself with Nico Necklaces, it doesn’t mean she’s done yet.

“I’m always designing things in my head. I’ll be working on clothing design soon,” Negron said.

Negron may have quickly and impulsively decided to move to the Big Apple, but with her creativity and drive, she is living the life that only others could dream of. But you don’t have to be scared of taking that leap.

To other aspiring designers out there, Negron offers this piece of advice: “Stay true to who you are, but be open minded. Learn. You have to step back a little and let people show you how to do things.”

Transitioning from small town to big city can be a daunting task for anyone, but Negron accepted the challenge and succeeded. She wasn’t afraid. She took that leap, embraced it and followed her dreams.

In essence, she became a source for her own inspiration.

“I’m inspired by anyone who isn’t afraid to go for what they really want to do and who isn’t afraid to fail.”

It’s safe to say that New York will only continue to inspire Negron, and we can keep an eye out for more of her simple, but bold designs.

And so, the Classic City and the Big Apple are forever linked.

Nico Necklaces products can be found at Agora in Athens and at Honey & Hazel in Brooklyn. They can also be bought online at niconecklaces.com Check out Nico Necklaces Facebook page for more photos.

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