South Hill Designs

South Hill Designs launched in 2012; its first website carried a "© 2012 South Hill Designs Inc." line. The 2013 site called the company the brainchild of Tamara Ochoa, a mother and homemaker who had her own success in the party plan world and wanted a better personalized jewelry concept. Later versions of the site named the founders as Brian Palmer and Joe Ochoa, two corporate executives and fathers of five girls between them, encouraged by their wives, Riley and Tamara.

The company said it became "an astonishing success within one year of launching." Its sellers, called Independent Artists, built replicated websites under the South Hill address, and by 2015 the store served the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, with Mexico added by 2016. The 2015 site listed a home office in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the 2016 site listed one in Phoenix.

“South Hill was shaped to give women entrepreneurs a chance to shine while embracing their love of living.”

Joe Ochoa, co-founder — "Our Story," South Hill Designs website (southhilldesigns.com, archived), February 2016

South Hill sold "Share Your Story" jewelry that customers assembled themselves in six steps: choose a locket, a coin, charms, a chain and droplets, then wear it.

• Lockets: glass-front floating lockets in silver, gold and rose gold tones, in round, oval and square shapes, plus locket bracelets and later locket rings.
• Coins: metal plates for the back of a locket, cut with patterns or stamped with words such as grace, blessed, love, mom and faith, plus clear coins.
• Charms: tiny themed charms for animals, hobbies, travel, sports, faith and causes, crystal birthstones, and crystal letters for initials.
• Chains and droplets: chains in several metals and dangling charms such as pearls, wings and hearts.

The website had an online Locket Builder so shoppers could design a piece on screen. Earlier Direct Sales Aid content compared South Hill with Origami Owl, another living-locket company; see our Origami Owl vs South Hill Designs comparison and the South Hill Designs products page.

Sellers were called Independent Artists; new sellers appeared on the site as "Artist-In-Training." They showed the lockets and charms at home parties, later branded as South Hill Socials, helped guests build their jewelry, and also sold one-on-one and through a personal website. Artists could sponsor others and earn on their team's sales.

The company's own pages described the plan in general terms: commissions on personal sales, team income "as you attract more people into your team," and an example built on an average Social of $600 in sales, which the company said it could not guarantee. New Artists started by choosing and buying a starter kit, then trained with the Artist who enrolled them.

Kits and Commission (from earlier Direct Sales Aid content)

Our original profile listed three starter kits: a $59 Quick Start kit with business supplies, one locket, one chain and one screen; a $199 Small Party kit; and a $399 Medium Party kit. It described personal commissions of up to 40% depending on rank, plus team commissions and leadership bonuses. We could not confirm these figures on the archived company pages, where the kit details were shown as images.

Hostess Rewards

The same profile said hosts could earn up to 25% of party sales in free jewelry and buy up to four items at half price.

South Hill Designs did not close in the usual way. It was absorbed by another direct sales company. Youngevity International, a California-based seller of nutrition and lifestyle products, reported in its annual report that it "acquired certain assets of South Hill Designs Inc." on January 20, 2016, describing South Hill as "a direct sales and proprietary jewelry company that specializes in customized lockets and charms." Youngevity also signed an exclusive licensing and sourcing agreement with two of South Hill's founders, effective January 13, 2016, and agreed to pay royalties on South Hill sales for up to seven years. South Hill Artists gained access to Youngevity's products, and Youngevity's distributors gained access to South Hill's lockets.

The South Hill website kept running under its own name through 2016. By December 29, 2017, southhilldesigns.com showed Youngevity's Mialisia jewelry site, with a Locket Builder alongside Mialisia's VersaStyle pieces. In January 2018 the address showed a notice that "the Mialisia website has been combined with Youngevity Social," and by December 2021 it redirected to Youngevity's jewelry page. On October 2, 2026, southhilldesigns.com showed only a "Coming Soon" placeholder.

For the company that took over the brand, see the Youngevity profile and the Mialisia profile on Direct Sales Aid.