Katrina Stoneking thought she was healthy. But at age 32 the Delray Beach native suffered three heart attacks – all in 2017. This year, she had another one.
Between Stoneking’s husband, Matt, her 5-year-old daughter, Annabelle, and her thriving fashion and accessory business that has morphed into bitsystonekingshop.com, Stoneking has every reason to live.
After learning she had Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, a rare condition which causes an inner layer of a coronary artery to split, Stoneking sought treatment at Mayo Clinic’s SCAD research program in Rochester, Minn. Because of Mayo’s top researchers, top doctors and a clinical trial, Stoneking received a second chance at life.
“My heart attacks were a large wake-up call. I learned priorities are number one. I was doing too many things for other people rather than making my family my priority. I changed the way I make decisions in terms of time, and I donate 10 percent of my site’s sales to Mayo-affiliated scadresearch.org,” Stoneking explains.
Despite Stoneking’s now managed illness and COVID-19, her business is thriving. This fall Stoneking announced she is joining forces with Delray Beach’s Amanda Perna of “Project Runway” fame to create a shared collection featuring Perna’s custom patterns and fabrics.
“We both believe in sustainable, or slow, fashion, and I like her attention to detail and she’s not afraid to play with color,” Stoneking says.
A world traveler, Stoneking brings designs from France, Greece, Spain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand to the states and features designers such as CeliaB and Fanm Mon. In the spring of 2021, Stoneking is introducing a fine jewelry line with California-based Natalie Baroni.
Although her parents, Lainie Lewis and Harold Sorensen, divorced when she was very young, both hugely influenced her life.
“My mom showed me how to sew and my dad showed me how to kick,” the 36-year-old Boynton Beach resident says.
Never satisfied with average, Stoneking honed those skills and was a kicker for the Varsity football team at Delray Beach’s Atlantic Community High School where she graduated in 2002. In 2006, she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a double major in management and marketing and a double minor in fashion merchandising and retail.
As for Stoneking’s very bright future, she hopes to expand her affordable luxury brand into a full fashion house.
“One thing I’ve learned is I don’t control everything, but I am not leaving Florida or where we live or leaving fashion,” the entrepreneur says.