Cynthia Thornton grew up in Orlando, Florida. As a child, she spent most of her time creating fantasy worlds for her dolls. She remembers her first box of Sculpey and the army of faeries she created with it, foreshadowing the career she would pursue as an adult. Not all time was spent frolicking and making clay creatures, however. She was no stranger to hard work. To help out the family, every day after school she and her siblings mowed lawns and pulled weeds for their father's landscaping business in the hot Florida Sun.

Cynthia graduated from high school and got a scholarship to Columbus College of Art and Design. After college, Cynthia spent the next several years as a freelance artist, a haunted house mask maker, and a garden art sculptor. In 1997, she founded Green Girl Studios with a minute collection of beads and pendants cast in resin. The early designs were inspired by Japanese ojime (sculptural beads used as a toggle to close boxes worn on kimonos).

In 2002, she moved the operation to California, where she met up with Greg Ogden, college friend, musician and artist. They relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, and got married in a garden, dressed as faeries, wings and all. Their daughter, Azalea, was born in 2004 and insists on "helping" the family business by sculpting her own designs. Their son, Max, was born on Halloween 2009.

Today, the beads are no longer cast in resin but in fine pewter, silver, and shibuichi; they are still handmade and of the best quality materials. The company, which started with one artist, is now a family operation including Greg and Cynthia's brother Andrew, who assists at trade shows and is a jewelry maker, artist and writer. Over the years, loyal customers have become a circle of friends that has grown to include people in Australia, Japan, Europe and South America.