Her business is still relatively new, but that hasn’t kept Jenna Petersen from giving back.

Having sold her body jewelry, mala beads and other one-of-a-kind wares online for the past few years, Petersen recently made The Turquoise Elephant official, registering for a Federal Tax ID.

Though she initially wanted to donate some of the proceeds from her sales to help save elephants, her favorite animal, she decided on causes like the March of Dimes, Pathfinder International, and a friend’s Peace Corps project that helps women and children in Togo, Africa.

“My mom was like, why don’t you take care of people first,” said Petersen, a Dartmouth native and senior at UMass Dartmouth. "They’re all pretty similar causes and purposes helping women. It’s mostly for things they wouldn’t be able to pay for.”

Petersen said the idea to give back was inspired in part by the book The Secret.

“It’s all about gratitude, about giving,” she said. “It really does come back around. I read it, and that’s when I came up with the idea for donating money.”

An avid yoga enthusiast, some of Petersen’s jewelry is inspired by the practice such as the mala beads, or prayer beads used by Buddhists and Hindus during meditation. The bright, colorful bracelets and/or necklaces consist of either 28 or 108 beads used as a point of focus when in meditation.

Petersen’s taken a portion of the sale of those mala beads in particular, and she’s been able to donate over $300 so far to the different charities.

“At first, I just considered it a hobby,” said Petersen, who started making jewelry when she was around 12. “I take into account how much I spent, but I don’t necessarily pay myself. I’d rather the money go back into the business. I enjoy buying beads and stones.”

The rest of her collection consists of mostly women’s items like hand and body chains, which are similar to traditional bracelets and necklaces but are worn on different parts of the body.

“It’s all hand-made, vintage-inspired stuff,” she said.

Though she’s had the online shop for a while, Petersen rented out a spot at the Padanaram Village Festival for the first time last year, and since then, she’s been visiting similar festivals peddling her goods.

“It started off pretty good, but each show I did, it just got better and better.”

She’s also been selling the jewelry at Motion Dance Studio in Dartmouth for the past year or so.

“That’s what helped me start actually start selling  some stuff — it just grew from there,” said Petersen.

Going forward, she plans to continue to give at least half of the proceeds from the sale of the mala beads to different charities.

“I’m going to maintain that,” she said.

For more on the Turquoise Elephant, visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/TTurquoiseElephant, on Instagram at @the_turquoise_elephant or check out the booth this upcoming weekend at the New Bedford Folk Festival.