How I got my job as... Founder of ethical fine jewellery brand Jade Trau

This week, Emirates Woman speaks to Jade Trau, a New York-based jewellery designer, who shares the genesis of her journey of building her namesake brand.

Welcome to the Emirates Woman weekly series ‘How I got my job as…’ where we speak to some incredible entrepreneurs and businesswomen both based in the UAE and globally to find out about their career paths that led them to where they are now; what their daily routines look like; the advice they’d give to those starting out; and the hurdles they’ve had to overcome.

With roots in a five-generation diamantaire family, Trau is renowned in the ethical jewellery space for her refined approach to modern diamond classics. Here, she shares with Emirates Woman how she kickstarted her namesake jewellery brand from a lifetime spent inside a five-generation diamond family, crafting her signature pieces built upon clarity and restraint, to her morning routine, and more.

What was your favourite subject at school?

Maths! It’s funny when I say it now because I feel like I’m sort of terrible at math, but in high school, it was my subject, specifically Geometry.

What was your first job?

I have only had one boss, and it was my grandfather, whom I called Popy. I started working for him when I was 18 years old. He was a diamond manufacturer and importer. When I started, I was looking for a few hours of work, but as I began, I felt like it was a foregone conclusion that I was going to stay adjacent to diamonds.

What inspired you to enter the jewellery space and launch your namesake brand?

At my grandfather’s company, we supplied diamonds to the top jewellery houses in the world, so diamond jewellery design was always on my radar. After a few years, I started to notice that while all these companies made beautiful, quality pieces, there was a lot of sameness in everything that constituted classic diamond jewellery, and it had more or less looked like that for 25 years. I knew one day I was going to start a jewellery line that used my diamond buying expertise, but changed the conversation around classic to incorporate what fashion and lifestyle are today.

The name felt pretty easy. Jade is my given name, named after my maternal great-grandmother, and Trau is my mother’s last name and the name of the five generations of diamantaires in my family. It felt like a marriage of what I was bringing to the company and the legacy of my family.

From your Alchemy Riviera necklaces, engagement rings, to tennis bracelets, how did these become the defining signatures of Jade Trau?

I designed the concept of the collection in the summer of 2017, and even though in some ways it feels like a long time ago, I remember the feeling of hitting on an idea that felt authentic to me and to the brand when it happened. I wanted to create a frame for all my favourite diamond shapes that felt like it really highlighted and honoured each diamond without overpowering it. At the same time, I wanted to make sure to stay firm in the realm of classics, like I always strive to do. I started by making a list of every diamond shape I could possibly think of. I even wrote down ‘horsehead cut’ at some point because I had all these novelty cuts running through my head. As soon as I made the first few styles, I knew it was something. The jewellers who were making it were excited about it. My team was excited about it. And then last but certainly not least, my customers were really excited about it.

What are the key elements of your role?

I love what I do and feel really close to the entire organisation, so I do feel like I play a role in most departments on some level, but my main role is design because I still personally design every single piece in the collection. It feels funny to say that as I can’t sketch nor can I use any drawing software, but somehow, I’ve created a system that takes the ideas in my head from a remedial napkin sketch to a finished piece… with a whole lot of rounds of revision in between! I am also still the main diamond buyer for all larger diamonds, like bridal and one of a kind or custom pieces.

Talk us through your daily routine.

I wake up around 6:30 am and give myself a 5-minute face massage. Then I drink lemon water with my supplements while making lunch for my kids. They are 18, so it’s the last year of this routine before they head off to university, so I really cherish this little ritual. At 7 am, I make a coffee for myself and my sons and go upstairs to wake them with it. I know they can set an alarm, but I keep feeling like they have the rest of their lives for an alarm to wake them, so it’s me for the next few months. By 8, we’re all dressed and making our way through the day. The rest of my day really varies, but usually I drive into my studio and get ready for a full day of working with my team from design to marketing to sales. Every day I practice yoga, but the time varies; it’s usually a mad dash to get to class, and I laugh at myself about how I stress myself out just to get to the mat in time to decompress. Today I’ll go out with a fellow jewellery designer friend who practices at my studio for a post-asana cocktail, but often I’m hustling home so I can have dinner with my kids, which I’ve prepped beforehand. I love Mondays because my sons have piano lessons late in the evening, so I get a little 1:1 time with each of them while listening to the other one playing from the other room.

What advice do you have for anyone looking to follow in the same footsteps?

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. The only way to be successful is to keep going, even when it’s demoralising or exhausting. You can’t look backwards; ahead of you is the only destination. I started my business when my twins were 5 years old, and I had zero idea what | was doing. I had never worked for a luxury brand. I didn’t know the first thing about merchandising or product assortments. But I learned on the job. Made mistakes. Asked a lot of questions! No one is going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. I could keep going because it all still applies to myself today since I’m still on the journey!

What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

It came from my grandfather, and it was one of the first things he taught me. You are only as good as your word. I still live by that today and make sure every person on my team follows that ethos. I want to act with full transparency, integrity, honesty and humility. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I honour my commitments, and I work hard to make sure I only take things on that I know I can give my all to, which sometimes means I have to say no to an opportunity that | really want but I’m just not ready to take on yet.

And what is the worst?

It also came from my grandfather. He said You have to look at diamonds like buttons. They’re all replaceable. I got the intention; we couldn’t get too attached to any diamonds because we were merchants. We bought them to sell them. But while I shook my head ‘yes’, on the inside it was a hard ‘no’. I still fall in love with them and get excited about them like I did when I first came into the industry.

What has been the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

In the early years of my company, I was working with a jeweller in New York who was making all my pieces. He wasn’t the easiest to work with, but I had no real experience in the industry, so I just kept working and trying my best with him. Then he made a giant mistake, which I will spare you all the details of, but it included many carats of diamonds of mine that he threw into a platinum casting machine and burned! After that, I knew | had to move on, but I truly had no idea how. It felt like I went through a divorce, and it took me at least 6 months and piecemealing my manufacturing together before I finally met my beloved jewellers who remain an extremely important part of my business today.