10/14/2026
Before Kinn, I worked in tech accessories. On paper, it might seem like an unexpected place to begin a career in fine jewelry. But so much of what I learned there came with me.
In a category where there was always another product, another company moving faster, I learned to pay attention to what made someone choose a brand and stay with it. Those questions stayed with me when I started Kinn.
Speaking with Sonia Esther Soltani for Forbes made me think about the version of myself who started this company nine years ago.
There was so much I wanted to make, and so much I still needed to understand. I could picture how I wanted someone to feel when she discovered us, opened her jewelry box, or put on a piece she had been saving for. Figuring out how to deliver that feeling, consistently, was the work.
Kinn began after my family lost treasured heirloom jewelry. What stayed with me was how much of our family those pieces held. I wanted to make jewelry that could become that meaningful to someone else. We could make the piece, but the person wearing it would give it a life.
I still think about that when I see someone wearing Kinn. What was happening in her life when she chose it? Did she buy it for herself? Is it the piece she puts on every morning, or the one she reaches for when she needs to feel a little more like herself?
Those are the things I wish we could see on a spreadsheet.
Running a business asks you to measure so much, and I care deeply about those numbers. But I also try to stay close to the conversations that explain them. A customer telling us why she finally bought the ring. Someone trying on a piece she’s been looking at for months.
Those conversations have taught me patience. We might have carried a piece for years before it becomes the right piece for her. I’ve learned to give the things we believe in time to become meaningful to someone else.
As we celebrate our ninth year, I’m trying to appreciate what is already taking root: the pieces people keep wearing, the relationships we’ve built, and the team caring for the details every day.
I have more experience now, but I still have questions. And I still feel a very real responsibility when so
