Vibrantly-colored "Candy Coated" enamel rings can be purchased separately or in three-ring sets for ... [+] eye-catching stacking.
The successful saga of Melinda Maria jewelry is powered by the pure energy of founder/designer Melinda Maria’s self-professed lifelong “obsession” with gems and jewelry materials, jewelry making, plus styling it on herself and others. “I’m a passionate jewelry lover, maker and wearer,” she says. “I’m so lucky to share it with the world.” In 2020, her wholesale division and direct-to-consumer Melinda Maria website generated $20,000,000 in sales of 14-karat gold, sterling silver, and 18-karat-gold-plated brass jewelry. (Her business is 95 percent direct-to-consumer.) Quite a pretty penny considering that she started out selling her semi-precious, wire-wrapped and crocheted metal gemstone jewels to people as they stood online in the Santa Monica Starbucks near her apartment. Cubic Zirconia Octagon
Los Angeles-based designer/founder Melinda Maria and her team generated $20,000,000 in jewelry sales ... [+] during 2020.
While the majority of Melinda Maria pieces are 18-karat gold plated fashion jewelry and many are set with semi-precious gemstones or high-grade cubic zirconia, the brand also produces fine and demi-fine pieces, such as 14-karat gold rings that embody emeralds, along with sterling and 14-karat gold heart pendants. Its sterling and 14-karat gold pendants, rings and wedding bands are suitable for personalized engraving, which the company provides free of charge.
Worn by international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and other women of substance and style, ... [+] Melinda Maria's "Mademoiselle Pod" earrings embody an organic sculptural silhouette and kinetic elegance.
Melinda Maria’s brand magic is founded on four pillars: First there are her affordably priced designs, which mainly consist of stylish and well-fabricated fashion jewels that can pass on the red carpet or in real life for fine jewelry. (Customers on a budget can choose to purchase with the AfterPay Installment plan.) Second, there’s her direct and personal connection to her customers, whom she fondly refers to as “my community”. To stay in touch with her 244,000 Instagram followers, the irrepressibly extroverted, blonde designer hosts Instagram Live broadcasts every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. A cross between jewelry styling session, talk show and female bonding session, Maria’s Live at 5 events feature three followers that she chooses at random.
Sculpted with a polished punk vibe, Melinda Maria's "Posh Spiked" ear cuff sparkles with ... [+] statement-making style that suits day and evening looks.
“During the broadcasts,” she explains, “I style them with my jewelry and give them 5 to 10 pieces to suit their respective looks and lives.” One woman who came on Live at 5 surprised Maria by taking her on a glittering tour of the jewelry closet that her husband had recently built for her. “She blew me away because she had over 30 pieces of mine in there,” Maria says with a laugh. As her team researches the Instagram and other social media accounts of customers in real time while she talks jewelry with them, Live at 5 sessions sometimes make dreams come true. For example, while Maria was styling one customer, her staff discovered that this lady had a daughter battling a chronic medical condition. At the end of the session, Maria surprised her by donating over $2,000 to the woman’s GoFundMe page. “That was a memorable moment,” Maria recalls. “Our team felt so happy that we were able to help her like that, and the spontaneous gift gave everyone who was watching a lift.”
The third pillar of Melinda Maria’s brand magic is its energized and ongoing commitment to customer service. “We train our customer service team to treat each customer like a best friend,” the designer explains. “Everything we sell has a two-year guarantee and we offer free shipping. If something loses a stone, breaks, or loses its luster, they can return it and we will ship them a new piece from our inventory. If we don’t have it, we extend store credit for the price of that item.” While the Melinda Maria loyalty program allows people to accrue one point per dollar spent, it also offers points for writing a product review on its website, submitting a video review, sharing the jewelry on Facebook, and so forth. Every customer also receives gift points on their birthday, courtesy of Melinda Maria.
Sparkling "Gabriella Spiked Hoop" earrings embody the essence of Melinda Maria's boldly ... [+] proportioned; edgy fashion jewelry aesthetic.
The fourth pillar at the foundation of this jewelry empire is the brand’s popularity with celebrities, who serve as walking advertisements and brand recognition generators for Melinda Maria. While Michelle Obama has been photographed wearing the Baroness necklace, which retails for $185.00, musicians like Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Lopez and Megan Thee Stallion, along with such A-list actors as Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron, Kate Beckinsale and Reese Witherspoon, also wear Melinda Maria on the red carpet, and in real life. The Julia Roberts connection proved to be especially fateful. “Julia Roberts loved our 18-karat gold over brass bangle trio set with turquoise, labradorite and cubic zirconia,” Maria recalls. “During the Oprah Winfrey Show’s Farewell Season of 2011 we received an email from Oprah’s producers asking if we could please make bangles for everyone in the studio audience, so that Oprah could give them away when Julia appeared on the show. When I got that news,” she says with a laugh, “I started crying, laughing, sitting on the floor in shock. Somehow I managed to get my factory in India to fabricate and ship everything in time. The publicity we received thanks to Julia and Oprah was extremely powerful: they flashed “Melinda Maria” on the screen for the whole world to see.”
Alive with classic chic, party power and serious sparkle, Melinda Maria's "Slick Pavé" earrings ... [+] embody mood-altering visual magic.
Indeed, the brand’s ardent A-list celebrity following even prompted E! Television to dub Melinda Maria as “Hollywood’s Bling Queen.” Melinda Maria’s reach extends far beyond Hollywood, however. “We have customers across the United States, Great Britain, Mexico and Canada. The international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney might be my favorite person of all who wears my jewelry,” Maria muses. “Besides being a warrior for women’s rights, an activist with great fashion sense and unbelievable style, Amal Clooney wears our Mademoiselle Pod earrings.” Comprised of 18-karat gold plate over brass, the minimalist pod-shaped pendant earrings glimmer with tiny sparkles of cubic zirconia and swing with a sexy organic vibe, all for $78.00. (Note: there is indeed a photo of Clooney wearing these ear pendants on the Melinda Maria website.)
Centered with an emerald, the 14-karat gold "Allison" ring animates Melinda Maria's fine jewelry ... [+] offering.
“I have always put my heart into designing, hand-fabricating and wearing things that I treasure,” Maria reflects. “I have been making jewelry since I was a teenager. My dream was to become a jewelry designer, and when I started, I had zero idea how to price my products or run a business,” she adds. Nevertheless, her first retail partners included Los Angeles-area boutiques like Fred Segal and Belle Gray, and her jewels also made it into Nordstrom department stores, where they still sell to this day. “Although I did a few appearances selling on the QVC shopping channel,” she relates, “it’s a tough commute from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania every few weeks, so I bowed out, even though we were successful.”Although she could have continued building Melinda Maria into a bigger company, after she started a family in 2011, Maria’s priorities shifted to staying at home to raise her three sons. “I brought other people in to run the business,” she recalls. “By the time I came back full-time in 2017, I realized that I didn’t want to be designing for what I imagined my retail partners could sell. I decided to go back to my roots and only create things that I love, so I cut out wholesaling and become the face of my brand so I could sell only what I love, direct to consumers.”
Melinda Maria's "Fine Muse Thick Band" 14-karat gold ring is ready to be engraved with one's ... [+] initials or word of choice.
Along with staff reductions, Maria knew that further optimizing her margins would dramatically enhance customer service and thus help her create stronger bonds with jewelry lovers. Fortunately, she found a family-owned factory in China that could produce her designs at far more advantageous prices than her previous manufacturer charged. While margins improved immediately, this jewelry also embodied better quality control and production values. “While 2018 involved restructuring, improving customer service and building up my social media presence,” she relates, “2019 yielded a 300 percent increase from the previous year. In 2020, we had a 500 percent increase in direct to consumer sales.”
Serene as a starry night sky, the 18-karat gold-plated "You're A Star Pavé" ring by Melinda Maria is ... [+] available in numerous gem materials and is designed to be stacked.
This massive growth and progress inspired Maria to apply to her local chapter of the Young Professionals Organization (YPO) which is only open to company presidents, CEOs, managing directors, managing partners or chairmen of the board under the age of 45 whose companies generate US$13,000,000+ in sales. “I recently attended my first retreat with this group,” Maria reports. “I learned a lot from the people there. It’s great to know that we can draw on each other’s resources to train ourselves and each other as we strive to become better leaders while building our businesses.” By the end of 2021, Maria ventures, “We expect our company to be in a new and exciting phase as our first roll up deal should be completed. What this means in practical terms,” she continues, “is that we are buying a jewelry brand which will retain its name and designer, plus their social media and branding team will stay on. But Melinda Maria will handle everything else: fulfillment, financing, customer service, you name it. The main advantage of doing a roll up is that by bringing on other brands that can build on our successful model, we also reduce costs through economies of scale as we continue to grow.”
Pictured here is Melinda Maria's Icon Charm necklace. The company produces a glittering array of ... [+] charms and pendants for its fashion jewelry lines and 14-karat gold collections.
Loose Cubic Zirconia Stones Maria is quick to observe that, “We remain devoted to satisfying each of our customers around the world with lustrous pieces in luxurious, sexy and elegant silhouettes that are widely affordable.” This commitment to fresh design, quality control and customers is constantly rewarded by loyal customers from all walks of life. “While we prove that you can have quality jewelry that lasts a long time without having to spend a lot of money,” she relates, “we also prove that some of the world’s most glamorous and influential women agree.”