Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheraton Liv
Hi Sheraton, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up in an immigrant household has taught me that hard work will always be my guide to success. In the 70s, my parents fled war torn Cambodia, where they had to rely on the tangible value of gold over paper currency to buoy their transition to America. Since gold played an integral role in their survival, they worked in jewelry shops in the States until eventually saving up enough to start their own and start a family.
Like many other Asian Americans, my parents didn’t rely on a babysitter, so I was forced to grow up around their shop. I think this over exposure to jewelry activated my aversion to the family business, so I eventually pursued a career more in line with my own personal interests. However, subconsciously, I always felt the call of returning to my familial roots in the jewelry industry – I just stubbornly took my time finding my way back. So in 2022, when my wife and I had our first baby, it became clear to me that I would keep the family legacy alive by starting our jewelry business, Everelle, to pass down to my daughter as my parents did with me. I hope to impart in my daughter the same hard working tenacity that my parents instilled in me.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish it had been a smooth road, but it’s pretty wild and challenging to start a business. Like I said, I always knew I wanted to find my way back into the jewelry industry, but in the 2010s, my wife and I had another personal business selling mechanical keyboards that demanded our focus and priority. In 2015, we attempted a diversion into selling jewelry – we even got a client from Instagram – but as much as we wanted to continue, the timing was just not right and we had to put the jewelry business on the back burner. Sustaining even one small business is so taxing; you build a lot of anxiety thinking about the troubles throughout the day. And when Covid hit, supply chain issues challenged us to keep operations running smoothly on our mechanical keyboard company. So, still facing financial hardships in 2022 when our daughter was born, my wife and I decided to fully pivot and embark on our jewelry business by creating Everelle.
Naively, I presumed that starting any business from scratch would be just as easy as the keyboard business, which stemmed from my hobby and was bolstered by a less competitive, word-of-mouth market. However, we learned very quickly that the jewelry industry functions on entirely different levels and is highly competitive! Luckily, one of my good friends, Henry, was getting engaged and he became our first client. We definitely credit our newly engaged friends with helping get us to where we are now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Everelle is a fine jewelry company focused on offering customers high-quality lab grown diamonds at attainable prices. We know that the process of choosing the perfect diamond can be extremely overwhelming and intimidating, so we hope to de-stress and lift the veil on the seemingly ambiguous diamond buying process. While many other jewelers have a selection of diamonds for their clients to choose, we intentionally do the opposite. Which means, instead of presenting clients a perplexing and incomprehensible list of diamonds, we help them choose from the best of what is available to us on the market. We focus on curating stones that are beyond what is listed on the certificate.
As a young couple ourselves, we know first hand how much it costs to plan a wedding of your dreams and we know that the engagement ring is usually the beginning of the spending process. We’re proud of our transparent prices that can help our clients save and use that money towards starting a future together.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Early on my mom instilled in me an entrepreneurial mindset. She was always an ambitious risktaker who loved to invest in her business or in her family and friends. I remember in high school, when we were asked what we wanted our careers to be, I told the whole class that I was going to be an entrepreneur and everyone laughed. From that moment on, I had my sights set on achieving business goals.
However, while I was driven to be an entrepreneur, the inundation at my parent’s jewelry shop drove me away from the financial security and structure that they had set up for me in the business. My competitive and stubborn spirit in my younger years shifted my business focus away from jewelry and instead I prioritized my hobbies as a career. Ultimately, I’m grateful I had time away from jewelry, building my own business, because I took everything I learned there into creating Everelle.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://everellejewelry.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/everellejewelry
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/everellejewelry
