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Meet Mianya Ong of Pearl Paradise in West LA

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Mianya Ong.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Mianya. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My career has actually been pretty unconventional up until now. I grew up around LA, in Gardena to be exact, and attended the California Academy of Mathematics and Science (CAMS) instead of my local high school. We had robotics, as opposed to football. Math books with word problems, instead of numbers. Required engineering classes on top of regular electives.

It was my first taste of STEM and also where I decided tech, engineering, or any science field was not for me. I went to UCSB while many of my peers went to Berkeley, CalTech, MIT, etc. But as luck would have it, my first college internship was in SEO… at a software startup. And would you know? I absolutely loved it.

From there, my career took off with exponential growth as the startup grew. Tech Support, Product Lead, Account Manager, Operations, and Project Manager– I touched on nearly every role there was. And it paid off. In less than 2 years, I was Director of Tech Operations, the highest point of escalation, the youngest senior manager on the team, and definitely the only female.

Quite frankly, it was a little terrifying when I was asked to manage the company’s most technical minds– keep in mind now, I had no formal computer science background. But, I found I had this knack for optimizing systems and creating stability that made me invaluable. It definitely helped earned the respect of my engineers.

When I left that company, I joined a marketing agency as a project manager. Although fast paced in a different way, the workflow and atmosphere were completely different than a tech startup. After working there for a year, I knew I wanted to be in a higher impact role. And that’s what led me to my EVP role at Pearl Paradise.

Pearl Paradise was a small e-commerce business that was looking to grow. When I joined, I was replacing the former COO and Operations Director. And I think my experience in different industries, with different size companies, really put me in a great position to look at the business from a fresh perspective.

We’re in an extremely niche market, fine jewelry specializing in pearls. And since joining the team in 2016, it’s been an exciting journey so far.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I had my first management role when I was an undergrad at UCSB, doing school full-time, and working full-time. I was 19, leading people who were more educated, had a lot more work experience, and occasionally more than twice my age. The first couple years were rough.

I learned quickly that leadership, management, wasn’t about getting the job done. It was about inspiring belief in you and your team. It took a lot of trial and error to earn my team’s respect, and even more effort, to sustain that respect.

Every time I switched roles or moved companies, I knew I had to start over to establish that foundation. And that’s not always easy. When I joined Pearl Paradise, the company had already been around for nearly 20 years. Many of the staff had been with the company for 5 – 10 years. I was the first outside management hire for the team.

I was really excited and wanted to dive right in to optimize and streamline processes and workflows from the getgo. But the execution turned out to be more difficult. First of all, it was a completely new industry for me, one that was very seasonal. Any changes had to wait until after the holiday times.

Second, something I learned after joining the company– there is no universal grading standard for pearls. Unlike diamonds, our customers can’t compare grades from competitor to competitor and easily see the value. Each grade was based off whatever metrics each vendor determined.

This meant that in terms of customer acquisition, education and quality service were even more crucial to our bottom line. Instead of focusing on workflow, I changed my game plan early on to tighten up our internal training. So in a way, the more we pivot and shift gears, the cleaner the growth trajectory becomes.

And after heavy trial and error, we’re really starting to see the fruits of our labor. Our year-over-year revenue is at a record growth, our returns are at an all-time-low, and the lifetime value per customer has increased dramatically.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Pearl Paradise – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Pearl Paradise is an e-commerce company in the fine jewelry space, specializing in pearls. We’ve been around for 2 decades and I believe we’re the largest online retailer for pearls. I like to describe us as the Warby Parker for pearls– we’ve cut out the middle man and have gone directly to the source (pearl farmers) to offer high quality pieces at significantly more affordable prices.

Many of our pieces would typically retail at traditional jewelers or department stores for 80% higher. And what’s interesting about pearls in particular– there’s no universal grading standard. It’s nearly impossible to compare or price shop based on advertised specs. Any old jeweler can claim their pearls are a certain grade, and that same grade would mean something completely different with another vendor.

So in this business, we’re very proud to have established ourselves as an industry leader, with a reputation for having high quality product and stellar customer service. When you don’t have a commodized good, you really have to rely on your rapport with customers. They need to trust that what they’re getting is what you advertised.

Education is a huge part of that. Our CEO, Jeremy Shepherd is on the board for the Cultured Pearls Association of America and created the updated Pearls Certification course. And as more pearl enthusiasts are educated, the more they understand what value factors to look for, which really help boost our business.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
2018 has been an exciting year for us. We’ve been working on some huge projects with enterprise partners that will be launching in the upcoming quarter– we can’t reveal details just yet, but let’s just say it will put us right up there with the big leagues.

We’ve also been working on a complete rebrand, set to launch for this upcoming holiday season. It’s been in the works for quite some time and we’re looking forward to our clients’ reaction to this new and improved refresh of our brand. The early sneak peeks have garnered very positive feedback and it’s looking like this will be our best season yet.

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