Rising Stars: Meet Shermineh Ghane

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shermineh Ghane. 

Hi Shermineh, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Talāyee Fine Jewelry started because I saw a gap within the fine jewelry space to introduce small batch, ethically made, modern heirlooms that won’t break the bank. I personally was on the hunt for gold stacking rings that felt fresh and new, and I either saw 14k solid gold pieces above $1,000, or gold plated and filled jewelry around $100. Neither price point made sense to me, and I was frustrated with the lack of information online about where the jewels were made, by whom, and how the materials were sourced. As someone who cares about ethical and sustainable fashion, I also saw an opportunity to create transparency in the jewelry space. I personally didn’t have a lot of experience making fine jewelry, but I did have experience with metal smithing, so I taught myself the skills I needed to create long-lasting, high-quality pieces, and shared that process on my personal Instagram account. Over time, I had followers asking to buy some of the pieces I had made for myself and shared, and the business idea started from there! 

Talāyee means Golden in Farsi, the language Iranian people mainly speak. I saw the business as an opportunity to honor a bit of my culture in name, and in design, and introduce people to some of the beauty and folklore of the culture. The business itself is less than two years old, but in that time, I’ve been able to create some amazing pieces for amazing people. My ultimate goal with Talāyee is to offer high-quality fine jewelry that’s sustainably made, at reasonable prices, that will last beyond your lifetime, and will also introduce you to a little bit of the beautiful culture of the Iranian people. 

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?
As with any new experience, there’s always bumps on the road and a bit of a learning curve. I’ve spent the majority of my career in the fashion and tech space, so I’ve been able to lean on some of the skills I’ve developed over time to create a website, or to put together an assortment, etc. At the same time, I’m learning more about what it means to grow an e-commerce-based business, and with social media changing at the pace it is, sometimes it’s hard to keep up! But along the journey, I’ve met some incredibly helpful people, and I’m appreciative of the community around me. Right now, my biggest struggle is making sure I create space and time to continue to create new designs that inspire and speak to myself and to anyone that stumbles on the brand. I’m launching a new collection in January, and the joy it brings me to sit down and design for it is unparalleled- I don’t want to ever lose that! 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Prior to starting Talāyee Fine Jewelry, I spent the last decade of my career in the Fashion and Tech space. Most of that time, I was in merchandising as a Women’s Apparel buyer, and from there I transitioned into Product Management, focusing on leveraging technology and Data Science to help Merchandising Teams make smarter decisions about assortments they curate. The transition from Merchandising into Product Management happened because I saw an opportunity for the Product to Market lifecycle of assortment planning (the process to create seasonal collections to sell) to be much more sustainable with the use of the right technology. Ultimately, the fashion space, including jewelry, is incredibly wasteful and harmful to our planet, and I want to address that problem. Starting Talāyee is a way I can do that in the jewelry space, through education and influence. I’d love to become a voice in the space that advocates for responsibly sourced metals and gems, fair labor, and fair pricing. I know all of that can be done and still deliver a beautiful, well-made, and unique fine jewelry piece to a customer without an unreasonably high price tag. If I can do it- so can the industry at large! 

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Authenticity and Transparency! I try to interact with people every day from that space. I try to educate my customers and my followers in every aspect of the jewelry-making process, why something is priced the way it is, how to care for it so it lasts forever, and I also share about what I know and what I don’t know. I think it’s important to show the person on the other side of the business, to show what they care about, and to share about what inspires and influences them. As an introvert, that’s a hard thing for me to do, but the challenge and the effort is an important one! 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shoptalayee.com
• Instagram: @talāyee_jewelry