WJA History
In 1976, Toni Lyn Judd, a single mother from
Boston, was hired to be a jewelry sales representative. The agreement
she made with her employer was a part-ownership arrangement that would
reward her "when the company went to profit." Four years later, just
before a profit appeared on the books, she was fired.
At that
moment, more than anything, Toni Lyn wished she had a mentor, or a
professional network to call upon for help, but there was precious
little in the way of any kind of support system for females in the
jewelry industry. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Toni Lyn
and Cindy Geller, another sales rep and designer, invited to lunch the
female buyers of Boston retailers Shreve, Crump, & Low, Long's, and
Stowell's. Toni Lyn's biggest concern about gathering a room full of
jewelers was, "Would competitors talk?" and "How to get started." She
needn't have worried. Grateful to have a chance to meet like that, the
women talked...and talked...and talked. Toni paid the lunch bill, and
an organization of sorts was born.
In her four years of
traveling throughout New England, Toni had compiled a list of 100 names
of women in the jewelry industry and, with Cindy's help, invited all of
them to her home for cocktails. 43 women showed up. On that evening in
March 1982, a steering committee was formed and the New England Women's
Jewelry Association began to take shape. By the summer Jewelers of
America show in July 1982, NEWJA was a going organization.
One
evening during the show, Toni Lyn and Cindy invited Ronny Lavin to join
them for dinner. As the women talked about NEWJA and what it was doing,
it became obvious that the need for this kind of organization extended
far beyond New England. In February 1983, the members of NEWJA invited
other industry women to join them for a meeting during the JA show.
About 20 women attended this gathering, among them Linda Goldstein,
Tina Segal, and Ronnie Lavin. Enthusiasm ran high. They envisioned a
national organization for women in the jewelry industry, and everyone
present agreed that it should be based in New York. Time passed. One
day, Ed Segal asked Tina what was happening with the new group, saying
it was too good of an idea to let drop. Calls were made and Ronny Lavin
agreed to host a meeting at her apartment. That meeting, attended by
Linda, Tina, Ronny, Peg Kirby, Gloria Rosensweig, Marion Ruby, Beth
Moskowitz, Jo Ann Paganetti and Nancy Pier Sindt, was the beginning of
the national Women's Jewelry Association. Gerry Gewirtz was voted the
first president.
The national WJA developed quickly. By-laws
were drawn up and ratified, non-profit status was established, and the
original NEWJA group became an official chapter of the national
organization. Following the NEWJA lead, the national WJA continued to
stress education in its programming. It established a significant
scholarship fund to help bring young women into the industry; it
established a job bank, and a variety of other services for members.
In
February of 1984, the first annual Awards of Excellence dinner was
established to recognize women's achievements in the jewelry industry.
The first dinner was held at the Lotus Club in New York, but within a
year, it moved to the larger Harmonie Club. By 1994, it moved again to
the even larger Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Even as it moved,
the room was already full to capacity and would-be attendees were being
turned away. It had, without doubt, become the hot ticket of the summer
JA show! The board of directors voted against moving to a hotel
ballroom, deciding it was better to have people clamoring for tickets
than to have an impersonal atmosphere. It was only this year that Pier
60 opened with a facility large enough to accommodate more guests. To
nobody's surprise, tickets still sold out months in advance.
Today,
the WJA's dramatic booth is a vital presence at all major industry
trade shows; the organization sponsors a prominent design competition;
it offers many educational programs around the country; and it has just
launched a brand-new Web site. Its biannual free New York breakfast
seminars are frequently standing-room only, its Las Vegas Diva Awards
and Orlando bash are quickly becoming as popular as the Awards Dinner.
As the WJA celebrates its 16th anniversary, it is close to reaching its
goal of 1,000 members. There are thriving local chapters in Los
Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago and New England. Chapters
were also established in Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Florida, and
Philadelphia, but subsequently folded and their members reabsorbed into
WJA National. New interest has been expressed in re-starting some of
these chapters, and as the industry enters the 21st century the WJA
plans to reinstate these and add even more.
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