IAM1385 – Gemologist Encourages Women to Invest in their Own Jewellery
Podcast Interview with Irina Kharina
Irina Kharina is a certified gemologist and a luxury jewelry concierge. As the founder of Tsarina Gems, she is a millennial female entrepreneur who started her business during the pandemic after spending 12 years in the gemstone and jewelry industry. Irina provides 1:1 private consultations on luxury custom jewelry to clients all over the world. Irina is passionate about empowering women to invest in their own jewelry to celebrate themselves and their wins, without waiting to receive jewelry as a gift. She has lived in 5 different countries and is currently based in Toronto, Canada.
- CEO Story: Having been working in the jewelry industry for over a decade and knowing that gems are commonly used for engagement and anniversary gifts. Irina wanted to focus on it as a way to celebrate their wins and as a reward.
- Business Service: Custom jewelry, semi-customed (you choose an existing design and customize the gemstone), and a ready-to-jewelry set.
- Secret Sauce: Personalised experience. Look for what the client is trying to achieve and make them comfortable through the whole experience.
- CEO Hack: Getting enough sleep. It will really help you with for performance the next day.
- CEO Nugget: Setting boundaries. Like working on weekends.
- CEO Defined: Having a message behind your products and services is very important.
Instagram: tsarina gems
Linkedin: irinakharina
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Transcription
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00:25 – Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
00:53 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Irina Karina of Serena Gems. Irina, it's great to have you on the show.
01:02 – Irina Kharina
Thanks for having me. Gresham.
01:04 – Gresham Harkless
Yes, super excited to have you on. Before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Irena so you can hear about some of the awesome things that she's working on. And Irena is a certified gemologist and a luxury jewelry concierge. As the founder of Serena Gems, she is a millennial female entrepreneur who started her business during the pandemic. After spending twelve years in the gemstone and jewelry industries, Irena provides one-to-one private consultations on luxury custom jewelry to clients all over the world.
And Irene is passionate about empowering, empowering women to invest in their own jewelry, to celebrate themselves and their wins without waiting to receive jewelry as a gift. She has lived in five different countries and is currently based in Toronto. Irene, I appreciate you for all the awesome things that you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the Imco community?
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01:50- Irina Kharina
Yes. Thank you so much for that amazing introduction. That was great.
01:53 – Gresham Harkless
Yes, absolutely. You did all the hard work. I just have to read it. So that's a little bit of the easy part. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your seal story.
02:04 – Irina Kharina
Yeah. So I've actually been in the gemstone and jewelry industry for over twelve years now, as you mentioned. And I always found it interesting that this particularly, you know, female-based kind of community is actually focused on engagement rings and anniversary gifts. What I wanted to do was actually create a service where I work with independent, self-sufficient women who want to treat themselves to jewelry and have no way to receive it as a gift, not feel guilty about it. So right in the middle of the pandemic in 2020, I decided to start my business, Serena Gems, and offer that service to women and other private clients and create custom jewelry for them.
02:45 – Gresham Harkless
Nice. I love that. And obviously, you hear a lot of times during the pandemic, it's such a topsy-turvy time. There are so many things that are changing. And as much as the saying is it's always darkest before dawn, so sometimes there's really great things that kind of come about from that topsy turviness. It sounds like you're business has definitely been one of those.
03:02 – Irina Kharina
Yes, exactly. Definitely.
03:05 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, how you work with clients, how you serve them. Could you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like?
03:12 – Irina Kharina
Yeah. So I have three main services. So my main flagship service is custom jewelry, where you get to create a bespoke piece of jewelry from start to finish. So you create your one-of-a-kind design and you also choose your gemstones. And the second service I provide is the semi-custom, where you choose an existing design from my collection, but then you customize, and customize your gemstones. And my third option is the ready-to-wear collection, where you can actually purchase a ready-to-wear piece of jewelry. So ring, necklace, earrings, as seen on my website.
03:45 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely love that. It sounds like you're there for every occasion and every opportunity and you meet people where they are, whether something fully custom, a little bit in the middle, or something that you've already designed and created yourself.
03:57 – Irina Kharina
Yes, exactly.
03:59 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah. That makes so much sense. And I love what you said when talking about, like, why you started it, especially around the lines where usually I think you saw, you said that you saw that only during, like, engagements, maybe anniversaries or holidays were the times that you got gifts. But now this is something that could be done, you know, year-round in any type of wins or opportunities that women might have to kind of, I guess, celebrate themselves.
04:21] – Irina Kharina
Exactly. And I think, as you said, as well, it's not just about holidays and anniversaries. Right. I. Something that we accomplished throughout the year and we should feel comfortable to, you know, reward ourselves and give us ourselves a little present without kind of feeling guilty or waiting for it.
04:38- Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And it's like, and you probably would definitely say women, you know, they wear the jewelry 365 days a year. Why not be able to get it 365 days a year, too, right?
04:47 – Irina Kharina
Exactly. Exactly.
04:49 – Gresham Harkless
Nice. I love it. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret song. This could be for yourself, the business, or a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?
05:00 – Irina Kharina
Yeah. And I love that. Actually, the secret sauce, I think, is the perfect way to describe it. And I think my secret sauce is the personalized experience. So when I work with clients, I really try to focus on what it is that they're looking for, what they're looking for, you know, to achieve throughout this experience and also to make them comfortable throughout the whole experience.
And I think we've all had this, you know, an experience where we've gone out shopping, whether it's for jewelry or not, and we get this, you know, pushy salesperson, and it makes us really uncomfortable, and it just ruins the whole experience. So I really try to avoid any of that, and I really try to focus on making my clients comfortable and make them feel like we are on this journey together rather than being on opposite sides of the counter, if that makes sense.
05:46 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I really, you know what stood out to me, the words that you use, experience and journey. And I almost think that as you're going times when you have those wins and you have those things you want to celebrate, those in and of themselves are journeys, too. So I imagine getting, like, something that's, I don't know if the right word is symbolic, but it kind of represents that journey. You want to have that same experience when you're, you know, you're having and looking for that jewelry.
06:10 – Irina Kharina
Exactly. And I think it's when, you know when you travel and you kind of buy little trinkets for yourself, and every time you look at them, they remind you of something. So, you know, for a lot of women, I think when they wear the jewelry, they'll remember, you know, maybe they got a promotion and they wanted to celebrate themselves with a necklace or they maybe experience, you know, a personal development that they want to celebrate. And I think it's those everyday experiences that we should be celebrating. And, you know, every time you put on that piece of jewelry, that's what you will remember.
06:38 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. It becomes definitely more than jewelry. It becomes what it represents and what it means. And that's why I love that you use that word journey, because a lot of times, to reach those goals, get those wins, you have to go through, you know, the ups and downs and topsy turvy to get that promotion or get that new job or start that new business, whatever it might be. And you want to have something to kind of remind you of that.
06:57 – Irina Kharina
Exactly. Yeah.
06:58 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
07:11 – Irina Kharina
So I actually have a habit that I swear by and it's getting enough sleep. And I know it sounds probably quite maybe obvious, but honestly, for me, getting enough sleep is like a deal breaker. And I know that if I haven't had a good night's sleep, that will affect me the next day. So I think, I think just getting enough sleep, getting enough rest is the best advice I can give.
07:33 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, I love that. And it's something that I need to definitely listen to over and over again, which is why I love that you brought that up because I think even if you don't realize or maybe admit is a better way to say the impact that sleep is. But when you don't get that sleep and you feel like you're groggy, you're not nearly as effective and efficient, your day doesn't go as well. And it's almost as if whatever extra time you spent trying to burn the candle on both ends, you could have spent sleeping and you would have been more effective anyway.
08:012- Irina Kharina
Exactly. And I think also, especially when we work with clients, I think they pick up on that. So it's definitely for me, for me personally, it's definitely something that I need to kind of incorporate into my daily life. For sure.
08:13 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. Me too. So, and I think when you're talking about that word that you used before, experience when you want to give the top-notch experience, you want to make sure that you're top-notch as well too. As entrepreneurs, CEOs, business owners, in order to give, you want to make sure that you are giving of your best self and especially in the things that we've been able to build and grow.:08:31.37] – Irina Kharina
Exactly.
08:32 – Gresham Harkless
So I wanted to ask you now for what I call AC on nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you would tell your favorite client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
08:45 Irina Kharina
Yeah. And that's a really good question. I think for me personally, I found that setting boundaries is very important, especially when we first start starting out. And that can be, you know, for example, not working on the weekends. Right. Like, that's an easy kind of rule to follow. But I think as new entrepreneurs, we tend to make ourselves available twenty-four-seven to our clients and our colleagues and suppliers and it really catches up with you. Right. And so I think I also find that some people will end up taking advantage of that. So I think setting those boundaries in place earlier on, especially as new entrepreneurs, is important and it will actually help you in the long run.
09:26- Gresham Harkless
Yeah, I love how that kind of even ties in with the hack that you talked about as well, too, because I think also setting your boundaries so you can ultimately, quote-unquote, fill up your cup. And I think when we're talking about sleep or we're talking about sometimes saying no, or we're choosing this client and saying, hey, maybe you're not the right fit. That's all. In terms of setting boundaries, you can make sure you're filled up so that you can serve your clients better.
09:47- Irina Kharina
Exactly. And I think it's okay to, you know, message your clients, say, on a Friday afternoon, and say, you know what, I'm working on it. It's something I'll look into and I will get back to you on Monday I think most people will be okay with that and they're completely okay with that. So I think, yeah, just make those boundaries known to people and I think you'll both benefit from it.
10:09 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. Was that something that you figured out or came across, like over your twelve years experience that you said that, hey, this is something that is something I want to make sure that I incorporate into the business?
10:20 – Irina Kharina
I've actually been very lucky that I've never really had to work on the weekends and we weren't kind of checking our emails on the weekends throughout my work. So it's something, when I did start my own business, I thought, you know what? If bigger companies can do it, then I can definitely do it. And even though sometimes I'll end up doing some Instagram work or maybe my blog work on the weekends, I don't work with clients or contact my suppliers. And I also respect their boundaries because they are also, a lot of them are closed on the weekends. So I try to respect that and either try to do stuff during the week and make sure everything's done by a certain deadline or then just come back to it on Monday.
10:59 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you mentioned that. I appreciate you expounding upon that because sometimes we don't know that something is possible. And when we think of, oh, I'm going to start my business. So that means I'm going to be in, you know, away and awake and replying 24, 7366 or 367, how many days plus whatever, you know, we have to do. But I think once we see that, hey, that there is a business that's able to do it without, you know, kind of sacrificing yourself or sacrificing those boundaries, then you realize that you can incorporate that and you can create the business in the way that you want to create it.
11:31 – Irina Kharina
Exactly. Yes.
11:33 – Gresham Harkless
So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEO's on this show. Cyrina, what does being a CEO mean to you?
11:43 – Irina Kharina
I think being a CEO or a founder, in my case, I think having a message behind your product or service is very important. So, for example,, as a founder of a custom jewelry company, I want to encourage people to express themselves through unique jewelry and unique personalities through this one-of-a-kind jewelry. But I also want to really empower women to invest in themselves and for them to be okay with celebrating themselves and not feeling guilty and giving themselves these gifts. So as a founder, it is also my responsibility to spread that message through everything that I do as well.
11:44 Gresham Harkless
Now absolutely love that, especially how that goes, you know, wraps right around to the business and why you created the business. And you start to hear how that's manifested in everything that you've been able to do. Because I think especially driven people, you find this definitely in men and women as well, too. The type a, so to speak, is sometimes we don't celebrate those wins. We're always going to the next thing after the next thing, after the next thing. So I love, obviously, the work that you do, but also that message that's within it and baked within it, because it kind of is a reminder that, one, it's okay to celebrate yourself, but also that you should celebrate yourself, and you could do it in a creative and innovative way that's kind of unique to you.
12:59 – Irina Kharina
Exactly. And because you get to be a part of it, you can really, you know, as I said, it's a really personalized experience, and you really, you really get to choose how to celebrate yourself. And I think it's definitely something that, you know, some people have to learn. And, you know, I get different types of clients, and sometimes people are a bit more open to, you know, even when it comes to, for example, the budget. Right. It's, it's what they think they are worth. It's what they think they can spend on themselves. And it's definitely something that, you know, we have to learn doing. And it comes easier to some people than others. But I think we should definitely all learn to celebrate ourselves, whether it's with jewelry or a different investment, but in ourselves.
13:37 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, it's so necessary to kind of do that, especially for us as individuals. But I think also when you have teams or just anybody that's around you, family, whatever it is, you want to celebrate the wins. Because that word that we used before, the journey of life, the journey of getting a promotion, the journey of starting a business, whatever it might be, is a journey in of itself. So you want to make sure that you are celebrating and enjoying the process that you're going through.
14:00 – Irina Kharina
I'm glad you agree.
14:01 – Gresham Harkless
Yes, yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I'm sold. I appreciate that. So now I wanted to pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they could get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.
14:16.- Irina Kharina Harkless
Yeah, I love connecting with people on Instagram and on LinkedIn as well. So if you want to contact me on either of those, I'd love to hear from you. And you can also contact me via my website, serenadems.com. and while you're there, you can also check out my blog to learn more about diamond gemstones and currency jewelry trends.
14:35 – Gresham Harkless
Absolutely. And of course, to make it even easier, we're going to have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. I truly appreciate you for obviously taking some time out, but I appreciate it more for the message that we kind of talked about that you're representing and reminding us of, especially as busy professionals, going from one thing to the next thing to the next thing, I think it's so important to kind of celebrate yourself, celebrate those wins, and I don't feel like we do it enough.
So I appreciate you for making it easy for people to be able, able to do that and women to be able to buy, you know, those, those jewelry, those pieces of jewelry that can, that can represent that. So thank you so much again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of that.
15:09 – Irina Kharina
Yeah, thank you for having me. And again, thank you for helping me spread my message as well.
15:13 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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