Press Release: The Woman’s Jewelry Association (WJA) Metropolitan Chapter will be hosting a speed mentoring event as part of the chapter’s mentorship program for members and students in the trade. The evening will take place on October 8, hosted at the new Gemological Institute of America (GIA) education center at their beautiful new International Gem Tower offices, 50 W. 47th Street in New York, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
WJA’s Metropolitan Chapter has hosted several speed mentoring sessions with the GIA to support continuous education, dialog, career advice and advancement from experts across the trade, spanning business development, marketing, design, appraisal, product development and sales. WJA members and students of the GIA have the opportunity to have one-on-one 20-minute appointments with industry professionals. Guests are able to make two appointments during the evening and in between, round table advisors offer invaluable advice and answer questions to inquiring minds, exposing “mentees” to group discussions with a variety of professionals.
Roundtables can be “question/answer” sessions, or, at times, individual attention is given, such as a portfolio or resume review.
With the WJA’s commitment to improving and expanding mentorship programs, the evening is an outlet for rising professionals in the fine jewelry and watch industries to excel.
The three roundtable discussion mentors throughout the evening are Fernando Marques (Odelia Collection), Craig Nass (GIA) and Karen Janowski (Tiffany & Co.), with six “one-on-one” mentors scheduled for the rotating appointments, including:
Susan Corbo is a gemology and management professional who has over 18 years of experience working in the industry, including: manufacturing, design, sales, marketing quality assurance and after sale service. Her career path has focused within the luxury sector with collaborations at historic jewelry houses such as Bulgari and Tiffany & Co.
Ted Doudak is the founder and CEO of Riva Precision Manufacturing, a “one stop” manufacturing entity that has remained on the cutting edge of jewelry manufacturing over the course of two decades.
Ben Janowski, the owner of Janos Consultant, comes from a New York diamond daily that reaches back nearly 100 years to Portugal and Belgium. His entire career has been in the diamond and jewelry industry and he has specialized for the last 22 years as a consultant in strategic planning for the U.S. market.
Ed Peterson, who has been the product manager at Kwiat for the past 26 years, has developed skills that have contributed significantly to the company’s product development. Peterson has experience in state of the art CAD/CAM technologies, budget forecasting, special orders and inventory management, with a passion for sales.
Lita Asscher, the president of Royal Asscher America, is heiress to the famous Asscher diamond dynasty, which is the Crown Jeweler for many nations, and the company which cut the largest diamond in the world, the 3,105-carat Cullian diamond for the British crown jewels. Developing the North American market, she is currently expanding with authorized retailers, and is on the board of several trade organizations, such as being vice president of International Relations for WJA and a board member for the Jewelers Vigilance Committee.
Karen Sampieri, the director of jewelry at Heritage Auctions, oversees the day-to-day jewelry operations of the company’s East Coast branch. She has served as director of education, co-president, past co-president and director of membership and remains an advisor for the WJA Metro Chapter. She also previously worked at Tiffany & Co., where her last position was as the senior colored gemstone buyer.
For more information on the upcoming WJA chapter speed mentoring event, or to register, visit http://www.womensjewelryassociation.com/. Inquires can be sent to Maria Tsangaropoulos at marialmt-at-live.com or Hayley Henning at hayleyhenning-at-hotmail.com.
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