The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 110, No. 17 - April 29, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................11
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................3
Legals...............................9,10
Pets......................................12
Police Reports.....................2
Real Estate.......................5-6
Sports.................................3,8
Weekend
Forecast
Always Training and Learning
in Order to Keep Our City Safe
The El Segundo Fire Department hosted a RTF-2 (Regional Task Force) mobile exercise at the NRG El Segundo Power Plant. The drill simulated a large scale earthquake impacting the South Bay. Torrance,
Downey, Montebello, Compton, Santa Fe Springs and West Covina Fire Departments assisted ESFD with searching for and rescuing victims. Photo courtesy El Segundo Fire Department.
Brenda Newman Celebrates 50 Years
of Gemology in the City of El Segundo
By Kiersten Vannest
“You are literally given twenty stones, and
you have to get one hundred percent identification
El Segundo’s Debra Sullivan
Will Not Take No for an Answer
By Duane Plank
El Segundo’s Debra Sullivan’s bio lists
her as an “actress/writer/producer.” I guess
that in 2021 the term actress has been supplanted
by the generic “actor,” so we will
go with that.
Sullivan, whose presence has graced the
environs of El Segundo for nearing three
decades, said she lives by the mantra of
“a life lived in fear…is a life half lived,”
which is a line from the movie Strictly
Ballroom,” a 1992 Australian film that
made a significant impact on the lives of
Sullivan and her husband/writing partner
Adam Marcus, and was a film that Sullivan
and Marcus viewed on one of their
initial dates.
As an actor, she has accumulated credits
in countless films, plays, television shows,
and commercials. Sullivan has notched
lead or recurring roles in Criminal Minds,
Private Practice, Big Love, ER, and Cold
Case. Her resume also features roles in the
daytime soap operas (no longer called soap
operas, Sullivan corrected me, now referred
to as daytime dramas), where she portrayed,
among other roles, a businesswoman, a
neighbor, and a hard-working OB/GYN
nurse. Among her daytime drama credits are
stints on Days of Our Lives, The Bold and
the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless.
In films, she has appeared in Conspiracy
and The Long Goodbye, amongst other
on these unknown twenty stones.”
Brenda Newman is a graduate gemologist
and the CEO of The Jewelry Source in El
Segundo. She discusses getting her education
in gemology. “It’s very difficult, but it
does set you apart,” she says. Her store is an
American Gem Society store, a title for which
less than five percent of jewelry stores in the
nation qualify.
Newman’s history with El Segundo begins
with her grandparents, who moved to the city
in the early 1940s for work at Chevron. Her
mother graduated class of ’48 and married
her father, a firefighter in the area. Growing
up in El Segundo, she began to think about
potential job prospects.
In her junior year of high school (1974),
Brenda got a job at a jewelry store. Every
working day of her life since has been spent
in the jewelry business. After working for a
couple of larger stores, and a small jeweler,
she decided she wanted to open her own
business. In the 80s, she explains, beading
was very in fashion. So she started her own
beading and repair business, selling her work
at popups in places like Nordstrom and repairing
broken jewelry.
This business, which she called The Jewelry
Source with her then business partner, grew
from an idea into eight square feet, which grew
into a 450 square foot brick and mortar, and
finally resulted in her buying the entire building
and expanding the store into what it is today.
Working with trusted partners, Newman
sells pieces that are classic and unique. She
sells everything from earrings, to necklaces, to
engagement rings. What makes her especially
noteworthy is the way that she interacts with
her guests.
Newman lives above the store. To walk
into the retail space downstairs is to see an
eclectic mix of cases, furniture, and a cozy
feel. Brenda says she didn’t like the idea of a
counter between the jeweler and the customer,
because ultimately, each piece is a collaboration.
For example, for an engagement ring, a
couple might come in and discuss with her
the center stone shape they are most drawn
to. “Everything is based around the center
stone,” she says. Then the couple will discuss
a setting that most interests them, and Newman
and her team will come up with a selection
of options for stones and settings and metals
to fit their unique wants and budget. Before
the ring actually gets made with metal, they
create a mold of it to show as an example
See Brenda Newman, page 7 Brenda Newman, owner and CEO of The Jewelry Source.
See Debra Sullivan, page 7
Friday
Sunny
76˚/58˚
Saturday
Mostly
Cloudy
70˚/58˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
65˚/57˚