July 3, 2014 Page 3 Brenda Newman Loves Her Job and Her Community Early 1970s, Westchester: a sixteenyearold girl is dusting cases and sweeping the floors of DeLuca’s Jewelry. She is in a workstudy program and this is the job she was assigned. She is not allowed to touch the jewelry, but she watches as customers come in and out, as they interact with the jewelers. Her name is Brenda: she is a junior at El Segundo High School and she loves team sports and waterskiing. She doesn’t know yet that this little job will shape the course of her life. Cut to present day: in the middle of a sentence, Brenda Newman stops talking. She is looking at something over my shoulder and I turn, too: a woman has come into the Jewelry Source, Brenda’s beautiful glassfronted store on Main Street. Even though Newman has patiently been answering all my questions, she has also been tracking all the customers that come in and has noticed that this woman has no one helping her. This woman has purchased a vintage engagement ring online, but she isn’t sure if it is totally genuine. It has a thirty-day return period: if she brings the ring to Brenda, will she take a look at it? Of course, says Newman. Bring it in and we’ll verify its authenticity. The woman looks relieved. “I trust you guys,” she says. Sum total time of the interaction: maybe a minute, and yet it’s as important as someone looking to buy. Trust is a commodity hardwon and easily lost, and Newman has spent thirty years in El Segundo cultivating a trustworthy reputation. In 1984 she went into business with her partner, Roanne Mahoney, an artist who designed custom jewelry. Their first store on West Grand Avenue was only 84 square feet, and business was slow at first. The partners’ idea was not to be some kind of retail jeweler with a hundred interchangeable pieces: the Jewelry Source was, from the start, a boutique store that worked closely with customers to create unique designs. The Jewelry Source employs a master carver who can create any design from wax, which then can be cast in metal and set with gems. Newman spent six months as a resident at the Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica, learning to grade and identify gems which she sourced herself, traveling to trade shows and wholesalers in and outside the United States. But selling jewelry is not just about rocks and metal: it’s about connection. Customers want something exceptional, and the jewelry they buy is deeply special to them and can be passed down through generations. This idea is very important to her; in 2001 she accepted a volunteer assignment to restore jewelry from the 9/11 plane crashes. Her work ensured that the loved ones of the passengers could receive over a hundred items, such as wedding rings and watches, in the best condition that was possible. When they first started out, Newman and Mahoney faced the obstacle that all new businesses face: obscurity. Mahoney would wear their designs to parties as free advertising, and Newman joined every networking association that she could think of in those pre-internet days. The business always came first. She woke up, worked all day, fell into bed at night, and got up the next morning to start all over again. The idea of a family fell by the wayside; promoting the jewelry and networking with business associates took up all of her time. She noted that, back in the early 80s as it was, women many times felt like they had to make the choice between work and family. The business was her baby: the first 84 feet grew into a larger store, and Newman moved again to Main Street when the business grew again. She constantly faces challenges like the recession, the rising prices of gold, keeping up with changing tastes in jewelry, and the proliferation of internet sites that promise beauty and authenticity and low low prices. She has a website where customers can view some inventory examples, but stresses that “It’s even more important to have a brick-and-mortar . . . you don’t want to buy online, because it’s like a giant retail mall out there on the internet.” It all comes back to trust and expertise. El Segundo is more than her place of work: it’s her home and her community. She recalls Brenda Newman, owner of the Jewelry Source in El Segundo, which has been in business since 1984, stands in front of her Gemological Institute of America certifications. Photo courtesy of Brenda Newman. her grandmother, a hairstylist, doing business at her salon on Richmond Street that her husband (Brenda’s grandfather) had built, cutting hair to support four children. “I spent my childhood there. My grandmother always worked, so she was a great example . . . [she was] an independently single woman.” Her mother stayed home with two children and didn’t go back to work until Newman was in high school, when she started a successful career as a sales director with Mary Kay cosmetics. Newman looks at those influential women as her mentors, examples of strongmindedness and business acumen. She has cultivated strong ties to the community; currently she serves on the board of the Education Foundation, is the president of the California Jewelers Association, and presides over the city planning commission. Even though it’s a tiny slip of a town, Newman emphatically says, “This community deserves to have fabulous nice places to shop. . . . We deserve nice things here . . . great restaurants, and good shops.” Working in the retail jewelry trade isn’t the kind of thing you necessarily go to school for. Newman advocates “the school of hard knocks” to help foster success for young people wanting to get into the business. “I have this theory,” she continues, “that every single person at one point in their lives should work retail. It teaches you, in a few quick interactions, some of the best and toughest lessons. Learning how to interact and get along with others in a professional environment, all the while ... representing a product or a brand, with your only goal to make the consumer happy ... can be quite revealing for anyone who wishes to know more about themselves.” That’s definitely something they don’t teach you in college. For those young people who like the sparkles and want to know more, a part time job in a jewelry store would be especially helpful. There are so many sides to the business: retail, artistic, wholesale, manufacturing, working with stones or metal or designing with a customer. And if a young person needed advice, I believe they couldn’t do better than to walk over to the Jewelry Source, pet a friendly dog, look at the beautiful merchandise, and ask Brenda Newman a question or two. She remembers what it’s like not to know. • HAPPY BIRTHDAY… ...to us!!!!!!! Celebrating 30 years!!! Celebrate with us… don’t miss the last few days of the grand finale of our March promotion a whopping selected merchandise as part of our March promotion ENDS SAT MARCH 29th The Jewelry Source 337 Main Street. El Segundo. 310-322-7110 www.jewelrysourceusa.com 40% off Come in for a free inspection and cleaning. We’ll make sure your diamond is safe. Anytime. Anywhere. Any day... That’s when you can count on State Farm® I know life doesn’t come with a schedule. That’s why at State Farm, you can always count on me for whatever you need - 24/7, 365. GET TO A BETTER STATE™ CALL ME TODAY. Remon Wasfi, Agent Lic. #0G55778 432 Main Street, El Segundo CA 90245 Office: 310-322-1132 Fax: 310-640-1057 Email: remon.wasfi.k0w3@statefarm.com RemonRemarkableInsurance.com
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