aunching the Women’s Jewellery Association (WJA) in India was a special moment for me. Over the years on

my visits to the US, I had been an active participant of WJA. Never before had I seen a gathering of professional women who would mingle and help each other so passionately. I was impressed by their commitment to the cause. I was completely enamoured by the concept. I felt that India needed a platform like this.

And I was pleased to have gathered the support of fellow industry colleagues to launch the India chapter at IIJS 2010 – eminent women professionals

[ By Nirupa Bhatt, President – WJA India ]

including Nilan Singh, Bina Goenka, Vaishali Banerjee, Poonam Soni, Sucheta Kashikar, and Lubna Adams played an active role in setting it up. WJA India was the first chapter of the association outside of the US. Kendra Bridel Weinman, President, WJA US inaugurated the chapter and senior industry leaders like Vasant Mehta and Vinod Hayagriv came in to show their support.

Why WJA I am often asked? From my personal experience, I can tell you that when I joined Argyle Diamonds as Market Intelligence Officer 22 years ago, it was a challenge to network and build

Nirupa Bhatt is the managing director of the Gemological

Institute of America (GIA) for India and the

Middle East.

WJA - India Chapter Is One Year Old

Nilan Singh, founder member, WJA India, and a journalist

WJA has been quite a journey so far. It

was Nirupa’s vision to have a platform like this for the women working in this industry. Setting it up had its set of challenges. But we managed to overcome and now over the year we have held so many successful events. The journey has just about started and we still have a long way to go. But I feel we have made a positive beginning. We are gradually getting acceptance with more and more members coming into the fold. It has been a great ride so far.”

OTher WJA VOIceS

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relationships, especially for women in this male dominated industry. Though today there are a lot more women working in the industry, some of the issues and concerns persist to this day.

With WJA India, we aim to create an essential support system of peers and seniors from the industry that one can look to for guidance and direction. Participation in WJA events helps one understand the business, and allows one to interact with experienced professionals. Your ideas may find an outlet and it can take concrete shape with the guidance and vision you get from your peers. WJA is an ideal platform for those trying to gain a foothold in the industry. At the same time I find that WJA is the most ideal platform for me and many others like me to give back to the industry

what we have gained in these many years. So here we have an eclectic mix of the novice and the experienced. WJA India will become a stepping stone to success for many of its members.

To take this mission forward, we

have been constructively and regularly arranging talks and seminars by industry experts, factory visits and skill enhancement workshops over the past year.

In our latest event we invited Farah

“It was a great experience for all of us to learn from Farah. She gave them the upcoming designers the courage to believe in themselves and their ideas and a direction to cut through the clutter in the market. It was a truly inspiring and a very enlightening session indeed!”

Minoti Sable, member of managing committee and Pune-based jewellery designer

Putting down my experience with WJA in a few lines is difficult. I have

been on the committee of WJA for the last one year and it has been a wonderful experience. WJA has been a very good

platform for meeting women from the jewellery industry, networking, discussing issues, trends, learning from each other’s experiences. The informative sessions on various topics have also been great. It has been a fabulous, exciting and enriching experience and I am hoping to expand WJA to women of Pune soon. Thanks to Nirupa, this would not have been possible without her!”

OTher WJA VOIces

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design instructor at GIA, who was present at the talk, said, “It was a great experience for all of us to learn from Farah. She gave them the upcoming designers the courage to believe in themselves and their ideas and a direction to cut through the clutter in the market. It was a truly inspiring and a very enlightening session indeed!”

Previously, we had arranged a factory tour at the Tara Jewels in SEEPZ, Mumbai. Since our WJA members come from different segments of the gem and jewellery industry, including designers, manufacturers, journalists, marketing, sales, we thought a tour to a large jewellery manufacturing unit will help them know about the process of jewellery creation. WJA member Vijaya Kulkarni testified, “I want to thank WJA India for the wonderfully organized event. Visiting the

Tara Jewellery manufacturing unit was an amazing experience. We got good insight of the jewellery manufacturing processes and were enlightened with knowledge about diamond setting, jewellery making and CAD designing.”

Other events during the year included skill enhancement seminars on various gemstones, workshops on wealth creation and investment planning or a fun session on voice modulation etc. The intention of such events is to provide the members with an opportunity to learn about things related to the business directly or other aspects of their lives. Such events promote exchange of ideas, networking, creating new contacts, knowledge sharing and more.

With WJA, we also try to provide our members access to several high profile events in the industry like the TJF seminar on jewellery trends by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council. The goal is to help the members gain skills that would help them in their professional careers or their individual businesses.

With each passing day, WJA India is growing bigger and better and is trying to establish a network with all the women related to the gems and jewellery industry. We aim to create a platform for women professionals where they can help each other grow and encourage entrepreneurship. We invite all the women in business to come and join this network and benefit from it! n

Khan Ali to address members about her journey in this industry and the latest trends in jewellery design. A GIA Alumni herself, Farah spoke extensively about jewellery designing, setting up of her business and helped young budding designers understand the intricacies of the trade. Kishmish Lodha, a jewellery

Vaishali Banerjee, member of managing committee & manager India, Platinum Guild International

August 2010 saw the beginning of the

journey for the WJA in India. It’s been a year of building, getting to know so many more women from our industry, of planning, implementing and celebrating. Congratulations WJA for completing one year. Look forward to a long association.”

Other WJA VOICes

“I want to thank WJA India for the wonderfully organized event. Visiting the Tara Jewellery manufacturing unit was an amazing experience. We got good insight of the jewellery manufacturing processes and were enlightened with knowledge about diamond setting, jewellery making and CAD designing.”