Jewelry Designer Shares How She Built A Million-Dollar Brand Online

By Avanti Tolbert

In the United States, the total value of the jewelry industry is approximately $70 billion and growing. Bringing in at least $1 million dollars of that amount is Nazlia Yunus, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who began with only a passion and a plan for all of the greatness that the world of jewelry had to offer.

Born in New Jersey, but raised in Houston, Texas, Yunus was introduced to the notion of responsibility and independence at a young age following her parents’ divorce. “My parents got divorced when I was 8 or 9,” Yunus explained. “When my parents divorced, I didn’t have to go to work, [but] I had to take care of my brothers [and] hold everything together and make sure they [were] doing okay and everything. I just had to help my mom out a lot [because she was raising] three kids by herself. I think this [contributed to] my lifestyle now after having all of [those] responsibilities that she gave me. It was like second nature to me.”

While in college, she said her main goal “was to go to school, graduate and then go to med school.” However, she realized she actually had a knack for jewelry designing, something she did as a child. She began to make and sell jewelry online as a hobby, but business started picking up, so much so it began to interfere with her health and studies at University of Houston.

After recognizing her ability to tackle great amounts of responsibility and work independently, Yunus turned the “second nature” skills into first nature capabilities when she founded her popular, home-based jewelry business, Chvker (pronounced Choker).

The stylish brand, which features affordable, accessory items ranging from necklaces and earrings to chokers and hair barrettes, all designed by Yunus, generates millions in revenue a year. Before earning a profit, she had to learn more about business and herself. “I had to file an LLC and get all the documents needed to create a business account and learn the [difference] between it just being a hobby and being a business,” the young entrepreneur said. “[I had to] do everything the right way and be prepared, and obviously learn customer service [and how to take] care of everything instead of just doing it when I feel like it. Everything just had to be on a schedule.”

Luckily, she has been able to build a well-rounded team to assist her with the many demands that were quickly surmounting on the once one-woman venture. “Now, I have people to help with production, making the jewelry and packaging, and customer service,” Yunus mentioned. “But, I go beyond that and venture out. I have more people on the team, like a graphic designer and [people] like that, but otherwise, everything else is me.

Along with her team, Yunus also has Instagram popularity to thank for her success. With nearly 240,000 followers, the young CEO is embracing the digital age and using the popular outlet to effectively promote her brand. “[Using Instagram for promotion] was honestly really hard at first,” she said. “You just have to be really consistent with the followers. They come in slow but it truly adds up, and over the years, I sent product samples to influencers and that’s one really big thing for gaining followers, or [if] a picture does really well on Instagram you can gain more followers if it pops up on the Explore page. Then, once you get bigger, it’s super easy. We can probably get like 1000 followers in like one or two days if we post really good content.”

Her popularity on the social network has managed to grab the attention—and clientele—of young icons such as Cierra Ramirez, Alexa Demie and mega k-pop stars, Tiffany Young and Jennie Ruby Jane. “I think there are really no words to describe the [the feeling I get when I see people wearing my jewelry because it’s just really cool,” Yunus explained. “It’s just so much pure joy. It’s something that you created, and people actually like it, and they have nice things to say, and they want to wear it, and I just get a lot of like happiness and joy from it.”

Because Yunus does find so much joy in her business, she doesn’t much mind that she doesn’t get to “hang out” and participate in a lot of “activities” with her family and friends very often. “I truly enjoy working,” Yunus said. “I think that’s what I do for fun. It is possible to have fun time and hang out with friends and stuff once in a while.”

In fact, she added, “I can’t imagine anything else. I think being busy is the best thing in the world. I don’t like having free time. I don’t want to sit there and think, ‘hey, what can I do today?’ I want to keep myself busy, occupied.”

With a plan to expand her current jewelry business to include clothes within the next few years, “busy” and “occupied” are accurate adjectives for the self-made entrepreneur to describe herself. “I hope I can get into clothing one day,” she stated. “I really like presenting designs.”

Given her success thus far, launching a clothing business doesn’t sound like a bad idea for Yunus. With continued hard work and dedication, her brand will continue to thrive and prosper, and she seems to have a great following rooting for her success.