by: Riya Chaturvedi
Kendra Scott is an extremely successful jewelry brand worn and sold all over the world. The brand, much like others, rose from humble beginnings and hard work from a dedicated team of designers, staff, and of course Kendra Scott. This team of dedicated designers put Kendra Scott, the brand, on the map.
Denise Chumlea is the Vice President of design at Kendra Scott and she has been involved in the company since it began, working closely with Kendra, forming the excellent designs we all know today. Here are some questions with Denise!!
1. In your words what do you describe the Brand Kendra Scott as?
I would describe the brand as a brand that exudes confidence with an expressive lively customer base that loves jewelry. There is something for everyone. Our products range from all ages and our customers go all the way from 18-80!
2. What inspired you to pursue a career as a jewelry designer?
Growing up in high school, I was inspired by making jewelry with bead boards, and I found myself in love with the process of creating pieces with different colors and different shapes that inspired me. I went to the University of Texas and got a degree in marketing, but I continued to expand my interest in jewelry by creating a small jewelry business while I was in school. After I graduated I met Kendra when she was just getting started with only 6 employees. We instantly connected and she grew with the brand from 6 to 2,000 employees. I always knew I wanted to do something with design, but I am glad I got a degree from college to enhance my experience and skills in the industry that definitely worked in my favor.
3. Did you always know you were interested in jewelry design or were you also passionate about other areas of design as well?
When I was in high school, it was definitely in my year book that I wanted to be a fashion designer and was most likely to become one too. But, when I started that business in college, I realized my love for jewelry design and I was so intrigued by how jewelry was always the completion of a look, adding so much as well.
4. What's a day in the life for you at work?
I am the VP of design, but I am also involved in the marketing team as it ties into my background. My role goes from product conceptions all the way to the customer receiving the product. My days vary from finalizing a collection that launches 6 months from now; whereas another day I could be training the field on our designs, collection, trends, and inspiration. Sometimes I am at photoshoots (now virtual) where I help style clothing with the jewelry. We also have a team of 9 other designers that report to me that bring the collections to life with Kendra and our senior director as well.
5. When you're working creatively what's your inspiration to get you out of a rut?
I would read our sales data and understand what our customers are asking for and what they want. We have so many different customer bases and we base a lot of our design process off of what our customers want. Kendra is the biggest customer advocate, always having the customer in mind!
6. What advice do you have for high school students who want to be in the fashion or jewelry industries?
I didn't take a direct path into design, as I took the business degree route and was able to still pursue jewelry through my small jewelry business while in school. I would say there is no one linear path to get a position in fashion, it could come from any place of interest such as: internships, experiences, practice of your skill, or networking.
7. What would you say is your proudest accomplishment?
It's my entire career at Kendra Scott. I feel like I have lived 9 lives here! From the beginning when we didn't have a lot of departments, it was me doing all of the different jobs. We learned from our mistakes and tried new things. My greatest accomplishment would be having the fortitude to continue as we were getting bigger. We were built on such a small group of women.
8. What is the greatest challenge you've faced at this job?
One of the challenges is protecting the culture of the brand. When faced with new people that are coming in with different experiences that may help us as well, we want to make sure our brand culture stays protected. In partnerships, we see how they fit into the Kendra Scott culture. We continue to want to fight to keep the brand with who we are in our roots and how we want to grow from there! We also struggle to keep our brand culture intact while adapting to new trends or the wants of the newer generations, such as dainty jewelry, while our foundations are based on color. Another challenge we face is people thinking we can only design one thing, whereas we adapt to the trends just as our customers do!
9. How has Coronavirus impacted your company in the workplace?
We are all at home and we are blessed because I live close to our office and we still have a small group of us going in to view the product. It's pretty sad because we have had a lively office, and now it's empty. The virtual aspect has been a challenge one for us. We have continued to work hard and amazing things have come from it. Our website has been so important for sales right now. Always keeping safety measures in mind when considering the state of our stores. We did a virtual market this year with the buyers in a Zoom call with our products. We usually go to New York and have a huge event, but we had to do it virtually this year.
10. What role does philanthropy play at Kendra Scott?
As one of our three core pillars, we have a shop for good page on our website where we have products that go back to different organizations and we do partnerships with different groups. We have a huge tie with philanthropy. All stores have a give back where you can partner with Kendra Scott for an organization. We also have Kendra Cares, where we go to children's hospitals and do color bars, pick the stones and shapes you want and custom-make the piece.
11. What would you say is your favorite piece?
I would say my current one is our Kia earring, a chunky hoop that's super lightweight. The reason it's my favorite is because it is so lightweight but looks big! I also love all of our Davis charms from our sterling silver collections! My third favorite is our Danielle earring, one of our iconic shapes that represents so much. It was the first time we as a design team really thought we had something special here back in 2008. It was the first shape we were truly recognized for! We owe a lot to that piece.
12. How does the design process work?
As a summary of the process. First we start over a year out with a trend casting forecast WGSN. They are a great resource for color trends, key items, and silhouettes for a guide of our design for the collection. We then start with materials and spend a lot of time innovating with them. An example is shell. We have done so many innovative things with the material. We crushed it and spinned it in resin, and now it has a glitter effect using natural materials, which customers loved. Then we tripled for dimension, and our customers loved that too. The inspiration could be from all over. Kendra loves architecture and interior design. Nature has also been a huge inspiration for us throughout the years. And again we go back to what the customers want and work with our merchandising team to analyze what has worked well in terms of sales. Then, we send it over to the manufacturers and when we get our product back, they give notes and we go back and forth until we get the perfect version of the product to mass produce. Finally, we market them and present it to our wholesale accounts. Then we just wait till the line is developed and shipped to us, and we send it out to our customers!
13. How does Kendra Scott support women's empowerment?
We just launched our WELY institute at UT. Kendra was so passionate about bringing this to the university. We will be offering courses for supporting women's entrepreneurship. I am hosting a class based on product life cycles. There is a lot coming from these classes and networking events we have done with the university. We are also looking into partnering with women's organizations in Africa, as we are interested in their beading techniques that we want to explore and teach them new skills by showing them jewelry techniques for future opportunities. We focus on women’s and children's charities especially at Kendra Scott.
14. What do you think the biggest jewelry trends for teens are this fall/ winter?
Earrings are really trendy with layering. Layering and building up to make your own look is important. For layering, check out our Addison triple strand necklaces, our Bennet double band rings, and our Kia Earrings for a lightweight gold chunky hoop.
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