WJA Foundation Announces Grant Winners
They include recipients of the WJA Carelle Grant, WJA Veteran’s Grant, and chapter member grants.

Dawn Grady, designer of Junebug Jewelry Designs, is the recipient of the Carelle/WJA Member Grant.
The grant was created 10 years ago in honor of Brooke Tivol McGrath. Born into the Tivol jewelry family in Kansas City, Missouri, Tivol McGrath’s career took her to New York City, though she didn’t stray far from the family profession.
She worked as the director of strategic merchandising and product development at Carelle, her dream job, until her death at age 28.
Carelle has upped the grant in Tivol McGrath’s honor to $7,500 from its previous $5,000.
It has also shifted the focus to help a jewelry professional who has been in business for at least five years, with the grant meant to be used as an investment in technology, such as ecommerce, digital education, or machinery.
Recipient Grady is a mostly self-taught designer who uses ancient and modern metalsmithing techniques to create mixed metal pieces for Junebug Jewelry Designs.
Launched about a decade ago, Junebug features styles made of copper, Argentium silver, and gemstones. She sells online and at her storefront in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rikiesha Metzger, the creator behind Rikiesha’s Adornments, is the recipient of the WJA Foundation’s 2021 Veteran’s Grant.

Awarded in partnership with Jewelers Mutual Insurance Group, the $5,000 grant supports a jewelry or watch professional who is a United States military veteran.
Metzger is a Ph.D. student in visual arts at the Institute for Doctoral Studies. The artist, student, teacher, and sculptor has been making jewelry for about 15 years, including earrings and small figurine art objects.
Metzger says wire is her favorite material to work with. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., she earned an M.A. in community arts from Maryland Institute College of Art, a B.A. from Morgan State University in fine arts, and a B.S. from NC Agricultural and Technical State University in electronics technology.
WJA also awards annual grants to members of its nationwide chapters.
Last year, it awarded six additional WJA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Member Grants for Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color applicants and/or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual + applicants.
In total, recipients by chapter are:
• Austin: Hima Yalamanchili
• Boston: Martha Seely
• Chicago: Nancy Hudson, Viviana Langhoff, Nora McCarthy
• Dallas: Gayla Moores
• DC/MD/VA: Catherine Rudacille
• Las Vegas: Michelle Walden Fink
• Los Angeles: Bevelyn Esparza, Lauren McCawley
• Miami: Tracey Arrington, Tiffany Joachim
• NY Metro: Brecken Branstrator, Olga Gonzalez, Jih Ha, Jodi Innerfield, Elyssa Jenkins Pérez, Delphine Leymarie
• No Chapter Nearby: Benicia Broeker, Heather Younger Morton
• Northern California: Kate Eickelberg, Olivia Shih, Alisa Thorp, Creek Van Houten
• Ohio/Kentucky: Katherine Cotterill, Andrea Koenig
• Philadelphia: Carly Kent
• San Diego: Jennifer DeMoro, Niki Grandics, Christine Lopez, Charlyn Olver
• Seattle: Megan Martin, Jolica Taguiped
• Twin Cities: Dawn Bruggeman, Liz Stingl-Griggs
The Latest

Gemologists have long used machines in diamond grading but technology has made it possible for them to “learn” how to do it on their own.

Supplier Spotlight Sponsored by IGI

Watch retailers Jeffery Bolling and Bobby Bengivengo discuss employee training, customer education and the sticky subject of future value.

The most trusted diamond report, available in print or the GIA App.

The company has plans to revamp the Movado brand and offer less expensive watches this year.


Set with a 118-carat unheated Sri Lankan sapphire, it just sold for $3.4 million at Phillips jewelry auction in Hong Kong.

Sponsored by Noam Carver

Navigate origin determination with Continuing Education seminars offered by the GIA Alumni Collective™.

As cybercrime incidents threaten the industry, jewelers need to know what they’re up against and the best ways to protect their businesses.

The Pittsburgh jeweler is redoing the lighting and showcases, and adding a full hospitality bar as well as new shop-in-shops.

The Yurman Family Crystalline Pass is inside the museum’s brand-new Richard Gilder Center.

Zale has more than 40 years’ experience in the diamond industry, including 17 years as Stuller’s VP of diamonds and gemstones procurement.

National Jeweler’s senior editor covering fashion, trends, and design highlights the latest looks in the market.

From what ChatGPT is to how to use it, this is the explainer tailored to jewelers.

The D-color, internally flawless, Type IIa stone will be offered without reserve.

When it comes to pricing jewelry repairs, you should start by asking a simple question about the piece at hand, Peter Smith writes.

The industry veteran will serve as the diamond jewelry supplier’s head of business development.

He is the company’s new senior vice president of sales and business development.
The Tennessee school’s CAD Academy is now offering training in Gemvision’s MatrixGold software.

Blackstone is buying the 80 percent stake in the lab owned by a Chinese company as well as the 20 percent held by the Lorie family.

In a collection of Q&As, key players give insight on supply, demand, the importance of origin, and whether the “Color of the Year” matters.

The company confirmed it will be combining the auctions for the fifth and sixth sales cycles into one.

Among other changes, Stanley Zale, the former vice president of diamonds and gemstones, is leaving the company after 17 years.

One new addition was announced at the Conclave membership breakfast.

The 28-piece collection is the largest to be offered at auction.

The deal could be signed as early as this weekend, according to a report by The Economic Times.

It’s an ultra-luxurious version of the designer’s signature style.