How Akshie Jhaveri Built Grown Brilliance Into a $130 Million Jewelry Brand

Most founders who enter a young, misunderstood category spend their early years explaining themselves. Akshie Jhaveri took a different route. When she launched Grown Brilliance in 2021, lab-grown diamonds were mostly sold on spec sheets and price comparisons, and plenty of retailers hedged their bets by keeping one foot in the mined-diamond world. She went the other way, treating the stones as a creative medium and betting that design, not discounting, would be what made customers stay.

Four years later, she’s running an omnichannel brand doing roughly $130 million a year, with retail stores spreading across the country and customers coming back for their second and third pieces. We wanted to understand how she got there, what she protected along the way, and where she thinks a lot of founders go wrong when a good idea starts to scale. Here’s our conversation.

How much revenue and profit does the business generate?

Grown Brilliance generates approximately $130 million in annual revenue. We are a privately held company, so we do not publicly disclose profit figures.

Tell us about yourself and your business.

I’m a third-generation jeweler, a GIA graduate in jewelry design and diamond grading, and the Founder and Creative Director of Grown Brilliance. I have spent more than 25 years in the jewelry industry, working across sourcing, product development, retail, and brand building. That experience gave me a clear understanding of both the emotional significance of jewelry and the operational discipline required to build a successful business.

I founded Grown Brilliance to create a new kind of fine jewelry company centered on lab grown diamonds, thoughtful design, and exceptional craftsmanship. We offer engagement rings, wedding bands, fashion jewelry, high jewelry, and personalized design services through grownbrilliance.com and our growing network of retail stores across the United States. Our customer is someone who appreciates beautiful design and wants jewelry that feels expressive, meaningful, and relevant to the way she lives today.

As Founder and Creative Director, I remain closely involved in product design, brand positioning, retail experience, online customer experience, and creative strategy. My goal has always been to build more than a jewelry business. I wanted to create a brand that helps women see diamonds as a form of art, self-expression, and personal storytelling.

How does your business make money?

Grown Brilliance is an omnichannel fine jewelry business. We generate revenue through direct sales on grownbrilliance.com and through our retail stores across the United States. Our product categories include engagement rings, wedding bands, diamond fashion jewelry, high jewelry, and selected specialty offerings.

We also offer services that allow customers to personalize their jewelry, including Design Studio and GB Custom. These experiences are an important part of the business because they combine product with expertise and create a deeper relationship with the customer.

What was your inspiration for starting the business?

I saw a meaningful gap in the market. Grown Brilliance started in 2021 as one of the first pure lab-grown diamond retailers in the U.S. 

Lab grown diamonds were becoming more widely available, but the category was still being presented primarily through price and technical specifications, along with the fact that most retailers were afraid to stand behind this category 100%. They all offered mined and natural diamonds in smaller total weights and diamond sizes, whereas GB offered them in high total weights (like 10-12ct eternity rings and high jewelry), which didn’t exist in the market. I believed there was an opportunity to build a true design-led jewelry brand around them.

My inspiration was to create jewelry that felt emotionally significant, beautifully made, and to be enjoyed by a much larger customer base. I wanted customers to choose lab-grown diamonds not simply because they offered value, but because the designs, quality, and brand experience genuinely spoke to them. They could actually have fun with diamonds without having to break the bank or wait for their next big milestone.

How and when did you launch the business?

Grown Brilliance launched in September of 2021 as a direct-to-consumer digital business. We began by focusing on a strong online assortment, compelling product design, and an easy customer experience.

As the brand grew, we expanded into physical retail because jewelry is highly personal and many customers want to see, try on, and compare pieces in person. That evolution from an online business into a national omnichannel brand has been one of the most important chapters in our growth.

How did you find your first few clients or customers?

Our first customers found us online. We focused on introducing the brand through digital marketing, strong product imagery, education, and a customer-friendly shopping experience. In a category where trust matters enormously, every detail had to reassure the customer, from the quality of the diamonds to the information on the website and the service they received after purchasing.

We also listened closely to early customer feedback. Those first interactions helped us understand which designs resonated, what questions customers had about lab-grown diamonds, and where the experience could be improved. Word of mouth, repeat purchases, and customer referrals became increasingly important as the brand grew.

What was your first year in business like?

The first year was intense, fast-moving, and incredibly hands-on. I was involved in every part of the business, including product, merchandising, creative direction, customer experience, marketing, and operations. We were building the brand while simultaneously learning from real customer behavior.

One of the biggest priorities was earning trust in a relatively new category. We had to explain lab-grown diamonds clearly without allowing the education to overshadow the beauty and emotion of the jewelry itself. That balance shaped our brand from the beginning.

The first year also reinforced the importance of speed. We tested ideas, reviewed data, listened to customers, and made changes quickly. It was demanding, but it created the foundation for the scale we have achieved since then.

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What strategies did you use to grow the business?

Our growth came from combining creative instinct with commercial discipline. We invested in product first. The jewelry had to be beautifully designed, well made, and distinct enough to create an emotional response. We did not want to build a business that competed only on price.

We also focused heavily on trust and education. Lab-grown diamonds were still unfamiliar to many customers, so we created clear information, strong service, and a transparent shopping experience. At the same time, we made sure the brand felt aspirational and design-driven rather than overly technical.

Digital marketing allowed us to reach customers at scale, but we continually refined the creative, messaging, and product mix based on performance. We learned that education builds awareness, while close product imagery, real customer content, styling, and storytelling help customers make a purchase decision.

Retail became another major growth engine. Physical stores allow customers to experience the quality of the jewelry, receive personal guidance, and build a relationship with the brand. Our stores also give us valuable insight into what customers are asking for and how they shop.

Finally, we have remained close to the customer. We review feedback, returns, sales patterns, and store conversations. Growth is not one big decision. It is the result of making hundreds of thoughtful improvements across product, service, creative, operations, and retail.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

The biggest challenge was building trust and desire around a category that many customers did not yet fully understand. In the early days, lab-grown diamonds were often discussed only in terms of price or comparison with mined diamonds. That framing was limiting.

We had to help customers understand the product while also creating a brand strong enough to stand on its own. The answer was not more technical language. It was better design, exceptional quality, transparent communication, and a consistent customer experience. Over time, the jewelry itself became the most persuasive proof point.

What have been the most significant keys to your business’s success?

The first key has been clarity of vision. We knew we wanted to build a design-led fine jewelry brand, not simply a marketplace for lab-grown diamonds. That distinction guided every decision.

The second has been staying close to the customer. We pay attention to what customers buy, what they return, what they ask in stores, and what makes them hesitate. The third has been the ability to move quickly while protecting quality. Speed matters, but it only creates value when the product and customer experience remain strong.

Tell us about your team.

Grown Brilliance is supported by an extremely diverse and cross-functional team working across design, merchandising, sourcing, marketing, ecommerce, technology, operations, customer service, and retail. We have both corporate and store-based teams, with employees working across multiple locations.

The company is female-founded and predominantly female-led. I am proud that our team brings together deep jewelry expertise, digital experience, and strong retail talent.

What was the turning point when you knew your business was successful?

There was not one single moment, but opening stores was an important turning point. Seeing customers walk into a Grown Brilliance store, try on the jewelry, and connect with the brand in person made the business feel tangible in a new way.

Another meaningful milestone was seeing customers return for a second or third purchase. Repeat purchasing showed us that people were not simply trying lab-grown diamonds once. They were building a relationship with Grown Brilliance and adding our jewelry to the important moments in their lives.

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What is the most important lesson you have learned growing the business?

The most important lesson is that growth magnifies everything. It magnifies the strength of your product and team, but it also magnifies weak processes, unclear communication, and inconsistencies in the customer experience.

As a founder, you have to be willing to evolve. The strategy that gets a business started is not always the strategy that helps it scale. You must protect the original vision while continuously improving how the company operates.

What separates your business from your competitors?

Grown Brilliance is differentiated by the combination of design, scale, service, and accessibility. We approach lab-grown diamonds as a creative medium and build collections with a clear point of view, rather than treating the product as a commodity.

We also offer customers a complete experience across online and physical retail, from fashion jewelry and engagement rings to Design Studio, GB Custom, and high jewelry. Our goal is to meet customers at different moments in their lives while maintaining a consistent standard of quality and design.

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?

Be very clear about the problem you are solving and why your business deserves to exist. A large market is not enough. You need a distinct point of view and a customer experience that people can recognize and remember.

Listen to feedback, but do not allow every opinion to redirect the company. Founders need both openness and conviction. Know which parts of the vision are nonnegotiable and which parts should evolve based on what the customer and the business are teaching you.

What is your favorite quote?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

This quote resonates with me because building a business requires resilience. You have to celebrate progress without becoming complacent and learn from setbacks without allowing them to define you.

What are your future plans for the business?

Our future plans are centered on continuing to establish Grown Brilliance as a leading fine jewelry brand. We will keep expanding our retail presence thoughtfully, strengthening our digital experience, and developing distinctive collections across bridal, fashion jewelry, and high jewelry.

We also want to deepen the relationship with our customers through personalization, clienteling, storytelling, and exceptional service. The long-term opportunity is to build a brand that customers return to throughout their lives, not only for engagements and weddings, but for personal milestones, self-expression, and meaningful gifts.

If you had to start from scratch, where would you begin?

I would begin with the customer and the product. I would define exactly who I am serving, what is missing from her current experience, and why my product deserves her attention.

Then I would build the smallest possible version of the business that allows me to learn. I would test the product, listen carefully, and improve quickly before adding complexity. Strong fundamentals are more valuable than early scale. Once customers genuinely love what you are creating, growth becomes much more sustainable.

What are some of your favorite books, blogs, podcasts, or YouTube channels?

I am constantly looking at fashion, art, architecture, travel, retail, and culture for inspiration. One of my all-time favorite books is “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek. The book emphasizes my belief that people don’t buy products; they buy ideas. I also regularly read Business of Fashion, Women’s Wear Daily, and jewelry industry publications, and I enjoy founder interviews and business podcasts that explore how companies build enduring brands. My podcasts need to be short (due to my travel time to work), which is why I listen to The Economist daily capsules to keep me updated on the world around me.