WHATEVER INDUSTRY NICHE THEY OCCUPY, they are increasingly called upon to navigate a changing retail environment influenced by the Internet, and they tend to seek each other out in an effort to share and learn.

The jewelry industry is a fragmented momand-pop kind of industry with a certain way of thinking about business," says Russell Kwiat, a 30-year-old partner with Kwiat. "We need to adapt to a changing environment and a modern environment. My generation is living and breathing the Internet and socialnetworking sites. So certainly we can be more aligned and attuned to the new customer."

There is a sense that the industry overall is becoming less secretive and more collaborative, due in part to the changing notions of privacy associated with social networking.

Mario Macias, 30, founder of the 188-member Young Jewelers Association and a diamond dealer with Atlantic Diamonds, sees barriers crashing all around him. "The old-school mentality is you just don't talk to anybody," Macias says. "We do share a lot of information, and I think the industry's better for it."

Megan Thorne, 29, a designer in Fort Worth, TX, has found support among her peers. "It's better for all of us whenever someone grows and does better." People launching their careers or their businesses are likely to want to learn from one another, she says. "The newer your company, the more collaborative you are, the more you are hoping to connect with other people."

Michael Schechter, 30, director of digital marketing for his family business, Honora in New York, is a board member of Gen-Next Jewelers. One goal of the networking group, he says, is to bridge the conversational gap between manufacturers and retailers. "There are a lot of challenges facing our industry," Schechter says. "The more open conversations we have, the better off we're going to be. It would be ridiculous to say it's only for people of a certain age or at a certain position. It's open to anyone who wants to have a conversation about the direction of the industry."

Kwiat of New York, a founding member of Gen-Next Jewelers, says he hopes the group can work together to shape the industry. "I'd like Gen-Next to become the conversational medium for the new generation of people who will run or be influential in the businesses, the best thinkers in our industry. We can be the voice of the industry," Kwiat says.

The Young Jewelers Association, organized as a local group by Chicagobased Macias, has gone global due to the ease of Internet communication. "We keep in touch through Facebook and we pick each other's brains," Macias says. "Officially, the age cap is 35, but we take anyone willing to think in a different manner."

Macias says because young jewelers often work for someone else, it may be difficult to meet other "worker bees" without such a group. "The YJA provides an atmosphere where you can do face-to-face social networking, fostering new friendships and business partners for the future," Macias says.

Erik Halfacre, 30-year-old president of Traditional Jewelers in Newport Beach and Malibu, CA, says that he and his contemporaries who grew up in family businesses have long sought out one another at industry events, creating an informal support group. "We may see each other four or five or six times a year and can cement deeprooted friendships and build those relationships into business relationships, too," he says. "It's nice to have a sounding board. We all deal with the same end consumer, so it's important to know the wholesale side, too."

For designers, a changing environment has already had an impact. "I'm the worst when it comes to new ways of communicating; when it comes to Twitter and all that stuff, I am probably like an 80-year-old woman," Thorne says. "But I notice that many jewelers are growing their brands that way, getting customers still in their teens." Having young leadership is no guarantee a business will be immersed in Internet sales and marketing. The usual obstacles still exist.

Halfacre says his company is "putting a toe in the water" of nontraditional marketing. He knows more needs to be done, but it requires a strategy and a time commitment. "It's something you can't fake, so if you are going to do it, you have to do it right," he says.

In addition, few people in traditional brick-and-mortar stores, no matter their age, want to risk what has been a successful business model in favor of e-commerce. "The challenge for the jewelry industry," Halfacre says, "is to find a happy medium."

That is one theme Gen-Next Jewelers frequently discusses.

"We are trying to figure it out," Schechter says. "How do we keep the relationships we have but make sure that our industry doesn't get left behind?"

ERIK HALFACRE, 30, president of Traditional Jewelers in Newport Beach and Malibu, CA, practically was born in the family store. "People tell me they remember seeing me in the baby swing," says Halfacre, whose parents and extended family founded the business. At age 16, he was asked to deliver a $50,000 necklace to a customer in Santa Barbara. Worried about driving three hours with a new driver's license and a piece that valuable, he took two puddle-jumper planes and a cab instead.

But he didn't always work in the business.

"I was leery of coming into the business at such a young age, so my first job out of college was doing internships at other places," he recalls. "So it wasn't just ‘Here's the owner's son; hand him the keys.' When I came in here it was at the bottom of the pickle barrel, so to speak, and I worked my way up."

Nearly three years ago, Erik's dad, Marion, died suddenly at age 58. Erik worked with his family to get through that tough time, soon exacerbated by what he characterizes as the worst economy in the history of time.

"To go through these rough waters and come through them is my proudest moment in the business. I got married the year my father passed and experienced the birth of my first child. There's been a lot of growing up I've had to do to earn trust."

To navigate the recession, Halfacre has gone more aggressively after the bridal market than in years past. He's also streamlined inventory. "I most enjoy the interaction with people. To be in sales, to do what we do, is a people business. I want to be out on the floor and be the extrovert that I am, not sit in a cubicle somewhere and crunch numbers."

 

"When I came in here it was at the bottom of the pickle barrel, and I worked my way up."

---

Russell Kwiat, 30, hit the road after college. But it wasn't to backpack across Europe. He became a road warrior for Kwiat, his family business.

"I got out on the road and started calling on accounts and began really understanding the retail side of things," Kwiat recalls. "It brought a whole new perspective. A lot of it was being managed from the office and decisions were being made by people who had only a broad understanding of retail. "

Kwiat had a much better understanding of the business when he returned to settle down in New York. He was well equipped to put together a stronger distribution network as a result.

Looking back even now, he thinks, it would be tough to live that lifestyle. "I didn't have much responsibility in the office. I'm married now and I wasn't at the time."

These days, as a partner, he primarily handles sales and wholesale distribution.

Joining the family business was always a possibility, but he pursued a liberal-arts education, studying history at the University of Pennsylvania, while considering law school. "I didn't really receive too much pressure from the family. One of the summers, my senior year in high school, I worked here full-time and started playing with the diamonds, holding them, and I fell in love with diamonds. When I actually began to touch and feel the product, that's when I said to myself, "This is what I want to do."

Kwiat is one of five family members in the fourth generation of the business and a founding member of Gen-Next Jewelers. He's also active in Court Appointed Special Advocates, a charity sponsored by Jewelers for Children, which shepherds kids through the foster system and helps them find permanent homes.

---

FOR MICHAEL SCHECHTER, 30, of Honora in New York City, the jewelry industry is one big family. And although he was born into it, he knew by age 12, it waswhere he belonged.

"I watched my grandfather and my father, and I wanted to be a part of that," he says. "I do love how tightknit our industry is. The same people my father came up with acted as mentors to me. It's an industry of family businesses. We, as an industry, are a giant family business, in some respects."

Officially, he joined the business at 19 after graduating from the GIA.

"I started in operations, learning the soup to nuts of how product moves," he says.

Now, as director of digital marketing, he oversees the company's Web presence, from honora.com to e-mail marketing and social networking. He has nearly 4,000 followers on Twitter and is active on Facebook.

"Who we are as a company is expressed by what we do on the Web," he says. "It's a real pleasure to oversee that and connect with the people who are passionate about our pearls," he says.

He creates goodwill by thanking everyone who mentions the company on Facebook or Twitter.

Honora got its feet wet in the world of online promotion by starting a blog that included information about freshwater pearls, Honora's designer and how he chooses color combinations, and even how to find the perfect earring look — essentially, anything customers might be interested in (not "buy this now!" content). "It doesn't have to be about your brand always," he says. "It's about building community and having fun."

To reach young consumers, Schechter says, it's important to "fish where they fish."

In other words, become more familiar with the technologies and how they buy. Make sure the demographic is represented in your staff, too. And above all, talk to them.

"Guessing what they want rather than talking to them about what they want doesn't work. We want to evolve our products to meet their needs."

We are thrilled and honored that Instore Magazine featured three of the founding members of Gen-Next Jewelers in their "Future 12 Elements: A Generation Of Rising Young Stars" article in the April '10 issue of Instore Magazine.

Be sure to click the link above to visit Instore's site and read the full piece.

Read more Jewelry Industry News at the Gen-Next Jewelers website