necklaces

Katie Bilodeau is the President of Ring Concierge, the leading luxury jeweler committed to designing forever pieces that are both inspirational and obtainable. 

Katie began her time at Ring Concierge as a consultant in 2017 and became President of the company in 2020 working closely with Nicole Wegman, Founder & CEO, to strategize and manage overall company initiatives. 

Katie's focus is on overall company strategic direction, including oversight of the operational, employee and financial departments ensuring maximum efficiency and a scalable platform for growth. 

Prior to her time with Ring Concierge, Katie worked in the Human Resources department as a Business Partner at Barclays Capital Investment Bank and later working at King Street Capital Management. 

After leaving King Street Capital Management, Katie began consulting on her own with various startups helping with their business strategy from a human capital standpoint. 

As a 2009 Clemson University alum, her Bachelor’s in Business Management with an emphasis in Human Resource provided her the extensive knowledge and in depth understanding of how imperative the human capital strategy is to the foundation of any company.

In This Conversation We Discuss: 

• [00:00] Intro
• [00:58] What is Ring Concierge?
• [03:49] Customer feedback led Ring Concierge to D2C
• [04:22] Ring Concierge 2.0 and when Katie stepped in
• [06:06] Selling other brands to selling their own products
• [08:16] In-house products for better margins
• [08:50] Engagement rings vs fine jewelry sales
• [10:11] From organic to social media
• [12:58] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io/connect
• [13:55] Sponsor: JSON-LD For SEO jsonld.app
• [15:12] Sponsor: Retention.com retention.com/honest
• [16:08] Did Ring Concierge incentivize word-of-mouth?
• [16:28] Ideal customer for Ring Concierge’s bespoke side
• [18:05] Marketing to 2 different customers
• [19:11] The challenges that Ring Concierge faced
• [21:35] Hiring is really crucial for business growth
• [22:31] Where to find Ring Concierge

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Fine jewelry for women, by women ringconcierge.com/collections/fine-jewelry
• Follow Ring Concierge on Instagram @ringconcierge
• Connect with Katie linkedin.com/in/katieorourke
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Get your free structured data audit for your store jsonld.app
• Book your demo today and get 20% off the annual commitment fee retention.com/honest

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Jennie is the Founder & CEO of Kinn, a Los Angeles based jewelry company offering modern heirlooms meant to last a lifetime. 

Kinn offers a range of fine jewelry all made with 100% solid and recycled gold. All materials are sourced locally in Los Angeles. 

Previously employee #1 at Casetify, Jennie dived into the jewelry industry after her family's home was robbed and all heirlooms stolen. 

In seeking to replace some of her parents' precious heirlooms, she learned the jewelry industry was one that lacked transparency and had deep markups. 

Through Kinn, she sought a transparent solution that cut out the middleman and left consumers with modern heirlooms they can keep for years to come.

In This Conversation We Discuss: 

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:09] What are Kinn’s products
• [01:37] Where the idea of Kinn started
• [04:00] From passion project to a business
• [05:31] Jennie’s Ecom background helping her
• [06:15] Learn Ecom before starting a company?
• [07:49] You can never know unless you try
• [08:52] How Kinn moved out from contacts to marketing
• [11:53] The offer they had for the Refinery29 piece
• [13:21] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io
• [13:42] Sponsor: Mesa apps.shopify.com/mesa
• [14:29] Sponsor: Wayflyer wayflyer.com/ecomm/honest
• [15:42] Sponsor: Loop loopreturns.com/honest
• [16:35] Sponsor: Klaviyo klaviyo.com/honest
• [17:24] Kinn’s avenues for retention and acquisition
• [19:49] Starting on paid ads later in the journey
• [21:02] Take guidebooks with a grain of salt
• [22:58] Looking at competitors might not be productive
• [23:10] Be honest to why you exist as a brand
• [25:33] Find good people to work with
• [26:22] Don’t cut corners
• [26:47] Hire experienced people when starting out
• [27:22] Where to find Kinn products?

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Modern heirlooms, made to last a lifetime kinnstudio.com
• Follow Kinn on Instagram @kinnstudio
• Connect with Jennie linkedin.com/in/yoonicorn
• Scale your business with electriceye.io
• Download Mesa at the Shopify App Store apps.shopify.com/mesa
• Funding a better way wayflyer.com/ecomm/honest
• Transform your returns into exchanges loopreturns.com/honest
• Get started with a free account at klaviyo.com/honest

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

This week, Sarah and Mary discuss their take-aways from several ridiculous headlines and trending topics, sharing some hilarious personal tales as well. Sarah has had enough with creeps and their entitlement and wonders how exactly a socially “criminal” act should be punished. Mary shares a story about a time she received a text message that was hard to swallow. The co-hosts are on the exact same page when it comes to stealing necklaces from dead people -- it’s a hard NO.

Subscribe, follow, like, and review wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and join us on Patreon. 

sarahcolonna.com  
maryradzinski.com  

© 2020-2021 Are You My Podcast?

Becky McKinnell is a female entrepreneur who is celebrating 15 years of business with iBec Creative, a full-service digital agency located in Portland, Maine, and has launched a side hustle called Wildwood Oyster Company. She was gifted a leather hide from her sister which turned into the first concept of her popular handbag. Her inspiration comes from the Maine coast with the smell of salt air and the delicious oysters she grows in Casco Bay. Not only does she tell me how she went about producing her beautiful products, she gives me a 101 lesson on how to start an oyster farm! Tune in to hear more about Becky McKinnell and how she gets down with her craft.

To find Wildwood Oyster Company products you can visit their website . Feel free to follow them on Facebook and Instagram to get updates on new products and promotions. Also, check out Becky's full-service digital agency, iBec Creative.

Also please check out my featured Maine musician, Neal Jandreau, and his full track of Ashamed and the rest of his In Retrospect album on iTunes. 

If you enjoyed this Makers of the USA episode, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Facebook. Please check out Makers of the USA's YouTube channel, Facebook and Instagram. Thank you all and stay safe and healthy.

Welcome to episode 23 with your host this week, Lori Ann Bailey, who takes us on a tour of the history of personal adornments, wedding rings, and mourning jewelry.

Have history, book or wine question you want us to answer in a future show?

Email us! historybooksandwine@gmail.com

This episode was paired with:

 Bota Box – Cabernet Sauvignon 

Fun things I talked about:

The Art of Mourning: https://artofmourning.com/?doing_wp_cron=1563201276.0793230533599853515625

What I read this week:

Sidney Sheldon’s Tides of Memory by Tilly Bagshawe: https://amzn.to/2XOFIjY

My book (available online where books are sold!):

Highland Redemption: https://amzn.to/2LRPniD

Our Websites-- find our links to social media on our websites and sign up for our newsletters!

Lori Ann Bailey

Eliza Knight

Madeline Martin

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Stay tuned for our next shows!

 July 25th: Eliza Knight on Shoes Through History

August 1st: Next Happy Hour - All About Historical Accessories

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All that glitters isn't gold. Sometimes it's silver or copper or platinum or electrum. Or mica or pyrite. Ugh. Pyrite. Worst rock.