About this episode

Marc Bridge interviews jewelry industry veteran Ivette Stephanopoulos about her career and insights into the emotional significance of jewelry.

For this episode of The Materialist , host Marc Bridge sits down with Ivette Stephanopoulos — a 25-year jewelry industry veteran whose career has spanned nearly every corner of the business, from retail and GIA to De Beers, Tiffany, and David Yurman. Recorded on location at the Las Vegas shows, often described as the industry’s “Super Bowl,” the conversation moves from the emotional power of an engagement ring to the unresolved tension between natural and lab-grown diamonds, and from the rise of high jewelry to why so few American brands have built lasting design-driven followings. A Career Built on Connection, Not Birthright Unlike many in the trade, Stephanopoulos didn’t grow up in a jewelry family — she fell into the industry through an early job at a small New York retailer. What kept her in it, she says, is that jewelry is fundamentally a “happy industry”: every transaction sits at the center of someone’s milestone, whether an engagement, an anniversary, or a personal celebration. Looking back across her stops at GIA, De Beers, Tiffany, and David Yurman, she describes each chapter as building on the last, deepening her understanding of where a piece of jewelry actually comes…

People in this episode

Host: Marc Bridge

Guest: Ivette Stephanopoulos

Topics covered

• jewelry industry
• engagement rings
• natural vs lab-grown diamonds
• high jewelry
• design-driven brands
• career in jewelry

Keywords

• jewelry
• diamonds
• engagement
• high jewelry
• design
• retail
• GIA
• De Beers
• Tiffany
• David Yurman

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: GIA, De Beers, Tiffany, David Yurman

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