Mayumi Ishii (left), Exclusive U.S. Representative Eri Kikunaga (right), Inventor of Chrysmela earring back
Have you ever lost an earring? You are not alone!
That is the rallying cry for my business, Chrysmela, the most secure earring back ever. I brought this message to national television three times in the past five months, twice on HSN and once as a winning applicant on MSNBC Your Business & HSN contest.
Nothing in my background indicated I would have these opportunities.
I was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the United States in my early twenties working for the prestigious McKinsey and later, I worked as a securities analyst with several major international banks, specializing in cross-border transactions and investment research, very much a “big business” career.
While I have always been grateful for the wonderful professional positions I have held, I yearned for a more entrepreneurial mission in life and didn’t want to be doing this after I turned 40. When I first came to the U.S. as a college exchange student, I vividly recall watching my roommate Kasi’s mom, Pat, managing her nanny staffing service on the phone from her home with her hair curlers on. That image had the biggest impact on me—a beautiful businesswoman multi-tasking and in charge. I wanted to do something on my own as well.
In 2005, my partner now in Japan, Eri Kikunaga, lost an earring, an important gift from her boyfriend at the time. They had a big fight over the lost earring and broke up. With considerable grit and determination, Eri said, “We deserve better,” and she invented the Chrysmela earring back that locks and automatically fits all types of earring posts, solving the problem of lost earrings once and for all. They also enable jewelers to create earring jackets.
But, nearly two hundred factories in Japan were not able to make such a tiny, complex product. Finally, one factory said they could make it. The Chrysmela Catch successfully came to market in Japan in 2008, and is now patented in five major countries—a study in perseverance!
When I discovered this ingenious earring back in Japan on one of my business trips, I immediately fell in love with this invention. And, just a few days after I purchased my first Chrysmela, I met with Eri merely to say hello. I was floored when she asked me to manage the marketing and distribution of Chrysmela in the U.S. With this, I had found my entrepreneurial mission—to share Chrysmela with millions of people in the world!
But, reality set in quickly. I had no experience in retail and no real budget to take on the world with mass advertising. I set off to conduct market research and other “due diligence,” building on strengths from my earlier career. There are different ways to succeed as an entrepreneur. For me, the keys are to hustle, to experiment with good ideas, and to build your own eco-system with fellow entrepreneurs. I learned by asking questions and being intellectually curious. I recognized through research we needed to set the retail price at $50, no more, to add a platinum version to our product line and to create a “disc” attachment to support larger, heavier earrings.
With the narrow gross margins after importing costs and duties, we had to rely on a digital marketing and sales system, but I knew little about this and didn’t even have a Facebook account! I took a social media class at UCLA, and my final presentation was a real case study for launching Chrysmela in the U.S. The Chrysmela online store opened January 1, 2014. When the first order arrived the next day, I was jolted by the power of digital retail and celebrated by a champagne toast with my husband, Gary.
Chrysmela is a small device but contains nine tiny, precision parts, all made in high-tech factories for smartphone cameras and fine watches. They are not as sexy as the earrings and aren’t photogenic which can be a challenge in communicating how different it is from any other earring backs, though I was fortunate with my big break in winning the HSN/MSNBC contest in May 2018 and also thrilled when People Magazine called Chrysmela, “the most genius jewelry invention ever!”
I have grown to appreciate that no entrepreneur does it alone. It takes a team of collaborators with necessary skill sets and the desire to work together. I collaborate with a number of fabulous women entrepreneur partners, including Anne Sisteron (@AnneSisteron) who has a super popular jewelry brand and KaitKat Social Creative (@KaitKatCC), a fierce team of social marketing pros who beautify our Instagram.
CHRYSMELA SECRETS
1. Find and work with other entrepreneurs who are talented and share your work ethic and grow together.
2. Show up. Say YES to an invitation.|
3. Conscious Return on Investment. If a new idea costs you nothing or very little, just do it. If it costs a small chunk, evaluate ROI.
4. Maximize opportunity to extend the “mileage” of every $1 you spend.
5. Handle your own customer service. Yes, it may be time-consuming, but you learn so much about your products, customers and how/where they are used.
6. Make sure your product/brand name is available for URL, Facebook, Instagram etc., as soon as you have a product idea. Also, Google the name to make sure it does not mean something you don’t want to be associated with in some other languages.
Mayumi Ishii (left), Exclusive U.S. Representative Eri Kikunaga (right), Inventor of Chrysmela earring back
Have you ever lost an earring? You are not alone!
That is the rallying cry for my business, Chrysmela, the most secure earring back ever. I brought this message to national television three times in the past five months, twice on HSN and once as a winning applicant on MSNBC Your Business & HSN contest.
Nothing in my background indicated I would have these opportunities.
I was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the United States in my early twenties working for the prestigious McKinsey and later, I worked as a securities analyst with several major international banks, specializing in cross-border transactions and investment research, very much a “big business” career.
While I have always been grateful for the wonderful professional positions I have held, I yearned for a more entrepreneurial mission in life and didn’t want to be doing this after I turned 40. When I first came to the U.S. as a college exchange student, I vividly recall watching my roommate Kasi’s mom, Pat, managing her nanny staffing service on the phone from her home with her hair curlers on. That image had the biggest impact on me—a beautiful businesswoman multi-tasking and in charge. I wanted to do something on my own as well.
In 2005, my partner now in Japan, Eri Kikunaga, lost an earring, an important gift from her boyfriend at the time. They had a big fight over the lost earring and broke up. With considerable grit and determination, Eri said, “We deserve better,” and she invented the Chrysmela earring back that locks and automatically fits all types of earring posts, solving the problem of lost earrings once and for all. They also enable jewelers to create earring jackets.
But, nearly two hundred factories in Japan were not able to make such a tiny, complex product. Finally, one factory said they could make it. The Chrysmela Catch successfully came to market in Japan in 2008, and is now patented in five major countries—a study in perseverance!
When I discovered this ingenious earring back in Japan on one of my business trips, I immediately fell in love with this invention. And, just a few days after I purchased my first Chrysmela, I met with Eri merely to say hello. I was floored when she asked me to manage the marketing and distribution of Chrysmela in the U.S. With this, I had found my entrepreneurial mission—to share Chrysmela with millions of people in the world!
But, reality set in quickly. I had no experience in retail and no real budget to take on the world with mass advertising. I set off to conduct market research and other “due diligence,” building on strengths from my earlier career. There are different ways to succeed as an entrepreneur. For me, the keys are to hustle, to experiment with good ideas, and to build your own eco-system with fellow entrepreneurs. I learned by asking questions and being intellectually curious. I recognized through research we needed to set the retail price at $50, no more, to add a platinum version to our product line and to create a “disc” attachment to support larger, heavier earrings.
With the narrow gross margins after importing costs and duties, we had to rely on a digital marketing and sales system, but I knew little about this and didn’t even have a Facebook account! I took a social media class at UCLA, and my final presentation was a real case study for launching Chrysmela in the U.S. The Chrysmela online store opened January 1, 2014. When the first order arrived the next day, I was jolted by the power of digital retail and celebrated by a champagne toast with my husband, Gary.
Chrysmela is a small device but contains nine tiny, precision parts, all made in high-tech factories for smartphone cameras and fine watches. They are not as sexy as the earrings and aren’t photogenic which can be a challenge in communicating how different it is from any other earring backs, though I was fortunate with my big break in winning the HSN/MSNBC contest in May 2018 and also thrilled when People Magazine called Chrysmela, “the most genius jewelry invention ever!”
I have grown to appreciate that no entrepreneur does it alone. It takes a team of collaborators with necessary skill sets and the desire to work together. I collaborate with a number of fabulous women entrepreneur partners, including Anne Sisteron (@AnneSisteron) who has a super popular jewelry brand and KaitKat Social Creative (@KaitKatCC), a fierce team of social marketing pros who beautify our Instagram.
CHRYSMELA SECRETS
1. Find and work with other entrepreneurs who are talented and share your work ethic and grow together.
2. Show up. Say YES to an invitation.|
3. Conscious Return on Investment. If a new idea costs you nothing or very little, just do it. If it costs a small chunk, evaluate ROI.
4. Maximize opportunity to extend the “mileage” of every $1 you spend.
5. Handle your own customer service. Yes, it may be time-consuming, but you learn so much about your products, customers and how/where they are used.
6. Make sure your product/brand name is available for URL, Facebook, Instagram etc., as soon as you have a product idea. Also, Google the name to make sure it does not mean something you don’t want to be associated with in some other languages.
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Mayumi Ishii (left), Exclusive U.S. Representative Eri Kikunaga (right), Inventor of Chrysmela earring back
Have you ever lost an earring? You are not alone!
That is the rallying cry for my business, Chrysmela, the most secure earring back ever. I brought this message to national television three times in the past five months, twice on HSN and once as a winning applicant on MSNBC Your Business & HSN contest.
Nothing in my background indicated I would have these opportunities.
I was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the United States in my early twenties working for the prestigious McKinsey and later, I worked as a securities analyst with several major international banks, specializing in cross-border transactions and investment research, very much a “big business” career.
While I have always been grateful for the wonderful professional positions I have held, I yearned for a more entrepreneurial mission in life and didn’t want to be doing this after I turned 40. When I first came to the U.S. as a college exchange student, I vividly recall watching my roommate Kasi’s mom, Pat, managing her nanny staffing service on the phone from her home with her hair curlers on. That image had the biggest impact on me—a beautiful businesswoman multi-tasking and in charge. I wanted to do something on my own as well.
In 2005, my partner now in Japan, Eri Kikunaga, lost an earring, an important gift from her boyfriend at the time. They had a big fight over the lost earring and broke up. With considerable grit and determination, Eri said, “We deserve better,” and she invented the Chrysmela earring back that locks and automatically fits all types of earring posts, solving the problem of lost earrings once and for all. They also enable jewelers to create earring jackets.
But, nearly two hundred factories in Japan were not able to make such a tiny, complex product. Finally, one factory said they could make it. The Chrysmela Catch successfully came to market in Japan in 2008, and is now patented in five major countries—a study in perseverance!
When I discovered this ingenious earring back in Japan on one of my business trips, I immediately fell in love with this invention. And, just a few days after I purchased my first Chrysmela, I met with Eri merely to say hello. I was floored when she asked me to manage the marketing and distribution of Chrysmela in the U.S. With this, I had found my entrepreneurial mission—to share Chrysmela with millions of people in the world!
But, reality set in quickly. I had no experience in retail and no real budget to take on the world with mass advertising. I set off to conduct market research and other “due diligence,” building on strengths from my earlier career. There are different ways to succeed as an entrepreneur. For me, the keys are to hustle, to experiment with good ideas, and to build your own eco-system with fellow entrepreneurs. I learned by asking questions and being intellectually curious. I recognized through research we needed to set the retail price at $50, no more, to add a platinum version to our product line and to create a “disc” attachment to support larger, heavier earrings.
With the narrow gross margins after importing costs and duties, we had to rely on a digital marketing and sales system, but I knew little about this and didn’t even have a Facebook account! I took a social media class at UCLA, and my final presentation was a real case study for launching Chrysmela in the U.S. The Chrysmela online store opened January 1, 2014. When the first order arrived the next day, I was jolted by the power of digital retail and celebrated by a champagne toast with my husband, Gary.
Chrysmela is a small device but contains nine tiny, precision parts, all made in high-tech factories for smartphone cameras and fine watches. They are not as sexy as the earrings and aren’t photogenic which can be a challenge in communicating how different it is from any other earring backs, though I was fortunate with my big break in winning the HSN/MSNBC contest in May 2018 and also thrilled when People Magazine called Chrysmela, “the most genius jewelry invention ever!”
I have grown to appreciate that no entrepreneur does it alone. It takes a team of collaborators with necessary skill sets and the desire to work together. I collaborate with a number of fabulous women entrepreneur partners, including Anne Sisteron (@AnneSisteron) who has a super popular jewelry brand and KaitKat Social Creative (@KaitKatCC), a fierce team of social marketing pros who beautify our Instagram.
CHRYSMELA SECRETS
1. Find and work with other entrepreneurs who are talented and share your work ethic and grow together.
2. Show up. Say YES to an invitation.|
3. Conscious Return on Investment. If a new idea costs you nothing or very little, just do it. If it costs a small chunk, evaluate ROI.
4. Maximize opportunity to extend the “mileage” of every $1 you spend.
5. Handle your own customer service. Yes, it may be time-consuming, but you learn so much about your products, customers and how/where they are used.
6. Make sure your product/brand name is available for URL, Facebook, Instagram etc., as soon as you have a product idea. Also, Google the name to make sure it does not mean something you don’t want to be associated with in some other languages.
The Women Create Foundation is a catalyst for small but significant strides to empower women creators through grants that help bring projects to life and foster innovation.
While I have always been grateful for the wonderful professional positions I have held, I yearned for a more entrepreneurial mission in life and didn’t want to be doing this after I turned 40. When I first came to the U.S. as a college exchange student, I vividly recall watching my roommate Kasi’s mom, Pat, managing her nanny staffing service on the phone from her home with her hair curlers on. That image had the biggest impact on me—a beautiful businesswoman multi-tasking and in charge. I wanted to do something on my own as well.
When I discovered this ingenious earring back in Japan on one of my business trips, I immediately fell in love with this invention. And, just a few days after I purchased my first Chrysmela, I met with Eri merely to say hello. I was floored when she asked me to manage the marketing and distribution of Chrysmela in the U.S. With this, I had found my entrepreneurial mission—to share Chrysmela with millions of people in the world!
With the narrow gross margins after importing costs and duties, we had to rely on a digital marketing and sales system, but I knew little about this and didn’t even have a Facebook account! I took a social media class at UCLA, and my final presentation was a real case study for launching Chrysmela in the U.S. The Chrysmela online store opened January 1, 2014. When the first order arrived the next day, I was jolted by the power of digital retail and celebrated by a champagne toast with my husband, Gary.
