‘Jacqueline Rose’ Founder Jacqueline Ranieri Combines “Wonder and Magic” With Unique Pieces New York Fashion Week Feature Interview

Jacqueline Ranieri is a custom jewelry designer from New York who combines unique pieces with special meanings that also donates to charity her jewelry line Jacqueline Rose.

Growing up as a foster child in New York City, she was taken away from her birth parents at the age of 6 and adopted out of the foster system at the age of 10, Ranieri knew from an early age that she wanted to do something important with her life and give back to the community that gave her so much growing up.

In high school, Ranieri was often noticed for her flair for fashion so naturally she had the idea to pursue fashion as a career path. She took another route though and studied communications at a university in Boston. Upon graduation, she returned home to New York seeking work in the radio and television industry. After facing a dead-end in that direction, she rerouted herself back to her true passion; fashion.

Ranieri landed her first job out of college at a fashion jewelry company working in production. Her next big job was working with another jewelry company named BIJOU working in merchandising and design. From there her career really took off. Jacqueline Ranieri has worked with such brands like Bohm jewelry, BCBG, Juicy Couture, and other fine jewelry companies and traveled to China, Las Vegas, and Tokyo all to advance her career, but she still felt unfulfilled wanting to incorporate a charity aspect to her work.

Photo: Alejandro Cerdena

“In early 2013 I started my own charity called Fashion Aid and the premise of that was I would hold clothing drives at different venues in New York City and we would collect gently used clothing or unwanted clothing for underprivileged youth in New York City,” Ranieri said about getting her first taste of her entrepreneurial spirit. “We would donate clothes to shelters and group homes, then conduct fashion workshops for the kids. We would show them how to dress appropriately for interviews and what the current fashion trends were. That actually offered a lot of fulfillment in my life.”

Although the Fashion Aid filled a void in the charity aspect for Jacqueline, she needed to find a way to make steady income as well. There Jacqueline Rose was founded. “In early 2014, I quit my job and I incorporated a LLC which is now my own jewelry line and what I do is I have a charitable aspect to it. Every sale, I donate a portion of the proceeds to The New York Foundling, which provides educational resources for foster children in New York City,” she said. More specifically, portions of proceeds from Jacqueline Rose go to The Futures Program at The New York Foundling, a partnership she holds dear.

Another aspect of Jacqueline Rose is the heartfelt quality of the pieces. “90 percent of the products are hand-made by me,” Ranieri said, adding, “If a piece is not made by me it’s made by an artisan that I work with in New York City, so it’s always going to be handmade. The other 10 percent of my product I do outsource the manufacture, but I’m very much involved in the process.”

Photo: Jacqueline Rose

All the pieces on ShopJacquelineRose.com are limited stock because all the products are one of a kind. In Ranieri’s personal life she’s really into numerology so there is a numerology and zodiac collection that can be found on the site with a larger stock because they are the best sellers. Each piece is inspired by “wonder and magic” and has special meaning; which is given in a note with every piece sold.

Now in her third year of business, the business model for Jacqueline Rose is perfected, there’s been pop up shop fundraisers throughout the city, and a special “Buy One, Give One” program is being implemented in May for Mother’s Day. When you buy a piece from the collection, a piece gets donated to foster teenagers enrolled in the Young Mother’s Support Program at The New York Foundling. They also get a jewelry making demonstration and mentor workshop.

This New York Fashion Week you may not see Jacqueline around, but keep an eye out for her pieces. “I actually will be giving some of my merchandise to a few other bloggers who are attending as I cannot make any of this season’s shows. I have other projects lined up for foster care advocacy for the rest of the month. I plan to follow all of the headlines though.”

To purchase any of the hand-made jewelry by Jacqueline Ranieri be sure to visit ShopJacquelineRose.com. There you can sign up for her newsletter to stay up to date on the brand. Be sure to follow the brand on social media, all social media handles can be found on the ShopJacquelineRose website. FYI: Jackie is most active on Instagram @ShopJacquelineRose.

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Photo: Jacqueline Ranieri