The Amy Plus Podcast

From Bali to NYC Building a Bold Jewelry Brand Julie Miles

Amy Sexton Season 1 Episode 23

Designer Julie Miles shares the story of her brand, from Bali markets to New York showrooms, plus the resilience behind it: surviving stage IV cancer and returning to create non-traditional, statement-making pearls that empower women. We talk celeb clients, the Cynthia Rowley trunk show, leather-strung and silk-strung techniques, baroque pendants, quartz from India, and a travel-meet-cute that became a friendship

00:00 – Intro to Julie Miles: pearls with an edge, bold resort wear. 
00:28 – Stage IV cancer → 24 weeks of chemo → cancer-free (2011). 
01:08 – “Hello, darling” finally in the studio after a year of travel. 
01:42 – Europe work trips, cruise ships and boutiques; living in Palm Beach. 
02:22 – Watching the pod with champagne on the road (and staying connected). 
03:30 – Cheers! What we’re wearing (Cynthia Rowley love). 
03:56 – Texas trunk show with Cynthia Rowley, the “big cuff” moment. 
05:20 – Pearls, pearls, pearls: how Julie layers and strings her “babies.” 
06:10 – Long silk-strung pearls + rough-cut diamond clasp + baroque pendant. 
06:33 – Leather-strung pearls; quartz slabs sourced in India, set in silver. 
08:18 – “The Ring”: rhodium-plated silver, 52 CZs, comfortable and show-stopping. 
10:00 – How we met: the tiny island shuttle, Tumi bags, instant friends. 
10:56 – That “hard to get to” Indonesia hotel, top of the world. 

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