About The Authors
Cynthia Sliwa, AICI CIP, The Image Counselor
Cynthia Sliwa approaches jewelry with the passion of a collector. A longtime aficionado of vintage costume jewelry, she left corporate law to study image consulting and to take classes at the Gemological Institute of America. She utilized her studies to create a line of fine jewelry for the plus-size market, Apprecia Fine Jewelry. Since then, Cynthia has written regular columns on jewelry, image and style for several publications. She pens the popular blog "Jewels on Jewels" for JCK Magazine at www.jckonline.com.
As The Image Counselor(TM), Cynthia is a certified professional image consultant who coaches clients on matters of personal and professional style. She provides image consulting workshops and services for jewelers and other professionals, their clients and employees. She especially enjoys working one-on-one with individuals to help them achieve their full potential. She was awarded the Rising Star Award by the Association of Image Consultants International (AICI) in 2005, and the Shining Star Award by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Women's Jewelry Association in 2009. She laughingly notes that her star is "rising and shining"!
Caroline Stanley, Red Jewel, Inc.
Caroline is a third-generation jeweler who developed her skills in her family's retail jewelry store in Arkansas, Stanley Jewelers Gemologists. After a decade in retail sales and management, she moved on to serve the industry in a variety of trade positions, focusing on marketing, communications and education, working with PGI, JA and the JVC. In 2002, Caroline opened her own firm, Red Jewel, Inc., providing industry-savvy marketing, communications and consulting to the jewelry industry.
With her varied background, Caroline knows the jewelry industry inside and out, and is considered a savvy marketer and an educator in the industry as well as a creative soul. Today she travels for Jewelry Savvy events and works with a variety of clients in the jewelry industry and consults internationally, assisting all her clients to achieve their diverse goals.