John Dwight Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

I have been designing and creating custom jewelry for private clients for over 20 years, specializing in engagement rings. Because an engagement ring is the most important piece of jewelry the client will ever buy, it leaves no room for error. Everything must be perfect. To ensure that their piece of jewelry is perfect, being detail oriented and having excellent communication skills are vital. Communication with a client that has very limited jewelry knowledge requires patience, intuition, and the ability to ascertain what they want, despite using a non-jeweler vernacular. The customers’ requirements must then be translated into professional jeweler terminology and communicated with any bench jewelers, casters and stone setters that will be working on the custom piece. Meeting the deadline is also of the utmost importance because there is usually a specific date and/or occasion planned for the proposal. Engagement rings are the most challenging jewelry to make, but they are also the most rewarding, by being part of such an important event in someone’s life.

• Introduced, and solely responsible for the production of, over 400 designs to Pearl Paradise, the world’s largest online pearl company, over an 8-year period.• Each of the 400+ designs was made-to-order with a 5-Business Day turnaround time from the time the order was placed to it being shipped. • Created and implemented an extremely efficient and accurate Standard Operating Procedure for production of the 400+ designs, utilizing multiple independent jewelers, casters, and diamond vendors in downtown Los Angeles.• Negotiated prices with vendors, tracked production costs and reconciled vendors’ monthly billing statements. • Closely managed inventory of stock levels of premade settings of popular designs, as well as returned merchandise, resulting in a just-in-time inventory model that had a turn rate of over 4.4 times per year. (Jewelry industry average turn rate is ~ 0.7 times per year.)• Principal for quality control inspection and resolution of any issues with vendors for all quality control issues. • Management of all special orders including: establishing specific order details through direct consultation with client; calculation of price quotes; production coordination with jewelers; safe-handling of customers’ gemstones; final quality inspection; and shipment adherence to deadlines.• Managed introduction and promotion of new designs as Facebook admin, which resulted in the growth of the number of Facebook followers from 30,000 to 120,000. • Other duties included: direct coordination with photographer for product photography; production and management of individual line sheets for all active designs; digital asset management; Amazon marketplace management; website accuracy audits; product listing creation on Shopify platform; and marketing and promotion strategizing.

||||| Sales & Marketing Management • Responsible for researching, contacting and developing new customers, as well as maintaining current customer base of 50+ active retail accounts. • Outside & inside sales territory encompassing the US & Canada.• Production of marketing materials involving composition, photography, photo-editing, graphic design and layout. (Photoshop used extensively.)||||| Production Management • Primary contact with local jewelers & overseas manufacturers. • Evaluation of production needs and sourcing necessary production materials. • Creation and management of purchase orders for stock items and custom orders. • Perform all quality control inspections. Oversaw QC issue resolution with factories, as well as repairs done locally.• Highly adept at communicating with manufacturers the specific details for each individual item ordered, ensuring that orders are completed promptly and correctly.

• One of two staff members responsible for overseeing and processing sales orders which experienced a growth from $12 million to $42 million annually in a period of two years. • Oversaw as many as three sales reps lines simultaneously with a combined value of up to $4 million. • Insured to carry up to $250,000 worth of goods. • Principal for quality control inspection of all jewelry as it arrived from our manufacturers. • Main contact with manufacturers for all quality control issues. • Key account management and special order supervision including quotes, deadlines, specialized details and follow through to completion. • Trained new customer service personnel, mostly GIA graduates, and integrated them effectively into the workplace.• Formulated and implemented more effective & secure method for handling and processing customer diamonds that were regularly sent in for custom orders. • Other duties included: direct sales at trade shows, processing consignment requests and returns, managing co-op advertising, issuing credits memos and merchandise exchanges.

• Conceptualized, designed, and created various sterling silver adornments for several lines of high fashion wedding gowns, which were sold nationwide in Saks Fifth Avenue among other fine retail stores and high-end bridal boutiques.

MUSIC EVENT PRODUCTION AND PROMOTIONProduced and promoted over 50 multi-media events in the US and Israel with total attendence over 50,000 people.