JewelsWithJules Influencer Shares Her Journey to Fame

One of the most talked-about jewelry moments of the year has to be the Ambani wedding. What made the Indian socialite wedding — rumored to have cost more than $130 million — so enormously irresistible was the guest list, which included A-listers from Kardashians to former heads of state…and Julia Hackman Chafé, social media manager of her family’s colored-gemstone business, Intercolor USA.

How did Hackman Chafé end up at the lavish ceremony in Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre (which some readers might know better as the location of the IIJS Premiere jewelry trade show), half a world away from her office on New York’s 48th Street?

“A friend I met via Instagram said, ‘I’ll get you invited,’” she relates, recalling how she scoffed at what she considered a totally preposterous claim. “Then I got the email. I thought it was spam.”

It was not, and Hackman Chafé was soon on her way to Mumbai, taking her followers with her. She had already built up a solid following for her JewelsWithJules accounts on TikTok and Instagram, but after her coverage of the Ambani wedding in July — which included interviews with actress Priyanka Chopra about her Bulgari jewels, and Kim Kardashian about her Lorraine Schwartz emeralds — things went, in her words, “crazy.” She now has 636,000 followers on Instagram, and her videos have amassed more than 20 million likes on TikTok. Sponsorship deals have started coming her way from the likes of Tiffany & Co., and she has since taken on management to deal with the increased interest.

Her content ranges from videos about red-carpet jewelry moments — which she says she can now bash out in as little as 15 minutes — to store visits or stories about historic jewels, which take much longer to produce. While there is a lot of overlap between her own content and her promotion of Intercolor, she runs a separate Instagram account for the gem business. To date, it has over 24,000 followers.

“My goal is to humanize Intercolor,” she says. “Every colored gemstone is different, but at the same time, if you are looking for a 1-carat, round, royal-blue sapphire, you could get it from us, or you could get it from a hundred other people. My family are all fabulous individuals, and we’re such a close-knit family business. I feel the more I can present this on social media, the more people will want to work with us. Obviously I have to showcase the stones, too, they’re beautiful — so that’s my number-two goal.”

Her advice for jewelers trying to grow their followings: “Post as much as you possibly can — even if you think it’s not that great, don’t be a perfectionist. The best piece of advice I read online is: You’re only cringe until you’re successful.”

Main Image: Julia Hackman Chafé at the Ambani wedding in Mumbai. (Julia Hackman Chafé)

This article is from the October-November 2024 issue of Rapaport Magazine. View other articles here.