WJA Foundation Awards $63,000 in Scholarships

The Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) Foundation announced its annual scholarship recipients, awarding $63,000 in educational funds to students in the jewelry industry.

Spanning six different categories, the scholarships aim to support the jewelry industry’s next generation of talent, the foundation said last week.

Here are the award recipients:

• Heather Ingraham of watch specialist The 1916 Company has received the Helene Fortunoff Women in Retail Scholarship award, which supports up-and-coming retail leaders.

• Karina Mogha, a software engineering student at the Flatiron School, has won the Radiant Minds Technology Scholarship. A WJA collaboration with Jewelers Mutual Group and the Black in Jewelry Coalition, the scholarship assists students pursuing software engineering, user-experience design, data analytics, or web-development training.

• Dea Amira, Abiola Fasehun, Ashley Harris, Shaneli Jain, Rishvi Jayathilake and Oksana Membreno have received the WJA Diversity Scholarship for Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Education. Each recipient can select from a variety of GIA programs such as the online Applied Jewelry Professional (AJP) diploma, Diamond Essentials, the Graduate Colored Stones diploma program, and the Jewelry Design certificate course.

• The Gabriel Love Foundation Scholarship, given to Lisa, a student at Studio Jewelers Ltd., helps position students to grow as professionals in the jewelry industry while contributing to social causes.

• Kelsey Merkeley, creative director and designer of NVR Nude won this year’s Cindy Edelstein Jewelry Design Scholarship.

• Lillyana Stefanakis, a CAD/CAM student at the GIA, received the WJA Student Scholarship.

The WJA Foundation raises funds for its scholarships through individual donations and a variety of fundraising initiatives that take place throughout the year, including the upcoming Future of Forty Gala Fundraiser on Wednesday, November 13, in New York City.

Image: A display of jewelry. (Shutterstock)