Mejuri is growing its Empowerment Fund with its new Excellence Award.
The nine-year-old fine jewelry brand announced on Monday the establishment of the award, which is a scholarship fund dedicating $50,000 to schools in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. The scholarship is launched under Mejuri’s Empowerment Fund, which is also celebrating the milestone of surpassing $1 million in contributions.
“We began to consider the most effective ways to start to create some positive change that was really connected to our brand values,” said Holly McHugh, Mejuri’s vice president of sustainability and social impact. “Our CEO and founder Noura [Sakkijha] just really had dreamed of for a long time a foundation that is funding education for individuals to essentially remove barriers that kept them from choosing to have the kind of life they want.”
Mejuri’s Excellence Award pledges $10,000 each to Central Saint Martins, Rhode Island School of Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Ontario College of Art and Design University and Vancouver Community College. The scholarship will benefit students studying jewelry design and offer additional support like portfolio reviews, guest lectures and mentoring.
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“It’s really about making sure that students — particularly those folks that are really focused on creative industries — we want to make sure that they’re getting out of school with a lot less debt,” McHugh said. “That they’re able to really have more control over their own life because they’re getting out of school with less debt and supporting the next generation of artists in the jewelry industry, whether that’s designers or people really focused on craft. We think it’s important for these creative individuals to be able to focus on their creative pursuits rather than be really burdened with financial stress.”
Mejuri first launched its Empowerment Fund in 2020 to “highlight all of the long-standing systemic inequities,” according to McHugh. The fund focuses on supporting women and underrepresented communities by providing resources they need to succeed. Since launch, the fund has partnered with organizations like Design Thinking Africa, UNCF and Indspire.
According to McHugh, Mejuri’s goal is to grow the fund to $5 million by 2030.
