How This Jamaican Jewelry Designer Built a Thriving Business With More Than $2 Million in Annual Sales. All It Took Was Little Help From Instagram, Then Kate Hudson, Then Michelle Obama

How This Jamaican Jewelry Designer Built a Thriving Business With More Than $2 Million in Annual Sales. All It Took Was Little Help From Instagram, Then Kate Hudson, Then Michelle Obama

As an entrepreneur who is both Black and female, Chari Cuthbert has faced a fair share of challenges, but these aspects of her identity also have been key to her success.

Her Los Angeles-based web-only jewelry company, Bychari, shot to fame in August 2020 when former First Lady Michelle Obama wore Cuthbert's 14-karat gold "Vote" necklace in her speech during the Democratic National Convention.

Cuthbert, 37, who was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, founded Bychari in 2012 with the intention of designing a jewelry line known for affordable luxury. Since then, she grew her business to more than $2 million a year in sales and has a sizable following, counting such celebrities as Kate Hudson and Rosie Huntington Whiteley as fans. -- As told to Shivani Vora