K-ROD’s Jewels

I shall never forget my ninth birthday for on this day, my mother took me to get my ears pierced. A young girl no more than 20 years old marked a little dot with a blue felt pen on my tiny earlobes. I braced as she grabbed the piercing gun, and after enduring a painful puncture, a tiny round gold ball sat on my lobe with its backer securely attached. The surrounding skin was red and hot, but a religious ritual of Neosporin applications and a methodical turning of the ball three to four times a day soothed it. I had to leave the “starter” earrings in for six weeks before switching them out for my birthstone. I sported my little sapphires with pride grateful for being born in September. The only girls more envied were those whose birthdays were in April because their ears displayed diamonds. I never dared take my earrings out for fear the hole would close up. I slept in them, swam in them, and played in them. Hysteria ensued on the occasions when the backer fell off, or heaven forbid, the earring fell out sending little girls to the floor frantically feeling around with the palms of their hands trying find the vagrant tiny thing. This infuriated the nuns who just did not understand that social studies had to come to a halt. 

My relationship with the earring as a child informs the present. I think earrings should be worn for every little moment…especially during those times that do not call for earrings like working out or running early morning errands. Twenty-two year old Katrina Rodriguez of KROD’s Jewels understands this, and she creates the earrings I need. In fact, I’ve worn her earrings for months now, rarely taking them out. I spoke with Katrina about her debut jewelry line and was instantly struck by this young lady because she exudes such purity; she truly does not even grasp that she is a success and this endears her to me.

Her story begins in high school when Katrina saw a necklace in a magazine that she adored but knew she could not afford. She stumbled upon a jewelry-making store one day on a walk through New York’s fashion district with her mom, purchased some tools, charms and chains and set off to create a similar necklace.

“When my friends saw my necklace, they asked if I could make them one, and then even some of my teachers wanted one,” she recalls incredulously. She became known for her necklaces in high school, but set jewelry-making and her passion for design aside while in college except for a brief stint as an intern with the “pre-headband” LeLe Sadoughi in 2018. But the pandemic of 2020 gave birth to KROD’s Jewels when Katrina found herself banished from her school and living out the remainder of her precious senior year with her parents trying to fill endless hours and days.

“Even sleeping was getting boring,” she jokes.

One day in quarantine, Katrina discovered her jewelry-making kit that she had packed away four years before, With nothing but free time, she created a few pieces, sent snapchats of them to her friends, and they once again begged her to make the same pieces for them. In an instant, all Katrina had learned while working in LeLe’s townhouse crystalized in her mind.

“I learned branding and packaging and how critical that is to success. LeLe taught me how important good customer service is for success and how to use social media and Instagram to market products.”   

Katrina’s made sure her price points were affordable so young girls on tight budgets could purchase multiple pieces to layer necklaces and earrings. On June 1, she opened the doors to her Etsy shop where her snake earrings, featured here, sold out in three hours. It’s not surprising as it’s incredibly rare to find something that achieves the impossible feat of being bad-ass yet elegant at the same time.  But the highlight of the past four months was when a customer posted that she wore Katrina’s “Sarah” necklace on her wedding day. Katrina is still completely overcome by this.

There’s that purity again.

“I always second-guess myself,” Katrina remarks, “I never had a lot of training in jewelry design or experience in how to run a business.”

What she describes as uncertainty is of course, inexperience—something remedied with every new design she creates and every failure she encounters. What Katrina should never second guess is her integral understanding of how jewelry makes a woman feel.

“Wearing necklaces or earrings just makes you feel good that day. I know I can’t go out anymore, so there’s no need to get all made up, but anyone can just layer on some necklaces or earrings because it’s easy to put it all on and then take off. Even if I just plan to sit in my living room that day, wearing jewelry is just something that makes me feel…..well, normal.”

Amen, Katrina.

Treat Yourself

https://www.etsy.com/shop/krodsjewels