My dad always let me help build and fix things growing up. One of my favorite memories is watching him turn simple materials into something magical. He once made a small spinning toy from a piece of cardboard, with a bird on one side and a cage on the other. When it spun fast enough, the bird appeared inside the cage. It felt like magic, but really it was creativity, curiosity, and the joy of making something with your own hands.

My mother was different, but just as creative. She would sit late into the evening making pearl necklaces by hand. I would watch her patiently thread each pearl, one by one, transforming loose pieces into something beautiful. Long before I understood design, she taught me that beauty is built slowly, with care and intention.

Years later, I became a singer. Then a mother. Life took me in many directions, but those lessons never left me.

One day, I decided to try the lost-wax method and create a small silver pendant shaped like an "S." The moment I held it in my hands, something clicked. It didn't feel like I was learning something new. It felt like I was returning to something that had always been part of me.

CHAA was born from that feeling.

It was also born from a gap I couldn't ignore. I've always felt gold did not suit my complexion — it's just never been me. But everywhere I looked, stores were stacked with gold, gold-plated, gold-dipped. Silver was an afterthought, with fewer designs, fewer options, less love. I wanted to change that. Everything at CHAA is silver — and one day, white gold — because there's a whole world of us who deserve more than the leftover shelf.

Not from a single moment, but from a lifetime of creativity, craftsmanship, and the people who taught me that making something by hand is an act of love.