We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tracee Nichols. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tracee below.

Hi Tracee, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It all started when I was a little girl helping at the thrift store at the local church. My grandma put me in charge of the jewelry case. At age 7 I was responsible for placing all of the jewelry inside the case. I was thrilled to be responsible for all of this jewelry and at that point I remember feeling elated and excited with all of the colors, unique designs, diamonds, and all the sparkly gemstones. I started to collect vintage jewelry across the country as I traveled with my aunt who was an antique dealer. Every cent I earned working for my aunt over many summers, all went to purchasing vintage jewelry pieces. It’s a collection I still have to this day. Right after college, I decided to buy and sell vintage jewelry as a side job because I loved it so much. During this time, someone told me that if it were real gold and real gems they would buy the piece–they wanted fine jewelry not costume jewelry and asked if I could design something. I decided then I wanted to design jewelry and I did!
What I was most excited about was designing jewelry with a meaning. Something that you could keep forever and hand down or give to someone special The idea was more of a modern idea in design to heirloom jewelry.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Tracee Nichols – Dallas-based designer, I’ve always had a natural passion for jewelry. Born and raised by a sculptor father in the art world of San Francisco and surrounded by aesthetics from a very early age. I fell in love with jewelry when I was 7 years old when I was volunteering at my local church thrift store. I was in charge of the jewelry display case, where it was filled with the most beautiful costume jewelry. As a young girl, I started to collect vintage jewelry and I still have this collection to this day.

Having developed my love of beauty and art throughout my childhood, I carried this forward into higher education, earning a double major in Architectural and Interior Design, with a background in Art History. It was when I was wearing one of my vintage pieces, a friend asked me, “I would wear that piece if it were real gold and if it could have different stones in it, can you make that for me?” I knew that I could design something and the bridge between Architecture and jewelry design wasn’t that far removed from each other.

The first piece from the collection, which is now my signature necklace — the Roman Courage Token.

My designs inhabit strength with elegance and grace.

It is my intention that every person who wears one of my pieces finds their own meaning in the piece and writes their own story.

I am are proud to state that the Tracee Nichols brand uses all ethically and sustainably sourced stones and is made in America.

*Tracee Nichols has a notable following and has been worn by celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Ashley Graham, Tracy Anderson, John Travolta, Juliette Lewis, Lilly Singh, and Kristin Chenoweth.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

When I began my jewelry company, I started the manufacturing in Los Angeles. I did not know anything about manufacturing and I found my vendor through meeting different vendors and asking questions. I found the right one, because there was a manufacturer who was willing to take the time to help me. Not only did they work with me on the manufacturing side, but they also taught me the business. It helped me tremendously to get started in the business and help grow my business. From this experience, I learned that it is important to ask questions and to feel comfortable enough to not act like you know everything, You need to be willing to just listen and take the advice and the guidance from those that are successful in the areas you want to also be successful in. I also learned, that sometimes the designs look great on paper, but they don’t always translate into the jewelry piece. But that was ok, because I usually would take away some learning experience in the design/manufacturing experience.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My designs and manufacturing have always been of they highest quality. This is very important to me. I use 14k gold and precious stones and I work to make sure it is always perfect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://traceenichols.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traceenicholsjewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/traceenicholsjewelry
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracee-nichols-7a25159a/

Image Credits
Headshot: Ray Kachatorian