Beyoncé and jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz has awarded three Black jewelers with a scholarship to further their careers.
Shelton Bradford of California, Audriana Osborne of Alabama, and Kulla Jutani of Washington were awarded the Beyoncé Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz GIA Scholarship. The scholarship will cover the tuition at GIA, a prestigious nonprofit institution that educates its students on gems.
Initially, only two winners were selected. Osborne and Bradford were named the winners during a surprise Zoom call. However, Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z announced that they would fund a third scholarship for Jutani, who was handpicked from the applicant pool.
In a press release, Bey says that she was impressed with the applicants and their knowledge of gems. She hopes that the scholarship is “just the beginning of opening more doors to diversity and raw inspiration in the jewelry industry.”
Applicants wrote personal essays that detailed their jewelry industry goals and what they were looking to gain at GIA.
Congrats to the winners and best of luck at GIA.
