How a college student's start-up blossomed into a fine jewelry phenomenon

Shilpa Yarlagadda started her business while in her dorm room at Harvard, and her company has blossomed into a fine jewelry phenomenon. Her jewelry has been worn on some very famous fingers, plus 50% of Yarlagadda's profits help fund other female entrepreneurs.

Shilpa Yarlagadda, 24, is the cofounder of Shiffon, the fine jewelry brand that invests its proceeds back into female-funded businesses.

In 2017, the friends with whom Yarlagadda had started Shiffon wanted to focus on their studies. So she soon recruited family friend Shreya Chaganti, as Shiffon was making big growth moves, and fast. The business surged forward in bursts, starting almost before Yarlagadda had all the organizational aspects of her start-up ready.

One such surge came after Yarlagadda persistently messaged Emma Watson's stylist, Sarah Slutsky, on LinkedIn and by email, trying to get Watson to wear the pinkie ring in public. Slutzky eventually took a call with Yarlagadda and put the pinkie ring on Watson in June 2017 when the star was in Paris doing a press tour for "The Circle."

That was months before Shiffon's website even started accepting pre-orders.

That September, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley each wore the pinkie ring to the Emmys, where they accepted awards for the massively popular HBO series, "Big Little Lies."

And that was just the beginning. A-listers from Serena Williams to Michelle Obama wore the ring. Obama even narrated a video encouraging women to vote that was done in a collaboration with Shiffon's October release of a limited edition pair of hoop earrings. The campaign was posted to social media with the hashtag #HoopsToVote (a nod to the "hoops" women had to jump through to get the right to vote).

Today, Shiffon rings start at $155 for a sterling silver pinkie ring with a purple sapphire stone to $425 for a rose gold pinkie ring with a white sapphire stone to a pair of hoop earrings with small diamonds for $1,965. 

Yarlagadda declined to share numbers, but says revenue from sales (which are entirely direct to consumer via the Shiffon website) goes to back into the company to drive growth, and 50% of profits go to Shiffon's non-profit organization, The Startup Girl Foundation, which invests in female founders and companies that support women.

So far, Shiffon's non-profit arm has invested in business from woman-led lounge wear company Sea Star Beachware to MobiTicket, a text-based bus ticketing service based in Nairobi.

Yarlagadda and Chaganti, 24, also offer mentorship to the start-ups they fund. They are, after all, building their own start-up at the same time. 

Shilpa Yarlagadda Named in Art and Style Category for Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ in 2020.