Classic Movies on the Web Watch Free Classic Movies Online full length. Home to Much Digital Studios, Office Sessions, News, Contests and more. Bermudas Fauna Animals, birds, fish, insects, lizards, marine life, reefs, endemic and naturalized. By Keith Archibald Forbes see About Us exclusively for Bermuda. BibMe Free Bibliography Citation Maker MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard. Carolyn Rafaelian The bangle billionaire. Rafaelian in the Alex and Ani store on the first floor of her Cranston, Rhode Island, headquarters, just miles away from her late fathers jewellery factory. Image Jamel Toppin for Forbes. When Alex and Ani founder and CEO Carolyn Rafaelian walks into a room, you hear her before you see her. She clinks and jangles her way into her office under layers of bracelets, necklaces, cuffs and rings in both precious metals and coated brass, 1. The biggest noise emanates from her celestial chic jewellery brands bestselling products Charm bangles, of which it has released thousands of iterations, to commemorate lifetime milestones or show off zodiac signs, sports team allegiances, favourite charities and religious totems. Peace, love and big bucks, since these stackable bangles, made from recycled scrap metal, cost customers about 3. Watch The Island Online Forbes' title='Watch The Island Online Forbes' />
Rafaelian is moving over 1. Its not the money thats the driving force behind this, Rafaelian says in her Rhode Island accent, which rhymes force with boss, unable to distract from the math that belies that claim. From its headquarters in unassuming Cranston, Rhode Island, Alex and Anis revenues have skyrocketed from 5 million in 2. Pitchbook, that was recently 2. Rafaelian says she believes each piece is imbued with energy that can have a positive effect on its wearer she has a priest and a shaman bless her inventory, but her markups on 7 inches of contorted wire show her to be a master marketer. They dont really sell jewellery, says Brent Cleaveland, executive director of the Fashion Jewelry Accessories Trade Association. They sell positive energy. The bracelet is just a vehicle. Watch Parenthood Online Free HD. Every Alex and Ani bangle comes with a meaning card. A Buddhist om symbol, for example, signifies God, higher power and the oneness of all beings in lifes cycle. A simple sailboat charm bestows peace to its wearer in times of change. And this universe of good vibes encourages fans of the brand to collect them all. Bangles and bracelets make up 8. Alex and Ani jewellery as a fundraising tool makes up about 2. Thats how Rafaelian surged from a one woman band run out of her fathers Rhode Island factory basement into Americas only jewellery billionaireand the No 1. Forbes list of Americas Richest Self Made Womenowning 8. Shes enjoying the trappingsfixing up a 5. Watch The Island Online Forbes' title='Watch The Island Online Forbes' />Newport that she will open as a museum and testing out new grape varietals at her Sakonnet Vineyards in nearby Little Compton. An IPO awaits. If I wanted to do that, were primed, were ready, she says. We can pull the switch at any time. The company has released thousands of variations of its signature bangle, retailing for 3. Its rare that the public markets ever encounter a CEO like this 5. Rafaelian says she was the sort of kid who had an imaginary friend. And while she was raised in the Christian Armenian Apostolic faith, Rafaelian borrows bits and pieces from other religions and traditions. She keeps dried bundles of sage in her office drawer to burn when she needs to smoke out negative energy and a healing quartz crystal on a file cabinet behind her desk. Not quite everyones cup of herbal tea. But Rafaelians products let a generation that craves authenticity wear their affinities on their sleeve. Theres no ambiguity that jewellery like Alex and Ani has become something the consumer covets now, says Christopher Burch, who backed his former wife Tory, as well as Alex and Ani competitor Bauble. Bar. Its no longer an afterthought. Its part of her wardrobe. Little known fact The worlds costume jewellery capital was, for generations, Americas smallest state. Just 3. 0 years ago, roughly 8. Rhode Island. Like much of American manufacturing, its mostly gone overseas, but Rafaelian traces her roots to this business and this state. Her father married into the industry, working for his brother in law manufacturing brooches and earrings for big names of the age like Trifari and Monet. In 1. 96. 6, the year Rafaelian was born, he founded his own company, Cinerama Jewelry, based in Cranston, just outside of Providence. He made costume jewellery of all kinds, but this son of Armenian immigrants was best known for American flag lapel pins he sold wholesale. You can still find Ralph Rafaelians badges, with their tiny Swarovski stars and stripes, on e. Bay. She and her four siblings were sent to the factory basement as punishment for misbehaving strong willed Carolyn remembers hours attaching little paper cards to the backs of ostentatious 1. It was torture, she says with a laugh. She escaped to the University of Rhode Island, then to the now defunct for profit American College for the Applied Arts, before moving to New York City at the age of 2. She worked on her first jewellery line from a Tribeca apartment above a bookstore, scoring small deals with the likes of Bloomingdales. Her designs couldnt have been further from her fathers faux pearls and floral brooches. I created what I wanted to wear, Rafaelian says. I wanted cocktail rings. I wanted sterling silver. At 2. Rafaelian got married. At 2. 5, she had her first daughter, Alex. By the time her second daughter, Ani, came along less than two years later, she had returned to Rhode Island and the stable if unsexy costume jewellery sector, designing private label earrings and necklaces for mall stalwarts like Bebe, Express and Victorias Secret. She took up residence in a corner of Cinerama, her fathers factory. As she was filling 1. New York, Ralph Rafaelian was trying to stay afloat, unable to compete with cheaper Asian manufacturing. I remember the day that I looked back and I realised that every single person in the factory was working on the orders that I was bringing in, Carolyn Rafaelian recalls. In a split second I realised, Oh, my Godtheyre counting on me. On the side, she continued to dabble with her own label, named after her two eldest daughters. I was calling out to them, getting their attentionAlex was in her high chair, Ani was probably in a bouncer, she says. It was, like, thats it. For over a decade, she kept the family businesss lights on through those unglamorous private label orders, making six piece earring sets for 3 that would then sell for 1. Meanwhile, Alex and Ani slowly picked up steam Rafaelian bought up vintage stones as local companies shuttered, turning them into crystal adorned bracelets and butterfly hair accessories that cool young things on both coasts sought at Henri Bendel and Fred Segal. Among her bestsellers Seamless endless hoop earrings, constructed from one piece of wire and able to carry the weight of beads. During one of her many long drives between Manhattan and Rhode Island in the early 2. That design could be applied to a bracelet if she just increased the diameter. It was after midnight, and I went straight to the factory, she says. Rafaelian patented the Alex and Ani 1. Theres a million sneakers out there, but theres only one Nike, she says. An early sample sale at Cinerama was so overrun with shoppers that she called the police for protection. One woman set up a lawn chair four hours before the doors opened. Rafaelian ran into the factory to start putting together charm bracelets herself. Alex and Ani grew steadily, mostly as a concession in department stores like Bloomingdales and Nordstrom. In 2. 00. 9, she opened its first retail store in Newport. But it was still small stakes stuff, bringing in less than 5 million in sales, including the wholesale work. Then, at a University of Rhode Island reunion, she met a former state senator with a background in eyewear, Giovanni Feroce, who immediately grasped Alex and Anis broader potential. It tattoos your body without the tattoos, says Feroce, who joined as CEO in 2. To describe the duo as yin and yang is an insult to Taoism. An Iraq war veteran, Feroce speaks like a character in Call of Duty and sought to introduce military precision to a company run on Rafaelian flower power.