GIA Alumni Collective
The GIA Alumni Collective offers an exciting networking platform for GIA graduates. The online community at collective.gia.edu allows a diverse group of users to access both live and self-paced Continuing Education seminars, join virtual chapters, connect with global alumni, and more. The site also puts GIA alums in the spotlight (see above), celebrating those who uphold the highest standards of GIA’s consumer protection mission.
Winning a 40-pound tub of historical jewelry at auction led sisters Laura Mae and Amanda Jean (last names withheld) to launch their online jewelry resale business, Maejean Vintage, in 2010. New to the industry, they both pursued Graduate Gemologist diplomas at GIA. Today they use their expertise to salvage rare and valuable historical pieces and sell them all over the world.
Ilan Portugali’s journey took him from Israel to Madagascar to Mozambique and finally to the U.S., where he worked for a diamond dealer and completed his Graduate Diamonds diploma at GIA. After positions with Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston, Portugali started his own business, Beverly Hills Diamonds, which sources conflict-free and fair-trade diamonds.
Visit https://collective.gia.edu/meet-the-collective.html to read stories from these alumni and more.
