.png){kind=logo}
Green '00 Designs a Dream
A love of metal work has allowed one alumna to brighten up faces...and fingers, and necks, and ears.
You never know when something will change your life forever. That’s what Maura Green ’00 discovered when she was 15 years old and took a summer class in jewelry-making and metalworking.
Fast forward 20 years and Green has climbed the ladder to become VP of Design and Merchandising for Verigold Jewelry. Verigold designs, manufactures and sells jewelry to mass market retailers like Zales, Kay, Macy’s, Helzberg, and J.C. Penney, to name a few. In her position, Green has a hand in creating pieces that lead to gross sales of nearly $20 million annually. All thanks to a summer of exploration.
“(That class) allowed me to work with my hands and tools and to do some soldering,” Green said. “I loved it. When I got to the age where I was too old for camp but not old enough to get a job, I needed something to do in the summers. My parents encouraged me to find something to do that I would enjoy. And I said, ‘you know, I think I want to do metalworking.’ ”
Green was fortunate to have a resource like the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture. It was there that she met Deborah Dubois, the metalworking artist in residence who took Green on as an apprentice.
“I learned so much from her about how to construct things by hand,” Green said. “She taught me as much as she could during the weekends and summer. That’s where I developed deep interest and developed a passion for it.”
Green wanted to attend a college that was steeped in the fine arts, but said that was a step too far for her parents who worried she might be pigeonholing herself at a young age. With the help of St. Andrew’s college counseling office and English teacher Shelly Webb, Green discovered Ohio Wesleyan University, which provided her with a liberal arts education while also allowing her to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Jewelry and Metals.
After graduating she spent a year working for a jeweler in Philadelphia before becoming an assistant designer for Joan Rivers, who had a line of costume jewelry that was sold on QVC. “That was a great experience, working for a female-owned business and learning more about mass production,” Green said. “So that was sort of the next step in learning this side of the business where you are doing more sketching and working with a studio that’s usually overseas. Having had that knowledge of doing it yourself helps when working with a factory overseas because you can troubleshoot.”
Eight years ago, Green moved to Verigold, starting out in an entry level position as a merchandising assistant. From there she has worked her way up to her current position as a vice president.
“I think I have had the good fortune of always knowing this is what I wanted to do,” Green said. “To develop an expertise in anything you need to put in a lot of hours and in order to put in the hours, you need to love it and care. Like any career, if you’re kind of just doing it for a paycheck, you’re going to burn out if you work really hard.
“What’s really cool about my position now is I get to do the merchandising and design of these collections. I get to work on individual pieces that are expected to be big sellers. But I also get to do collections with pendants and earrings and rings and get to work on the romancing behind it and the taglines and marketing of it.”
Green credits her teachers at St. Andrew’s, including Tracey Goodrich and the recently retired Gary Wyatt, with supporting her passion. As a senior taking AP Studio Art, she was allowed to submit some of her metal work for grading.
“Maura was one those students who truly made art a part of who she is,” Goodrich said. “It’s not surprising at all to see her build a career around her passion.”
As far as advice for future artists, Green has some pragmatic words.
“I would highly recommend to anyone interested in pursuing the arts to take as many business classes as possible,” Green said. “You need to know how to write a business plan, know how to balance what’s coming in and going out and the margins you need to meet to stay afloat. That’s definitely a void and I’m lucky I was able to learn it on the job.”
To learn more about alumni in the arts and the arts at St. Andrew's, check out our 2018 spring magazine.
Back
Fast forward 20 years and Green has climbed the ladder to become VP of Design and Merchandising for Verigold Jewelry. Verigold designs, manufactures and sells jewelry to mass market retailers like Zales, Kay, Macy’s, Helzberg, and J.C. Penney, to name a few. In her position, Green has a hand in creating pieces that lead to gross sales of nearly $20 million annually. All thanks to a summer of exploration.
“(That class) allowed me to work with my hands and tools and to do some soldering,” Green said. “I loved it. When I got to the age where I was too old for camp but not old enough to get a job, I needed something to do in the summers. My parents encouraged me to find something to do that I would enjoy. And I said, ‘you know, I think I want to do metalworking.’ ”
Green was fortunate to have a resource like the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture. It was there that she met Deborah Dubois, the metalworking artist in residence who took Green on as an apprentice.
“I learned so much from her about how to construct things by hand,” Green said. “She taught me as much as she could during the weekends and summer. That’s where I developed deep interest and developed a passion for it.”
Green wanted to attend a college that was steeped in the fine arts, but said that was a step too far for her parents who worried she might be pigeonholing herself at a young age. With the help of St. Andrew’s college counseling office and English teacher Shelly Webb, Green discovered Ohio Wesleyan University, which provided her with a liberal arts education while also allowing her to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Jewelry and Metals.
After graduating she spent a year working for a jeweler in Philadelphia before becoming an assistant designer for Joan Rivers, who had a line of costume jewelry that was sold on QVC. “That was a great experience, working for a female-owned business and learning more about mass production,” Green said. “So that was sort of the next step in learning this side of the business where you are doing more sketching and working with a studio that’s usually overseas. Having had that knowledge of doing it yourself helps when working with a factory overseas because you can troubleshoot.”
Eight years ago, Green moved to Verigold, starting out in an entry level position as a merchandising assistant. From there she has worked her way up to her current position as a vice president.
“I think I have had the good fortune of always knowing this is what I wanted to do,” Green said. “To develop an expertise in anything you need to put in a lot of hours and in order to put in the hours, you need to love it and care. Like any career, if you’re kind of just doing it for a paycheck, you’re going to burn out if you work really hard.
“What’s really cool about my position now is I get to do the merchandising and design of these collections. I get to work on individual pieces that are expected to be big sellers. But I also get to do collections with pendants and earrings and rings and get to work on the romancing behind it and the taglines and marketing of it.”
Green credits her teachers at St. Andrew’s, including Tracey Goodrich and the recently retired Gary Wyatt, with supporting her passion. As a senior taking AP Studio Art, she was allowed to submit some of her metal work for grading.
“Maura was one those students who truly made art a part of who she is,” Goodrich said. “It’s not surprising at all to see her build a career around her passion.”
As far as advice for future artists, Green has some pragmatic words.
“I would highly recommend to anyone interested in pursuing the arts to take as many business classes as possible,” Green said. “You need to know how to write a business plan, know how to balance what’s coming in and going out and the margins you need to meet to stay afloat. That’s definitely a void and I’m lucky I was able to learn it on the job.”
To learn more about alumni in the arts and the arts at St. Andrew's, check out our 2018 spring magazine.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is a private, coeducational college preparatory day school for students in preschool (Age 2) through grade 12, located in Potomac, Maryland.