Entrepreneur Charlotte Donoghue created her affordable jewellery brand in her Liverpool home in 2016 with just five necklaces and now it is in demand by multiple celebrities. Tony McDonough reports
In 2016 Charlotte Donoghue started her affordable jewellery business with just five trial necklaces that she took to Instagram and Facebook.
Just six years later Say It With Diamonds is a multi-million pound business and is a favourite with celebrities including Molly Mae Hague, Mrs Hinch, Sam and Billie Faiers, Lucy Mecklenburgh and Geordie Shore’s Marnie Simpson.
Katie Price, Love Island’s Elle Brown, Molly Smith, Kendall Rae Knight and Francesca Allen are also fans of the brand. Other celebrities include Danielle Lloyd who got her and her husband Michael’s wedding rings from Say It With Diamonds.
Charlotte says her initial trial back in 2016 saw 10 orders come in and those same necklaces are still in high demand today. She took advantage of the reach of social media before the idea of influencer marketing really took off.
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Reinvesting into the business and stock, Charlotte continued to buy more and more luxury pieces which saw the brand continue to grow. She explained: “As Say It With Diamonds grew, my goal was to work with celebrities to collaborate on collections, create bespoke pieces for them and to have them select their favourite styles.
“This was way before endorsements, ads and influencer collections. I just saw the power in seeing the celebrities pick out their favourite items or for Say It With Diamonds to be part of big moments like Danielle Lloyd’s wedding day and Charlotte Dawson’s engagement.
“At the time, Olivia Bowen had just come out of Love Island and was building a huge brand of her own and I asked her to collaborate on designing her own collection. She picked key pieces that we hadn’t previously stocked which added freshness to the brand and another perspective from a celebrity.
“Both Billie Faiers and Molly Mae’s rings were bespoke and designed by us. Billie’s was a yellow diamond pear shaped ring and Molly’s was a green diamond ring with a double run of diamonds. Molly is obsessed with green and it was the perfect addition to match her jewellery collection. These are now available to our customers.”
Say It With Diamonds is now an award-winning business that directly employs a team of 19 as well as a wider outsourced team. Charlotte added: “Seeing our customers, influencers and celebrities wearing Say It With Diamonds is still a pinch me moment for myself and the team.
“There’s no doubt that social media can give businesses a huge boost and I’m so proud of how popular our jewellery has become. We’ve got some very exciting collaborations this year and we’ll be making some beautiful bespoke pieces so that anyone shopping with us can choose something unique.”