How a Mission-Driven Jewelry Brand Took Over Hollywood from the Harvard Dorms

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In 2019, Shilpa Yarlagadda missed her bus from Manhattan’s Diamond District to Boston and had to book a last-minute ticket on the Amtrak Acela. She spent the ride calling friends to speed-talk updates about her startup, Shiffon Co. By the time she arrived, two strangers asked to buy her rings. She realized, “The person who could afford to take the Acela could also afford to buy my gold pinky rings.” From then on, she boarded the train wearing several rings at a time, often selling them right off her fingers. 

While eavesdroppers buying Yarlagadda’s rings became frequent enough to resemble a sales strategy, she has since found more effective ways to reach her target customers. Her growing influence is evident: to date, her jewelry has been worn by notable figures such as Nicole Kidman, Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai, Serena Williams, and Hailey Bieber.

Having grown up in Silicon Valley, Yarlagadda became aware of the lack of women in C-suite positions from an early age. When she enrolled at Harvard as a computer science major, she grew even more frustrated by the lack of women in technology and entrepreneurship. After her freshman year at Harvard, she set out to build a company that could solve this gap.

At just 20 years old, Yarlagadda started her company from her dorm room with the idea that something women often invest in—jewelry—could also invest back in them. Shiffon’s signature product is the Duet Pinky Ring, a spiral ring set with one tiny diamond next to a larger one intended to represent one woman supporting another. Through Shiffon’s partnership with the Startup Girl Foundation, half of the profits from the Duet Pinky Ring are used to fund female entrepreneurs. The ring has funded more than 14 female-founded startups, some of these companies have gone on to invest in others, continuing Shiffon’s mission of “spiraling women upwards.”

“I showed up to the Diamond District having Googled how to make jewelry,” Yarlagadda recalls. But lack of experience didn’t stop her quest for the highest quality product. “I started to appreciate each step of the process,” she muses. “Jewelry involves such specific craftsmanship, handwork and trade secrets passed down for generations to come.” She likens the Diamond District to a treasure hunt, one that led her to the best jewelers for each stage of production.

As she developed the product, Yarlagadda also stepped into the unfamiliar world of fashion, guided by mentors like stylist Sarah Slutsky, who is known for her work with Rachel Zegler, Lucy Liu, and Emma Watson. Since their initial meeting, Slutsky now serves as the brand’s creative director and has helped design pieces such as the ‘Hoops to Vote,’ a Shiffon collaboration with former first lady Michelle Obama through her non-profit, When We All Vote.

Yarlagadda also found support from famous photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. “I had an intern who knew we were still bootstrapping the company, and she told us that her friend’s parents were photographers,” Yarlagadda says. “So we mailed them our only samples with a note kindly asking for them back after the shoot.” A month later, they received the rings back and saw some new orders come through. 

“I noticed we were tagged in an Instagram post and we were like, oh my God, who are Inez and Vinoodh—and why did they have so many followers?” Yarlagadda recalls. The duo had photographed supermodel Cameron Russell wearing the Duet Pinky Ring for Vogue Spain. “We looked them up and realized how inspiring both of them were, but even more impressive was how lovely they were when I met them a year later.” Inez and Vinoodh went on to mentor Yarlagadda and the team at Shiffon, and eventually even set up a collaboration with their impact platform, Double Dutch, a digital gifting platform that merges art and philanthropy.

Although Shiffon never had a formal launch (in fact, a photo of Nicole Kidman wearing the ring at her Emmy win circulated while their website was still being built), the brand has been sustained by a community that continues to power its mission forward. Yarlagadda says, “I’ve thought about giving up, but it was everything that the ring stood for that pushed me to keep going—to continue building a company that can make a difference and give women hope through its symbolism as well as capital to pursue their dreams.” 

For women in America, female entrepreneurship is just beginning. It wasn’t until 1974 that women were granted the legal right to open bank accounts independent from their husbands, and 1988 when state laws removed the requirement of male co-signers for business loans. Even so, women-led startups often deliver higher returns per dollar invested compared to male-led companies. “It is essential that women are afforded more opportunities to take entrepreneurial risks,” says Yarlagadda.

Many of the women who have worn or collaborated with Shiffon have also dedicated their lives or careers to advancing women’s equality. Last year, Shiffon teamed up with Gloria Steinem’s foundation for a 2024 iteration of their Hoops to Vote campaign. Over 20 celebrities posted in Shiffon Co. hoops encouraging voter participation, and a percentage of profits benefited Steinem’s foundation. 

“I really admire Gloria. She shows us that we can stay grounded in who we are, even in the face of setbacks, and still hold onto hope,” says Yarlagadda. “Gloria once said, ‘Sometimes you have to go backward to go forward.’ As a young woman, hearing that helped me realize we’re all on this journey together. Progress isn’t a straight line or a perfect circle, it’s a spiral,” much like the company’s signature ring.

“Gloria once said, ‘Sometimes you have to go backward to go forward.’ As a young woman, hearing that helped me realize we’re all on this journey together. Progress isn’t a straight line or a perfect circle, it’s a spiral.”

Yarlagadda hopes Shiffon inspires other founders not to wait for success before making an impact, but to build their businesses with purpose from the start. “Not everyone’s success comes to them immediately, but you can scale impact with growth,” says Yarlagadda. In her role as a TECH Associate in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard, she leans on her experience as a founder to inspire students in their own journeys. “It’s not just books that teach you business, it’s mentors, the internet, and that treasure hunt to find what you need,” she says. Yarlagadda plans to encourage young entrepreneurs to think differently, find confidence, and instill their values from day one. “For-profit companies have an immense power to do good. I’m excited about my generation, and the next generation of entrepreneurs, who are conscious about using business to make a difference in our world.”