Between being a jeweler and a matchmaker, Ria Perez finds joy doing what she considers her way of creating an impact. 

She’s taken a passionate stance in jewelry-making, where the pieces are only as important as the process and stories behind them. Recently, she’s into helping “build love stories” – her way of enabling singles, especially women, to never dim their lights for anybody. 

‘YOU DO YOU’

If there is one major takeaway from Ria’s deep, personal knowledge on craftsmanship, it’s that the story should make the embellishment, and not the other way around. 

“People think it's only about adornment, but jewelry is something very personal. It reflects your story, your narrative. [For example] as a woman, you don't have to wait for another person to define it for you,” Ria told GMA Regional TV News.

This belief anchors, and in a lot of ways explains, her ‘you do you’ mantra.

“You don't need to copy anyone. Your unique perspective, life experiences are your advantage. If you really think about your own life story, that’s how you will create an impact. God is honing you with those little experiences so that you may use them as education. You do you,” she said when asked for advice to women figuring their way around.

Even Ria, born to jeweler parents, had to wait and fall in love with the process organically before committing to the craft full time. She went through a corporate phase, a detour of sorts, from which she formed a sound marketing background that later revealed to be helpful massively. 

“My parents, ano sila, parang factory. So, if you know the blue foam of walang art, wala gaano. Coming from a marketing perspective, maarte ako. I wanted my classmates and my friends, my colleagues, to propose na may maganda naman silang presentation to their fiancé. So I repackaged it and then I made the brand, Joyeria,” she detailed her beginnings with carving her own path in the industry. 

For Ria, it’s the story that shapes the jewelry – the milestone finish, the turn of page, the change of scenery. The ebbs and flows are responsible for shaping one’s arc. 

Her favorite part of the job is when clients share and talk about that arc. 

“I usually meet them from proposals to weddings to milestones, and I hear the stories they share. So, ‘yun yung favorite part ko. It has something to do with that moment in their life. Yun ang highlight of my life eh, when I capture, you know, their narrative through my art,” she explained.

Carved out of this is a jumping-off point for her latest venture, the Circle by Joyeria. 

“As a jeweler, I have had the opportunity to know the patterns of how love stories are formed, I have an idea of how to make, to create the setting of how people will fall in love. So, yun. That's my goal – to build more love stories,” explained Ria. 

Through this co-founded brainchild, Ria designs spaces and events where organic encounters can turn up a magical spark between singles ready, willing, and able to embrace the opportunity. 

“In designing these events, even if you don't meet your person there, you showed up for yourself, you learned a new skill, you enjoyed yourself. So, for instance, meron kaming upcoming mahjong night, or we had a box run. Even if you didn’t meet your person, you did a workout for yourself,” she emphasized.

Describing the Circle as a “sacred space,” Ria said she always reminds their members of the “no pressure” rule, that there is “no hidden agenda.”

“You come here, you come curious. You showed up for yourself. You come out learning something new, if not your person, about yourself,” she added.

WORTH FAR MORE THAN RUBIES

As someone often provided a platform to speak on womanhood and empowerment, Ria hopes to influence women to “be their full selves” – unapologetically if they must. 

“Women are already far more valuable than rubies. We don't need to do anything to prove that we’re worthy, because we are already worthy. But it doesn't stop us from stepping into the light, being the full version of ourselves,” she explained, referencing a bible quote from the book of Proverbs.

Ria preaches that same ethos to single women eager to join the Circle. In today’s day and age where some women already hold positions of power and are capable of pursuing their own stories, she reminds them to “embrace who you are.”

“And never dim your light,” she continued, “you are the right amount to the right person. Hindi nila kailangan to play it small. Do your best, because you’ll be celebrated by the right person.”

Ria hopes to one day live in a world where women can choose to step into the embodiment of brilliance they so desire, because they want to. A world where women are afforded respect and seen of equal value not in spite of difference, but because of it.