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Jenine M. Lepera

ARTIST. DESIGNER. ENTREPRENEUR. TEACHER.

New York Jewelry Design Institute (NYJDI) was founded in 2011 by Jenine Lepera.  It is the city’s leading boutique jewelry design school in the center of New York’s world-renowned Diamond District.

Jenine left the corporate sales to study Interior Design in New York and Florence, Italy, as well as jewelry design. She a trained bench jeweler and gemologist.

“When I think about the road that lead me to start this school, I realize that it may not seem as if each step I took built on the one before it,” she continued, “but they all helped me understand and meet the needs of each and every student at the New York Institute of Jewelry Design, students whose backgrounds are as varied as the pieces of jewelry they design here.”

Jenine believes that the breadth and depth of her lifelong journey is the most valuable thing she can pass onto her students.

She takes great pride in nurturing her students and helping them succeed in the amazing world of jewelry design. “I get tremendous gratification assisting my students with the daunting task of navigating business obstacles that torment most creative people. I’ve done it, and I know that with the training they get from my school, they can do it too.”

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