More WJA Chapter Boards Step Down in DEI Dispute

By Karen Dybis | January 30, 2025

The entire boards of five Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) chapters have resigned in the wake of comments made by the organization’s national president, Gabrielle Grazi, about its approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

In the past two days, chapter board members in Miami and Seattle announced they are all stepping down from their volunteer roles in the networking, education, and leadership group. The boards of WJA’s San Diego, Northern California (NorCal), and Chicago chapters resigned earlier this month.

WJA National did not respond to multiple requests for comment from JCK. Grazi’s email sent a message saying she was out of office until Feb. 7.

The chapter board resignations stem from then president-elect Grazi’s address to WJA’s 2024 national membership meeting on Dec. 10. “In our efforts to support DEI and highlight underrepresented communities in our industry,” she said, “it was recently brought to our attention…the many in our industry who have felt excluded the past few years. In hindsight, our content did not always reflect the complexion of our membership and that of our broader industry.

“Our sincere efforts to be inclusive created a perception of exclusion by many long-standing and founding members of the jewelry community,” Grazi continued. “We sincerely apologize for this misstep. Everyone is welcome in our community. Every individual is diverse.

“As a women’s business organization with a 501(c)(6) designation, we will be focused on diversity of thought and not comment or create content around social justice issues.”

In a Jan. 24 email to members, WJA National stated that it is “not making any changes to its DEIB programming.” (DEIB stands for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.)

“While it was never her intent to imply that we would be changing our approach to DEIB,” the email said in reference to Grazi, “she—and we—understand that there is much to learn from this experience.

“To that end, we are pleased to share that WJA board member Donna DeLucia will serve as chair of the DEIB committee for 2025.… Please know that we are diligently working on repairing the damage that was done over the last few weeks, and Gabrielle is as well.”

WJA’s New York Metro chapter on Jan. 28 posted a strongly worded statement from its board reconfirming the chapter’s commitment to DEI. “We stand united in holding WJA National accountable to the promises made in their January 24th email statement,” the Instagram post said.

In the Jan. 28 Instagram post announcing its collective resignation, Seattle’s chapter board said, “The apology offered both in the leadership call last week and the subsequent email sent to members is insufficient in that it places the blame on people’s interpretation of Gabrielle’s remarks rather than acknowledging that the remarks were simply wrong and never should have been made. Further, we do not feel that the National board values our input as they have continued to stand by Gabrielle Grazi as president in spite of clear feedback that our chapters cannot move forward under her leadership.”

Seattle board members were “devastated” about stepping down, according to the posted statement, which also noted that the board had made five requests of WJA National in a Jan. 17 letter, but “none of those requests have been met.”

An Instagram post by WJA Miami on Jan. 29 said Grazi’s remarks at the annual meeting, “coupled with National’s lack of clear and actionable response,” led to the chapter board’s resignation, effective Jan. 28.

“The current leadership has demonstrated blatant disregard for the good of the organization, prioritizing damage control over meaningful engagement and resolution,” read the posted statement. “This approach undermines the trust and confidence necessary for WJA Miami to operate.… We remain hopeful that the organization will emerge stronger and more unified in the future.”

WJA San Diego’s Jan. 27 statement in an Instagram Story (no longer available on Instagram) said: “The decision by the 2025 National board to retain Gabrielle Grazi as president of WJA National after sowing unprecedented division within our membership and instigating dozens of resignations from our local and national leadership…has left us unable to effectively support our community members through this association at this time.”

In its resignation announcement, the Chicago chapter board said WJA National staff had told them Grazi’s comments were meant to address some members’ dissatisfaction with the national board’s lack of response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We feel that this rationale is inadequate,” the WJA Chicago board added in the statement posted on Instagram.

Jewelry reporter Becky Stone wrote on her Diamonds in the Library blog that she agreed with the WJA Chicago chapter board “when they say that this shift in priority feels contradictory to the very existence of the WJA.”

“Like the United States as a whole, the jewelry industry stands at a crossroads: Will we stand up for our community and work to create a safe, welcoming, inclusive place that fosters the beautiful diversity that makes both our nation and our industry truly great or we will fold under the pressures of prejudice and surrender the fight to make our corner of the world a better place just to keep a few fearful people comfortable?”

Grazi was elected president of the WJA in January 2024. She previously served as president of the WJA Foundation’s board of trustees.

Top: An excerpt from the statement posted on Instagram by the Women’s Jewelry Association Miami chapter