To honor Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October, Diamonds Direct is selling special pendants to raise money for GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers, the jewelry retailer’s first national charity partnership.
GiGi Gianni, the 21-year-old namesake of GiGi’s Playhouse, helped design the My Extra Chromosome pendant, as Diamonds Direct calls the fundraising jewel. It is available in four styles and sold at 10 Diamonds Direct stores and online.
The pendant comes in 14k yellow gold, with a sapphire ($900) or diamonds and a sapphire ($2,300), or in sterling silver, in mini ($150) or regular ($310) size.
Charlotte, N.C.–based Diamonds Direct will donate 20% of the money raised through the pendant to GiGi’s Playhouse, says Kelly Flahardy, vice president of Diamonds Direct’s Chicago-area location in Schaumburg, Ill.
Flahardy says the collaboration between the Gianni family, who founded GiGi’s Playhouse, and Diamonds Direct began in March 2023 when the Chicago/Schaumburg store opened. Each Diamonds Direct location partners with a local charity and raises money for that organization during its grand opening, he explains.
The “huge energy” exhibited by GiGi and her mother, Nancy, their conversations with Diamonds Direct employees, and the women’s speeches at the opening event were so exciting that they immediately started talking about additional collaborations, Flahardy says.
One of Nancy Gianni’s first ideas was a fundraising necklace. Flahardy says that after hearing about a custom pendant the store had designed for a client in the shape of a DNA strand, she suggested creating a similar pendant that represents the extra chromosome people with Down syndrome have.
“The synergy between GiGi, her family, and our team was so big that we realized this could be transformed into our first national charity collaboration,” Flahardy says. “In my 25-plus years of doing this, I’ve never before in my career felt anything as strongly as I do this partnership.”
As Nancy and GiGi, 21, explain it, their family considers GiGi’s extra chromosome a special part of who she is. Wearing the My Extra Chromosome pendant signifies love for people with Down syndrome and a commitment to accept people of all abilities, Flahardy says.
GiGi’s Playhouse is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023. It serves more than 30,000 families in 83 countries, providing free educational, therapeutic-based, and career development programs through its network of 58 Down Syndrome Achievement Centers and its Virtual Playhouse.
Flahardy says Nancy Gianni told him GiGi’s Playhouse has more than 200 requests to open additional locations worldwide, so he is proud to that the pendant project may help the organization expand its footprint.
“GiGi and GiGi’s Playhouse have a global message of acceptance for everyone,” Flahardy says. “I’m excited to see how it and this collaboration continue to grow.”
Top: A pendant with 0.75 cts. t.w. round brilliant diamonds and a 0.16 ct. sapphire is the most expensive of four styles of the fundraising pendant created by Diamonds Direct in partnership with GiGi’s Playhouse to commemorate Down Syndrome Awareness Month. (Photos courtesy of Diamonds Direct)
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