Every Wave is Yinnan Shen’s effort to bring her jewelry aesthetic into the world while also making the jewelry industry more equitable with the brand’s affordable, gender-inclusive, and affirming pieces.
Shen opened Every Wave in 2023, making a career change from public relations, crisis management, and communications. Sitting in a Manhattan coffee shop last May, she thought about the work she’d done for nearly 10 years and the idea of creating something she could call her own.
She began writing a list of topics she was interested in, as well as areas where she’d excelled. Shen knew she could tell a good story. She had a passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion based on her years advising companies on their DEI initiatives. She also adored jewelry and had been upgrading her own collection.
With Every Wave, Shen was able to combine her personal interests and professional skills in a new business. It was terrifying at first—after all, she had never started a company before.
“I had some savings at the time, so I decided to give it a try. I gave myself a timeline. If I burned through my savings, I’d give up. But I could still tell myself I tried,” she says.
A year later, she says Every Wave is growing into the brand she hopes it would be.
Shen moved to the United States from her native China nine years ago by herself, seeking a place where she could express herself as an Asian immigrant and a queer person. She’d grown up in a traditional family that had strict standards for what girls were supposed to do.
She came to the U.S. with a bachelor’s degree in information management and information systems from Beijing Language and Culture University, and in 2017 received a master’s in public relations and corporate communication from New York University. She also earned DEI certification, from Cornell University, in 2022.
Shen worked for a variety of companies as a research analyst in crisis management, strategic communication, and DEI. It was satisfying enough, but she began to feel corporate America wasn’t the right place for her long term.
Once she started brainstorming for Every Wave, she grew excited about how jewelry could impact fashion and gender norms. Shen says her goal is to disrupt the binary gender construct in the jewelry and fashion industries, which divides items into “man” and “woman” categories. Every Wave jewelry is designed with people in mind, she says.
“Anyone who likes our style should feel encouraged to wear our jewelry. And we take pride in creating the pieces that become an integral part of people’s self-expression,” says Shen.
“Growing up, I remember hating the color pink. I wore the pink clothes my mom bought me with deep resentment,” she says. “Fast-forward to 2022. I wore prink for the first time in I don’t remember how many years. And I realized that I don’t really hate pink. Actually, I look cute. What I resented was not a color, but the box of gender norms and cultural expectations that were exerted on me.”
To celebrate Pride month in June, Every Wave is debuting a limited-edition CrystalYou bracelet, handcrafted from sterling silver and six types of natural crystals in a rainbow of colors like the Pride flag. The company will donate $2 from each sale of the bracelet to the Trevor Project, an organization committed to the wellness of LGBTQIA+ youth.
“My goal is to create a brand that has personality. I want design that people can look at someone wearing it and know it is Every Wave,” Shen says.
Top: Public relations and diversity expert Yinnan Shen created Every Wave in 2023 to address the need for affordable genderless jewelry. (Photos courtesy of Every Wave)
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