What a week!

From the moment I pulled into the Mandalay Bay parking garage on Thursday, June 1—one day before the kickoff of ­LUXURY and four days before JCK Las Vegas opened its doors—I was running. I ran to my appointments, I ran to my seminars, I ran to my dinners. The only time I wasn’t running was when I was hobbling—my blistered feet a testament to how often I crisscrossed the ­convention center during my seven days on the Strip (an average of 11,692 steps a day!).

I devoted as much time as possible to scouring the show floor, along with our creative director, Peter Yates, for of-the-moment jewels. You’ll see the fruits of our labor in “Winning Streak,” attention-grabbing pieces that, like the dramatic rings on our cover, impressed us with their designs, their colors, and their timelessness.

On the heels of those gorgeous photographs (shot in New York City in mid-June by the immensely talented Stephen Lewis), we bring you a recap of the most notable people, events, talks, and trends to come out of the JCK and LUXURY shows—from the color poised to unseat “millennial pink” to the well-deserving honoree of this year’s Jewelers for Children’s Facets of Hope gala, our very own Yancy Weinrich (congrats!).

We follow our show coverage with the second annual how-to package, this one replete with tips on how to get an online education, how to write better job descriptions, how to boost employee retention, how to prevent theft, and how to introduce new products in your store.

The informative “Shelf Help” feature, by contributor Martha C. White, is a rundown of the business books your colleagues in the jewelry trade have found most valuable. And the best thing about them is that not all are business titles, per se. Some teach you more about how to live than how to sell—which seems like a pretty good way to think about management, in general.

Finally, don’t miss this issue’s Spotlight on diamond fashion jewelry, a pretty two-parter that includes a product guide to the season’s trendiest styles (“Rock This Way”) as well as “Diamonds Through the Decades,” contributor Kristin Young’s retrospective on the diamond fashions that have caught on over the past 20 years.

By the time you read this, I will have ­returned from a big family vacation to St. Petersburg, Russia, where I plan to enjoy the sights at a nice, leisurely pace. I hope you find some time to relax this summer, too!

Top: This Yael Designs tanzanite, sapphire, diamond, and topaz necklace was just one of many popular blue pieces at JCK.

(Gomelsky photograph by Nicholas A. Prakas; hair and makeup: Claudia Andreatta/Halley Resources)