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Nabeela Yaseen —  The lady behind Stoned Jewelry and Not Your Nangi  

27 Feb 2022

By Mahika Panditha    If you are like me and absolutely adore jewellery – either wearing it or shopping for it – I highly recommend that you check out Stoned Jewelry. Stoned Jewelry recently turned three and we had a chance to speak to its founder Nabeela Yaseen earlier this week.  Nabeela is currently working on growing her business whilst also helping her mom with her own clothing store; Golden Needle, and building her non-profit; Not Your Nangi. The creativity runs deep, and Nabeela definitely has a good eye for some stunning pieces of jewellery. Stoned Jewelry offers a variety of pieces which we talk about later on, and you can also have a look at their Instagram page – @stonedjewelry.official. Aside from this, I am sure that you have seen posts from, or follow Not Your Nangi. Not Your Nangi is a women’s empowerment initiative which is working towards creating a safe spaces well as a sexual violence-free environment  in Sri Lanka.  I think you can already tell from this small introduction that Nabeela is a woman of wonders, and we wish her nothing but the best. Fun fact though, she did not like jewellery growing up! Funny how the world works. Anyway, before I say too much, go ahead and give it a read.    Stoned Jewelry just turned three, congratulations! What inspired you to start the brand?   My mom was relocating her store and I had organised an open house to create some buzz. To add to the event, I thought it would be exciting to have a new product range. That’s when I took some pieces from my father-in-law’s sterling silver collection and created the brand.    Could you tell us a little bit about the pieces you offer?    We create jewellery with precious metals and natural gemstones. This includes sterling silver, solid gold, and solid white gold. We don’t use synthetic or fake gemstones, including cubic zirconia, unless requested by our customers.   Out of all of your pieces, what is your favourite?    The snake chains, for sure!   Where do you hope Stoned Jewelry will be in the coming years?  I hope we will have retail stores across the island and around the world.   What advice would you give to people who would like to start their own businesses?   Read and research everything related to your field.   Aside from this, you also started Not Your Nangi. Tell us about the platform, and what drove the decision to create it.   Not Your Nangi serves as a safe space for girls and women to share their stories of sexual violence. We also focus a lot on awareness-creating activities, mostly through digital media, and by conducting workshops in schools, although we have stopped this due to Covid. I started Not Your Nangi because I realised we didn’t have a forum/group of sorts to discuss these unpleasant experiences that we may endure due to our female identity. Since its creation, what has been one of the hardest situations to overcome, and how did you do it?    Overcoming burnout. I started telling myself it’s okay to feel tired and burned out. And I started reminding myself of the need to have a platform like Not Your Nangi and how Sri Lanka would be a less unsafe country for women if there was a platform like this for the masses in the 20th Century.   What are your future plans for Not Your Nangi?  Secure funding to grow the team and push out content aimed at creating awareness in the masses.   PHOTOS © STONED JEWELRY, NABEELA YASEEN, ACHIRA JAYASINGHE 


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