The Future Is Female and So Is CMD

CMD runs on woman power, and we're all the stronger for it. When I originally wrote this post in 2017, our team was split between our San Francisco headquarters and our production studio in Upstate New York. We may have spanned time zones, but our shared passion for what we were building, our work ethic and our respect for one another kept us closely tied together.

A Woman-Owned Jewelry Business Built by Women

Colleen Mauer Designs has been a woman-owned business from the beginning, but I've never built it alone. Over the years, incredibly talented women have helped make jewelry, work with clients, photograph pieces, pack orders, build our website, tell our stories and handle the countless details that keep a small jewelry business moving.

There's something really special about looking around and realizing how much of CMD has been shaped by the women who've poured their own creativity, skill and care into it. My name may be on the door, but this business has always been the product of far more than one set of hands.

From San Francisco to Upstate New York

The trip that inspired this original post was particularly meaningful because I had traveled from San Francisco to spend a few days with our New York production team. Even though I grew up on the East Coast, I'd only been to Upstate New York once before that visit. Getting to spend time there just as everything was starting to bloom was a wonderful treat.

It was also a chance to see firsthand what our New York team was building. At that point in CMD's history, we were truly a bi-coastal operation, with different pieces of the business happening thousands of miles apart. That chapter eventually changed, but Upstate New York became an incredibly important part of CMD's story.

Celebrating Aryana and the Women Who Helped Build CMD

That trip also happened to coincide with Aryana's five-year anniversary at CMD. Ary had already worked with me coast-to-coast and had been instrumental in getting our Ithaca production studio where it was at the time. Five years felt like such a milestone then.

Reading that now makes me smile because Ary is still part of CMD all these years later in 2026 when I'm updating this post. She's been here through different studios, different coasts and more versions of this business than either of us probably could have imagined when she started. Having people grow alongside a small business for that long is something I never take for granted.

The CMD Team Today

A lot has changed since this post was originally written. Our San Francisco headquarters is now part of CMD history, I'm based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and our jewelry continues to be handcrafted by our production team in Upstate New York. We're still a small, woman-owned business, and there's still an incredible team of women behind what you see when you encounter CMD out in the world.

Twenty-one years into this business, I know more than ever that the people beside you matter just as much as the thing you're building. CMD has changed locations, grown, contracted, reinvented itself and found new directions over the years, but I'm endlessly grateful for the women who have helped carry it through all of those chapters.

Here's to woman power and the women behind CMD,
Colleen

© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.

Published: April 13, 2017
Updated: August 13, 2026