Today we’d like to introduce you to Nini Lee-Xiong.
Hi Nini, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story starts in 2019, when I launched Nini’s Jewels. During this time, I worked for my parents in their business, which had been running successfully for 10 years. With free time on my hands, they encouraged me to start an everyday wear, dainty jewelry business alongside what they did. I didn’t understand jewelry yet, but I was just starting to learn not only about jewelry and building a business, but how connected you are to your passions in life.
As a curious person, learning about gemstones, their properties, and what each stone is believed to mean truly fascinated me. There’s something special about the earth making these materials, and us turning them into something as simple as a ring on your hand.
Understanding the repair side of the business taught me that nothing you own is ever really old. It’s how much value you hold for it, which is why jewelry is timeless and its worth is never really set in stone. The meaning is different to every person who wears it.
Seven years later, I never would have guessed one decision could make this much of a difference. Running this business meant wearing a lot of different hats I never expected things such as, marketing, social media, content creation, admin task, all the logistics that come with actually running something day to day. Somewhere in there, I realized this wasn’t just a business anymore. It had become a lifestyle.
The cherry on top was connection. Looking back and being honest about what actually worked, it was never “here’s my new product, go buy it.” It was sitting with someone and helping them find the right stone for the moment — a piece that actually matched their story.
That shift also gave me a different lens on how I could connect to my community, not just my customers, which is something I’ve leaned into a lot more in the last year, and it’s shown up in the impact Nini’s Jewels has been able to have beyond just selling jewelry.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been smooth, and I think that’s true for anyone whose passion turns into something that makes money. You jump in headfirst without realizing what you’re getting into. I started with “hey, this is fun, let me do it,”, I want to sell! I didn’t realize yet that a business has to be built from the ground up, not just from what’s fun.
Burnout was a big part of it. I loved my business so much I’d stay up all night just to keep running it, but it went past loving it. It started running my life. I built myself a twenty-four-seven job that I couldn’t step away from, and if I did, something would fall apart. I had to understand that it was a “me” problem, not a business problem.
What I know now is you have to build a business brick by brick: a real process instead of doing things from memory, writing out how I actually do things instead of keeping it all in my head, real routines instead of just reacting to whatever came up, and figuring out which tasks could actually be handed off.
Imposter syndrome fed right into the burnout. I’d see people building million-dollar jewelry empires, and here I am, a one-woman operation who never took a jewelry repair course or trained as a gemologist. So I’d think, who am I to even call myself a jeweler? On the business side it was the same, who am I to be making this money and still not have everything together? That feeling followed me for two years, and I masked it and kept pushing until I crashed.
If I’d tell another small business owner one thing: that feeling is real, and pushing through isn’t always the answer. What actually helped was talking to somebody, letting myself feel it instead of masking it, and giving myself permission to step away, which is exactly what I did. Your mental health matters more than any deadline or the launch. It’s okay to pause.
That’s what gave me the space to fall back in love with Nini’s Jewels.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
This past summer, I won my first grant for Nini’s Jewels. That moment made me realize people actually see the passion behind this business, and that it’s always been about more than selling jewelry. I don’t just sell jewelry, I sell connection.
Receiving that grant meant so much because it showed me what I’d actually been building the whole time as a business owner, without fully realizing it was marketing. That’s the piece I love most, because there’s so much connection in your customers, your clients, your community. Somewhere along the way, without meaning to, I specialized in it.
What I’m most proud of is being able to take everything I’ve learned and put it all into something real. The instincts I built from years of selling, and the connection I care about most, led me to specialize in marketing, branding, and building real relationships with a community. It has opened up a second path alongside Nini’s Jewels. That’s what I’m known for now, in this business and beyond it, helping a brand actually connect with the people it’s meant for.
What sets me apart is being a Hmong woman in a trade you don’t see many women in, and building something in that space that can sustain itself, on my own terms, feels like an accomplishment in itself. The way I’ve built this business is intentional. I offer customization, so you’re never just settling for what’s on the shelf. Beyond that, when you shop with me, you’re supporting a small, woman-owned business, not a warehouse, not a chain. That’s shopping local in the truest sense: you’re supporting a real person’s story, not just a transaction.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I try to be intentional about how much I let in. I used to consume everything at once and felt completely overloaded. Too many people, too many voices, too much all at once. Now I limit myself to a small, direct dose of things, and let the rest just be enjoyed instead of consumed.
That’s part of why The Alchemist is my favorite book. It’s such a short read, but somehow it pulls you back to read it again and again. That’s intentional information, not overload. A little goes a long way if it actually means something.
As for apps, TikTok! This is where I actually go for inspiration and connection. It’s part of my small, direct dose of business content, alongside podcasts like The Diary of a CEO, which is my favorite for self-help and business growth.
And then there’s the play side. TikTok again! It is also just where I go to laugh, watch other people’s fun yet relatable content. Two Hot Takes is my go-to podcast when sipping on a glass of wine. And of course, Rotten Mango by Stephanie Soo! We all need that unserious-but-serious, friendly podcast in our lives.
Life doesn’t have to be that serious. Have fun, and play while you’re at it! There’s a line Brené Brown quotes from Dr. Stuart Brown in The Gifts of Imperfection that’s stuck with me: “the opposite of play isn’t work — it’s depression”. Play isn’t optional. It’s essential to how we function, and it helps us actually process hard things, not just escape from them.
That’s why I try to make room for it, walks especially. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how important nature walks are. No need to run, just enjoy the beauty of life and what it offers.
Pricing:
- Ready-to-wear Rings — starting at $35
- Best-Selling/Collection Rings — starting at $69–$82+
- Custom Design Pieces — starting at $125 (free consultation included)
- Silver Jewelry Repairs — starting at $45
- Gold Jewelry Repairs — starting at $85
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ninisjewels.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninisjewels
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ninisjewels
