Audriana Osbourne, a Black woman from Montgomery, Alabama, was elated to discover last week that she was one of only three recipients to receive a $20,000 jewelry industry scholarship from Beyoncé’s and designer Lorraine Schwartz. Honored to have her full tuition paid at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), Osbourne hopes to use the opportunity to break into the jewelry design world.
In March, Schwartz teamed up with Beyoncé to award two Black hopefuls a chance at the full scholarship and attend GIA’s Graduate Gemologist program. Following an influx of applicants, they decided to expand the Beyoncé Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz GIA Scholarship to three potential students instead.
“I was impressed with their passion and the knowledge of gems that so many applicants displayed,” Beyoncé said about hand-picking the candidates. “I am praying that this is just the beginning of opening more doors to diversity and raw inspiration in the jewelry industry.”
A friend and former jewelry designer for Beyoncé, Schwartz, stated that the idea for the Beyoncé Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz GIA Scholarship came about last year when the singer asked her close friends to shop Black-owned businesses instead of buying a birthday present.
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The first recipient of the jewelry industry scholarship was Osbourne, a Montgomery native and Howard University School of Law graduate who spoke glowingly about her new potential career. “The hope for me is to absolutely learn all I possibly can and fuse the knowledge I have now and the career that I have now with a career in the jewelry industry,” she discussed after being awarded. “Having that space to blend that creativity and using the power of the law to fuse that into a really just new, innovative and avant-garde career.”
Osbourne said that more than anything, she’s excited about giving back to her community and becoming a mentor for the next generation entering a new career.
