Hi, I'm Chao, and I believe every woman deserves to feel brilliant and elegant, every single day.

My story begins in Shaoxing, China — a city the world calls the Venice of the East. Shaoxing is a place of canals and silk, of history written in water, and of pearls that have been treasured for centuries. Growing up there, pearls were never just jewelry. They were woven into daily life — worn by women at the market, at the temple, at the table. They were quiet symbols of grace, not grand declarations of wealth.

That upbringing shaped everything I believe about beauty. It taught me that elegance doesn't need to be saved for special occasions. It taught me that the most meaningful adornments are the ones you reach for every morning — the ones that make you feel like yourself.

"I didn't set out to build a jewelry brand. I set out to share something I had always known — that a pearl, worn simply and with intention, can change how a woman carries herself through the world."

Pretty U&Me was born from that belief. I founded the brand with one mission: to make pearl jewelry accessible, contemporary, and filled with natural elegance — not locked behind the glass of a fine jewelry store, but held in your hand, worn to brunch, worn to the farmers market, worn because Tuesday deserves beauty too.

Every collection I carry is rooted in nature. The Pearl Lovers collection celebrates the quiet luminance of freshwater pearls in their purest form. The Flower Lovers collection draws from the botanical world I grew up surrounded by — ginkgo leaves, plum blossoms, butterflies mid-flight. The Real Flower Collection is perhaps the closest to my heart: real flowers — rose petals, tulip buds, wildflowers — preserved forever in clear resin, so that what is fleeting becomes eternal.

I grew up in a family of makers — my father a painter, my mother a tailor — and that upbringing shaped my belief that beautiful things are made with patience, skill, and love. Pretty U&Me is not separate from my life. It is an expression of it.

I hope that when you wear Pretty U&Me, you feel exactly that — brilliant and elegant, in the most natural way.

With love, Chao