Pearls As One (PAO) Student Focus — collector

By Reema Farooqui   Linda Quinn, Jewelry Designer   Stafford, Missouri–based Linda Quinn began designing and crafting jewelry during her undergraduate days at William Woods University. She secured a degree in both art and business, afterwards working for several retailers and manufacturers while honing her bench jeweler skills. By 1985, she debuted her own eponymous business, Linda Quinn Designs. Her aesthetic is defined by clean silhouettes, graphic cuts of gemstones, and oversize cultured pearls of all types. Her affinity for pearls led her to take the Pearls As One (PAO) course, which she completed in July 2021. One of the...

Ruth Johnson may work in insurance, but her love of pearls and fine jewelry led her to become an industry insider and Pearls As One student (PAO). Johnson has long been a member of the online forum Pearl Guide, and after attending several private Ruckus events for pearl lovers, she became fast friends with the CPAA’s own Douglas McLaurin (a founder of Perlas Del Mar de Cortez, the Sea of Cortez pearl brand), Sarah Canizzaro of Kojima Pearl, and Josh Humbert and Celeste Brash of Kamoka Pearl. It was through her involvement in Pearl Guide that she learned of PAO,...