Kelsey Leigh was born and raised in Austin. She credits St. Andrew’s Episcopal School for teaching her to be a problem solver, critical thinker, and to think outside the box — skills that have served her instrumentally in her journey. Her childhood was difficult, raised by her mother, grandfather, and grandmother alongside her two younger brothers. The strict discipline when expectations weren’t met taught her the natural consequences of her choices. She was raised in a very philanthropic environment where she learned that in giving you actually receive more.
Hard work was a core value, modeled by her grandfather Bob Hughes, a successful Austin businessman. Kelsey wanted to be just like her “poppa.” She was a “do’er” from a young age. She remembers taking apart her Barbie car and moving chords around until it started working again. She has always been hungry to learn, devouring self-help, psychology, spiritual texts, and pursuing unusual passions like ancestry research and arrowhead or fossil hunting.
After high school, she attended college for two years but struggled with health issues and moved home. At 21, it felt like failure. But she learned that just because your path is different and may seem like a failure at the time, that “failure” is actually exactly where you are meant to be to get you where you are going. She believes everyone has their own path and no path looks the same.
Back in Austin, she started working for her family’s jeweler, The Menagerie, intending to return to school. Instead, she discovered her calling. She had loved physics and chemistry in high school but knew she could never sit behind a desk all day. Jewelry was the perfect mix — natural products of the Earth, diamonds as a single element (carbon), while elements bonded together produced different colored gemstones. And she got human interaction dealing with clients. It seemed she had found her calling.
After a few years outside the jewelry industry, she studied at the Gemological Institute of America, the most world-renowned diamond and gem lab responsible for creating the 4 C’s. She began as a private jeweler, primarily sourcing diamonds for clients wanting engagement rings, but she dreamed of opening a store — only if it were in the right location.
She visualized it while sitting at Menagerie, imagining opening her own store in the same shopping center. Six years later, she did. In September 2020, the opportunity arose unexpectedly. She took it. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith in yourself. She built it off a dream, a prayer, and the sales she was making at the time.
Kelsey took over her current location and opened in April 2021 — during COVID. “What genius decides to open a fine jewelry store during COVID? This girl,” she laughs. It took blood, sweat, and tears. She personally invested in herself. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. She kept that mantra repeating in her head.
Five years later, the store is thriving. Where she once felt shame for not having a college degree, she now has her “MBA in real life.” It is the hardest and most rewarding experience she has ever had.
Kelsey Leigh Fine Jewelry offers ready-made jewelry, unique one-of-a-kind pieces, and classics. She provides the best quality for the best price, with every piece curated based on quality and what she wants to represent her brand.
She specializes in engagement rings. The process begins with an initial consult that includes in-depth diamond education. Once she knows what the client wants, she goes out in the market and finds specific stones that fit the budget and vision. She doesn’t stock diamonds so clients know she is not trying to push them a certain way. Once they pick a diamond, she gets the design drawn up and a CAD or rendered image ready. In some cases, she even gets a wax replica made for those who need extra visual help. Then she presents the finished product.
She is a full custom design house — they can take sketches to finished pieces.
A large part of her business is “re-purposing.” Many clients have jewelry they no longer wear or inherited pieces that sit in a jewelry box. Sentimental value is typically more than the monetary value, so it makes more sense to invest in the piece and make it something you can wear every day. With gold prices high, it’s a win-win to scrap the pieces and apply the value to a new custom job.
The process is artistic as well as thoughtful. She looks at the pieces like an artist seeing paint colors and putting it together. She may pull stones out of multiple pieces to make one final piece. She sends a design proposal and quote, the client approves the CAD, and then it moves into production.
People sometimes feel bad tearing apart grandma’s ring, but the luxury of jewelry is that it lives on. It is a way of honoring loved ones.
Jewelry is Kelsey’s passion. Her store is the outlet in which she shares it with you. It is a relationship-based business. She treats others the way she wants to be treated. As a result, a lot of her clients become her friends and are forever part of the Kelsey Leigh family. Her store is so much more than jewelry — it is being a part of the most special times in people’s lives.
Jewelry is like shoes- you have your really nice black pump and your nice nude pump that goes with every outfit in your closet so Invest in the classic pieces.
My favorite custom projects are giving new life to old pieces because the luxury of jewelry lives on.