Thelma
west
Interview by Franka Chiedu,
Photos courtesy of Thelma West.
H
as a reputation for being
pure, nearly perfect
and unapologetically
ambitious. She started
out her gem & jewellery business
with a bag full of belief. Graduat-
ing from HRD in Antwerp age 19,
she started her career as a diamond
grad er with a huge diamonds com-
pany in Europe and in less than a
year became a buyer. Starting her
own eponymous brand in 2002,
she took advantage of every op-
portunity readily available to her
and for the past decade and more
has successfully navigated the tides
of working in an industry largely
dominated with a healthy dose of
testosterone.
Chatting with the Nigerian
born- UK based gemmologist Thel-
ma West, it is easy to see a bright
young woman with a big heart and
13 I Blanck Lite I April 01 2017 I www.blanckdigital.com
very little ego. In a light-hearted
chat with Blanck’s E.I.C, she talks
about her biggest overall business
lesson and women who inspire her.
What did you want to be when
you were a child?
At one point, it was a choice be-
tween an astronaut, a princess, and
a polo player, then I discovered
shinny and sparkly things and the
rest was history. I’ve always been
an ideas person, since I was a child.
It was easier then, I just came up
with an idea and enjoyed dreaming
about it, then come up with a dif-
ferent idea the next week. That was
fun. It’s harder as an adult, I know
essentially what it takes to bring
ideas to reality which can lead to
many feelings of frustration.