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Miami Jewelry Designer Pays It Forward With Scholarship

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Ylette Luis is a mother of four and a Latina entrepreneur who three years ago created a unique jewelry line called Xio by Ylette.

The name was inspired by her Cuban grandmother, Xiomara, who used to own hair salons.

"When she came over to the states, she got into the hair business again, but my grandfather actually got her into the jewelry business. So, from the time that I was little, I was always around beauty and jewelry and I fell in love with it. So, I thought, I can do this and I want to start my own business and what better way to do this than to name it after her because she was such a big inspiration," said Luis.

Her first piece was a 305 necklace paying tribute to her home town. Slowly but surely the business grew.

"So we started slowly and we started or incorporating more and more people which led to us create our own jewelry subscriptions. We have an e-commerce website that you can shop or sign up for our subscription which is $60 a month with all the pieces that I curate every single month," said Luis.

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  • Some of her designs are inspired by spirituality and the cosmos with moon and stars others are more modern.

    "They're always fun. I try to change things up so everyone has a variety to choose from always try to stay on track and always try to stay on trend," she said.

    And now Ylette is paying it forward. She and her husband have set up a scholarship fund for a minority graduating senior who has been accepted into a college for this coming academic year.

    "We want to offer the student a $2,000 yearly scholarship to cover books and we want to offer them a brand new MacBook and we want to bring them on board and offer them a paid internship where they can learn the ins and outs of business and really offer them a mentorship," Luis said.

    She knows first hand how helping those who need it can really make a difference in their future.

    "Having a support system is so important and if we can do it why not?" she said.

    The deadline for the summer scholarship is sometime in the end of July. To find out more about that and her jewelry line go to xiobyylette.com.

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