Our Story

The beauty of jewelry lies in its meaning. La Reina Charm (Pronounced LA RREI·NA CH·ARM) was born from a desire to create this meaning for jewelry lovers around the world. Established in early 2021, La Reina Charm delivers classic designs that help you make a statement to exude your royal and peaceful energy! All pieces in our selection are made in limited quantities with high-quality materials.

Owner, CEO, and Jewelry Designer Renad Aref is very familiar with how beautiful originality can be. Coming from Palestinian and Puerto Rican ancestry, she celebrates the uniqueness of remarkable women throughout history via her handmade coin and custom coinesque limited edition pieces. Her inspiration for her limited-edition pieces has its roots in her father’s travels to various countries such as China, Egypt, Ecuador and many more. After each trip, he would bring Renad a few coin currency pieces to add to her collection. Over time, this cultivated her fascination with the various sizes, shapes, and designs of currencies around the world. This culminated into a life-long love affair with coin collecting and jewelry making! In 2021, Renad’s abuelita (grandmother) Betty —a lifelong handmade jewelry enthusiast and expert —encouraged her to start her business. Her strength inspired Renad to pursue this passion on a grander scale.

Inspiration for La Reina Charm’s logo and designs comes from an amalgamation of Renad’s ethnicity. Broken down, La Reina means “the queen” in Spanish, and combined with the word “charm” our name means “The Queen Charm”. The designs are inspired by Arabic calligraphy forming the crown in our jewelry pieces. Renad's father, who is an Arabic calligraphy expert has created many beautiful pieces with sacred Quranic texts in addition to creative designs with Renad's name. This design is inspired by her father. Where words cannot bring meaning, Arabic calligraphy retains its intense meaning and value as a sacred written art. Arabic calligraphy is one of the world’s most ancient forms of art. In Arabic, the word “khatt” translates to line/design which is the cornerstone of Arabic calligraphy. This old tradition remains as vibrant as ever used in many forms today such as in architecture, coin design, art and everyday life. We believe our customers deserve meaningful and beautiful pieces of jewelry, and that is precisely what we strive to deliver!

Once upon a time, you used to hear the phrase "business is a man's world". On the contrary, there has been a rise in the number of female entrepreneurs - especially from the Muslim community. We all know how negatively Muslims are always portrayed in the media, but thankfully as an entrepreneur and a business owner we have the opportunity to change that. Renad believes that having more Muslima entrepreneurs will challenge this perception and counteract stereotypes which undermine a woman's ability in succeeding as a business owner.

What started as a hobby for Renad, who is a higher education professional at the University of Buffalo, has now turned into a limited-edition jewelry brand that brings joy to women around the world. She aims to inspire other Muslima's to spearhead their business dreams into reality. Renad aims to serve her customers with honesty, trustworthiness, willingness to go above and beyond with a smile. She hopes to build bridges of understanding and connections with others and change the narrative surrounding the Muslim world. 

A big shout out to dad, mom, siblings, abuelita, auntie, cousins, the yin to her yang and family for believing in her and being a constant in her life full of support, love and encouragement. Thanks to sissy Noor for the beautiful professional make-up. Thank you to Mounaia a childhood friend of Renad who has believed in her success with this business since it was an infant idea and has been there for her all throughout. True queens adjust each other's crowns. Thank you, Queen, Mounita!

A warm thank you to Renad's friends and family for their love, encouragement and support of her endeavors. To all the beautiful souls that Renad has crossed paths with in the whirlwind years, thank you for inspiring her to fly with the eagles. All blessings to the almighty for paving the way. We plan and we plan, but Allah (God) is indeed the best of planners.