How I Got Here: Adina Reyter on Why ‘Friends’ Changed Her Life

By Karen Dybis | April 30, 2025

To succeed in life or jewelry, it helps to have supportive parents, great ambition, and lots of talent—but it also helps if you can get your jewelry pieces on actress Jennifer Aniston on one of the most popular television shows of all time.

“That changed my life,” Adina Reyter says of the Friends episode in which Aniston’s character, Rachel Green, wears the jewelry designer’s necklace on top of a striped cashmere sweater all episode long.

This was before social media or YouTube, so it wasn’t as if Reyter could hype up her jewelry with an amazing TikTok or a savvy Instagram Reel. So, having that hammered circle pendant prominently displayed on everyone’s Must See TV? Priceless.

Adina Reyter heart — *Adina Reyter’s XL Groovy Pavé Heart ($2,998) is one of her best sellers and a feature of her Mother’s Day picks for the upcoming holiday.*

“I had the right piece at the right time on the right person,” Reyter says. “I was in my 20s. I had no money. I was living in a bad apartment with my husband. But that moment made it possible for me to scale from there, and I got my jewelry in some of the top stores in the country.”

Reyter laughs at the idea of overnight success or lucky breaks. Rather, the Los Angeles native says her rise came out of years of hard work, smart jewelry design, and a willingness to meet with clients—whether they are celebrities or not—and make jewelry pieces that they love to wear.

She founded Adina Reyter as a jewelry brand in 2001 and serves as its chief designer. But her story begins with her great-grandparents, who came to the United States for a better life and settled on the Lower East Side of New York City.

They eventually moved their family to California, where striking it rich still felt like a possibility, Reyter says. Her great-grandmother founded a fashion luxury knitwear company in Los Angeles in the 1950s, and Reyter says her love of fashion and accessories comes from seeing those clothes brought to life.

dina Reyter groovy pendant — *The Adina Reyter Groovy pendant on an Italian chain ($3,496) is one of the designer’s first creations and a signature of the brand—and Kristen Bell wore it on* Nobody Wants This.

Reyter started working at age 15 to have her own spending money, she says, and she did everything from working as a hostess at a brunch restaurant to cleaning a movie theater all the way through college.

“I took every job I had seriously and I was good at them. But you learn what you don’t want to do. I knew I didn’t want to sweep the floor of a movie theater my whole life,” Reyter says.

Reyter graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and she got her first job in advertising in San Francisco. It was mostly doing ad sales for large companies, and it wasn’t exactly what Reyter expected she would do for a career.

“When I graduated, I didn’t have the luxury of coming back home. I had to work to pay my bills,” Reyter says. “I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to stay in advertising—I had to do something more creative.”

A Wall Street Journal article about a girl making beaded necklaces caught Reyter’s eye. In her free time, Reyter started taking classes, including a metalworking course that lit her up as an artist.

Adina Reyter Rolo Chain — *Adina Reyter’s Rolo Chain ($1,498) becomes a basis for creativity when you add beads or charms to it, the designer says.*

“My husband was in medical school and I had a full-time job, but I was hustling the jewelry I was making on the side nonstop,” Reyter says. “My first store I sold to in Los Angeles was a fancy nail salon in Beverly Hills. I would stop in on my way to work and drop off pieces for them to sell.”

One of her first customers from that nail salon? An up-and-coming actress named Demi Moore. Reyter realized she had stumbled upon the self-purchasing woman in jewelry—someone who wanted quality and what was affordable so she could buy it for herself when she wanted it.

“I always worked in sterling silver or 14k gold. I made pieces you could wear all of the time,” Reyter says. “Jewelry is joyful—wearing jewelry is an optimistic act. Love, happiness, and artistry all come together in your necklace or your rings or your earrings.”

A chance meeting at a bridal shower got Reyter’s jewelry in front of a celebrity stylist, and that is what got her work in front of other actresses and in print magazines. Having those pops of fame made her jewelry gain a reputation so that when she did a trade event or trunk show people knew her name, Reyter says.

“When I had a line coming from my booth and I made more than $12,000 in one day, I said I would quit my job,” Reyter says. “When that day came, it was the greatest feeling.”

These days, Adina Reyter jewelry shows up on Netflix sensations like Nobody Wants This with actresses and friends like Kristen Bell wearing Reyter’s charms and chains across several episodes. Reyter says she is always thankful for such opportunities.

“It’s jewelry for real women. It’s meaningful. It’s unique. And everyone wears it differently,” Reyter says. “Your chain is your canvas.”

Top: Adina Reyter got a jewelry jump start when celebrities including Demi Moore and Jennifer Aniston started wearing her pieces (photos courtesy of Adina Reyter).