How I Got Here: Clara Chehab Forges a Path From Finance to Jewelry

By Karen Dybis | January 28, 2026

Clara Chehab was an exceptional mind within the finance world: She could create an investment portfolio, help clients build their wealth with impressive returns, and manage teams of investment experts with ease.

Chehab, who worked in investment banking for a decade, is also exceptional within the jewelry industry. At age 34, she gave up her secure six-figure job in finance to enter the jewelry world—a move that’s proved challenging yet exhilarating.

After an internship and three years of private tutoring, she debuted Clara Chehab in March 2023. In a whirlwind few years, jewelry has gone from a dream of hers to early design ideas to work that’s showcased on the global fashion stage.

Chehab’s first collection, Gaia, came out of her life as a mother of three and serves as an homage to Mother Earth for her gift of diamonds and gemstones. Two more collections followed, named after Chehab’s daughter, Sienna, and mother, Irene.

Clara Chehab earrings — *18k gold–plated earrings with tumbled citrine and yellow and orange sapphires (price on request), made by Clara Chehab in association with the “Divas” exhibition at the Sursock Museum of Beirut*

In 2025, the Beirut-based brand debuted two capsule collections. With the first, Everyday Essentials, Chehab has sought to attract younger jewelry buyers looking to expand their jewelry wardrobes. The second 2025 capsule was created in collaboration with Beirut’s Sursock Museum for its exhibition honoring beloved Arab female artists and performers, “Divas: From Oum Kalthoum to Dalida.”

Last year, Chehab also received another incredible honor: Fashion Trust Arabia selected her as one of three finalists for its jewelry prize. So taking that huge risk of leaving her finance career behind has brought positive change. She has embraced jewelry for its beauty, storytelling, and excitement, and says her designs are deeply connected to the Earth, to her personally, and, ideally, to the women who wear them.

Clara Chehab rings — *Chehab’s Halo Ring Blue (top, $7,495) and Genesis Ring Blue ($6,165), both in 18k pink gold with rough turquoise and champagne and white diamonds*

“Every piece is a reflection of my own journey or of a period in my life,” Chehab says. “For me, jewelry is a language of emotions, perfectly balancing what has gone with what remains. As a designer, one of my goals is to make customers feel joyful and empowered every time they wear a piece of jewelry.”

Born in Paris to Lebanese parents, Chehab lived in both Paris and Beirut as a child. She graduated from the American University of Beirut in 2004, with a degree in business administration, and then attended ESCP-EAP (now ESCP Business School) in Paris.

After receiving her master’s in management in 2007, Chehab went to London and worked in mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch. She later transitioned to wealth management firms, joining Julius Baer in July 2013 and then Coutts —where she served as an associate director—in June 2015.

Chehab left London in 2017 and moved back to Beirut; a year later, she began an internship with jewelry designer Selim Mouzannar to develop the hands-on expertise she knew she would need.

But long before Chehab had stepped away from finance to study jewelry, her jewelry obsession started with her mother and paternal grandmother, both big jewelry lovers. Her mother enjoyed colored gemstones and wore a ruby and diamond necklace daily. Her grandmother took Chehab with her to visit the goldsmiths and jewelers she preferred.

Clara Chehab Sienna earrings — *Half Moon drop earrings ($2,825) in 18k pink gold with rough watermelon tourmaline and pink sapphires*

“One of my first jewelry memories was with her, in fact,” says Chehab. “She took me to a friend of hers who was a private jeweler. She brought along an old European–cut diamond toi et moi ring given to her by her parents and asked the jeweler to convert the stones into earrings as a gift for my first communion.

“To this day, these earrings still hold immense emotional value for me and remind me of my dear grandmother.”

Following the Mouzannar internship, Chehab took private jewelry classes for three years, studying waxing and focusing on creative thinking. “I learned how to work with gold and understood the process of creating a piece from conception to wax carving and casting, working with the goldsmith, and then setting the piece,” she says.

Today, Chehab considers the use of raw, asymmetrical, and imperfect gemstones her signature, and she mixes them with cut diamonds to create unique “gemscapes.” She loves gems for their color and character, centering her jewelry on vibrant stones like ruby, aquamarine, peridot, and tourmaline.

“I was inspired by what Mother Earth gives us and was driven to convey this without altering it,” Chehab says.

Top: Clara Chehab, a former wealth management professional, now designs jewelry for her eponymous brand.