Sergio Andrés Mendoza cites his engineering background, scuba diving, and time spent in Japan as influences on his jewelry design—and you can see that in the pieces made by his brand, Pharaoun.
But one person in particular serves as a beacon in Mendoza’s personal and professional life: his wife, Sarah, who died from metastatic breast cancer in 2017. Her loss upended his world, Mendoza says, and changed him forever.
He founded Pharaoun in 2018 with the mission is to create jewelry that inspires women to embrace their strength, beauty, and independence. Today, his devotion to the business—and to his family and nonprofit work—fuels him and fills him with purpose and meaning, says Mendoza.
“Mortality has a way of crystallizing what is important, and after 10 years in software and startups, I realized that I expected more of myself,” he says of switching careers into jewelry design.
“I loved software development, but I believed I was capable of more, and asked myself the important questions: What should be my personal mission? How can I be my best self? And what should my legacy be?”
To that end, Pharaoun donates 100% of the proceeds from its Anaïs for Breast Cancer collection to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He also raises money for the Pink Key Society, a nonprofit he founded in 2019 to give people with breast cancer access to services they need during their recovery.
“I was very much shaped by the powerful women in my life, and I believe that all women deserve to be honored. I find that in the chaos of everyday, women forget themselves, their strength, their beauty, and their independence,” Mendoza says.
Pharaoun is based in Miami, where Mendoza grew up. The brand’s name comes from the word pharaoh, which carries a sense of history and majesty.
“It’s a powerful word. I find it strong, evocative, and open enough for me to give it new meaning,” he says. “My favorite association is with the last pharaoh, Cleopatra, one of the greatest leaders in history, who happened to be a woman.”
Mendoza is the son of first-generation Cuban immigrants, and he says some of his fondest childhood memories include jewelry—so even though the path to Pharaoun was not direct, it seems like it was always meant to be.
“I give my grandmothers all of the credit. Elodia and Enid were strong matriarchs and lived very practical lives as they led their families in exile. They were wealthy in Cuba, and in spite of losing almost everything, they were able to preserve some jewelry,” he says. “I now realize how important this jewelry must have been to them, as it was one of the few reminders of their previous lives.”
During high school at Ransom Everglades, Mendoza worked at the Miami Seaquarium, doing the fish-feeding show, swimming with Lolita the killer whale, and cleaning tanks with power tools, You might notice the influence of the undersea world in his jewelry designs.
Mendoza graduated from Cornell University, with a bachelor’s degree in applied and engineering physics, in 2000, then went to Japan for a year of immersive language study. He would return to Japan multiple times during his 2003–2007 job at tech company Siemens, where he managed its relationship with Toshiba.
He established his first software company in 2007 and then worked as a developer and executive in software and startups for a decade. The experience gave him the confidence to build his own jewelry brand, he says.
His latest additions for Pharaoun include the Donna earrings collection and a line of men’s lapel pins. Mendoza says he designed both the earrings and pins for people who need occasion pieces—something to wear for dinner out and to special events, even black-tie affairs.
“I’m really excited about my new Donna earrings. They are a magical combination of lightness and luminescence that reveals an unexpected beauty,” he says.
“My hope is that each of my designs inspires the woman wearing it to be the best version of herself. I want women to fall in love with my designs not only for their beauty but because they mirror something she loves about herself,” says Mendoza. “Perhaps it reflects a part of her she doesn’t always see yet wants to remember. Perhaps it embodies her greatest strength, or the woman she aspires to be. The choice is hers.”
Top: Sergio Andrés Mendoza is an engineer by trade who moved into jewelry after a tragic personal loss. (Photos courtesy of Pharaoun)
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