Diamonds and A Girl’s Best Friend…

When Jude Steele, co-founder and co-principal of JudeFrances felt that her boyfriend, Derek was ready to pop the question, who better to turn to for a fabulous engagement ring design than her best friend and business partner Frances Gadbois? “It was just the natural thing to do,” says Jude about asking Frances to design her engagement ring. “No one knows me better than Frances, except for Derek of course, and since I am going to be wearing the ring for the rest of my life, I wanted it to be absolutely perfect.”

Derek agrees. When asked how he felt about Frances designing the ring, he replied, “Frances is the expert and I wouldn’t have it any other way”.

JudeFrances is truly an inspirational story about two women who had a vision, goals, determination and a few strokes of luck and managed to turn their jewelry line into a multi-million dollar company in just five short, but very busy years. Although they admit that they are as different as white and yellow gold, when Jude and Frances met at a charity dinner in 2002, they instantly knew that they would become fast friends and would be ideal business partners. The JudeFrances partnership is truly a match made in heaven. While Frances oversees operations and design for JudeFrances, Jude leads sales and marketing. Their talents are wonderfully complimentary. Their close friendship makes working together even better… “We are there for each other through thick and thin. Not a day goes by when we don’t talk.” says Jude.

So with the upcoming nuptials pending, how are Jude and Frances spending most of their time? Just as they always have… Juggling the demands of their families and careers… “It’s not always easy,” says Frances, “but making our families number one is part of our definition of success.” Next up for the dynamic duo? The JudeFrances
Bridal Collection.


JudeFrances
Kristyn Beausoleil
kristyn@judefrances.com
Tel: (949) 553-8860
Fax: (949) 553-8861
http://www.judefrances.com