Noura Sakkijha Returned Her First Investment Check and Built Mejuri Into a $200M+ Jewelry Empire

What kind of founder turns down money when they have no other offers on the table?

Noura Sakkijha did exactly that. In the early days of building Mejuri, she received an investment offer from someone who didn't align with her values. Despite having no backup plan, she returned the check. That decision, which most would call reckless, became one of the defining moments of her entrepreneurial journey.

Today, Mejuri generates over $200 million in annual revenue, has more than 56 retail locations worldwide, and has sold over 2 million pieces of jewelry. The brand is worn by celebrities including Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber, Ariana Grande, and even the Princess of Wales. But the path from that returned check to global success was anything but straightforward.

From Engineering to Jewelry: An Unconventional Path

Noura Sakkijha was born in Jordan as the third generation in a family of jewelers. Growing up surrounded by the craft gave her intimate knowledge of how the industry worked, including its significant structural problems.

But she didn't immediately follow the family trade. Instead, she pursued industrial engineering at the University of Jordan, then immigrated to Canada to earn an MBA from Toronto Metropolitan University. She worked as a consultant at a Toronto financial institution, building traditional career credentials.

Yet the jewelry industry kept calling. Sakkijha noticed something that seemed obvious once you saw it: the entire fine jewelry market was designed around men buying gifts for women. Women rarely purchased fine jewelry for themselves, and male buyers had no idea they were paying 8 to 10 times markup on pieces.

The industry was ripe for disruption. She just needed to convince everyone else.

The $1 Million Seed Round That Almost Didn't Happen

When Sakkijha launched Mejuri in 2015 from a Montreal-based incubator, the direct-to-consumer model was still largely unproven. Convincing investors proved to be her biggest challenge, and it wasn't because of the business model.

The venture capital world was predominantly male, and many investors simply couldn't understand why women would buy fine jewelry for themselves. It seemed to violate everything they thought they knew about the market.

Her first fundraising round took six months and more than 50 conversations. Each rejection stung, but Sakkijha reframed the process. She treated investor pitching like a sales funnel, understanding that each "no" was polishing her pitch and bringing her closer to a "yes."

"The first yes is a domino," she later explained. "The rest starts to fall into place."

In 2016, she joined the 500 Startups accelerator in San Francisco, which helped shift her mindset around failure. The tech world's approach, viewing failure as a data point rather than a verdict, transformed how she processed rejection.

By April 2016, she secured her first $1 million in seed funding. By September, she closed the full seed round.

Building a Supply Chain That Breaks the Rules

Mejuri's core innovation wasn't just cutting out the middleman. It was completely reimagining how a jewelry business operates.

Traditional fine jewelry brands launch seasonal collections, planning six months in advance and hoping customers buy during specific gifting occasions. Sakkijha believed this model was obsolete.

Instead, Mejuri introduces new collections every Monday. The company launches two to five new pieces each week, accompanied by fresh narratives. This strategy positions fine jewelry as a regular fashion purchase rather than a rare indulgence.

"We believe the age of launching seasonal collections is no longer relevant with consumers," Sakkijha has explained. "By dropping weekly collections, we break the norms of fine jewelry being an occasional purchase."

Making this work required building an exceptionally lean, efficient supply chain. Mejuri works directly with expert manufacturers, eliminating middlemen costs and passing savings to customers. The company can replenish popular items rapidly, avoiding both overstock and disappointed customers.

This operational efficiency became crucial for maintaining healthy margins while offering prices significantly below traditional retailers.

Raising $23 Million While Seven Months Pregnant With Twins

Perhaps the most telling story about Sakkijha's resilience came during her Series B fundraising. She was seven months pregnant with twin girls when she closed a $23 million round.

Investors questioned her ability to lead through pregnancy and early motherhood. Rather than seeing this as an obstacle, Sakkijha channeled the doubt into motivation. The experience, she says, gave her "the fire, passion, and resilience" needed to seal what could have been a difficult deal.

Interestingly, Sakkijha has been selective about how much capital to raise. After her 2018 Series A of $5 million, she reportedly declined offers for significantly more funding. Her philosophy centers on building a cash-efficient business rather than maximizing capital raised.

Mejuri exceeded its 2018 targets without needing additional investor money, validating her approach.

The Burnout That Changed Everything

In the early years of launching Mejuri, Sakkijha hit burnout. Hard.

"Entrepreneurship can be lonely," she has acknowledged. "Those who have never tried it can't really relate to what they're going through."

For many founders, especially in the startup stage, it becomes nearly impossible to separate self-esteem from business performance. When you're constantly hearing "no" and self-doubt creeps in, the psychological toll compounds.

Sakkijha learned to surround herself with supportive people who understood the entrepreneurial experience. She also discovered that self-care and therapy were game-changers for both her personal and professional life.

This wasn't weakness. It was strategic. A burnt-out founder makes poor decisions, damages relationships, and eventually damages the business. Taking care of herself became essential to taking care of Mejuri.

Hiring for Culture, Not Just Talent

As Mejuri scaled from startup to significant business, Sakkijha refined her hiring philosophy.

"Don't hire just for talent, hire for culture," she advises.

The distinction matters. When you hire only for talent, you optimize for what people can do. When you hire for culture, you optimize for how people work: how they think, collaborate, make decisions, and recover from setbacks.

These cultural qualities aren't easily taught, but they drive lasting success. Mejuri now employs over 450 people, and building the right team required Sakkijha to evolve as a leader.

"Growth requires hiring people who are better than you in their fields," she explains, "people who can take things further than you could alone. Learning to step back, trust, and let others lead has been essential for me to evolve as a CEO."

Building a Brand That Stands for Something

Mejuri didn't just sell jewelry differently. It positioned the brand around values that resonated with its target audience.

Approximately 75% of Mejuri's customers are millennial women, and the brand intentionally built its workforce to reflect this community. About 75% of Mejuri employees are women.

The company uses 94% recycled gold and 92% recycled silver in its products, along with ethically sourced, lab-grown diamonds. These aren't marketing afterthoughts. They're central to the brand identity.

One of Sakkijha's proudest accomplishments is the Mejuri Empowerment Fund, established in 2020. The fund has distributed over $1 million in scholarships and bursaries to underrepresented women and non-binary individuals. Mejuri has committed $5 million total to this initiative.

The company has also partnered with Salmon Gold to regenerate ecosystems damaged by mining, demonstrating commitment to sustainability beyond just materials sourcing.

Lessons for Founders

Sakkijha's journey offers several practical insights for entrepreneurs building their own businesses:

Choose investors based on values, not just capital. Even when you're desperate for funding, saying yes to the wrong partner costs more in the long run. That returned check became a defining moment because it established that Mejuri would grow on its own terms.

Treat fundraising like a sales funnel. Each rejection provides data that improves your pitch. Fifty conversations and six months of "no" led to the "yes" that changed everything.

Build operational efficiency from day one. Mejuri's ability to drop new products weekly didn't happen by accident. It required deliberately building a supply chain that could support that cadence.

Resilience requires flexibility. Pushing for what you believe in matters, but so does listening to the market and adapting accordingly.

Protect your mental health. Burnout isn't a badge of honor. It's a liability. The best founders recognize when they need support and aren't ashamed to seek it.

Hire for culture fit. Skills can be developed, but values and work styles are harder to change. Building the right team means prioritizing how people work, not just what they can do.

The Power of Clear Financial Records

One often-overlooked element of Mejuri's success was Sakkijha's ability to demonstrate operational efficiency to investors. When you can show that you exceeded targets without needing additional capital, you negotiate from strength.

This level of financial clarity doesn't happen by accident. It requires disciplined record-keeping from the earliest stages, tracking every expense category, understanding cash flow patterns, and maintaining data that tells the true story of your business.

Beancount.io provides plain-text accounting that gives founders complete transparency and control over their financial data. No black boxes, no vendor lock-in, and everything is version-controlled and AI-ready. Get started for free and build the financial foundation that lets you negotiate from a position of strength.