Judith Bright's Life Timeline
1964 Born Judith La Gorce in Washington, DC
1970 Discovers mom’s jewelry box, time stands still
1972 Unfounded fear that Mom’s jewelry box has been stolen, but later found under chaise where mom hid it from burglars (and Judith). Judith breathes huge sigh of relief.
1977 Relatives tire quickly of Judith’s ‘playing ring’ game: how many ways can one stack and combine rings on a finger.
1981-1989 After working as a candy-striper, Judith chooses nursing as her career. Graduates from Vanderbilt University Nursing School in Nashville, Tenn., Heads to LA to work with AIDS patients at Cedar’s Sinai Medical Center. Ends nursing career—too exhausting and sad—and lands job as production assistant on “Growing Pains,” exhausting & complete opposite of sad.
1990 Works at Disney for an Australian film director. Main job is to help director not call every female executive “Sheila.” Successfully accomplishes this goal.
1991 Marries man with an incredibly optimistic name: Will Bright. Little does she know that this will one day become a wonderful jewelry brand moniker as well.
1992 Lands wonder-job with Quincy Jones, and finally gets serious about work.
1997 Baby boy #1 is born.
1999 Baby boy #2 is born. Judith becomes President of Quincy’s publishing company.
2001 Baby boy #3 is born. Whew! Thoughts return to the simplicity of ‘playing ring.’
2002 Retires from Quincy Jones to chase dream career as a jewelry designer.
2003 Moves family to Florence, Italy to take big-time jewelry classes. Starts drinking wine at lunch in order to fit in. Unable to wear “European” sized jeans, she buys lots of scarves instead.
2004 Family settles in Nashville, TN and Judith turns 40.
2005 Sets up Judith Bright jewelry business, spends days sketching designs, sipping cappuccinos and waxing on poetically about peridots and citrine. Actually, spends days creating jewelry like a woman possessed; nights with toothpicks in eyes doing Internet research.
2007 Glass slipper finally fits, launches website, www.judithbright.com
2008-2009 Jewelry appears on network television programs, “Gossip Girl,” “Samantha Who?,” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”
2010 Opens Flagship Store in The Mall at the Green Hills, Nashville, TN Jewelry appears in the major film releases, “The Back-up Plan” on Jennifer Lopez and “The Rebound” on Catherine Zeta-Jones.
2011 JB Voted “Best Handmade Jewelry” by Nashville Scene Poll, “Top 3 New Retail Stores & Top 3 Jewelry Stores”. Jewelry appears on Carla Gugino in “Mr. Popper’s Penguins & Frances McDourmand in “This Must Be The Place”. Jewelry worn by cast of TV series “Happy Endings”.
2012 JB opens store in Atlanta. Jewelry worn by Meryl Streep in “Hope Springs” and by Abbie Cornish in “Seven Psychopaths”.
2013 JB jewelry featured on the CBS TV Show “Partners”. JB donates to many charities in 2013.
2014 Judith moves out of the Mall at Green Hills to a house in the 12 South neighborhood of Nashville. Jewelry appears in feature film “Lullaby” on Anne Archer & Jessica Brown Findlay. Voted Top 3 Jewelry stores in Nashville by the Nashville Scene Poll.
2015 Judith hires 3 more full-time employees, launches a brand new website.
2016 Judith hires more people and has jewelry featured in “Bad Moms” and “Lights Out”.
2017 Atlanta location moves to space three times the size and 10 times more beautiful and installs a jewelry maker there. Jewelry featured in Silicon Valley & Mozart in the Jungle.
2018 Procures a studio space for manufacturing in Nashville. Hires additional jewelry makers to crank out more jewelry. Jewelry appears in Oscar nominated film, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, MO. Judith voted as a Nashville Business Journal “Woman of Influence”. Summits Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
2019 Judith travels to Israel, Hong Kong, and Croatia, Becomes the Community Chair for the Nashville Chapter of the Entrepreneur's Organization. Joins the Advisory board to the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Joins the McWhorter Circle at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Raced her boys down the slopes after Christmas. Her blue ski helmet ponytail was apparently very embarrassing to said boys.
2020 Things were going swimmingly, then COVID hit. Our stores were closed for 4 months. During that time, we said a sad goodbye to our Atlanta store and opened in Franklin, TN at The Factory. The JB team rallied and persevered. Judith named as Most Admired CEOs by The Nashville Business Journal.
2021 Life returns to almost normal, the stores are in full-swing and we are nominated as one of the best places to work in Nashville by the Nashville Business Journal. New designs are flowing and some archival pieces return. We open a new store with an open-studio concept at L&L Market in The Nations neighborhood in West Nashville.
2022 Judith becomes certified as an End-of-Life Doula by the Conscious Dying Institute. Begins volunteering at Alive Hospice in Nashville. She embarks on Leadership Nashville's year-long cohort. Several designs emerged and innovations made on existing lines.
2023 New chain designs become a focus in the jewelry collection. A hot yoga enthusiast, Judith becomes certified as a RYT® 200 Yoga Alliance Instructor. Travel is a big focus for the year. France, Japan, Mexico and Antarctica are destinations. Becomes Co-Chair of The McWhorter Circle at Nashville's Entrepreneur Center. Continues to serve on the Dean's Advisory Board at Vanderbilt University's School of Nursing.