Her designs have dangled from Jessica Alba’s earlobes and sparkled against swimsuit models’ bronzed skin. Gina Renée Wright’s sonyarenée jewelry line is swanky enough for Tinsel Town, yet fashioned right here in Lake Highlands. It began back at Berkner High School where she started making hemp jewelry — as was the fashion of the mid-’90s — and selling it to other students. She continued her jewelry making entrepreneurship during college at Texas Tech and in 2002, Wright and her high-school classmate, Desiree Sonya Taylor, formed sonyarenée. They worked together creating jewelry — specifically “elegant pieces designed to be incorporated into your everyday wardrobe,” until Taylor moved on and Wright took sole ownership in 2004. By spending untold hours and a big chunk of her earnings, Wright managed to secure a spot at high-fashion trade shows and even got a few celebs to sport her bling at the MTV Movie Awards. Meanwhile, she continued to hold jewelry shows here in Lake Highlands. “All those friends who hosted my jewelry parties — I couldn’t have done it without them.” In 2007 she quit her day job in marketing. “It took a really huge leap of faith,” she says. But it paid off big — her biz has surpassed one-half million in gross sales in 2008; sonyarenée sells in more than 300 stores around the world — the closest is Epiphany Boutique in Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District — and her necklaces, earrings and bracelets appeared, with credit, on models in the 2009 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Sonyarenée even showed up on Conan O’Brian’s show. “I was watching ‘Late Night’ and my husband was on the couch asleep and I just started screaming because Conan’s guest Jessica Alba was wearing my jewelry. He woke up in a panic!” It’s all just a little unreal, Wright says, but she feels fortunate. “I feel like one of those very lucky people that loves her work.”
