Dayanna’s business, Dayverse, is a collection of unique, handcrafted jewelry designed to ignite an individual’s self-expression and to tell the person's story.
Dayanna Mazo ’20 is founder of one of the five businesses that will debut at this year’s ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ StartUp Showcase on April 23. Her love of jewelry making started as a hobby which has since scaled to a full-time business in which she releases several new jewelry collections each year.
“A few years ago I started taking apart pieces of jewelry and mixing and matching them to create unique pieces,” said Dayanna. “My friends would ask me where I got them. That’s when I realized I could turn my passion for self-expression into a business.”
Dayanna majors in international studies and politics, and is pursuing minors in peace and justice studies, anthropology, and black studies. Her diverse interests and travels around the world, including Brazil, Tanzania, and Greece (to name a few), are what inspire her to create pieces including necklaces, rings, and ear cuffs. Her favorite material to use is unique stones. She also finds great influence from her Colombian roots and hometown community in Bridgeport, Conn.
Dayanna shares, “I’ve always been an authentic person and love experimenting and transforming my accessories. As a dancer, I view jewelry making as an extension of my creativity and love for all art forms. I create pieces that let others express themselves to tell their personal stories.
For each new jewelry collection, Dayanna photographs her friends modeling the jewelry. In her latest collection, “Rebirth,” which launched last week, she collaborated with three artists on the looks for each piece in the collection. In the future she hopes to expand her collaboration with women in other countries who make handcrafted materials and pieces that she can incorporate into her collections.
“My ultimate goal is for all who wear my jewelry to feel as if they are wearing their voice and connecting to who they are at their core.”
Stay tuned for more StartUp Showcase news and save the date, Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 7 p.m. at the Quick Center for the Arts, to watch Dayanna and four other teams pitch their businesses to a panel of investors for seed money.
