Truly Maria PH: Sharing Love and Passion Through Jewelry

A long-time lover and collector of earrings, Cristina always made sure she would find time in her schedule to visit local bazaars and booths for the latest earrings design she could get her hands on.

Cristina Gonzales first thought of the idea of starting her jewelry shop while walking around and shopping in Korea back in 2019.

Suddenly, she found herself organizing her collection during the stringent lockdowns of the pandemic.

“After years of hoarding, my collection totaled to more than 400 pairs of earrings during the early pandemic. While organizing my collection, I set aside the designs that truly inspired my first batch of Truly Maria pieces,” says Cristina.

Despite carving out the thought in 2019, she was only able to execute her business idea during the pandemic.

She began Truly Maria PH with a small collection, only having a few designs and stocks.

Despite this challenge, Truly Maria PH’s first collection sold out in only less than four days thanks to the help of her family, friends, influencers, and social media.

As a jewelry collector herself, Cristina greatly values the quality of her pieces.

She shares that  “Since the majority of the jewelry was handmade per piece, only a few stocks can be made available per design. This created a challenge for us, especially in the beginning months, since we could not cope with the orders that were being pushed through. Sometimes, stocks would be randomly reduced during the packing of orders if the quality did not meet our standards.”

Aside from this, Cristina says a variety of styles to fit customer preferences could sometimes feel like a challenge.

“For example, during the first few months, we had a lot of customers that were Muslims in search of earrings that were not a nuisance to them when wearing a hijab.” Cristina shares.

“Most of our pieces then were hoops, pearls, and studs, but with the help of customer feedback, we created and handpicked more pieces like drop earrings, cuffs”

With listening to constant customer feedback, Truly Maria PH branched out into selling necklaces, bracelets, and rings.

“We wholeheartedly try to build a connection with our customers, while speeding our response rate, providing easy access for them during the purchase period, and creating trust between one another. We also love making them feel important and that they too played a part in our business.”

Cristina values her relationships with her customers so much that she names pieces and designs after her most loyal customers every time a new collection is released.

At the end of the day, Cristina wants to provide quality and affordable jewelry pieces for women, while catering to their emotional and material needs.

Cristina not only makes stylish, quality, and beautiful pieces, but genuinely puts her passion and heart into creating every single piece that Truly Maria PH releases.

More than a small business, Truly Maria PH and Cristina have made not only jewelry pieces but connections and trust as well with her fellow-jewelry lovers.

Truly Maria PH is a small online business based on Instagram that sells curated jewelry that provides a quality, classy, timeless, and unique charm.