Jocalio Appoints Industry Veteran as Head of Product and Merchandising

New York—Jewelry supplier Jocalio has appointed Yun Yang as its head of product and merchandising.

Yang is a retail veteran with two decades of experience in merchandising and buying.

She has held positions at David Yurman, John Hardy, Lightbox, Diane von Furstenberg, and Vera Wang, and is an expert in the domestic market as well as in international markets including Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

At Lightbox Jewelry, Yang served as chief merchandising officer. She oversaw the DeBeers-owned lab-grown diamond company’s launch and spearheaded strategy across merchandising, design, product development, and demand planning.

At David Yurman and John Hardy, Yang oversaw merchandising and buying. At both companies she increased sales in the men’s collections and managed the women’s and bridal collections.

She collaborated with design teams to streamline product offerings at the retail and wholesale levels.

Launched in 2017, Jocalio is a jewelry supplier that offers consumer marketing for the independent jewelry retailer.

The company designs jewelry collections based on market trend analysis and matching a store’s customer demographics.

Design based on data and analytics resonated with Yang, she said.

“My practice motto is, ‘I use data to support and initiate my creative decisions.’ And when I met the Jocalio team, I thought, ‘What a breath of fresh air—someone is finally utilizing data when creating collections!’”

Jocalio Founder and CEO Val Katayev said, “Yun’s addition to the Jocalio team marks yet another milestone in our company development. With Yun leading the product and merchandising team, we continue to elevate our ability to empower independent jewelers through a unique blend of design and data that drives our company. It’s all about jewelry that looks amazing yet is also made to turn effectively.”

Jocalio was ranked No. 134 on the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America list in 2021 and was the highest-ranked jewelry company on the list.