Meet Sharon + Lin = Shalin 🙂
Meet Sharon
The brains of Shailn Pearls (according to Lin). The serious one of our duo, Sharon is a lover of music (and plays the Guzheng), painting and all things beautiful. She is currently attending the University of North Carolina Asheville, but soon heading to NC State to pursue her degree in Material Science and Engineering. Her goal is to rid the world of disposable materials and save the planet one less straw or water bottle at a time.
Sharon’s Life Philosophy: Think big. Act local. All problems can be solved with chocolate.
Meet Lin
The brains of Shalin Pearls (according to Sharon). A fashionista wannabe and lover of food, dance, Kpop and all things fun and inspiring, She is a student at Appalachian State but will soon to head to NC State to continue pursue a degree in international business with a goal to drive meaningful change to the world (whatever that means… she’ll figure it out.)
Lin’s Life Philosophy: Be positive. Be kind. Smile more.
Our Story
We are sisters and grew up together in Nanchang, China, a city of 5 million people (a small city by China’s standards), in Jiangxi Province, China. Our mom moved to the United States several years ago and asked us if we’d like to join her to finish high school and then go on to college…. so here we are!
From our earliest days, our parents often suggested that we should gain business experience. This may be because they are both entrepreneurs and need someone to take over their businesses, or perhaps, they just love it! (Or both?) As we recently started our college careers (Lin is studying international management and Sharon is studying material science), it seemed time to dive into the world of business and try our hand at entrepreneurism! But what to do? How might we combine all of our interests? Something we’re passionate about, have great contacts, can learn a lot, and hopefully make a little money?
Then it hit us! Let’s start a pearl jewelry business! Sure… there is a lot of competition, but with our amazing manufacturing friends in China, Lin’s emerging skills in business, and Sharon’s acute eye for quality in all things material… and of course our love of jewelry and pearls… it seemed a natural fit! There are also fewer people around us in the US wearing pearl jewelry compared to people we hung out with in China who associate pearls with fashion (and we agree!) So we thought this is a great chance to extend our learning and maybe build a pearl jewelry empire! 🙂
As you view our website, we do not offer large quantities of products. Not because we have limited resources (although we do), but because we firmly believe in quality over quantity and looking for the right deals as well as products that fit today’s design trends while still having a bit of Asian flair. We hand-select the products that we think not only provide the best value, but we’ve personally received many complements when wearing. And we’re sure you will too!
We hope you enjoy our site and we promise you’ll enjoy your new jewelry even more and hopefully feel good about helping us get a start in college and in our entrepreneur adventure! We’d love to hear from you!
Why We Started Shalin Pearls
We Love Pearls! (and Jewelry)
Since we were kids, nothing was more fun than going through our parent's jewelry and now finding great deals for our friends and customers.
Get Valuable Business Experience
Our parents are entrepreneurs and love it! We wanted to gain from their experience, but on our own terms!
Make Money for College
We don't expect to get rich, but helping with college would be awesome!
Share Some of Our Culture and Style
We love blending our Asian background with Western styles. We hope you might too!
We Love Great Deals Too!
We know a good deal when we see it and like to share! We used to bring back jewelry from China for friends and said, "Hey, let's start a business!"
