Simone I. Smith’s Jewelry Line Is More Than A Product Of Her Strength
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Simone I. Smith knows better than most that life’s toughest battles can still end in beautiful victory and that the toughest metals in the world can still be transformed into something exquisite. Smith has been through challenges, but she’s still poured her all into creating her eponymous jewelry line, the Simone I. Smith (S.I.S) collection. Her S.I.S collection was a product of inspiration after battling a rare bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, and after learning how to walk again with the assistance of a wheelchair and crutches — the now 53-year-old used the same strength to create something Black girls love: fly jewelry.
From there, Smith set out to create an affordable and quality collection of silver and gold jewelry; including necklaces, rings and of course bamboo earrings dope enough to make you buy at least two pairs.
More than LL COOL J’s wife, mother to four adults and a grandmother, Smith’s life has been a lot like creating her S.I.S collection: challenging and unique, but ever so beautiful and rewarding. “Me being a cancer survivor definitely pushed me to make my dreams come true, to go ahead and design jewelry and all of that,” she shared. “But my inspiration has always been to design big hoop earrings that ladies love. There was a void in the marketplace at the time. You couldn’t find really good quality hoop earrings. I was like, ‘I need to be that person that just really designs hot hoops always for ladies.'”
After launching S.I.S in 2011 and trailblazing through the COVID-19 pandemic, Simone has expanded her brand to offer luxe nail lacquer, hats, and more. “I have Moody Monday by Simone Smith, I have S.I.S. Luxe Lacquer — and those were inspired during the pandemic when we were in quarantine and couldn’t do anything,” she revealed. “I couldn’t get my nails done or anything, and I just had basic nail polish and I said, ‘I want to design some nail polish that is a salon experience in a bottle.'”
“Then I started working on hats,” which she says she wears whether she’s having a good or bad hair day. Smith’s inspiration has continued to be to “just create a beautiful product that makes women feel good and look good.” However, the road to being a successful Black woman in the jewelry space hasn’t always been an easy one. With an amazing team, business partners and support system, Smith has been able to do amazing things with her passion, such as expanding to a partnership with her friend Mary J. Blige.
Their joint collection Sister Love pays homage to “all the fly girls.” Together, Mary and Simone have brought forth the most unique silver and gold door knocker earrings — but with a modern twist. As a Black woman shopping her collection around to certain spaces, she admits that there has been “pushback,” but even still, Smith prides herself on being able to stay true to herself: a Hip-Hop-loving Black girl from Queens, N.Y.
Simone recently revealed an upcoming men’s jewelry line inspired by her hubby and Hip-Hop: Majesty for Men. She’s also introduced a specially curated collection of earrings made for Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary.
“My husband has the Rock the Bells Festival in August, and so I designed a whole collection of pendants for it.” The collection will be available on Rock The Bell’s official website and in-person at the annual Hip-Hop concert, which will be set up in a “kind of a bodega vibe.” She added that consumers can expect to see “affordable bling” including Cuban links, medallions, beaded bracelets, bracelets and more. “Everybody can’t go out and buy a $100,000 necklace, but you could get it for $600 on simoneismith.com and have that same look and be fly,” she said.
Smith’s passion for creating all things fly has manifested within her children as well. Her daughter Samaria owns distressed denim line Shop by Samaria Leah, and her son Najee has served as a muse for S.I.S’s forthcoming men’s line. Aside from fashion, Italia, her eldest daughter is into real estate as her youngest daughter Nina-Symone is a music artist. Reminiscing on the time that her, LL COOL J and their children covered VIBE‘s March 1997 cover, Simone looked back at how much her children have grown.
“My kids were off-the-chain at that shoot, trying to get them to sit still,” she recalled. “I think Samaria had to be one year old, I think Tali was five and Najee was six. If you look at the cover, she [Samaria] was trying to shove the bottle in my mouth. But it was a great shoot. That’s what I remember, trying to get my kids like, ‘Can you smile? Can you look at the camera please?’ But it was memorable, and it was really great because it was an honor that VIBE wanted to put LL on the cover with his wife and his children. It was a blessing.I remember everybody that we grew up with was calling like, ‘Girl, you guys are on VIBE,’ I was like 25, 26 then. I’m 53 now, so that was a long time ago.”
As Simone has become more experienced in life — and her children have ventured off to follow their own dreams — her faith has remained the same. As a famed entrepreneur, wife, mother and more, through it all she believes “God’s plan for your life is better and bigger than the plan that you have for your life.” Even during the times in her life when her legs weren’t strong enough to walk, she says “I’ve always been strong-minded. My grandparents raised me … the way my mother raised me, it was just ‘always be true to yourself.’”
One thing is for sure: Simone I. Smith’s personality shines through just as bright as the jewelry she designs. She took a dark time in her life where she could have chosen to shut the world out, and decided to design items that make others feel beautiful. S.I.S is more than a product of Simone’s strength, it’s her testimony.
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