Jewelry designer Peggy Li crafts statement-making necklaces for wearable activism

SAN FRANCISCO -- If you're watching Riverdale, All American, or The Bold Type and catch the glimmer of a sophisticated earring, necklace, or ring -- you're most likely noticing a Peggy Li creation.

Featured in numerous TV shows, including American Idol, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and more, Peggy Li's handmade jewelry expresses her artistic spirit and serves as a medium to create change.

Before styling the stars, Li was carving a career path in STEM, majoring in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley. She recalls wandering around Telegraph Avenue to explore handmade wares and feeling inspired by the local artisans. This experience planted the seeds for Li's over 20-year career as a jewelry designer and owner of Peggy Li Creations.

Today, Li continues to carefully craft pieces that empower the wearer, uplift communities, and support social change.

"My culture influences what I do and is part of my art," began Li. "And as an artist, you try and think of solutions in the way you know how. And the first instinct is 'I'm going to create a piece that symbolizes what's happening right now.'"

Li displays activism through her art with two necklaces that make a major statement for AAPI communities.

When a customer purchases a necklace, 100% of the proceeds are donated to promote and support Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the Bay Area and across the country.

Li's necklaces are inspired by her culture with special meaning behind each pendant. Her Fortune Cookie Necklace features a sterling silver design that pays tribute to her family trips to Chinatown as a child.

"My parents came here and they were doing their best to try and fit in, yet they wanted to be able to share their culture with their kids," recalled Li. "We would take the two-hour drive to San Francisco from Santa Rosa, visit Chinatown, and eat the food."

The profits from the Fortune Cookie Necklace are donated to Save Our Chinatowns (now known as Cut Fruit Collective) and Feed + Fuel Chinatown, which addresses the needs of Chinatown businesses, residents, artists, and activists.

Li's Year of the Ox Necklace showcases an ox-shaped pendant, which represents strength and resiliency. All of the proceeds from the sales of this design go toward the GoFundMe #StopAsianHate campaign to elevate AAPI communities across the US with initiatives that include increased community safety and assistance for those affected by violence.

"I think a lot of us don't know what to do to support, we want to support and don't know how," said Li. "The way I know how is to create these pieces."

For more information on Peggy Li Creations, visit here.

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