Beyoncé Awards Alabama Woman $20K Jewelry Industry Scholarship
An Alabama woman, awarded a $20,000 Beyoncé Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz GIA Scholarship, is extremely excited about the opportunity.
Audriana Osborne, of Montgomery, was one of just three people recently awarded the scholarship and plans to put the money to good use.
“I’m so full of gratitude. I’m honored, and I’m so excited for the opportunity,” Osborne said through a video announcing the three winners, according to WSFA12 News.
Beyoncé, who personally selected each of the scholarship recipients says she was impressed with their “passion and the knowledge of gems that so many applicants displayed,” and added she’s “praying that this is just the beginning of opening more doors to diversity and raw inspiration in the jewelry industry.”
The scholarship funds will reportedly pay for the tuition, fees, equipment and travel for on-campus lab classes.
According to the Gemological Institute of America, jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz teamed up with Bey to create the scholarship, which goes to three members of the African American community for full tuition to earn GIA’s Graduate Gemologist diploma through distance education.
“Her work for the Black community is without limit and her efforts have inspired me and made me extremely proud to be her friend and partner on this initiative,” Schwartz said of the mega star.
Osborne says her past experience in the jewelry industry will help her put the scholarship to good use and help her fulfill her ambitions.
“The hope for me is to absolutely learn all I possibly can and fuse the knowledge I have now and the career I have now with a career in the jewelry industry,” she said. “Having that space to blend that creativity and using the power of the law to fuse that into a really just religious, new, innovative and avant-garde career.”
The two other winners of the scholarship were Kulla Jatani of Seattle and Shelton Bradford of Lake Forest, California.
