In the Wild with Noura Sakkijha, Founder & CEO of Mejuri

To wrap up International Women’s Month, I had the chance to attend a keynote with Mejuri founder and CEO Noura Sakkijha—an inspiring, honest conversation about building a brand with values, scaling with integrity, and staying grounded through it all. Moderated by Futurpreneur CEO Karen Greve Young, the discussion was full of insight, and I even had the chance to ask Noura a question that hit close to home. Her answer? One that every entrepreneur with young children should hear. Here's what I took away.

Noura Sakkijha, Founder & CEO of Mejuri

Paula Hopkins, Director of the Entrepreneurship team at Invest Ottawa, opened the event and set the tone—reminding us that no one builds a business alone. From free advisory support to programs like Starter Company and the eCommerce Accelerator, there’s an ecosystem right here for founders to tap into.

That theme, “you don’t have to do it alone”, ran through the entire event. It was echoed beautifully by Emma Terrell of The Urban Botanist, who shared her own scrappy, spirited story of figuring things out as she went, saying yes before she was ready, and growing her brand through mentorship and community.

And then came Noura. Speaking with clarity and conviction, she took the stage and reminded every founder in the room why we do this in the first place: not just to build businesses, but to change systems, rewrite expectations, and give ourselves (and others) permission to lead boldly.

Noura Sakkijha, Founder of Mejuri, and Futurpreneur CEO Karen Greve Young led an inspiring keynote session closing out Invest Ottawa’s International Women’s Month programming.

Redefining Luxury, One Diamond at a Time

Noura grew up in a family of jewelers in Jordan. But when she began earning her own income, she realized the industry she came from wasn’t made for her—it was built for men buying gifts, not women celebrating themselves.

So she launched Mejuri, a direct-to-consumer jewelry brand with an unapologetic message:
Buy yourself the damn diamond.

It’s not just a cheeky tagline. It’s a cultural shift. One that reframes fine jewelry as an everyday act of self-expression; accessible, meaningful, and completely on your terms.

But the path wasn’t paved in gold.

You Can Pivot Without Losing Your Purpose

Back in 2012, Noura wrote an award-winning business plan. It was polished, promising, and totally unworkable in practice. Her original idea, a crowdsourced jewelry design platform, quickly proved unsustainable.

So she listened. To customers. To mentors. To her gut.

She scrapped the model and relaunched in 2015 with a new vision: a strong, design-led brand with a clear point of view. From the materials to the brand voice to the retail experience, everything was built around the modern woman as decision-maker.

That’s when the emails started: “I never used to buy myself jewelry. But something about this makes sense.”

That’s when she knew, Mejuri wasn’t just a brand. It was a movement.

Start Smart. Stay Picky.

One of Noura’s boldest early moves? Returning her first investment cheque.

She had no other offers on the table. But the investor didn’t align with her values—and she knew that saying yes to the wrong partner would cost more in the long run than holding out for the right one.

Her advice to early-stage founders:

• Even if you’re just starting out, you have the right to be selective.

• Choose investors based on values, not just capital.

• Think globally. Don’t be afraid to raise beyond Canada.

Fundraising may be hard (her first round took six months and 50+ conversations), but one good “yes” opens doors. "The first yes is a domino," she said. "The rest starts to fall into place."

I Asked Her How She Did It with Twins at Home

Honest, real, and so inspiring, Noura was very candid about the balancing act of raising a business while raising kids.

As a founder raising two young kids of my own, I had to ask the question that was on many of our minds: How did you raise $20M and scale globally while pregnant with twins?

Noura didn’t hesitate:

“I didn’t do it alone.”

She shared how she and her husband—also her business partner—made intentional decisions. They waited to have kids until they could afford support. They split responsibilities at home and at work. And when it came time to fundraise, she cleared her schedule and made it her full-time focus.

But she also got real:

“I went back to work three months postpartum. Looking back, it’s the one thing I’d change. I wish I had taken six months. But at the time, I didn’t feel like I could.”

That mix of grit and honesty was one of the most refreshing moments of the talk.

Scaling with Integrity

Today, Mejuri has over 1,000 employees, 40+ stores across four countries, and a social media following in the millions.

But behind the scenes, Noura is still doing the work—letting go of what no longer needs her, building the right leadership team, and holding herself accountable to the question:

“Am I still the right CEO for this stage of the business?”

That level of self-awareness is what makes her leadership style stand out. She’s not afraid to hire people who are “10x better” than her in specific roles. And she doesn’t expect perfection, she expects progress.

A Brand with a Backbone

Mejuri isn’t just about jewelry. It’s about impact.

• A $5M empowerment fund to support women and non-binary folks in underrepresented communities.

• A partnership with Salmon Gold, regenerating ecosystems damaged by mining.

• Deep commitments to sustainability, traceability, and ethical sourcing from day one.

And it’s not a marketing play. “Sustainability should never be a value prop,” Noura said. “It’s something you do because you believe in it.”

Words to Keep Coming Back To

Here are just a few gems that stayed with me long after the talk ended:

• “Every challenge has a purpose. Constraints create clarity.”

• “Balance doesn’t mean every day. Over time, the portfolio of your life should make sense.”

• “No one really knows what they’re doing. We’re all figuring it out.”

• “You don’t need to build an empire to make a difference.”

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re building a brand from your basement or fundraising with babies on your hip, Noura’s story is a reminder that you don’t have to do it perfectly. You just have to keep showing up.

This journey isn’t about doing it all. It’s about doing what matters most, and doing it with heart, vision, and people you trust by your side.

So if you’ve been waiting for a sign to take the next step, make the ask, raise your prices, launch the thing, or simply celebrate how far you’ve come—this is it.

And maybe, just maybe... Go buy yourself the damn diamond.