WJA San Diego

The WJA Shining Star Awards are designed to highlight the efforts of WJA members who give so much time to their chapters but might not get recognized on a national level. Each of the chapters chooses its own Shining Star who is awarded with a ticket to the Women in the Know Conference in New York City and up to $500 for airfare and hotel.

Kimberly Vagner has been in the jewelry industry for eight years. She received her bachelor's degree in International Affairs from The George Washington University. Half way through school she decided she wanted to go a different route than politics, and become a gemologist. To learn more about the field she started volunteering in the mineral sciences department of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History.  Surrounded by boxes and binders full of slides she set to work cataloging their image collection.  After graduating she moved to San Diego where she got a job working at GIA and started taking their distance education courses in gemology. In 2005 she obtained her G.G.  She still works at GIA, in the museum, where she assists the curator.

Kim is an active board member of the San Diego Women's Jewelry Association chapter.  She served as events co-chair the past two years, and is currently marketing co-chair.