Mothers often hold and honour memory in deeply personal ways, carrying moments of birth, love or loss with them through life’s transitions. For Ms Yeo Min Qi (Business ’13), founder of Love Juno Gems, this truth is rooted in her own journey of motherhood and channelled into her jewellery-making.
When her clients receive their jewellery, some cry. Others reach for a hug. Each piece holds something deeply personal — transformed into a lasting keepsake in honour of life’s most profound moments.
Undergirding Ms Yeo’s creativity is a recognition of the emotional impact lived experiences have on people.
A NEW MOTHER’S BABY STEPS
For Ms Yeo, the period after the birth of her eldest daughter in 2020 was disorienting. Despite the deep joy of motherhood, she felt a loss of identity as her life narrowed to focusing on her newborn. Her days fell into a rhythm dictated by her baby’s needs, down to her diet and even the clothes she wore.
“I was not prepared for the loss of a clear sense of self,” she recounts.
Amid the overwhelming experience, she began searching for a way to give form to the journey. “First-time parenthood is deeply transformative, in ways that are difficult to articulate. I found myself wanting to capture that shift in a tangible form — something that made the intangible feel real,” Ms Yeo explains.
Her search led her to breastmilk — something that nourished her child and was symbolic of her motherhood experiences — as the basis of her earliest jewellery designs.
Jewellery incorporating breastmilk has been around for some time, but what Ms Yeo sought was an enduring and bespoke piece that truly honoured her journey, which meant using high-end materials such as solid gold and quality gemstones.
Realising that vision proved more complex than expected, requiring multiple rounds of experimentation and refinement before she developed a process that worked. When she finally created her own piece, it became a way of holding on to a part of her old self, while also reflecting the new person she was becoming.
What began as a meaningful project for herself resonated with others in ways she had not anticipated, evolving into a way for her to help others create their own sentimental jewellery.
FROM A HOBBY TO A BUSINESS WITH PURPOSE
As word spread through social media and word of mouth, her client base grew organically. Love Juno Gems — named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage, women, and childbirth — was thus born. “Over time, people began approaching us with other deeply personal elements — umbilical cord, ashes, hair, and fur,” she says. “Each piece carries a different story — whether it’s a child, a pet, or a moment someone wants to hold on to.”
Listening to these stories marks Ms Yeo’s work. Each piece is designed closely with the client and crafted as a one-of-a-kind creation. In the process, clients often entrust her with their memories of joy and loss. One client, after multiple miscarriages, commissioned a breastmilk ring to mark the child she was finally able to hold. Another commissioned a ring for each of her two daughters, each incorporating their birthstone and umbilical cord. One of the rings also featured a diamond passed down from her own mother — bringing together three generations in a single piece.
“We often meet remarkable women whose lives hold stories of care, resilience, and love in ways both seen and unseen,” shares Ms Yeo. “The pieces we create are a way of holding those stories — something tangible they can return to.”
Love Juno Gems began with solid gold pieces, but growing demand brought requests for more accessible options. In response, Ms Yeo introduced gold-plated sterling silver, allowing clients to personalise pieces with sentimental elements, birthstones, and initials.
With growing clarity about how meaningful the work was to her and her clients, she left her corporate role in 2025 to turn Love Juno Gems into a full-fledged business. By then, she was a mother of two children, aged five and three.
A LEAP OF FAITH
After 12 years in real estate development, the shift into entrepreneurship was a deliberate one, shaped by a growing clarity of purpose.
“Sentimental jewellery is deeply personal to me. Through years of working closely with clients — listening to their stories and witnessing the emotional significance of each piece — I came to understand the value of this work.”
Scaling a craft-based business brings its own challenges. Ms Yeo credits the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme — with its internships and start-up exposure in Taiwan and Beijing — for giving her an early, practical view of how businesses are built. Her skills in communication and adaptation — skills that now help her carry the business — were also honed during her university years.
Her entrepreneurial run did not stop at Love Juno Gems. That same year, she co-founded a collagen- and protein-rich food venture inspired by her own experiences with pregnancy and breastfeeding, before selling it to focus on her core business.
AFFIRM THE DREAMS
Time is often tight when you run your own business. For Ms Yeo and her husband, who also has his own venture, that makes how they spend it matter more. With two young daughters, they prioritise being present. Mother’s Day, for example, is “less about the occasion and more about spending time together,” she says.
Motherhood, once a disorienting experience, continues to shape how she lives and works. She brings her children into her world when she can, taking them along to selected work events. Her daughters have already begun to take an interest in what she does and are paying attention to her journey.
“I want my daughters to see that it’s possible to take risks, pursue something meaningful and build a life that they truly value,” she shares. Love Juno Gems centres on creating heirlooms for others. At home, she is shaping what her own children will carry with them as they grow — the courage to dream and to act.
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