corps /cor/ : a body of people engaging in the same activity.
The Gem Corps (TGC) Founder, Nia Tahani, earned her start in the industry during the early 2000’s as a fine jewelry and luxury goods publicist. In 2015, she fired up @GemCorps on Instagram as a collector-enthusiast in order to experience the freedom of "uninhibited jewelry revelry" via creating educational and visually captivating content as well as building community.
During the pandemic, what began as rehoming pieces of her personal collection, developed into an estate jewelry and design business. Leading with education is paramount to the TGC ethos, so it’s with enthusiasm that Nia will take you on her *jewelry journeys* into gemstone culture (i.e.,JADE) and storied jewelry motifs of antiquity through modern eras (i.e., BLACKAMOOR).
In 2023, within days of Montgomery Brawl, she designed *the little chair that could* Sweet CHAIRiot. The zeitgeist of "not today energy" and a black woman-made talisman of self-determination took precedence. Sweet CHAIRIOT has come to represent solidarity with oppressed peoples, the global majority, resistance to injustice, remembering the ancestors, and honoring our need for REST. And as Shirley Chisholm once said "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
Nia is a Washington, D.C. native, a skilled horsewoman of many years, and an independent scholar of gemology and history. She has served on the NorCal board of the Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA); the board of the Metropolitan Horsemen's Association; and is a member of the Black In Jewelry Coalition (BIJC), the American Society of Jewelry Historians (ASJH), and the International Gem Society. Nia has lectured on antique jewelry for the annual pearl industry summit, Pearls By The Bay, in Marin County, a WJA educational event, and for the ASJH on Blackamoor jewelry.
Nia holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 2025, Nia was selected to receive a scholarship from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) scholarship towards a Graduate Gemology degree. In the fall of '25, she began GIA coursework for her Applied Jewelry Professional (AJP) certificate. She is also working towards becoming a Certified Pearl Specialist and plans to enroll in GIA's Graduate Gemologist program in 2026/7.
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The Gem Corps
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