Interview with WEAROPAL Founder, Jen Chiang
This past week, I interviewed the WEAROPAL founder, Jen Chiang. Jen founded WEAROPAL in 2021 while in business school where she conducted extensive market research to understand the safety concerns of over 200 women. Through her research, Jen learned that women are looking for a safety solution with a panic button, and they want a fashionable, attractive product that they would enjoy wearing. To date, Jen has consulted with security experts and partnered with jewelry designers, engineers across hardware, firmware and software development as well as brand creatives to bring the product, a wearable personal safety smart ring, to life.
To start us off, can you both explain what inspired you to create WEAROPAL?
<Jen> In my first entrepreneurship class during business school, our professor asked, what problem do you want to solve? The only thing that I wanted to work on was safety because unfortunately I have had personal experiences of feeling uncomfortable and being in unsafe situations as a woman from people who are complete strangers, or from people I knew or were in unhealthy relationships with. My daughter was also four at the time and was growing up in New York City. I just couldn’t imagine her walking around the city on her own when she’s a teenager without some form of protection, and I wanted to build something for her to protect her and that can get her help if her safety is ever compromised, and to serve as a reminder to be more aware of her personal safety so she can be more intuitive and confident to make smarter choices. It started as a very personal problem, and when I ended up speaking with over 200 women during the customer discovery process for the project, I more deeply understood women’s most pressing concerns around safety. Lastly, the 1 in 3 women statistic from the World Health Organization was what struck me as this is a problem I want to do something about.
What are the main features of the WEAROPAL ring? What do you think is the main problem that the WEAROPAL ring solves for, and how is your product different from existing products on the market?
<Jen> The WEAROPAL ring is simply a connected/smart panic button in a piece of jewelry that’s paired via bluetooth to our app on the user’s phone to alert 911 and emergency contacts. It only has one functionality which is to get people help if they are ever in a situation whereby they’re not able to reach for their phone to dial 911 or their emergency contacts and explain where they are, who they are etc. so help can arrive. Our market research indicated that design in addition to product reliability is the most important. As well as focusing on product integrity, having a jewelry design that people would enjoy wearing is what we believe differentiates our product from other panic buttons and would help drive user adoption so we can provide users with an extra layer of security. We chose the ring form factor for our first product because we wanted to offer something that can be discreetly triggered using the same hand (by reaching the thumb across to press on the stone three times).
Can you describe the testing and quality control measures you have in place to ensure the product is reliable?
<Jen> Our team has been working with MTEC and Hardware Velocity to meticulously test and refine our product to ensure the product reliability for our customers. We are also completing beta testing with volunteers ahead of delivering products to our first customers. Given our product is for personal security, there is really no room for error given people’s lives and safety are at stake. Each device will be hand tested by our team before it is shipped to customers. Our devices also undergo Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification.
What do you love most about being a founder and working with the team at WEAROPAL?
<Jen> I love having the agency of going about a problem in my own way. For example, I’ve been adamant about bringing a smart ring product (vs. another jewelry form) to market first because of the ability for the jewelry to be worn and triggered using the same hand. But from a product perspective, it’s been challenging to build because of the ring size limitations and it’s been challenging from a manufacturing perspective too because of all the different ring sizes!
We’re very lucky to be supported by our advisors and team who are experts in their fields (engineering, design and branding) and who deeply believe in and invest their time in our mission.
Can you describe your longer-term vision for WEAROPAL?
<Jen> My vision/dream is to have smart safety technology in every piece of jewelry so that women and other vulnerable groups can have access to a panic button to help them feel safe and be protected everyday.
Given preferences in jewelry design are very personal, my goal is to partner with different jewelry designers to embed our technology in their designs in order to scale what we are building, and to offer the technology in variety of designs as well as price points so the safety technology is accessible to everyone.
The WEAROPAL Ring is available for pre-order now in seven stones/shells: lab-grown opal (white, green & blue, and multi-teal), mother of pearl (white, yellow, and gray), and black onyx (LINK)!
