When President Trump’s tariff talks started earlier this year, many American companies dependent on foreign partners—particularly in the jewelry industry, where raw materials are imported from countries like India, Canada, Thailand, and Botswana—braced for impact.

For jewelry designer Adina Reyter, who launched her namesake label in 2001, tariff uncertainties came at a time when raw materials prices were already skyrocketing.

“When I started, gold was $300 an ounce. It’s now $3,000 an ounce,” Reyter said.

While tariffs and fluctuating prices have brought instability to Reyter’s gold business, the jewelry designer’s sterling silver collections have proven to be a bright spot amidst uncertain times, and one that’s helping increase company revenue.

Silver boom: Since March, Reyter said sterling silver sales increased in revenue by 49.6%. The category has also seen 1,821% YoY growth. The brand declined to share revenue numbers for this story.

Keep reading here.—LI

Ally Langan, account manager at TheRealReal, is an amalgamation of a few Gen Z stereotypes: has a side hustle, is very online, blunt.

She doesn’t buy into the “Gen Z is lazy” trope, for instance, saying instead that her cohort values themselves and their time more than perhaps their bosses and their bosses’ bosses do. We chatted recently, discussing other misperceptions of her generation, what her generation brings to the table, and how companies can best approach their Gen Z employees.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

You’re at the beginning of your career, but what made you want to start in sales?

Working in sales, it’s working one-on-one with people all the time, dealing with conflict, dealing with a lot of things I’ve dealt with before. Being a sorority president in my past, I was like, I could do this. It kind of just, weirdly enough, fell in my lap, and I was like, “You know what? Why not? Let’s give it a shot.” And I wound up actually being pretty good at it.

You’re a budding influencer on Instagram and TikTok. How does being an influencer make you a better salesperson?

The most important thing with sales is you can’t feel like you’re selling somebody. If you’re selling somebody, you’re losing the sale. Being an influencer, you have to be your real and authentic self. You don’t want to feel like you’re selling people products. When I work with brands, I will always try out a product first before filming anything.

Keep reading here.—BS

Podcasts have long been known for a very personal style of host-read ads that are often sold directly. So when it comes to programmatic ad sales, the sector has sometimes been viewed as a rare holdout.

But, much like the worst person you know starting a podcast, the introduction of more ad tech and automation in podcasting seems all but inevitable.

In one of the latest signs of the time, Spotify rolled out its Spotify Ad Exchange this spring, marking the first time the audio giant is letting ad buyers participate in true open-marketplace programmatic bidding through demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk and Google DV360.

“Marketers want more flexibility and more agility to make decisions,” Brian Berner, Spotify’s head of global ad sales and partnerships, told Marketing Brew at Cannes Lions. “They don’t want to be held to the traditional, long-term upfronts. We’ve been getting that feedback for a while.”

Keep reading here.—AM