Everyday Encounters: A former jewelry designer recalls key chain that took off

Mill Valley resident Shayala Diamond cools off from 90-degree heat Sept. 9 at Tiburon’s Shoreline Park. Diamond designed jewelry from 1996 to 2016, and the beaded key chains she made in the late 1990s were a hit. She says her business had 40 sales representatives at its peak. (Francisco Martinez / The Ark)

Mill Valley resident Shayala Diamond needs just three words to explain why she’s visiting Tiburon’s Shoreline Park.

“So friggin’ hot,” says Diamond, 73, as highs hit 90 degrees in town Sept. 9. She stopped in Tiburon after the thermometer in her car read 99 degrees, hoping for a 10-degree break.

Diamond has lived in Mill Valley for the past year after spending a decade in West Marin. But she’s familiar with Tiburon, having spent six weeks on Mar West Street during her career as a jewelry designer, from 1996 to 2016.

Her path to jewelry-making has been anything but linear. A product of the 1960s counterculture and its offshoots, such as the evangelical Jesus movement, Diamond met Gurumayi Chidvilasananda in the early 1980s. Gurumayi is the spiritual head of Siddha Yoga, a meditation path drawn from Hindu philosophy.

The experience, Diamond says, saved her — even if she no longer practices the guru’s teachings.