Birthday Dinner is a new Hypebeast series that explores how influential individuals in our space are approaching their next year of life. Ahead of the special day, each subject divulges all the stories that shaped who they were, who they are and who they would like to be next.
“Just pulled up,” Greg Yuna texts from The Standard Grill’s bar in New York’s Meatpacking District on Tuesday evening. The famed jeweler is easy to spot in a crisp Aimé Leon Dore x New York Mets windbreaker and track pants, reminders of his Queens nativity. Three diamond tennis necklaces drip over his white T-shirt, while a matching diamond bracelet and a Rolex GMT-Master II “Sprite” peek out from under his sleeves. “I’m going to grab a Bloody Mary,” he says.
The tomato-tinged cocktail is well-deserved. It was only the night prior that Yuna hosted the unofficial opening for his freshly minted flagship in the heart of NoLita, a milestone he has worked tirelessly towards since securing a lease for the spot a year and a half ago. “Opening a store is like planning a wedding,” he says, holding up his glass for a toast. “It’s exhausting.” Still, he’s got more than enough energy to sit down for a meal, just three days ahead of his 42nd birthday.
“Table’s ready,” the restaurant’s host alerts. “Right this way.”
Yuna was born on June 28, making him a Cancer, the fourth sign of the zodiac known for being nurturing, intuitive, emotional and loyal. “I believe in astrology,” he confirms, taking his seat in The Standard’s private Wine Room. “I’m actually working on creating some zodiac jewelry pieces now.” The stars do seem to align in his favor — this is the guy who’s made custom diamond accessories for the likes of Drake, J Balvin, Rihanna and a laundry list of other mega-famous names, after all — but he doesn’t collect his trophies without diligent work. Yuna’s horoscope, presented to him at the table, better explains the pseudoscience behind his good fortune.
“While you enjoy a good debate and tend to bounce ideas off other people frequently, ultimately, you make your own choices. You are very perceptive, wise, and a natural leader. While you can be dominant and willful at times, you are also an expert at seeing both sides of any situation.”
With a grin, he grabs his phone to snap a picture of the reading. “This is right on the money,” he says. “I call my own shots, but I also have to empower my team. I like opinionated people. My friend Ronnie [Fieg] is super opinionated. Opinion leads to forward thinking.”
Fieg, the founder and creative director of New York lifestyle label KITH, is Yuna’s friend of 30 years. The two met as kids in Queens, and they’ve been “inseparable since.” Yuna remembers pulling up on Fieg while he was working at the David Z. sneaker store every Saturday, and he credits the designer for keeping him on track in their younger years. Today, Yuna has a shop-in-shop inside KITH’s SoHo flagship, and he counts Fieg as one of his best friends. The feeling is mutual. There’s that Cancer loyalty.
The appetizer arrives. It’s a snow peak radish salad from the restaurant’s executive chef, Dan Silverman. “I used to come here a lot,” Yuna says, taking a bite of the greens. “I forgot I like this place. I’m glad to be back.”
He spins through a wheel of forgotten stories from his past, like all the times he drove his mother crazy with the outlandish pets he would bring home from a nearby shop on Union Turnpike. “Iguanas, turtles, snakes, mice, frogs, dogs, cats, ferrets.” His father was big into the Discovery Channel, so watching wildlife shows on TV with him every night galvanized his interest in animals. “I wanted to be a veterinarian,” he says. “But I just didn’t like school.”
Yuna remembers ditching class to hop on the train to Manhattan for the first time. “It felt like I was in a different country,” he says of his first experience in the borough. “My friend Teddy got hustled by a street magician and lost $100 outside the station.” Character building, he calls it. He continued to cut school in favor of these city endeavors, especially once he got his first car — a $4,000 1989 Maxima — with the money he saved up dispatching limousines for the US Open at the Arthur Ashe Center, near his home. His mother eventually pulled him out of school in the 11th grade. He got his GED, instead. More character building.
He brushes past some years spent working as a loan processor for a mortgage company. “It drove me crazy,” he says. “I ended up working for some distant relatives and getting into the jewelry business.” That’s when he landed on 47th Street’s one-block string of renowned fine jewelry stores, known as the Diamond District.
"This is what I dreamed about. I remind myself of that every day."
One month into the job, he remembers feeling “over it.” But then 50 Cent walked into his kiosk to purchase a Christmas present. “I was so starstruck. I kept thinking, ‘He definitely hears my heart pounding right now.’” Two days later, Floyd Mayweather rolled through. He was a regular who a few weeks later would buy four rosary-inspired necklaces from Yuna’s earliest collection—right off the budding jeweler’s neck for around $50,000. “That was my first real sale,” he says. “I realized that was the place for me.” From there, he experimented with more eye-catching designs, like pendants modeled after Converse sneakers and diamond-drenched Jesus necklaces. He couldn’t keep them on his own neck for a week.
A golden basket of drumsticks and wings fittingly known as “The Million Dollar Chicken,” the restaurant’s famed signature dish, enters the room. Immediately, the title of the mountainous feast piqued some curiosity: has Yuna ever sold a piece in the millions? “Yes, to Floyd,” he answers. “It was a 32-karat yellow diamond pendant, and we made him a 239-karat TMT (The Money Team, Mayweather’s lifestyle brand) piece in yellow diamonds as well.” $1.4 million was the highest price tag among them.
Pinch-me moments like the former are not uncommon for Yuna. Take his experience appearing in Uncut Gems as himself, for another. “Josh Safdie called out my name in the Diamond District one night,” he recalls. “He was like, ‘Hey, I love your work. I’m working on a movie, and I want you in it. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.’” Several years went by before Yuna received the official call from the director. “I was with Liam Payne, a client of mine, when Josh finally called and asked me to come to a character development session at a karaoke bar. I brought Liam, and we sang a song with Adam Sandler.” No surprise: Yuna was fit for the part.
Yuna does plan on returning to the big screen. In fact, he reveals that he’s currently in production on a forthcoming film, 25 Seconds, in which he plays a robber’s innocent brother who gets tied up with the wrong crowd.
“This is what I dreamed about,” Yuna says of his full plate. “I remind myself of that every day.” It’s his ambition that keeps him going, but it’s his commitment to authenticity that has granted him longevity in the industry.
“I’m just not something you can buy,” he explains, adding that he’s had to turn down a lot of business opportunities — a big-ticket commercial for Rogaine, the topical treatment that can help reverse hair loss, included — in the name of not “selling out.”
Food is his fuel, too. “I like to eat family-style,” he adds, picking another chicken leg from the platter. “I pick at things.” His love of family-style dining is fitting, as family is a core tenant of his success. “My team is only family,” he says of the group of six trusted individuals who work for his eponymous label. None are actually related to him; but he views them as his kin nonetheless. He sees his real family for nostalgic meals in Queens all the time, too. “I used to hate my mom and my grandmother’s food, but as you get older, you really learn to appreciate it.”
"I’m happy with who I am as a human being, how I treat my team, how I treat my family and friends. The money comes and goes, but you can’t gauge that stuff with a dollar amount.”
On the topic of family, Yuna brings up another close comrade, the professional BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester, who he met in 2012 around the same time Instagram was becoming something you could monetize. “We were under the same management, but we quickly realized that we just couldn’t be managed,” he laughs of their friendship’s formation. “It’s important to have people that you genuinely trust, love, and admire. And that you support them.”
In two weeks, Yuna will be participating in Sylvester’s GO RIDE cycling event in London and New York, where they’ll be cycling 15 miles in both cities on the same day (technically, thanks to time zones). While he breaks down the program, it’s the perfect time to pass him a birthday card that Sylvester prepared for Yuna ahead of this sit-down:
Dear Greg,
Enjoy the come-up. Happy birthday.
Love,
Nigel
“I love Nigel, man,” Yuna responds, staring down at the card with a proud expression. “That’s my brother. We keep each other accountable for all the wins. There are a lot of losses that we take behind the scenes that no one knows about too. But every time he wins, it’s a win for me too. I tell people that all the time.”
“Enjoy the come-up” is a phrase the duo uses as a reminder to appreciate where they’re at in the current moment while building their respective empires. Nonetheless, Yuna’s very certain about his current successes. “I ‘made it' a long time ago,” he says. “I’m happy with who I am as a human being, how I treat my team, how I treat my family and friends. The money comes and goes, but you can’t gauge that stuff with a dollar amount.”
He’s also a big believer in faking it ‘till you make it. “If you’re really trying to take it to the moon, that doesn’t stop,” he says. “There’s always a play.” He shares an anecdote from many years ago, when Mayweather invited him to his black-tie birthday party. “I had no money for a tuxedo,” he remembers. “I wasn’t going to wear the same dusty suit I’d been wearing for the last 10 years to his party.” But another close friend of his, Reb, knew Yuna had to be there, so he told him to pick out a tux at Saks and arranged for someone to meet him there to cover the $5,000 bill. “I cherish my friends,” he says. “I went there looking better than Floyd.”
"I just want all my people to be good."
His mind shifts to the future. On his bucket list for this year is becoming the creative director of a watch company. “Not sure who yet,” he says, glancing at his Rolex. “But I want to take it there. Changing the watch game will not be easy, but I’m sure I can add value to it.”
A gooey, chocolate mousse folded with meringue and decorated with whipped cream arrives at the table. The delectable dessert is called “The Deal Closer,” which is quite fitting for a man whose career is built on striking anywhere from 20 to 40 custom commissions per month. A candle flickers atop the rich mound of sugar. Yuna pauses to ponder his wish while the flame burns before him.
“A man is known by the company he keeps,” the famous philosopher Aesop’s quote goes. After three courses, it’s clear that Greg Yuna’s most prized possessions are not the iced-out bling he’s famous for; they’re the close circles surrounding him. At 42, he’s not as interested in materiality as he is in feeding his well-nourished relationships.
After a deep breath, he decides, “I just want all my people to be good.”
Then he blows out the fire.
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