Janet was born in Japan and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she began taking silversmithing classes as a teenager. She received her BA from Santa Clara University, and embarked on what she thought was going to be a teaching career, but after receiving her MA in Gender Politics from New York University, she realized that she spent all her spare time making jewelry, and decided to turn her hobby into her dream vocation.

Janet Sterling Silver Design, aka JanetJewelry, began in Janet's living room in 1997, and has since grown into a full online boutique, with clients all over the USA, Canada, Japan, and Europe. Her jewelry has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers:  New York Times, Paper, Stuff, YM, Giant Robot, CMJ New Music Monthly, Elle Girl, New York Daily News, Bust, Revolver, and Cargo. Meredith Vieira wore Janet's Postmodern Candy Necklace on "The View," and Janet herself made her first TV appearance on The Oxygen Network's "SheCommerce," and Style! Network's show, "Isaac," with designer Isaac Mizrahi. She handcrafted production jewelry pieces for the Todd Oldham stores in NYC and Miami. Her pieces have been worn by numerous celebrities, including The Killers, Cibo Matto, Blu Cantrell and Parker Posie, and she has also worked on commissioned custom pieces for Cyndi Lauper, Phantom Planet, and Jeffrey Gaines.

Janet resides in downtown New York City with her husband, 2 fantastic kids, and a rescue mutt named Drax.  She designs, produces, and makes all the jewelry in her NYC home studio. She is passionate about Gender Politics and issues surrounding gender equality/inequity, and is on the Board of Directors of Womankind, a non-profit organization that helps survivors of gender-based violence.