How By Invite Only founder Trixie Khong went from chemical engineering student to seven-figure jewellery entrepreneur

Long before homegrown jewellery brand By Invite Only was generating seven-figure annual revenue and winning over customers with its dainty, sparkling pieces, there was simply a teenage girl wandering into a beading shop along Arab Street.

Trixie Khong wasn’t even thinking about starting a business.

At the time, she was just a 16-year-old who had stumbled upon a new creative pastime. One that would later become an escape during her years studying chemical engineering.

As a student, Ms Khong immersed herself in a world of maths and physics. She was in classrooms where women made up just 10% to 15% of the cohort.

“The uncle at the store was very kind and open to teaching me how to craft,” she recalled in an interview with MS News. “Every time I went, he taught me how to connect things.”

As Ms Khong accumulated more handmade jewellery than she could wear, she realised she needed a way to fund her growing collection.

That hobby eventually evolved into By Invite Only. A brand that the 38-year-old founder and CEO has spent the past 17 years building into one of Singapore’s most recognisable accessories brands.