Josie Goodbody was first mesmerised by opulent jewels in institutions such as the V&A and The Louvre, as well as seeing members of the British royal family bedecked in items from the Queen’s Royal Collection in magazines and on TV. It was at Christian Dior in 2000 whilst working in Paris as part of her French degree, that she came across Victoire Castellane’s contemporary fine jewellery in person – and of course the boutiques of Place Vendome and Rue de la Paix. When Josie left university she worked in a PR agency in London which had as clients Bulgari and Ritz Fine Jewellery – and learnt about the magnificence and multicoloured world of precious and semi-precious stones and the sumptuous designs they could be set in.
After a year out, living in Cape Town and working in the restaurant and hotel PR industry, she secured the job of a lifetime as Head of PR at Graff Diamonds. Here she worked on all aspects of Graff’s jewellery PR and the chairman/ founder’s PR as well as launching the company’s philanthropic arm and organising a fundraiser at Christie’s London. She also launched Graffiti, the client magazine. Not only did Josie learn about the most precious of gemstones and actually hold some of the most priceless diamonds ever discovered, she visited the Cullinan Mine in Pretoria, RSA, where world’s largest diamond in the world was discovered and which is now in the British crown jewels/ Royal Collection. She also launched Graff Delaire: a five-star spa hotel and restaurant near to Cape Town.
Josie left Graff for a job in Monaco, working for a gold mining firm and then after three years in Buenos Aires, where she worked with two antique jewellery firms doing their PR and writing blogs. Josie has written four titles in the Jemima Fox Mystery Series. She writes articles for publications about fine jewellery, royal jewellery, precious stones and luxury brands. In May 2020 she was interviewed on, and helped to produce, a Channel 5 (UK) documentary on Tiffany & Co, and in September 2022 she was interviewed live on GB News Breakfast about the jewels of the late Queen, on the morning of her state funeral.
She lives on the Dorset/ Wiltshire borders with her husband, two children, two dogs and two canaries! She is currently writing and editing jewellery pages of luxury magazines.
