Tom Borthwick
Tom grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pa as the youngest of three children. He has an older sister, Pam, and an older brother, George. Together they had a happy childhood. Tom remembers playing kick ball, kick the can, sardines as well as building forts and ice skating to name a few. Tom graduated High School and earned his Eagle Scout in 1992.
For the first two years following his graduation he attended Bloomsburg University in the Poconos. He then transferred to Penn State University. His drive to succeed was evidenced by how hard he worked to earn his Bachelor of Arts Degree. He took extra classes and attended summer school and eventually earned his Bachelors degree in Economics in 1988.
He started his jewelry career in Burlington, VT taking a managerial position with Gordon's Jewelers for six years. He then moved to Bellevue, WA with his brother, George and worked for Merksamer Jewelry as a "fix-it" guy. He travelled from location to location where the company identified stores which weren't thriving. He would spend approximately six months at each location revitalizing that particular store. He would identify the problem and then take the necessary steps to correct whatever it was. He would train and teach the store managers customer service as well as business management; the employees customer service. All of this travel and experience gave him the knowledge, skill and drive to open his own business. His desire was so great he actually waited longer than his friends so his 401k would increase enough to use as his seed money! Wow!
Then in 1997 his dream became a reality by opening Borthwick Jewelry Inc,. in Ferndale, WA. After being in business for three years Tom took the Advanced Stone Setting course through New Approach School of Jewelers. Then in 2010 he took Laser Star Training course, again, through New Approach School of Jewelers. These two courses rounded out Toms knowledge and skills.
Tom has a daughter, Nicole, who is as adventurous as her dad. One of her favorite things to do with her dad is going to rock concerts or playing laser tag. She just loves to shoot her dad! In 2016 they took a father/daughter vacation to Paris, Venice and Rome. They visited many historic sites, ate lots of local cuisine and made many happy memories for years to come.
On 04-21-2007, Tom married the woman of his dreams, the love of his life, his kindred spirit, Tami Orranita-Pieper. She has two sons, Maximillian (Max) and Giovanni (Gio). Tom and Tami love to travel. They have been to so many wonderful and exotic places. They went to Scotland where they visited Borthwick Castle. Tom has many great stories about their travels so when you come in ask him about his latest adventure! You might even get treated with a few pictures and a great story or two!
The family had an exciting event happen in November 2021, their son Max got married to his long time girlfriend Jamie and they reside in Spokane, WA. Tom and Tami love to visit. When all of them get together they like to, depending on where the visit happens, they love to go camping, fishing, skiing and four wheeling. If Max and Jamie come "home" they love to go tubing down the Nooksack river. If you hear singing its probably just Tom tubing with the family and he's driving everyone nuts!
When Tom's not working or enjoying outdoor activities with his family he can be found playing hockey.
"I just want every customer to feel they've gotten a good deal."
"I want people to get what they want and to feel they've been treated fairly."
"To me, the most important thing in business is customer service, be fair, be honest and be friendly"
-Tom Borthwick
The Diamond King
She's our Facebook manager and the boss's wife. She's been instrumental in getting our social media presence established. She goes with Tom to the gem shows and helps him pick out jewelry for our store. When they're at the gem show she makes facebook posts of various booths or shows they're at in Tuscon, Arizona. So, if you want to see what a gem show looks like just head to our Facebook page around January or February and you can get a peek!
Tami's the one who frequently brings our store mascot, Thor, in to see us and help customers! She enjoys traveling the world with Tom and they have gone to many exotic places. She's a fabulous cook and brings in goodies for the staff to munch on! Thank you for everything you do!!!
Kristi Sophusson
Kristi is our store manager and has worked here for 10 years. She is very knowledgeable about jewelry and many customers have told me they enjoy working with her. She has a nice cheerful attitude and is always in a happy mood with a big smile.
She is organized and, as the store manager, she assists the owner in the hiring of new employees; does the paperwork when the owner is on vacation and scheduling of staff. She is one of the employees who does written appraisals and her knowledge of our product is substantial.
In her off time she loves to quilt; shop for converse shoes and her favorite holiday is Halloween. You can find some of her excellent quilt work at The One Stop Mail Shop.
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She is the assistant manager and has worked here for 8 years.
Katrina is another one of our fantastic employees. She has a great way of working with our customers and is fun to work with. Her big heart and funny sense of humor creates a wonderful environment for our customers and our team. Katrina helps train our new sales associates as well as helps manage the sales floor and staff. She is very organized; assists with daily office tasks and ordering of products from our vendors. She is very knowledgeable about jewelry and does our written appraisals. She is very pleasant, sophisticated, and great at helping people find the perfect item. Its a pleasure having her work here. Thank you Katrina!
Her hobbies include baking, cooking family dinners, reading and traveling with her husband of 20 years.
Mo Caputo
Mo has worked here almost 4 years and uses her organizational skills to assist in the daily tasks of ordering products, checking in inventory and calling done repairs.
She has a wonderful "motherly" relationship with our customers. She has a positive attitude, an engaging smile and a wonderful sense of humor. She makes sure our customers have everything they need and they've told us how much they enjoy working with her!
Mo is Italian and quite blunt but to know her is to love her! We just love our Mo!
Nick Wilson
Nick Wilson
Nick is one of our bench jewelers who has 13 years experience. He was a store manager and main bench jeweler for 7 years in Sonoma County California. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art from Cal Poly Humboldt University in Arcata, California.
He has been employed with us for several years and he enjoys mountain biking with his wife on steep mountain trails. He also enjoys remote camping and backpacking with his wife. He’s a great addition to our team! He works very hard until it’s pinball time! He’s our grand champion!
Michael Edgett
Michael Edgett
We are so thrilled to have Michael as one of our Jewelers! He brings over 30 years of expertise to not only bench work but general jewelry knowledge. Not a day goes by where one of the staff asks him a difficult question and, of course, he has the answer. He started his jewelry career in 1993 by owning a small store in Cashmere, Washington for 8 years. He also has worked for Shayne and Company for 3 years as a bench jeweler. He's our jeweler who can do custom design work.
When he's not at work, you can find him working in his garden, hiking with his wife Pam or doing masonry work. He has a quirky sense of humor and frequently has "one-liners' which crack up the staff and customers. He has facial expressions like the actor Jim Carry which makes us laugh. His lunch consists of nuts and his homemade "swamp juice". Thank you Michael for working here!
Gill Lewis
Her name is pronounced Jill and is another new addition to the Borthwick Staff. She's from across the pond so her accent and idioms make her quite the gem for us!
She's our busy bee! She's always cleaning and doing something. We appreciate all that she does. Her previous employment as a real estate agent gives her a unique skill set for us.
We appreciate all of her hard work. In her spare time she likes to quilt, garden and cooking/baking. So when you come in ask her about one of her lovely creations or what's she's baked lately! We're so thankful she's here!
Linda Valle
She is a new employee who brings years of experience working with the public to our store! She has worked as a dental hygienist in Bellingham, Wa for approximately 10 years so when she smiles, her pearly whites glow! Her sense of humor, humble attitude and attentiveness make her a great asset to the team. She has a tinker bell laugh and is very personable. We are so glad she chose to work here!
He's our store mascot and loves to say hi to all our customers.
He's a german shepherd mix and is very smart. He doesn't bark and grabs one of his toys when he has to go do his business! He enjoys his toys and brings them to work. He's a very good boy and we just really enjoy having him here. Tom usually brings him to work when Tami is busy or out of town.