Shabana Tharwani, RN, believes she was born to work in the medical field. She grew up surrounded by physicians and pharmacists in her family, and she entered medical school after graduating from high school in India.

Before graduating from medical school, she married Nizar Tharwani and moved to the United States.

Photos by BARRY WILLIAMS/Special (ENLARGE)

Gwinnett Medical Center nurse Shabana Tharwani shows a necklace at Silver Treasures, a jewelry store that she and her husband own. They have stores in Commerce and Athens.

(ENLARGE)

Shabana Tharwani engraves a bracelet for a newborn baby.

(ENLARGE)

"I still wanted to be a doctor, but here [the United States] you have to get an undergraduate degree first, so I enrolled in a premedicine program," Tharwani said.

A high-risk pregnancy interrupted her studies for the second time, but she safely delivered her son, Naveed.

Tharwani still wanted to pursue a career in medicine, so she chose to attend nursing school while raising her son. She earned an associate degree from then-DeKalb Community College and has worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville for 15 years.

She's proud that her son is a third-year pharmacy student at the University of Georgia. "He got the genes, too," she said.

Since 1998, she also has made and sold jewelry as part of the business that she and her husband own. The couple have two stores called Silver Treasures. One is in the Tanger Outlets in Commerce; the other is in Georgia Square Mall in Athens.

Tharwani brings an attitude of caring to both jobs.

"I was never an artistic person, but necessity is the mother of invention," Tharwani said.

Nizar Tharwani started the venture of importing and selling jewelry from Italy and Thailand.

"I wanted to be able to help him with the repair work, so I took a jewelry class at Georgia State [University]," she said.

Although she considers her jewelry work a hobby, she has learned how to bead, solder, buff and engrave. She likes to work with silver.

"I especially like to make jewelry for children, because children's jewelry is hard to find," she said. "I make necklaces and bracelets with birthstones and add a disk for engraving the child's initials."

Tharwani also fashions add-a-bead bracelets that can grow with a child.

"Teenagers often have such slim wrists. They can't wear children's or adult jewelry, but [they] need something made just for them," she said.

Tharwani enjoys getting to know her customers and often hears about their lives. Because some of them walk regularly at the mall, the discussions often lead to health care.

"When they find out I'm a nurse, people will tell me everything," Tharwani said. "The care-giving I do then is more emotional than physical. I always have a positive outlook on illness and believe in the benefits of exercise, deep breathing and yoga, so I try to help them stay healthy. When they are concerned about something, I tell them to see a doctor and get it checked out.

"I enjoy helping people, and I think it has helped our business to grow. One family will tell another."

Tharwani likes working in both fields and believes they complement each other.

"It's a very high-stress, fast-paced environment in the ICU. Making and selling jewelry isn't hard, but it's still helping people," she said.

Tharwani has found another way to link her two occupations. Several years ago she listened to the problems of a young woman working in the store next to her.

"She was going to school to become a physical-therapy assistant, but the store kept scheduling her to work during class time," Tharwani said. "She needed the job but also couldn't afford to miss class."

Tharwani hired the woman and adjusted her hours to fit her class schedule. Now about to graduate, the student has recommended a friend for the job at Silver Treasures — a certified nursing assistant and mother of four who needs to work while going to nursing school. Tharwani has hired the woman to start work in the fall.

"Unfortunately, we can only help one person at a time, but God puts opportunities my way, and I'm proud that the business has helped in putting others through school," she said.

Tharwani is enrolled part time in the RN-to-MSN bridge program at Georgia State, and she wants to become a nurse practitioner.

"I want to be able to go back to India and help with the health care system there," she said. "Medical care has improved a lot in the urban areas, but in the rural areas it's not good. As a nurse practitioner, I could go and teach health care professionals there."