When Steve and Kyle came to us for custom jewelry for their two-year anniversary, something just clicked. Steve’s brightness and passionate energy lit up the room as he spoke to Angela about his ideas for a bold, mixed-metal customized ring suited to his story and style. Something familiar struck between Steve and Angela as they realized they shared a connection: sobriety and recovery. Coming from a line of healers, Steve is cultivating a life of service while honoring his community with his partner, Kyle, who builds beautiful and healing spaces. Their story is testament to staying true to yourself and your values, putting the work in, and keeping their community at the forefront of their dreams together.

“We're not just normal people with normal love. We've fought for each other, for our rights, and for our community.”

Read their interview below!

Tell us a little about who you are and what lights you up most in this season of your life.

Steve: I come from a long line of healers and builders, and I try to honor that lineage both professionally and personally. Professionally, I'm an addiction medicine physician. My focus isn't just the patient in front of me; it's also building healthcare systems that can actually serve a broader spectrum of people who need help. Personally, I'm in recovery, and that shapes how I move through the world and how I take care of others.

Right now, what's lighting me up is a healthcare startup I founded around rethinking addiction care and helping people find balance in a world that feels increasingly dysregulated. Outside of work, the thing I'm most excited about is continuing to build a beautiful life and family with Kyle.

Kyle: I tend to balance Steve out. I'm constantly in awe of what he's building, but I'm also the one reminding him to slow down and actually enjoy what we're creating along the way.

This year has been hard in some ways. We've had family health issues, and even with all the positive momentum around us, those experiences have humbled both of us. Right now, what excites me most is the home design and development work Steve and I do together. Creating beautiful spaces has become a real source of pride for me, and I hope one day those homes are filled with little ones running through them.

What inspired you to create or redesign your jewelry with Angela Monaco Jewelry, and what did you want the piece to symbolize for you?

We both love jewelry, but for Steve especially, it carries a lot of emotional weight. One of his core memories from the last few years was watching his grandmother gift pieces of her jewelry to family members before she passed. That changed how we both think about adornment. Every piece feels like an investment now, not necessarily a financial one, but an investment in legacy, memory, and the people who come after us.

Practically speaking, the inspiration came from our two-year wedding anniversary. Kyle wanted a necklace that worked with his wedding ring, and Steve wanted to start mixing metals to complement a piece he inherited from his grandmother.

How did it feel to create something custom and deeply personal instead of choosing something more traditional or mass-produced?

Way more moving than either of us expected. The whole process turned into this exercise in creativity, collaboration, and storytelling.

For Kyle's piece, we knew we wanted an emerald, but everything we found in the mass market felt flat. Working with Angela let us blend her aesthetic with our own vision, especially on the setting. The final result was stunning.

For Steve's piece, it started with his existing style. White gold and black have always been his thing, so a black diamond felt like the natural centerpiece. He also wanted to mix yellow and white gold to play off the rest of his collection. The chevron ring jacket from Angela's collection jumped out right away, and customizing it with a dramatic black diamond and mixed metal accents made it feel his completely.

We had a running joke throughout the process about "dropping that fucking rock." Steve's personal style outside of work tends to be a little louder than Kyle's, and he wanted something unapologetically bold.

What does adornment, personal style, or jewelry mean to you as a form of self-expression and identity?

Steve: As a former fat kid, style and fashion always felt off-limits to me. Through recovery from drugs, alcohol, and disordered eating, I've gotten to a place where I genuinely love how I look and how I feel. Fashion and jewelry are part of reclaiming that. I love the hunt for pieces that don't just look good on me, but make me feel powerful, authentic, and joyful.

Kyle: Personal style has always been about authenticity for me. I love blending menswear, queerwear, custom pieces, and fashion in ways that feel intentional. I wouldn't call myself "creative" in the traditional sense, but style is a creative outlet for me, along with interior design and landscaping.

As a queer couple moving through the world in 2026, what do you wish more people understood about the LGBTQIA+ experience, love, identity, or community?

We're not just normal people with normal love. We've fought for each other, for our rights, and for our community. Kyle and I both know we carry privilege, and we hold that alongside the reality that a lot of people in our community are hurting right now. 2026 has brought fear, uncertainty, and a real sense of vulnerability back for a lot of LGBTQIA+ people, especially our trans brothers and sisters. Community matters more than ever. People need support, advocacy, action, and visible solidarity. Not just a rainbow logo in June.

What does feeling safe, celebrated, and fully seen in a space or community mean to you personally?

Our relationship is probably the place where both of us feel most like ourselves, but that didn't happen by accident. It took work. Steve has recovery, therapy, and service. Kyle has his own spiritual and personal practices. Feeling safe, for us, means feeling unjudged and not having to carry anything we shouldn't have to. Feeling seen means being known, not just for who we are today, but for the road that got us here. Community, for us, is wide. It includes biological family, chosen family, work family, recovery family, and all the people whose lives have wound up tangled with ours.

What are some creative pursuits, passions, businesses, or dreams you're currently pouring energy into that you'd love people to know about and support?

Steve: I'm building a healthcare startup around the idea of dopamine health, helping people find balance and healing in a world that feels overstimulated and dysregulated.

Kyle: I'm actively building out a property portfolio focused on beautifully renovated living spaces, with a longer-term vision around affordability and recovery-centered community. I am in the early stages of pulling that broader vision under a future entity called Fourth Dimension Developments.

What does "wearing your truth" mean to you?

It means having the freedom to just be one version of yourself. In a digital world that asks us to be too many things for too many people, that freedom is rare. Our relationship is rooted in truth, love, and acceptance, and we try to bring that into our home, our work, and the way we treat people every day. Wearing your truth, for us, is authenticity without performance.