Genius Gems Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Genius Gems — operated by Genius Gems LLC (Millburn, New Jersey) and Genius Gems Chelsea LLC (New York City) (together, “Genius Gems,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) — collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information. This single policy applies to all Genius Gems locations and websites, including our New York City and Millburn, New Jersey programs, and to all of the ways you interact with us — our websites, online enrollment and booking, birthday parties, drop‑off and field‑trip programs, text‑message (SMS) communications, and our careers/hiring process.
Genius Gems offers enrichment programs and experiences for children and, increasingly, for adults. Many of our programs serve children, and when we collect information about a child we do so only from a parent or guardian; we describe our practices for children's information in detail below.
By using our websites or services, or by providing us with personal information, you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.
1. Who this policy covers
This policy applies to:
- Visitors to our websites (including geniusgems.com, nyc.geniusgems.com, careers.geniusgems.com, and related party, booking, and program pages).
- Parents and guardians who enroll children, book parties, register for programs, or purchase from us.
- Children enrolled in our programs, whose information we collect from their parent or guardian.
- Job applicants and their references who apply through our careers site.
- Staff and contractors who use our internal tools.
2. Information we collect
a. Information you provide directly
When you enroll a child or register for programs, classes, camps, parties, or field trips, we may collect:
- Parent/guardian name, email address, mailing/billing/shipping address, and phone number (including cell/mobile number).
- Child's first and last name, grade or age, and program selections.
- Health and safety information you choose to provide, such as allergies, dietary needs (including kosher and other dietary preferences), and relevant medical conditions or medical information needed to care for your child.
- Emergency contact name and phone number.
- Authorized pick‑up / drop‑off and school‑pickup information.
- Birthday party details, such as the celebrating child's name and age, guest counts, and food and beverage selections.
When you communicate with us or sign up for messages, we may collect:
- Your contact details and the content of your messages.
- Your consent preferences for email and text‑message communications.
When you apply for a job through our careers site, we (and our applicants' references) may collect:
- Applicant name, email address, and cell/mobile phone number.
- The job location and role you're applying for, and your eligibility answers (such as work authorization, availability, on‑site availability, and weekend availability).
- Your résumé and any free‑text responses you submit (for example, descriptions of your experience and short essays).
- How you heard about us.
- Your acknowledgment that, because we work with children, employment offers are contingent on a background check conducted after a conditional offer, consistent with applicable law. (Background checks are performed by our background‑check provider, Gusto, at the appropriate stage; this policy does not constitute the background‑check disclosure required at that time.)
- References: If you advance in our process, we collect the name, email, and relationship of the references you provide, and we collect the feedback your references submit about you.
b. Payment information
When you make a purchase, your payment is processed by our payment providers (Stripe, Shopify, and Recharge for subscriptions). We do not collect or store your full card number or security code — that information is entered directly with the payment processor. We retain limited order and payment details such as amounts, items purchased, billing/shipping address, and a card brand and last four digits for reference.
c. Information collected automatically
- Device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser type, device identifiers, and general location, when you use our sites.
- Consent and communication records. When you opt in or opt out of text or email communications, we record the date and time of your choice and may record the IP address and browser/user‑agent associated with that choice, so we can honor your preferences and demonstrate compliance.
- Cookies and similar technologies. We use first‑party cookies that are necessary to operate our sites and keep you signed in to secure portals (for example, our hiring and customer portals). We describe our limited tracking practices in Section 6.
3. Text messages (SMS)
We send text messages only to people who have provided a mobile number and agreed to receive them. We use Twilio to deliver text messages. There are three separate text‑message programs, and you choose which (if any) you join:
- Customer messages — appointment, enrollment, booking, and program updates, and (only if you opt in) occasional marketing or review requests.
- Job‑applicant messages — if you opt in during your application, interview‑related reminders and updates about your application.
- Staff messages — operational notifications for team members who sign up.
Consent, frequency, and opting out. Providing your mobile number and checking the consent box means you agree to receive text messages at that number. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message, and you can reply HELP for help. Consent to receive marketing texts is not a condition of enrolling, purchasing, or being considered for employment. We do not share your mobile number or SMS consent with third parties for their own marketing.
4. How we use your information
We use personal information to:
- Provide, operate, and improve our programs, classes, camps, parties, field trips, and events.
- Process enrollments, bookings, payments, and refunds.
- Care for the children in our programs, including responding to health, safety, dietary, and emergency needs.
- Communicate with you about your account, registrations, schedules, and the services you've requested.
- Understand participation across our programs so we can recommend other Genius Gems programs, classes, events, or experiences that may interest you or your family.
- Send you text and email messages you've consented to receive, including service updates and (with your consent) marketing.
- Evaluate job applications, contact references, schedule interviews, and manage hiring.
- Maintain the security of our sites, prevent fraud, and keep records.
- Comply with our legal obligations and enforce our agreements.
We do not use children's personal information for behavioral advertising or sell it.
5. How we share information
We share personal information only as described here:
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Service providers (subprocessors). We share information with vendors who perform services on our behalf, under contracts that limit their use of the information. These currently include:
- Supabase — database, authentication, and file storage hosting.
- Stripe, Shopify, and Recharge — payment and subscription processing.
- Twilio — text‑message delivery.
- SendGrid (and our other email delivery providers) — email delivery.
- Google (Google Analytics) — website analytics on our online stores.
- Klaviyo — email and text marketing and onsite analytics on our online stores.
- Gusto — pre‑employment background screening, at the appropriate stage of hiring.
- Within our hiring process. Your references see only your first name when asked to provide a reference. Reference feedback is visible only to our hiring team.
- Legal and safety. We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Genius Gems, our families, our staff, or the public.
- Business transfers. If Genius Gems is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross‑context behavioral advertising.
6. Cookies, analytics, and advertising
We and our service providers use cookies and similar technologies to operate our sites, remember your preferences, understand how our sites are used, and support our own marketing.
- Our application and portal sites (such as our careers, booking, and customer portals) use first‑party cookies that are necessary to run the site and keep you securely signed in.
- Our online stores are hosted on Shopify, which uses its own cookies and analytics to operate the store and process orders. These store pages also use analytics and marketing tools — including Google Analytics (to understand how the site is used) and Klaviyo (to support our email and text marketing and to recognize returning visitors).
These tools may set cookies that recognize your device across visits to our sites. We use the information for analytics, to improve our services, and for our own first‑party marketing. We do not use it to sell your personal information, and we do not use cross‑site advertising trackers to retarget you with ads on unrelated websites. You can control cookies through your browser settings; blocking some cookies may affect how the sites work.
Because the internet has no consistent standard for “Do Not Track” signals, our sites do not currently respond to them.
7. Children's privacy
Genius Gems serves children, and we take their privacy seriously.
- We collect personal information about a child only from that child's parent or guardian in connection with enrollment, programs, parties, or related services.
- We use children's information solely to provide our programs and care for the child, including health, safety, dietary, emergency, and pick‑up needs.
- We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children online, and we do not sell children's information or use it for targeted advertising.
- Parents and guardians may review, update, or request deletion of their child's information by contacting us using the details in Section 11.
If you believe a child has provided us personal information without parental involvement, please contact us and we will delete it.
8. Your privacy rights and choices
Depending on where you live (including New Jersey under the New Jersey Data Privacy Act, New York, and other states with applicable privacy laws), you may have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct inaccurate personal information.
- Delete your personal information (“right to be forgotten”).
- Obtain a portable copy of your personal information.
- Opt out of marketing emails (use the unsubscribe link) and marketing texts (reply STOP).
- Opt out of the sale of personal information or targeted advertising — though, as noted, we do not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the information in Section 11. We will verify your request and respond within the time required by applicable law. You will not be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights. If we ever deny a request, you may have the right to appeal; our response will explain how.
9. Data retention and security
We keep personal information only as long as needed to provide our services, comply with legal, tax, and recordkeeping obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements — or until you request deletion, where deletion is permitted by law.
We use reasonable, commercially appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information, including access controls and encryption in transit. Sensitive files such as résumés and signed documents are stored in restricted, non‑public storage. However, no system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of our services after an update means you accept the revised policy.
11. Contact us
If you have questions about this policy or want to exercise your privacy rights, contact us:
Genius Gems LLC (Millburn, NJ) and Genius Gems Chelsea LLC (New York, NY)
Email: information@geniusgems.com
Phone: 973‑376‑2623
This policy applies to our New York City and Millburn, New Jersey programs alike. Please direct all privacy requests to the contact above regardless of location.