I’ve been thinking about the whole lab diamond conversation that’s going on. I think lab diamonds are fun. I think they’re a really terrific way for mid-priced jewelry to be sparkly, and they give the opportunity for really creative ways to make affordable jewelry into a conversation piece.
I worked with—and I’m not going to name them, but we’re just going to call them the diamond guys. I did some consulting for the diamond guys because Miami is the center of technology, entrepreneurship, small business, and sustainability. With all of that conversation that was going on in the beginning about lab diamonds being sustainable... I’m not going to get into the politics of it.
I am a GIA Certified Gemologist. I didn’t get my GG. I didn’t do the 500 boxes of rocks. But I’ve been in the industry for more than twenty years, and while I’m not as savvy as the diamond dudes, I am certified in diamonds, colored stones, and pearls. I’m an AJP. I’m all the things. I just didn’t have the brainpower to do the 500 boxes of rocks.
Anyway...
I worked with these guys because I’m actually a connectress, and I’m excellent at reading the room and understanding the way other people think and the way lab diamonds were being perceived by consumers, by the industry, and by old-school diamond people.
My thought was...
Why not?
I also have a really long history in partnerships, whether it was partnering with nonprofits, coalitions, or companies like UPS, Microsoft, and Google. I’m not trying to give you my whole résumé, but it really runs the gamut of understanding how relationships work and talking to hundreds of thousands of different small businesses all over the country.
Honestly, the conversation is almost always the same.
How do we get outside our own network? How do we stop preaching to the choir?
That’s really the question.
With the diamond guys... I’d actually been following them. I think I met them in maybe 2011... maybe 2012. I didn’t start working with them until almost ten years later. I’d been following these guys, and when I saw that they had gone from one entrepreneurial venture to another, I called them.
I actually had a lot of respect for them because of what they had accomplished and the technology they created. I’m not going to go into it because I really don’t want to identify who they are, especially because of what eventually happened. They’re extraordinary engineers. What they built and the way they took their technology into something completely different was incredibly smart. That’s honestly why the whole thing ended up being so disappointing.
Originally they said no because they had some... I’m not going down that road. I’m not going to insult anybody on a public platform.
But when I finally did talk to them, they were like, “Hey, we want to do this.”
And I said, “No. Here’s my thought.”
I gave them this whole spiel about how Miami is literally luxury and bling—I mean, diamonds—and sustainability, because that was the conversation in the beginning. This was about three-ish years ago, so it was a while ago. But it’s also entrepreneurship, small business, and fashion. Believe it or not, because we have a huge Latino market here and we have three different fashion schools.
I gave them a really great pitch on doing something completely different rather than trying to peddle sales.
They were like, “Okay. Great. Run with it.”
Honestly...
I was really excited.
I met this really incredible travel brand that made travel clothing for very wealthy people. I can’t think of the name right now, but I will.
My thought was simple.
Travel diamonds. Martini studs. Christmas. It was perfect.
Now everybody is doing travel jewelry with lab diamonds.
Nobody was doing it back then.
These guys didn’t show up on time for the meeting.
I’m serious.
They were twenty or thirty minutes late to the Zoom meeting. They weren’t prepared. They weren’t apologetic.
I couldn’t believe it.
Read the room.
They also didn’t respect the fact that I’d gotten them a meeting with this incredible company.
Of course nothing happened.
They didn’t respect the opportunity.
Looking back, I should have recognized that as the first red flag.
That wasn’t even the craziest part.
Because somehow...
It got worse.
Then I got them something even bigger.
It was a 500-person VIP event, and I was a speaker on a panel discussion with Maria Buccellati and Charlotte Trattner, who moderated the discussion and serves as Managing Editor of Ocean Drive and Miami Magazine, and Editor in Chief of Modern Luxury Interiors Florida.
There was a fashion show, and it was exactly the kind of audience you wanted if you were trying to introduce a diamond brand to Miami.
They didn’t want to spend the extra hundred and fifty dollars for the VIP section.
“What was the line from Pretty Woman? Big mistake. Big. Huge.”
Then event setup day arrives.
There’s no signage.
No furniture.
Nothing.
Literally imagine showing up to the Javits Center and somebody hands you a FedEx box full of jewelry.
That’s it.
You have to create a space for 500 VIPs to be impressed with $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 worth of jewelry.
Oh my God... I’m hysterically laughing as I’m thinking about this. I put it together. I mean... it looked pretty shitty.
But somehow, I made it work.
It’s amazing I didn’t just walk away from it. But I also, as a consultant for my own business, Partnr305, didn’t want to put egg on my own face. I wanted to make sure I was showing up for myself in my own community as a business person because I have relationships that I needed to show up for.
But can you imagine? A major diamond brand not wanting to spend an extra hundred and fifty dollars on a VIP experience. I’m laughing so hard as I write this. And then being completely belligerent to the consultant you’re working with and thinking it’s perfectly normal not to support them with signage or any kind of booth setup. Literally nothing. They sent me some postcards and a table cloth. That was it. I was like... you’ve got to be kidding me.
Actually, before the event, I built an entire event strategy. I wanted a QR code that linked to a dedicated landing page with UTM parameters so we could identify everyone who came from the event. I wanted Google Analytics event tracking, Shopify analytics, conversion tracking for the assets that had been created for the event socials, referral links, and a unique event code so we could actually measure what happened after the event. But it wasn’t just about tracking data. When you engage people with all of those assets, you’re not just measuring the event. You’re giving them a reason to interact. You’re giving them a reason to purchase. You’re giving them something to scan, something to remember, something that makes them feel like they’re part of the experience. They’re in the VIP section. They have an insider code. They have a reason to engage with the brand beyond just looking at jewelry.
Luxury isn’t just about what people buy. It’s how you make them feel. It’s the space you create, the experience you create, and the connection you have with them.
None of that costs very much. It takes a little planning, a little interaction, and, in this case, a hundred and fifty bucks. It was a no-brainer. They fought me on it. They kept telling me it was too complicated. They told me it wasn’t possible. Afterwards, they told me there was no traffic. The whole thing was just ridiculous.
Oh... and here’s the really funny part. You’re going to die. I’d had a TIA a couple of days before all of this happened. (If you don’t know what that is, it’s a mini stroke.)
That’s how stressed out I was. I still showed up, even though I was not in a good place. Looking back, I can’t believe how much those guys stressed me out. I couldn’t believe they didn’t support the whole thing, and then they tried to blame it on me. The funny part was, I had everything in writing. I was like... yeah... whatever. You guys can go pound salt.
Shame on me for actually continuing the relationship. But there are things we do when we’re building businesses. Sometimes we give people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes we stay a little longer than we should because we think the next project will be different.
They did eventually send me some reports, but without any of the tracking we’d talked about, they were pretty meaningless. There were no UTM parameters, no event attribution, no way to know who came from the event or whether anyone purchased later. That was the whole point. When I pushed back, I mostly got mansplained about why it couldn’t be done. It was like fighting with a client who had never done an event before. I felt like I was reinventing the wheel over and over again.
None of this was fucking brain surgery.
That was the point where I was just done.
Now, I'm not a Pollyanna. I've been a complete shithead in my life. I've made mistakes. I've stayed in relationships too long. Obviously, we identified that one earlier.
But looking back, that’s really what this whole experience taught me.
There are those mad scientists who are really, really good at what they do, but they’re not very good with people. And then there are people who are really good at reading a room, understanding relationships, and learning from every interaction—especially the bad ones.
I don’t care if you’re standing in line at CVS. I don’t care if you’re talking to your Uber driver. I don’t care if you’re with your colleagues or your coworkers. Every interaction teaches you something.
I’ve gone from abusive work situations, to dysfunctional work situations, to finally recognizing the red flags and simply walking away.
And saying no.
I think that’s growth as an entrepreneur.
It’s growth as an adult.
It’s growth as a human being.
That experience is one I’ll never forget.
I hope you’re all laughing because I know we’ve all had one of these moments. I don’t care what industry you’re in. You’ve looked around and thought, Is this really happening? Am I being punked? What was that called... Candid Camera? I have pictures. Of course I took pictures because it was just too funny not to. I’m putting them in this Substack.
The diamond guys are definitely not the diamond dudes.
The diamond dudes are the best.
We love the diamond dudes.
Alright...
Now I’m really off to take a nap.
It’s a really rainy, hot day in Miami Beach.
The rain hasn’t cooled anything off.
I was talking to friends who went to South Carolina, and it was like 110 degrees there. It’s only 80 or 90 here, but it’s so humid that it feels just as brutal.
We’ve had heat warnings pretty much every day all month.
I’m going to take a little snooze.
Have a good one, everybody.
Happy Saturday.
— Amanda
I'm curious... have you ever worked with someone who was absolutely brilliant—but just didn't understand relationships? What did it teach you?
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