The Clear Cut - From Side Hustle to Full-Fledged Jewelry Brand

Ramon Vela (00:02.542)
Welcome back everyone. This is gonna be a great show. I have with me Olivia Landau who is co-founder and CEO of The Clearcut. Welcome to the show.

Olivia (00:30.142)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Ramon Vela (00:33.486)
Well, I appreciate you making time. know you're very busy and you're running the company and I can't wait to just dive in into what you do, why you do, why you do what you do. And so really introduce you to our audience. Before we do that, I have a question. It's sort of like my signature question and it's around gratitude. I ask it for a couple of reasons. One is, you know, there's a lot of people feeling stressed out. There's a lot of things been going on since the pandemic.

And I just like to promote the idea of gratitude being a great tool that is at everyone's disposal and it's a great way to relieve stress. And so just simply being grateful is just an amazing tool. But I also feel like I want to make sure that people who listen to this show know that there are real people behind these companies that we feature because it's so easy for consumers. mean, it's just so much noise out there.

They see a brand, they see a product online or on the shelf or at our store. it's so easy to simply say, oh, it says no faceless corporation. I want the listener to know that there's real people behind these brands that we feature here on the show and people who really care, who believe sweat and tear over the product and who have a team who care and they do all sorts of things to make sure that there's a great quality to what they provide.

and really kind of humanize this whole interview for the listener. And one great way of doing that is by knowing what you are grateful for. So with all of that said, Olivia, if you don't mind, can you share a moment or a memory when someone did something for you that just made you feel grateful because it meant that they believed in you, your vision, or your potential?

Olivia (02:23.016)
Yeah, I think that that's such a great question. And I think gratitude is so important. One.

moment I think that I'm really grateful for is when we first started the clear cut, I started it originally as like a blog that turned into a side business. And my now husband and I went in as co-founders and we wanted to do the clear cut as a bespoke diamond engagement business full time. And after months and months of

you know, being told that it wasn't a viable business, wasn't a scalable business, it wasn't an investable business, and we were about to really just give up on, you know, the idea and dream of it. We, you know, on a long shot applied to this tech accelerator in New York called Techstars that we were, I didn't think, qualified for whatsoever and didn't really think they would take us seriously and

we got in and they took a bet on us and put us in their cohort. And that was really the first time someone really believed in our idea, our business model, us as founders and took a chance on us. And that's what was the first step to us building our business.

Ramon Vela (03:44.568)
Wow. And I am really interested in kind of diving into what the business model is and what they saw in it. And we'll do that in a second, but I just want to say that it's so, you know, these validating moments where, you know, you're building a business and a lot of people, I think may not realize how much doubt there is in the beginning. Like you're full of conviction and you really feel like this is a great idea.

But there's always a little bit of doubt in the background because you just never know. You never know if people are going to accept it, if they're going to buy it. Maybe it's just you, maybe because you love it so much and maybe others don't. So it really is quite an amazing thing when a third party, not connected to you, not your mother, not your father, not your family or whatever, like someone completely separated from you.

says and looks at your idea and says, Hey, you know what, that might work. That, you know, that's, that's a business there, you know, like there's something there and we're going to help you launch it and so forth and build it. And, and so that must be like a complete like injection of, of relief and validation and just like energy. Right. So

Olivia (05:01.578)
Yeah, it was definitely everything, especially at like our lowest point when we were so close to giving up and saying, you know, this wasn't a good idea.

Ramon Vela (05:12.364)
Yeah, well, and what I'm really intrigued about too is that, you started, so this really, the birthplace of this was really from your blog. So why don't you describe to us a little bit about what you were doing there that now evolved into the Clearcut. And let me just mention to the audience, if you want to look at what we're going to be talking about, you can go to theclearcut.co is the website, theclearcut.com.

Olivia (05:21.895)
Yes.

Ramon Vela (05:42.369)
So walk us through those days when you were building that blog, it's not content building. Like this podcast, it's not easy. It's like you got to continually build content. It's like every day, especially if you start getting a following, you have to continually, consistently build content. You have to really love what you're doing because the reader knows and the listener knows.

So there must have been something you really loved about this blog. Walk us through what that was and how did it start developing to the third time.

Olivia (06:19.37)
I really loved diamonds and I really loved education. So this was a way to channel both of those things. So to give a little bit of background, I come from four generations in the diamond industry. My dad's side of the family were all diamond cutters and dealers and my parents had just a two person small antique jewelry business. So I grew up around

know, jewelry and diamonds my whole life, but I never thought I would get into it myself until after I went to college, I decided to go to GIA, which is the Gemological Institute of America to become a gemologist. And while I was there, I fell in love with it. Diamonds, gemstones, it was in my blood all along. I was like, this is what I want to do with my career. I was also really lucky at that time to meet my now husband and co-founder there at the same time.

And after I graduated, my first job was at Tiffany on the engagement floor. And I particularly loved educating clients, bridal clients who were picking out their engagement rings. I was really passionate about that. I decided to get a little bit more hands on and start working in the Diamond District at a large wholesaler here in New York. And at the same time, my now husband went and continued school and went to business school.

And a lot of his friends, you know, were at that age that they wanted to get engaged. So they would all come to me and I would help them pick out their diamonds, educate them on the differences and create their custom rings. And through working with our friends and his classmates, that's what inspired me to start the clear cut as an educational diamond jewelry blog, mostly about engagement rings in 2016. Then I started posting some of...

on Instagram and that's where it really took off. So people started following my educational content, really resonating and the industry in general, you know, is known for a bit of opaqueness. It's not known for its transparency. And I think, you know, it was the blog and the social media accounts were born at the age of like transparency, information, social media, being accessible to everyone.

Olivia (08:37.162)
in an industry that wasn't very accessible. So it all kind of happened at the right moment. And then people started reaching out to me asking if I could create their custom rings. And we quickly realized that there was like a white space in this market and that I had in a year sold over a million dollars of engagement rings through Instagram DMs on my lunch break and after work. So that's when we decided,

there must be a way to turn this into a business that suited for, at the time, the new generation of engagement ring buyers, which were millennials who were getting information online, really understanding price transparency and wasn't going to settle for whatever was being presented to them in a jewelry store case. knew exactly the cut they wanted, the quality, the exact design, and they wanted that at a fair price point.

that's where we kind of set the light bulb went off and we were like, I think this could be a real business.

Ramon Vela (09:41.858)
Yeah, it sounds like it could definitely be a business. And I'm wondering, you can take this business and have it be a really great lifestyle business, which a lot of jewelry companies like owners have and so forth. And I am curious though, the incubator that you talked about, the Techstars, I think, or the one in New York.

What did they see? Because I know that when they're looking at a business, they're also looking at it and like, how can you scale? Right. And jewelry companies have been around, I mean, I don't even know, like hundreds of years, you know, people who would sell jewelry and I mean, it's an old, really traditional old, old school type of, type of business. And I'm wondering, what did they see? I'm imagining they saw some of what you just described right now, but did they

see a business that can scale even larger than maybe what you imagined?

Olivia (10:42.89)
Yeah, and I think that was one of the biggest criticisms we got when we decided to start the business that, you know, this is like a one woman lifestyle business. It's not a scalable business, but I think that they were able to see the vision that we had, which we were a little bit ahead of our time. I think where now everyone wants a founder, content creator, influencer.

before they were like, how can you be the face of your business? They won't scale beyond that. Now everyone's forcing founders to be the face of their businesses, to connect through social media. We knew all the pain points of the process and wanted to build technology, which we did, and built a proprietary software. We didn't have it at the time, but I knew it was something necessary to scale this high touch experience. I was so personalized. So I think they really...

They saw like the early stages and basically the potential that we had to do all of the grand ideas that we hadn't done yet, but had on the horizon.

Ramon Vela (11:50.752)
Mm-hmm. And I can imagine like the way that you were describing how your husband or your boyfriend's friends would come to you and ask for your advice and people watching your content or listening to your content, reading your content, asking you for advice. The great thing about that is that it's a very, I mean, it's almost as if like your

I have a friend who uses this term like a DTC lab. It's like, however that direct to consumer relationship or circumstance or scenario is, whether you're doing it live, like in person at stores or whatever, or you're doing it on content-wise or over the web or whatever, it's like you're grabbing, you're getting feedback, you're seeing reactions, you're hearing directly from the consumer and you're...

and you're able to then continually improve or build things based on that feedback. And so it's invaluable. And it's also incredibly personal. So like you have this like very personal relationship with them and you build that relationship with people. How are you building that component, the personalization, like the...

the one-to-oneness, like I know it's hard to do obviously, and digital wise, but I mean, how are you building that into that component? Because I'm imagining that that was probably one of the things that people loved about your content. They felt like you were speaking to them. And then also not only that, but when you would help them, you can ask them questions and you can, jewelry is very emotional. like you're manifesting an experience with this jewelry, right?

How are you incorporating that into this whole process of the business, both digitally as well as any other way that you're doing it?

Olivia (13:52.626)
Yeah, and that's something that is core to us. our we're known for our custom diamond engagement rings. So everything is inherently so personalized, so high touch. how you know the how do we scale that?

that high touch experience. So our goal has always been to democratize this private one-on-one jewelry experience that was once only reserved for in-person experiences and also for a very exclusive niche of people who had access to private jewelers or one-on-one time with a wholesale or something like that. So what we do for all of our

engagement ring clients, is we really tried to blend the scalability of digital experience with our in-person, you know, high touch expert led experience. So 85 % of all of our engagement ring clients buy the engagement ring site unseen through our software that we built. But we make everyone hop on an initial phone consultation, which is kind of like an old school thing to do.

but everyone's matched up with myself or one of our other GIA graduate gemologists. So you're never talking to a salesperson, you're talking to an expert to understand, you know, what are your preferences? What are you hoping to maximize for? Where are you hoping to compromise on? And then we set you up in our gem software, which is the portal that we built. And you have a direct line to your gemologist so you can ask any questions at any time.

And on the back end, what we do is we physically curate a selection of loose diamonds specifically for you that we have our eyes on that we say this is up to our standards or not. And once it passes our inspection, they're assigned to each client's portal. And then we collect information and data back and forth, what they like, what they don't like, how can we narrow it down until we find that perfect diamond for them. And then once we find that, we create a custom one of a kind ring design around that.

Olivia (16:04.074)
So it's really taking that, you know, old school, like I'm going to meet with my jeweler, I'm sitting across the table, I'm getting that information, but doing that all digitally in a way that still has that expert white glove experience, but that you can do anywhere at any time.

Ramon Vela (16:24.11)
And, and, share any stories. I mean, you must have some stories, from people who order things and then need to change or like needed rush because they're about to like, you know, you know, ask her, their loved one to, to, you know, to marry them and so forth. I'm assuming you're still grabbing those stories. I mean, I'm sure like when you're doing it one-to-one in the early days, you, you, you knew those, but you're.

For lot of people that I speak to in these type of businesses, those personal stories are like what continues to drive them, right? Like it's just so amazing when you get a comment back from someone or a letter or they tell you like, hey, this ring was just like, you know, this, can't believe how great she loved it or he loved it or whatever it is. mean, I'd love to hear some of these stories. Is there any of these stories in particular that really kind of resonate with you?

Olivia (17:22.122)
I mean, from doing this, we've experienced almost every aspect of this very personal purchase. It's usually one of the most expensive purchases in a young person's life. Definitely comes with a lot of emotional ties to it because you're asking someone to start a whole new chapter in your life together. So whenever we get happy messages, problems always, I always say as a founder, like,

You don't celebrate wins enough whenever you have a low or a problem that really consumes you, but you have so many happy, sweet, amazing clients that every time we get a message, any of our gemologists, always share it in an internal Slack channel just so everyone knows if someone proposed or if someone's happy, that we take so much responsibility in the engagement ring and what that one piece of jewelry holds, all of the baggage and meaning.

We love hearing those stories. And we do have a section on our blog and our Instagram called Clearcut Couples. for any of our clients who want to share, because everyone takes like amazing photos now of the proposal, you know, everyone's so creative. It's always so beautiful. We love to see that and share it. So we love sharing it with our entire community online. And, you know, people love reading like the backstories of how the couples met, like how they planned everything, how they shopped together, how they designed the ring. So who

Ramon Vela (18:33.464)
Mm-hmm.

Olivia (18:50.546)
You know, we have many couples that, you know, want to be private, but anyone who wants to share their story and their photos with the world, we, you know, put them on the blog, put them on the Instagram, and just like a way to really, we want to be this generation's jeweler for life. So you're kind of like in our little clear cut family. And we love celebrating all of those moments because we feel like it's an honor to play like a small part in it.

Ramon Vela (19:14.85)
Yeah. And, I have so many questions. I'm going to get back to you, another one in terms of, the marketing side of it, because it feels like the, the, the user generated content is, is just so, it's just so natural for, for, for your business. And because of just the very nature that people were buying it, you know, because it's an expression of love is emotion. And there's a lot that goes into that.

But we'll touch touch base on that in a second. I'm really interested in and like if someone's listening to this I think it would be great to hear a little bit of what the trends are right now like our diamonds for instance You know, I've read articles where diamonds other other stones or other gemstones are and I don't know what the proper terminology is but Other stones are becoming very popular now and some are you know?

and diamonds are obviously still around. What are the trends? Are people still choosing diamonds? Are they choosing different stones? Are they choosing different configurations? What does it look like right now? Are people still choosing the same things that they've chosen for a long time or has it changed? Are people trying new things?

Olivia (20:31.242)
think trends are kind of always changing. So we're focused mainly on bridal jewelry. So I think for bridal jewelry, diamonds are still the most mainstream, most popular choice. think gemstones like sapphires and rubies and emeralds and even semi-precious stones have become very popular choices for fashion jewelry or other fine jewelry.

We have a lot of gemstone requests for fine jewelry, but I still think for engagement rings, diamonds are definitely the most popular. We are an only natural diamond jewelry company, so we only sell natural diamonds. We do provide a free lab-grown diamond for a travel ring for all of our engagement ring clients. So I think at least I can speak to the trends of natural because with the rise of lab-grown,

and the standardization or like mass production of it and the mass quality. I think what we've seen is a lot of people who do choose a natural diamond are going for more unique shapes. So like a lot of antique cuts have become very popular, like old European, old Mayan cuts, definitely more elongated fancy shapes, pear shaped diamonds, marquises have become increasingly popular.

And we've also seen a trend towards fancy color diamonds. So champagne color diamonds, even some fancy yellows, fancy browns. I think everyone wants to find a very unique, one of a kind stone that represents them in their personal style.

Ramon Vela (22:19.502)
And I know you're, you're focused on engagement, but it feels like, um, you know, there's a huge opportunity to offer people for, um, for a lifetime, you know I mean? Like offer them their jewelry for life. Cause if they buy their, um, their jewelry from you, you know, like their engagement ring, they're most likely want to look for you in terms of the wedding ring. And then maybe.

you know, as time goes on, they want to either enhance that wedding ring or, you know, do different things to it and or add to it or add maybe even get a new one. Like I know when I got married, I didn't have a lot of money at the time and we were young. And so I think I emptied out my account, which was at the time wasn't very much. It was very small.

And I bought her, just spent it all on the ring. And it wasn't until later when I started making some more money, I went and I said, hey, let me, let me, I want, let's, let's upgrade this. So we ended up taking the original stone because she, loved it. You know, loved it. And we added it to like a, kind of a different arrangement. I don't know how you do that, like what the terms are, but yeah, resetting it.

Olivia (23:25.194)
Mm-hmm.

Olivia (23:40.522)
Yeah, like resetting it.

Ramon Vela (23:43.104)
And so I'm imagining there's a lot of opportunity for you once you build that customer relationship and you understand their needs and you've been there for them. then you have this opportunity to provide them this continue, be their jewelry or jeweler, go, you moving forward. Is that part of the plan? And are you, do you offer other things as well? besides, yeah, besides.

Olivia (24:07.658)
We do. We do. We're very lucky. We have like over 44 % returning customer rate. So most people that purchase their engagement rings from us, we do have one of the most extensive wedding band collections for women and men. So most people will come back to us for their wedding bands. And also a lot of people will come to us for their wedding bands, even if they didn't get their engagement ring from us. So and we have a

fine jewelry collection as well with natural diamonds and gemstones all in fine, fine metal. So 14 karat, 18 karat gold platinum and all of our jewelry is handmade here in New York. it's really, you know, more classic timeless pieces is what we're known for more like investment pieces. think like something for an anniversary gift, a push present, some, you know, something that really is more like occasion based purchasing.

Ramon Vela (25:03.412)
Mm-hmm. It is what you're wearing right now, which is beautiful. Is that part of your collection?

Olivia (25:08.796)
Yes, everything I'm wearing is part of our collection.

Ramon Vela (25:12.34)
nice. It's very beautiful. We'll talk some specifics in a second. Is there anything that you would recommend to people right now looking for an engagement ring and or a wedding ring? Is there anything that they should be aware of or keep in mind as they're beginning their search?

Olivia (25:31.624)
Yeah, I think right now it's a really interesting time because there's so many different types of options out there and so much information and misinformation out there. It's really hard to sift through everything. So what I would say is really do your research about what you want to purchase and go to trusted sources. I would say, you know, if you're

If you're going for a natural diamond, you wanna get a diamond that is GIA certified. They're the foremost authority in diamond grading. You'll know that what you are buying is what it says it is and also go to a trusted source. If you are purchasing or wanna purchase a lab grown diamond, what I would say is make sure you're not getting overcharged for it right now.

They're wholesaling for about $100 a carrot, and there are many people that are charging tens of thousands of dollars for it. So just don't get overcharged for that. Also work with a trusted source if you do choose to go that way. I would say once you kind of figure out what you're looking for, then

Ramon Vela (26:30.741)
and

Olivia (26:50.186)
have a budget in mind and stick to that and work within that to find what characteristics are most important to you because you can always find a diamond that will look beautiful in any budget. So understanding is the size most important, is the color most important, it's clarity, and then what kind of ring you want to set it in. So I would try on as much as possible, do your research. And one thing to not harp on too much is

I think people think that the way you set your ring when you get engaged is the way it has to be forever. And some people want it that way. But like you said, you reset your wife's engagement ring. And that's something that's totally possible. really invest in that center stone. And if you love a design right now, you want to do something really trendy, not so traditional, you should go for it and get something you love. And you can always reset it later down the road. And I would also say, if you are

going natural, just make sure that whoever you purchase from, of course, you know, we, all of our diamonds are ethically sourced. work with, you know, countries like the government of Botswana, where all the diamond revenue goes back to the communities where every child goes to school for free, have free healthcare infrastructure. And we also offer an option that you can trace your diamond on the blockchain.

with tracer exactly where it went to so you can see the rough that it came from it's really cool and all the positive impact it had along the way so there are so many different options and just to kind of sift through all of that information and weigh it

Ramon Vela (28:29.56)
Mm-hmm, wow. And I'd love to dive into some of that. Let's talk, and for everyone out there, you can go to the clearcut.co. The clearcut.co is the website. You can take a look what we're talking about. And if you're watching eventually on YouTube, we'll make sure to have that on the screen. So why don't we switch a little bit about the, well, actually.

I wanna talk to you a little bit about your process, because you mentioned the software and that 80 % of people will buy through the software. So I'd love for you to kind of walk us through that process. But before we do, I wanna ask you an entrepreneurial question, because it's really amazing. I find it inspiring and really amazing when an individual kind of is able to take this love of what they're doing and kind of then...

you know, like sharing content or building a blog or whatever it is, and then have that evolve into like a business. Like it's almost as if it's like this love for what you're doing is driving this momentum, you know, to build this business. And I kind of love that evolution. Would you mind sharing a little bit if someone's out there is similar to you or maybe what you were doing a few years back in the early days?

who's out there who loves what they're doing, maybe not jewelry, but loves what they're doing, is doing a blog or a channel of some sort. Any recommendations you would give them, like in terms of going from a creator who loves what they're doing, providing advice, and then turning it into a business?

Olivia (30:11.614)
Yeah, I would say, you know, a lot of times I personally, you know, didn't just jump fully in. I did it kind of on this side for about two years until I felt like, wow, this could be a viable business. I would say if you have a passion to do something, to start something, just take that first step and do it and see, you know, the worst thing that happens is it doesn't work out, but.

I don't feel like you have to quit your job day one and start being an entrepreneur. I think it's totally fine to have a side hustle, do something on the side, see if it works, have it have some legs, some traction, test things out before you make that big commitment because it can be super scary. some people, like I financially couldn't quit my job until I got into this accelerator. So I know it's not possible for a lot of people.

So I think, but there's no harm in trying. Like I know a lot of people have great ideas and have passions to do something. Maybe it's like a small Etsy business or like you want to create art and sell it or do you wanna do something in fashion? Just start. The first thing is taking that first step. And once you take that first step, it'll be so much easier to continue. But the first step is the hardest.

Ramon Vela (31:35.886)
Yeah. And there's always something about, and I've felt this way too, where you love what you're doing, but there's something inside you that's afraid. it's like people around you might say, hey, you know what? Know your worth and ask for it, you know, and be bold and take that chance. you know,

You know, I don't know, ask this person for advice or, you know, take the, take the chance to go to the business. you know, that, that staff doubt can, can stop people, stops a lot of people. And this is the, this is what I love about what I do is I talk to these entrepreneurs and I'm an entrepreneur myself, but you know, there are so many people out there who would love to take a chance, who would love to start an Etsy business, who would love to start a blog, would love to.

talk about what they really love to doing, but there's a little bit of a self doubt there. Have you ever experienced that and any recommendations on that?

Olivia (32:44.958)
I experience that like on the daily. I would say, yeah, like there's definitely self-doubt. Every day I'm like, am I like a genius or an idiot? Like, cause it feels different every day. I would say don't let perfect be the enemy of better. You you're not gonna be, you're never gonna be perfect. And if you were perfect the day you launched, then you waited too long to start, you know? I think that self-doubt is,

Ramon Vela (32:47.74)
Ha

Olivia (33:14.578)
you know, part of it, but you can't let it hold you back. a lot of it just comes from like, caring about what other people think. And I know it's so hard to get over caring what other people think, but I think, you know, people, even if they judge you, they're probably just jealous because they have self doubt and they want to do something that they are too scared to do. And they're envious that you're able to do that. So I would say

Believe in yourself if you have a strong support system of friends or family who believe in you or help you with whatever you want to do, that's all you really need. I hate haters every single day, but let them be your motivators.

Ramon Vela (33:57.134)
Yeah.

you

Yeah, no, I love that. And I've noticed that whenever you, I've, least for myself, whenever I've taken that leap and just, you know, and did whatever I was going to do, ask for the contract or try to make a sale or whatever it is, that, you know, it's always, it always ends up positive. Maybe you don't get the contract or maybe you don't get the sale, but you feel better. You feel like, wow, like I did it. Like, I feel like that alone was a reward, a bit of a reward.

Olivia (34:16.425)
Yeah.

Olivia (34:33.994)
think failure, as long as you learn from whatever you do, it's not a failure. At least you tried, at least you put yourself out there and then you've learned a lesson for the next thing you do.

Ramon Vela (34:48.844)
Yeah. Well, you know, I interviewed the founder of Quinn, Quinn snacks. And have you ever seen those on the stores? she said in the early days she would sit in her car for like 15, 20 minutes, just getting the nerve to go in to a store and ask, you know, like for them to carry her products and she would like breathe and she would do these mantras and she would like do whatever she could just to psych herself out. But she was like so nervous. said, but you know,

she did it and so now her snacks are in sprouts and other places.

Olivia (35:21.066)
Yeah, I remember like early, early days before big meetings, I would like do like do power poses and like breathing exercises to be like, I can do this. Like it's okay. And I look back and I think that's so hilarious, but it's true. Like I had to like get prepared because I didn't know what to expect because I'd never been in those situations before.

Ramon Vela (35:44.334)
That's great. I love that. can imagine. I can imagine. It's like a movie. Like when someone walks in the restroom and sees you doing a power pose or whatever. That's, that would be funny.

Olivia (35:48.834)
yes.

Olivia (35:54.474)
It was really, really funny. of like our early like pitch meetings to an investor, we didn't get it, but I was like power posing outside the office because I got in there a little early and like, didn't know what they looked like, but he had walked past me and like saw me doing that. And then later I went to the meeting and I was like, my God, so embarrassed.

Ramon Vela (36:09.294)
You

Ramon Vela (36:14.158)
I love that. that is priceless. That's so cool. So let's walk through the process a little bit. So obviously we live in a digital world. people are so much, I remember this is a few years ago and jewelry companies, majority jewelry places were still offline. And I don't know if maybe it's changed.

But I know companies like yours who have come in and kind of, you know, taken it by the, by the horns and just really driven forward with the, in the, in the digital age and so forth. And so much, so many things have happened. people are comfortable buying products online, buying jewelry online, buying perfume online, all these things that people said, you can never sell them online or a mattress for instance. you can never sell them online because people want to feel them. People want to.

spray the cologne on and people wanna see the ring on their finger or whatever it is. But that's all changed. And so people are so much more comfortable with this. They still want an intuitive experience and to be friendly and to be intuitive. But I think people are just really open to this whole experience. mean, it sounds like from your experience. So walk us through what that would look like when someone goes to the website, right? I'm assuming.

What does that experience look like?

Olivia (37:42.408)
Yeah, so a lot of times, you know, most people find us through our social media content or word of mouth. And if you have been following us, you probably are already a diamond expert. We always joke that our followers know more than most salespeople in jewelry stores. They're so specific and know exactly what they want. So, you know, you're probably pretty educated.

You'll come to our website and we ask you to book a call with a gemologist for an initial consultation. And we'll give you a call and chat with you about, you know, what are your preferences in a diamond, the shape, the quality, your budget, what are we prioritizing, and if you have any questions for us. And then we'll send you a custom link over to create your portal in our gem platform.

and you'll see your gemologist's face there. You can message them at any time, inspiration images. You'll see all the preferences that were discussed. And then what we do on our end is we work with an entire world, a network of suppliers, manufacturers to find the perfect curation of loose natural diamonds that fit your preferences. We look at every single diamond in person to make sure it's in our quality standards.

And then we send it over to in the portal photos videos if you want side-by-side images zoomed in mocked up on all the different bands You know, we make it really comprehensive because we know most people are buying remotely We do have a showroom in New York. They can come in and sit with your gemologist in person, too But 85 % of people do everything fully through our platform once you pick the diamond you create a custom ring we

work with you on the design, we send you the CAD renderings. Once that's approved, it's made here in our workshop in New York. And then once the ring's complete, you'll see that final video come through and then we ship it out to you with the GIA certificate, your insurance appraisal, everything you'll need. And if you wanted your free lab-grown travel ring, we'll send that with you too.

Ramon Vela (39:52.19)
I mean, it sounds so comprehensive. And let me throw a wrench in here just in case, because I know in real life things happen. What if I order the ring, go through that process and for whatever reason, it doesn't fit right or, you know, there's something in there that we prefer. Maybe we want a different change or I don't know what it might be. But when that kind of stuff happens, how does what does that process look like?

Olivia (40:16.862)
Yeah, so, you know, even with customers that come in person, a lot of times when you propose with the ring, you, might not fit exactly how you wanted it to. So our first resize is completely complimentary. If there's any, you know, additional changes you want to make to the ring, that's always something that we can help you with. It's kind of something you want to think of as you make a, you know, tailor-made suit that's just for you or like a custom-made dress, like,

It's one of a kind. It's made just for you. You worked really closely with the person to make it. So we can always make changes, but it would be just like remaking aspects of it.

Ramon Vela (40:58.702)
Mm-hmm.

And are there any hacks for people like me who don't really know about jewelry and want to buy, you know, like, let's say I was wanting to get engaged with my wife. Is there any hacks in terms of like figuring out finger sizes?

Olivia (41:21.766)
Yeah, so we actually offer a free ring sizer on our website. So you can order a ring sizer on our website. It's zero dollars. And I think it's just something to good to have, you know, just to know your ring size ahead of time. Also, if you ever walk by any jewelry store, if you're just shopping around, browsing, it's great to just like ask what your finger size is, have a salesperson measure you and just

take note of that for like any future reference.

Ramon Vela (41:54.151)
And what if you want to do it in secret? Like let's say you want to engage and you want to...

Olivia (41:58.44)
Want to do it in secret. The trickiest part is most people won't wear a ring on their engagement ring finger and all your fingers are different sizes. So the best thing you can do is get a ring that your partner wears often and just know what finger they wear it on. You can take that ring to a jeweler and they can size the ring and then maybe from there you can kind of

Ramon Vela (42:01.751)
Is there any way to tell?

Olivia (42:27.141)
adjust down from that.

Ramon Vela (42:28.398)
I would imagine that people have must have that issue because it just feels like, you you want to do it in secret or, know, them realizing what you're going to do. And so it's kind of hard to do it unless they have a friend who can probably figure that out for you.

Olivia (42:45.614)
Yeah, think a lot of people do, you know, when they very few people now, at least that we work with, it's not like a complete surprise like it was back in the day, like most couples work together, at least to start the process to pick up their diamond to design the ring. And then maybe one person drops out later for like the actual final reveal and proposal. But I would say most people that we work with, they work together in the process. So during that process, you know,

you'll size your finger at a certain point because people are coming.

Ramon Vela (43:17.678)
Yeah. What is better? What do you like? Because I'm a big romantic gesture type person. So I want to always try to surprise people. I've like, for instance, I think in our seven years, we, I surprised her on her birthday. We also had a, we got remarried on that time. So I'm always looking for ways to surprise them. And I feel like people are.

are doing that too. But it feels like what you just described right now is also, I think, pretty cool. Like you get to do it together. You get to have that experience and decide what you want. And it's like an educational experience for both of you. And then your partner, your spouse, whoever, you get to understand a little bit more about what they like. then, you know, it's a great joint experience, I think. I just don't know. Like for me, I like to kind of keep things in secret too, but I don't know.

I guess it's either way, right?

Olivia (44:17.746)
Yeah, and a lot of people who do want to continue keeping that element of surprise, but of course, like you're spending a lot of money. So you want to make sure that your partner is going to love whatever you get. If you want to go with like a friend or a sister, someone that can be the keeper of all the information and kind of act as like your trusted guide, just to make sure that, you know, your partner gets what you want.

Ramon Vela (44:43.094)
Yeah, no, no, no. I know that's a hard question, but yeah, I guess it's up to the person. So, all right, if someone goes to the clearcut.co, the website, the clearcut.co is the website, what are gonna find there? Like, where do you want them to go? Like, if they're listening to this podcast and they think, really? I really love what she had to say about this or that and so forth, and they go to the website,

Where do you want them to start in their journey? Is there any blog post or is there any education you want them to go through? Where would you like them to start?

Olivia (45:25.054)
Well, if you want education, can go to the Learn tab and go to our classrooms. That's where we have a lot of our

original diamond and jewelry education. If you're shopping on our site, that's going to be our fine jewelry collection. So everything that isn't a custom engagement ring, so wedding bands, necklaces, earrings, everything, you can shop there. And if you do want to start the custom engagement ring process, you can schedule a call with a gemologist directly from the homepage of our website.

Ramon Vela (45:58.478)
Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah, so I'm looking at the website right now, the clearcut.co and under the learn navigation button, you have classrooms, couples, culture, lab-grown travel ring, 2025 trends, something that says scholarship. I'm not sure what that is, but.

Olivia (46:16.766)
We have a scholarship that we send for women of color to go to GIA to become a Diamonds graduate and have a paid internship here at the cleric.

Ramon Vela (46:27.332)
wow. That's great. So, OK, so there's information on that there. under the couple is where I think you mentioned earlier, there's stories of different people, which is it's great. I see there's lots of lots of posts there. And then you also have the process under the engagement rings and under shop. You have best sellers, you've got personalized, you've got rings and earrings and necklaces and so forth, which I believe you're wearing some of those, which look beautiful.

Olivia (46:56.51)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (46:56.654)
Um, so yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of stuff going on there. And then it looks like you have some sort of loyalty program there. Is that for folks who want to, like we talked about earlier, they love this experience that you've gone through. It's personalized. get to speak to someone and they love this process. Now they can continue down the road. Like myself, who, you know, wants a different setting or wants to buy a necklace or a bracelet or something like that.

Olivia (47:24.404)
Yeah, and we do do custom pieces as well. So if it's something that you want to create from scratch that isn't on our collection, that isn't an engagement ring, we can help with that too.

Ramon Vela (47:34.995)
And so that's fantastic. And the loyalty, how does that work?

Olivia (47:39.412)
So there are two paths in our loyalty program. There's a path through bridal. So if you get your engagement ring and two wedding bands from us, you're in our loyalty program for life. You get special discounts throughout the year to use. You have access to our entire fine jewelry collection if you want to rent pieces for your wedding day, free of charge. And you have special discounts with partner companies as well.

lifetime cleanings, personal styling appointments. So you're really like part of our, you know, clear cut community family for life. And then there's another path where if you aren't coming to us through an engagement ring or wedding or anything like that, if you are a repeat customer of ours of our fine jewelry collection, you also get access to those special discounts and

know, styling appointments, things like that. You have access to rentals for special occasions. So it's just a way to help, you know, incentivize and reward our clear-cut loyalists, our community that we like love so much and just want to give back to them however we can.

Ramon Vela (48:56.11)
Oh, that's fantastic. The one thing I haven't asked you before, I know that your family was into jewelry and so you've been around this all your life. And I know that's important. If you grow up with these things, it becomes sort of like, I don't know, just a thing you do. But I'm wondering,

On a personal level, why do you do this stuff? Like what is it about? Jewelry or diamonds or these things? What is it about from a personal level? What is it about these things that motivates you? Why do you do what you do?

Olivia (49:39.102)
You know, it's really funny is like actually because my family did it, they always told me never to get into the business. So growing up, I never thought I would get into it because they said it was like a dying industry. know, they met both my parents are immigrants. I never went to college and they came to this country and they, you know, put me through college and did everything. And they're like, you should get a corporate career. Like you should not be in the jewelry industry. So I never thought I would get into it. Growing up, it just, I was drawn to it.

Ramon Vela (49:46.318)
you

Olivia (50:08.906)
and it kind of just spoke to me and I think, know, first I fell in love with the stones and I really fell in love with, you know, learning about them at school, learning the differences, the science behind it, just how, how...

like special they are that these beautiful gemstones are created in the earth over billions of years under like the most special circumstances and like brought through lava only in these like small pockets of the earth's crust and we get to wear them. It's just, I don't know, the science behind it that like that I just thought that was so cool. And then I think, you know, working with

I always loved, you know, being able to take that knowledge and teaching it or like working with people and educating them and seeing and being able to transfer that passion onto someone else and have them find it's so fascinating and learn something. just, that's what fuels me and I love that. And then having other people fall in love with the process and the product as well is something that

I'm really passionate about. And I think that's what has always carried through in why we started through education, why a lot of our content is centered around education, because I love teaching people about what I love and having them fall in love with it too. And then I think why we're also so passionate about the natural diamond aspect is going, when I went to Botswana for the first time after,

We got to go after being on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. It was our first time we got to go there and like actually talking to people from the country and how much diamonds like mean to them and how important it was them teaching me that like, and having that passion. I'm an Aquarius, so I'm like an idealist and I, that's what motivates me. I like fell in love. So I think, you know, I always felt that way. And then it just became, I became more and more passionate about it.

Ramon Vela (52:09.486)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (52:21.42)
Wow. I love that. And I can appreciate the story about your family because my parents were immigrants too. And it's so funny because like they tell you not to do what they do, but you see what they do. And it's almost as if like, now you understand where, you know, that saying about like, you know, don't do as I do, do as I say, because the actions are so like speak so loudly. So you see them do everything and they're telling you don't do it, but yet you see them do it and you.

how that they love what they're doing and they're building their business. And so it's like, it becomes part of you. Yeah, it's so interesting how that happens. So this has been fantastic. I want to be respectful of your time. And I think this has been great. I want to make sure people know where to go. So this is only available on the clearcut.co website or is there anything available anywhere else?

Olivia (53:15.996)
Yeah, so we're direct to consumer. Everything from our fine jewelry collection is on the clearcut.co. And you can also start the bespoke diamond engagement process directly from our site as well. And then you can follow us and all of our content and learn more at the clear cut on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, all the places.

Ramon Vela (53:41.326)
That's fantastic. Any last words you want to leave with the audience? mean, honestly, I feel like you've done such a great job. Your love for what you're doing and your passion, can tell you when you started describing the different things that people can do or should know when they're buying, I can see you light up. I can see you light up with your eyes.

Olivia (54:02.09)
There's one thing I forgot to say when people are buying what they should know. Could we add it in?

Ramon Vela (54:12.971)
sure. yeah, go ahead.

Olivia (54:15.678)
Yeah, so when also if you're shopping for an engagement ring wherever you go, you should make sure that they have certain types of equipment that they can show you that they have to prove whether you're purchasing a lab grown or a natural diamond. Every jeweler should have this equipment to show you.

Ramon Vela (54:36.43)
wow, that's a good one. But yeah, I mean, like I said earlier, your eyes light up when you're talking about this thing. And I love that. And so I can tell that you have a lot of passion and energy and love for what you're doing. And I love your stories. And by the way, the story about you doing your power moves and having the investors see you.

That's classic, I love that. If you don't mind, I'm gonna retell that, sorry. I love that. So this has been fantastic. So any last words, feel free to say them now. And if there's anything else, the Instagram is theClearCut, correct?

Olivia (55:04.49)
It's so embarrassing, it's still Hans Moe.

Olivia (55:20.618)
Clear Cut, my personal is Olivia Landau. And yeah.

Ramon Vela (55:28.362)
All right. Well, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much for giving us a little bit of your time. I enjoyed really learning about what you're doing and how you do it. And again, your energy, your passion, your love for doing this really vibrates off the screen. And so I appreciate it. And like I said, what you're wearing too, it's just beautiful. And we didn't mention too much about what the products were, but when I was on the website, and you can go on the website, the clearcut.co,

Olivia (55:47.348)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (55:56.718)
There is a lot of images and things that you can see, the engagement rings, I was on the shopping area and the bracelets, the rings, just really beautiful designs there. And as she mentioned, there's a lot of customization that can occur and they've got a whole team ready for you. So definitely go and visit the clearcut.co. I would highly recommend it. See if there's something there for you and everyone, I would probably also sign up for their newsletter.

And that way you can keep in touch with all the different promotions and products and things that they have that are coming out. So thank you again for coming on the show and sharing a little bit about the business with our audience.

Olivia (56:38.718)
Thank you so much for having me. This was so fun.

Ramon Vela (56:41.634)
Yeah, no, likewise. Everyone out there, we have just had Olivia Landau, who is co-founder and CEO of the Clearcut. And again, you can go to the clearcut.co is the website. We're gonna have the link to her Instagram, both personal as well as the company on our podcast description, which you can find on Google, Spotify, Apple, pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, simply type in the story of a brand show and you should be able to find it. Beyond that, everyone, thank you.

Stay safe, stay sane, stay healthy. And as a reminder, go check out the website, theclearcut.co. I think you're really going to enjoy it. I love the process. I love her energy. I can just imagine it's just probably be just an amazing experience. So go check it out. And then lastly, we've all been going through a lot of stuff to pandemic, economy, inflation, politics, geopolitical wars. I mean, you name it. There's been so many things going on lately.

Everyone's feeling a little stressed out, so let's do ourselves a favor and let's remember that everyone is going through something. And if we can make this human experience just a little bit better by being a little kinder to each other, I know it can be a much better human experience for all of us. So please, let's be kind to each other. Beyond that, thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the story of a brand.