Female Disruptors: Michelle Demaree of Miss Diamond Ring, On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
I think the diamond industry as a whole generally focuses mostly on a quick sale and price. Many are in this business just to make a fast buck instead of focusing on creating a impactful experience for the buyer. The engagement ring represents something very unique to each couple. Love is the most powerful energy on the planet and the first thing I focus on with my clients is how I want them to feel from start to finish and how I can make their special moment even more meaningful. Offering a proposal planning service and a virtual shopping service with Rodeo Drive rings without brick and mortar prices has been compelling for luxury buyers. Especially during quarantine!
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Demaree.
Michelle Demaree, of Miss Diamond Ring, is the top luxury diamond ring concierge on the West Coast. Her passion for being the ambassador of love and smart-purchase-luxury has established her as the premier engagement ring expert and she has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, US Weekly, Entertainment Tonight, Life & Style, The American Dream and several others. With Michelle’s streamlined process, clients enjoy a luxury, boutique shopping experience that removes the stress and time (60 hours on average) out of their engagement ring search. She offers exclusive access to the world’s top diamond options and Rodeo Drive rings at a fraction of retail tag. From Hong Kong to Antwerp, New York to Los Angeles, Michelle sources the best diamond and gemstone options within the client’s budget. Clients work one-on-one with Michelle, and procure a ring as breathtaking as their love story. When you work with Michelle, you gain access to custom, bespoke settings by the best craftsman in Los Angeles. Getting clients the best diamond option on the market is her passion and streamlining it to save time, money and stress is her specialty!
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
After putting myself through college with a full ride at Pepperdine and working the real estate boom and bust in Vegas and San Diego with Pulte Homes, I moved to the Midwest and got a job as the marketing director at Bentley/Lamborghini/Bughatti. At an event at the Peninsula Hotel, I met the director of Van Cleef & Arpels who offered me a sales position because of my strong sales background. I told her, “I may not know jewelry right now but I have more horsepower and drive than anyone you will ever hire.” That landed me the job.
I became a top salesperson, selling millions in jewels at Van Cleef & Arpels and after two years was offered a position by Tiffany and Co. on Rodeo Drive. Not too long after many size figure Audrey Hepburn worthy moments, Harry Winston extended a position that I could not refuse and I continued selling millions in diamonds to clients visiting from around the world.
In 2013, I decided to leave retail so I could be present and enjoy time as a mom. In 2015 I was still helping clients privately and felt a calling to found Miss Diamond Ring, Inc.
My Los Angeles based boutique service offers global diamond searches and bespoke Rodeo Drive luxury rings designed around each couple’s love story along with travel & proposal planning services. I am now living my dream and have changed the landscape of the diamond engagement ring industry by offering a highly personalized experience for couples that they can’t get anywhere else, with exclusive access to Rodeo drive rings at a fraction of the price.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I am a single female mom-preneur who has flipped the switch on the luxury, transactional and male dominant industry of high jewelry. While overcoming extreme adversity, (recovering daughter from neuro-immune disease, surviving a divorce) I have evolved my international small female owned business into a one-of-a kind personalized experience for couples based on their unique love story.
To establish a niche in a highly male dominated industry that has turned commodity driven, when it should be an experience that honors each couple’s love story? That was a challenge and a hustle, to say the least! But I knew I had something special to offer my clients that they were not getting anywhere else.
I think the diamond industry as a whole generally focuses mostly on a quick sale and price. Many are in this business just to make a fast buck instead of focusing on creating a impactful experience for the buyer. The engagement ring represents something very unique to each couple. Love is the most powerful energy on the planet and the first thing I focus on with my clients is how I want them to feel from start to finish and how I can make their special moment even more meaningful. Offering a proposal planning service and a virtual shopping service with Rodeo Drive rings without brick and mortar prices has been compelling for luxury buyers. Especially during quarantine!
The fact that clients spend six figures with me virtually, (without meeting me in person in many cases) says a lot about my reputation and process. Luxury buyers are interested in this new standard in ring shopping because they have discriminating taste and they value their time.
We all need a little help along the journey — who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I would say the biggest mentor / friend is Rebecca Cafiero. She and I met 20 years ago in real estate and have been on the entrepreneur journey for the past 5+ years. She invited me to Lori Harder’s Bliss Project retreat which is literally the reason I decided to start my business. When I was there, I remember hearing, “Who has the right to be doing what they are doing? Answer: The person already doing it.” That was a catalyst for me. A few years later I attended Cafiero’s Brand Camp in Sonoma, CA. That weekend of masterminding with innovative female entrepreneurs in a safe space gave me the confidence and blueprint to really go for my business model.
Another mentor would be Kristin Brabant, a success coach who helped me get clear on my overall business goals which were derived spiritually and from the heart, as well as getting aligned with the cliens I wanted to attract and how to structure my sales process so I could do so.
MindValley and Dr. Joe Dispenza are absolutely mentors to me in the space of personal development, meditation and the power of thoughts / beliefs / and how we can re-wire and manifest anything we wish. Their courses and meditations were a weekly bible for me.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from my wise Los Angeles therapist who knew all too well my people-pleasing tendencies. “Michelle have you ever heard of the 33% rule?” I most certainly had not. “In life you will come across hundreds of thousands of people, in business, personal and even family settings. You will never be able to please them all. In fact you may not like them all and they may not like you — no matter what you do.” No. Matter. What. You. Do. She went on to say “33% of people you will meet will love you, those are your people. 33% of people you meet will be the exact opposite. They will not get you, you will not get them, and never the two shall meet. The last 33% are in between. They are neutral. They don’t love you, they don’t hate you, they are pretty indifferent. Nothing you can do to change this, nor should you try to. If you can accept it you will be a much happier person. You cannot please or appeal to everyone, that is a losing battle.”
The second piece of advice is Marie Forleo’s ‘everything is figureoutable.’ This is a mindset more than anything and I believe that “no — not possible” should be removed from all entrepreneurs vocabulary. Anything is possible. A “yes, I can do it” mentatlity is the only way to keep creating and growing.
The 3rd piece of advice would be, when something bad happens instead of saying, “why did this happen to me?” Shift it to, “What was I meant to learn from this?” This has shifted every seemingly negative experience into a learning opportunity that gives me wisdom and the tools to grow and get better. It also forces the mind to come up with a positive answer instead of a negative answer. That builds the right kind of neuropathways that keep your energy and mindset positive and on track to your destiny.
How are you going to shake things up next?
I have been collaborating with some badass female entrepreneurs who feel inspired by my Diamonds with Soul collection, so that is an exciting, evolving entity. I am finishing up an online course called Diamond Boss, which teaches aspiring entrepreneurs who love diamonds, how to do what I’m doing, along with step by step training for luxury sales. It excites me to share and empower others to do what they love, on their own terms and enjoy the abundance that brings.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
The Untethered Soul has been the most powerful book for my mindset. It has actually taken away the negative chatter in my mind, and helped me not take anything personal and not resist anything (what you resist persists). Along with deciding and choosing to be happy, regardless of any circumstance. We can literally choose to be happy, no matter what. It is a mindset book and it helps the reader to reconnect to the essence of their soul and untether them from the social constructs / rules / negative patterns learned from family, culture, school..etc. It basically sets you free and wakes you up! I revisit different chapers every few months to refresh and reboot.
I would also say Vishen Lakhiani from Mindvalley recently did a podcast on intuition and how powerful it is, and how it is scientifically proven and studied. It is the most powerful thing we have and if you tap into it, it will guide you where your soul’s destiny is meant to take you. It is, in essence, your soul talking to you — we just have to wake up and listen. It is our most powerful guide. All of the times I made mistakes and went down the wrong roads, I can look back and remember feeling my gut tightening and telling me it was wrong, to move in a different direction, but my mind or fear compelled me to stay. And ultimately I paid the price and learned the lesson I needed to learn. Always listen to your gut.
The third is the Joe Dispenza course on HayHouse called Making Your Mind Matter. I did his hour long meditations weekly for 2 years and manifested everything I have built today. I was very broken at the time when I started and was drowning in negative thoughts about my life, my situation, etc. That course literally redirected my mind, rebuilt my thought patterns into positive ones, and redesigned the vision of the future I wanted, which ultimately redirected the course of my life.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If everyone made decisions out of love instead of fear the world would be a different place. If we could all tap into more intuition, be heart centered in business and in relationships, and recognize that much of the time it is fear / ego / old tapes / the reptilian fear-based brain that is acting out to try to keep us safe. If we could all do this, we could access our higher selves and live lives more closely to what we are destined to do. Every decision comes down to love or fear, so if you always move in the direction of love, in all things, your path will be of the highest form and will fulfifll your soul’s purpose. Even in the diamond industry. 🙂
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Be yourself, everybody else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde. Imitation is the best form of flattery, but in business it creates a severe lack of authenticity and true connection to yourself and the people you are meant to serve. At the end of the day, what people want in a brand is authenticity, connection and trust. That only comes from staying true to exactly what your brand is and what it is not, not being afraid to let go of what is not meant for you and most importantly, always honoring the original vision you had for your business.
As the founder of a sparkling Los Angeles based business turned global, I knew in order to stay sane I needed to get clear on who I was as a brand and how I wanted to run my business so that it would fuel me and inspire me, instead of be the source of daily negative self talk. As business owners we all know, that jeckel on our shoulder can be pretty nasty if we don’t claim it, tame it, and reframe it.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can find me at @missdiamondring on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Michelle Demaree of Miss Diamond Ring, On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.