The story of The Clear Cut—a blog turned direct-to-consumer engagement ring and jewelry company—is the stuff of a modern-day romance meets breakout-business fairy tale. While both in school in New York at the Gemology Institute of America (aka GIA), Olivia Landau and Kyle Simon crossed paths. Landau, who comes from four generations of diamond cutters and sellers, was there studying the business, while Simon was researching diamonds for his fair-trade startup. Fate intervened when Landau offered to help Simon with his homework one day while they were both riding the F train after class.
They started dating immediately, but it wasn’t until Simon returned from an ethical mining trip in Africa and Landau was working in diamond wholesale that the idea for The Clear Cut was formed. All of Simon’s friends were getting engaged and kept asking him to ask Olivia for advice on engagement rings. After going through the process a few times, she decided to set up an educational blog that made diamond-buying easier (and cheaper!) to digest for their friends and other millennial customers. Fast-forward to Olivia posting her creations on
, which led her to getting requests from not only her friends, but from people all over the country asking her to source their diamonds and design their rings. Voil
à
—
The Clear Cut was formed!
Below, their advice on teamwork and how to disrupt an industry.
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