WEBVTT - EYL #67 Bling Bling 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600 An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.480 in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.840 accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.840 filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.680 some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.320 Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United States 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:28.120 Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.680 crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.960 one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.920 are here illegally, your next you will be fined nearly 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.000 one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, and deported. You will 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.680 never return. But if you register using our CBP home 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.120 app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:55.240 Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:57.840 border and families will be protected. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.000 Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.200 All right, guys, welcome back, e y L. 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.800 We got a very special episode today Bling edition to 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.600 show jump right into this. So this is something that 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.800 is extremely exciting episode for us growing up hip hop. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:20.440 You know, if you listen to the podcast, you know 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.080 that music played a major part in our development growing up. 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.480 It really it really shaped our lives. And if you 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:31.440 listen to rap music specifically, you know that jury is 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.320 a big part of rap music. Blame blame, Blame Blaine 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:40.119 and Dictionary. 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.080 That's a fact. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.319 So you know a lot of times we aspire to 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.360 buy gold and buy diamonds and to buy chains, and 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.240 that's just part of the culture. There's nowhere around that. 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:50.440 That's it. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:51.120 It is what it is. 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.600 But like all things in life, it's a business. The 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.680 jury business. It's a billion, probably trillion dollar industry, worldwide, 0:01:58.720 --> 0:01:59.520 global business. 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:00.440 That's every continent. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:01.080 Definitely. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:02.120 It's crazy. 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.480 So my man, Dion Smith is a legend within his 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.880 own right because if you if you're from New York City, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:09.360 or if you haven't been in New York City, you've 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.240 heard of the Diamond District. The Diamond District is crazy. 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.320 It's like a two block radius in Midtown Manhattan, and 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:22.080 every thing on there is jury, like all of the 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:23.880 all of the big boys is there. That's where everybody 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.920 gets their change from. That's where Jacob the Jeweler shop. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:28.160 I don't know if it's still there, but that's where 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:28.480 it was. 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:31.000 You can't miss it. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.360 The light poles has two big diamonds, just in case 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.880 you forgot where you're at, Like and like you know, I. 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:38.920 Was telling me, like the brink trucks pull up like 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.760 three times a day and it's crazy, but it's it's 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.280 real non discreete though, like if you don't really know, 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.320 it's not as flashy as you would think it would be. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.639 It's very non I mean, it's get robbed. You got 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.640 to kind of have it not strip welcome. It's a culture. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.760 It's a culture within itself. It's but one thing. If 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.840 you go there, you know that the people that are 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:03.799 in control of it don't look like the people that's 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.079 buying it. For the most part now, they don't look 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.800 like us at all. But Dion is interesting because he 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:15.639 has a jury manufacturing business. He's the only black jury 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.760 manufacturing the diamonds in New York periods. 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:18.160 Correct. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.040 So there's different levels of the jury game, Right, there's 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.640 the retailers who's actually selling you jury. 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.639 Well that's what we buy it from most of the time, right, But. 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.160 Then there's the manufacturers who's actually making jury. So he 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.800 has his own manufacturing company. He employs over twenty people, 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.840 growth revenue over five million dollars last year, a thriving business, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.840 like I said, the only black company in the Diamond 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:45.880 district percent and it's his father is a part of 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.080 it as well as tell the backstory on that. So 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.240 it's a good story. So first and foremost, thank you 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:50.680 for joining us. 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.360 Appreciate it, thank you for welcome, welcome having it. 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.280 So and shout to my man Fernando, who. 0:03:59.040 --> 0:03:59.440 Thank you. 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.040 Who referred this. All right, so can we talk. Let's 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:08.960 jump right into it. So you have a jury manufacturing company, right, correct, 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.200 But we gotta tell a backstory before we even go 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:12.840 into what jury manufacturing is. 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:18.520 My family is from Belize, so basically they migrated here 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.440 probably late seventies to your first generation, correct, first generation. 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:29.599 So yeah, my dad actually he looking for work. He 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:31.640 just ended up take he took a job in the 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.719 Diamond District basically, and his boss became his friend, became 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:36.320 his mentor. 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:40.359 And for me, again, I would after school. 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.200 I mean I technically grew up out there, so I 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:47.599 grew up in a factory. But it wasn't glamorous, you know, 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.560 it wasn't something you were proud of. At that time, 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.480 as from my perception as a child. 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.320 So what'd your dad do? Like what was his He was. 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.840 Cleaning jewelry like he was cleaning, like bench polishing is 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:01.880 what they call it. And but growing up in the Bronx, 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.240 it was it was such a contrast. I mean, this 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:05.760 is the eighties now, right, And I don't have to 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:06.200 tell you what. 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.480 The eighties were. I don't have to tell you crazy. 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.200 But that train ride and I couldn't. You couldn't pull 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.320 out a phone and hashtag and see what was going on. 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:14.880 I mean, I could tell you what's going on in 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.560 Nova Scotia right now. But back then, I mean, your 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.080 world consisted of as far as your eyes can see. 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.640 So I only knew that the radius of my neighborhood. 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.400 But that train ride to the Diamond District was fascinating 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.640 because it's the first place I saw wealth. 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:35.000 I saw I saw. 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.000 At that time. It was like limousines. I mean I 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.760 saw money being spent and intrigued me. And I saw 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.279 diamonds and I'm the kid, but but it was interesting. 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.400 But when I would go upstairs, it was it was 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.400 not glamorous at all. It was hard work. It was 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:53.480 you're working with metals, working with metals. It was everything 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.599 in there had the skeleton with the X on it. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.760 Every material we need said cause cancer. I mean it 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.880 was it wasn't. It wasn't glamorous. 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:04.040 How old were you when you do this? 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:09.320 About maybe eleven when I started? When I started? So 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:10.760 how did that feel? 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.680 Where it's like you're seeing two sides of the coin, Right, 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.360 You're seeing your father who immigrated to this country, correct, 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.360 and he's working and I'm assuming he's not making a 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.560 lot of money. No, but you go downstairs and you're 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.240 seeing some of the wealthiest people in America. 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.440 Yeah, and like you have to understand. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.840 And now, now if we've fast for a little bit 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.919 to like the nineties and now I'm a teenager, so 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:38.520 I'm I'm there, you know, after school summers. You know, 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.520 I've literally Jacob the Jeweler was he was starting out 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.080 right there. So I saw everyone like from Destiny Child 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.400 when you know I've seen I mean, there's nobody in 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.039 will Smith. I there's nobody I have not seen on 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.160 this little block. And as a teen I mean right 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:53.680 now it's. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.320 Normal to me. I mean it's not a big deal. 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.640 But as a teenager, I was like you know, it 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.920 was fascinating friends about that, right, but again it was 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.360 I was seeing the factory work part of it. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:08.960 What I'm saying like, did you ever see did you 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.320 ever think to yourself like this is crazy? Like it's 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.360 such a great contrast of like the haves and have not. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.440 You're seeing it because a lot of times, one of 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.240 the good things I like about living in New York 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.920 is that you can you're you can expose yourself to anything. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:24.520 Like the other thing. 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.080 I just randomly walked down Fifth Avenue, like the Upper 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:30.120 West Side, all the way down and it was just 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.920 amazing to meet. It's like, there's so many wealthy people 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:34.760 in New York. 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.560 City across the street from poverty exactly. It's like like 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.960 net worth of fifty million, seventy one hundred million. But 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.320 then it's like you could take a train and people 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:46.239 are in public housing. 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.560 Correct, But a lot of times people never you just 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.240 stay in your element, so you don't even realize that 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.560 there'd such a big difference. But we're seeing that as 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.680 a kid. Did that make you want to say, I 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:57.880 need to get on the other side. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:07:57.960 Of the sad? 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.760 So what I learned was again growing up in the Bronx. 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.760 Your mind is again there's no way to see what's 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.720 going on outside. The nationalities were Black, Puerto Rican, Dominican. 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.240 That's it. That's all I grew up around. But the 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.000 train ride would expose me to different cultures, the Jewish culture, 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:19.560 the Indian culture, the Russian culture. And I was comfortable. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.880 I mean I was I admired these other cultures because 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.280 at the time they were different. And you know, you 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.120 would that that perception is as a black person in 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.079 Julie industry, and you know, you'll never survive. That's a 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.240 false perception because as long as you're honest in that business, 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:38.240 I mean, you're going to thrive. 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.160 They're going to help you, it's going to work with you. 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:43.440 It sounds like your train ride is what people go 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.080 to college to get, right, People leave that bubble of 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.640 that to get out of your bubble, go to college 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.400 and get this experience of interacting with other cultures. Like 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.200 you literally got that from right on the train. 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:55.360 I got that. That's crazy. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.200 I got that, you know, and being upstairs and and again, 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.320 you know, there's just this misconception that if the person 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.000 doesn't look like you, you can't do business with them, 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.400 or they don't want to do business with you, but 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.160 it's false. And in that industry, I mean I could 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.000 speak for that industry. I was embraced by by the 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:18.280 other ethnicities that were there that were in total contrast 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.160 to what I was at, you know, my neighborhood where 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.679 I was growing up. It was two different worlds. But 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:26.640 but yeah, I had I had the full support. I 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:27.440 had the full support. 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:27.679 You know. 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.880 By the time I was in my twenties, I was 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:31.800 trying to figure out, can I do this? 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.760 But I had to spend so much time there. 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.040 I realized that if I needed funding, I can get 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:43.040 that with a handshake. And I had already I knew 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.480 everybody because when I started out, I started out so young, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.800 so started off from doing delivery, so you would, Yeah, 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.800 I was gonna ask you when you started working start working. 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.640 About eleven, I started going again with my dad. I 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.840 was going to work like eight, eight years old, my 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.640 early correct. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.520 He's a real Islano, but a real But by. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.320 The time I was eleven, I'm already making runs. So 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.000 I'm going like again, I'm not seeing only the glamor 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.480 that's downstairs on street level. I'm upstairs. I'm meeting people. 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.440 You know, so the deliveries helped me. Then, of course 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.199 I did the actual labor. I had to learn that 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:21.040 from how to make how to make it from you. 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:26.400 I did every step of that. I learned that, but 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.400 that could only get me so far. That could only 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:29.760 get me a job with someone. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:30.560 You know. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:34.800 I needed to think bigger. So I noticed we had 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.280 a problem. The phones kept bringing, so I started getting. 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:37.439 On the phones. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.439 Once I got on the phones, I knew the customers. 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.400 I started having a relationship with the customers. Once you 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.360 have customers, now I'm in position to start a business. 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:51.080 But you have things like rent, you have things like khand, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.440 you have employees that need to be paid. That's a 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.760 numbers game, and a lot of people do not know 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.400 their numbers. You could have a you could look good, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.559 but you us know your numbing. Your numbers are changing 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:06.680 hourly when you're running a business. So I realized that, Okay, 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.040 I have the customers, I know the vendors that I 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.600 would need. The only thing was was backing. We need 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:18.160 we need capital, and I'm in my early twenties. I mean, 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.400 you're not getting again to borrow for the jewelry business. 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:22.559 That's all. 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:24.720 I mean, anybody will tell you banks are not lending 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.560 to the risk is just too high when you're dealing 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:29.600 with precious metals and things like that. 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:31.960 What are some of the risks that the banks are 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.640 looking at. Well, I mean it's money laundering, I mean 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:36.240 number one. 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.800 I mean the number one terrorism. 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:42.520 You're not getting. 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.240 But but if you are a trustworthy person and you 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.880 build your reputation, that's not going to happen overnight. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:50.319 That's what I'm saying. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.280 You can have all the money in the world, You're 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.040 not going to get up tomorrow morning and open a 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:59.240 jewelry manufacturing company. You're not because there's too many ways 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.440 to lose. I mean, the dirt on the floor is money. Okay, 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.680 so it's gold that needs to be refined. You lose 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.400 your shirt on the dust that's on the floor is gold. 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.760 People don't know that. So you would need to build 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:19.200 up your reputation before before embarking on that. And again, 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:25.160 once I realized that the peers in the industry would 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.560 trust me with capital, at that point, there was no 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:28.000 stopping me. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:28.959 My decision was made. 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.880 That So all right, so your early twenty three, But 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:32.959 you know. 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.240 What I would say about like twenty five, I'm just like, Okay, 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:36.440 what am I? What am I going to do? 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.600 So at twenty five, you've been working in the industry 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.280 for fourteen years pretty much learning, learning every like. 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.080 I don't know I heard someone say this before, but 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.839 it's everyone's overnight. Success takes about fifteen twenty years. You 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.319 go to college, Yes I did. I went to BMCC. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.319 Okay, So you at twenty five you decide, okay, I 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.319 need I need to actually have my own business, right, correct, 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:01.280 So you you can't get it a bit alan from 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:01.640 a bank. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:03.280 That's not gonna happen. 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.200 So you have a mentor in the diamond district that 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:07.760 you said. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:13.120 Basically, my father's boss turned into his friend and mentor 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.800 and turned into the same thing for me. So so 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.679 he taught he, along with my father, taught me the 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.360 craft of the business. So I knew how to how 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:30.720 to produce. I knew how to produce. But it came 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.680 to a point when he no longer wanted you know, 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.520 he retired and whatever the case may be, So that 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.280 I had to make a decision is am I going 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.640 to carry this on or I'm going to do something 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:41.880 else his business? 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:42.840 Correct? Okay? Correct? 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.000 Well, basically we branched out into two companies under the 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.920 same umbrella, under the same roof. The way that works 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.760 is there's a part of the jewelry industry that's called casting. 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.920 That's the lost wax process. That's where you see the 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.560 pouring metals and stuff like that. Then there's a part 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.720 called fishing. So we opened up a finishing company basically 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:08.000 a room inside his inside of his his his place, 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.320 where we would just finish what he cast it. Okay, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.720 working hand in hand, working hand in hand, gone but 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.000 by it. But by the time you know, he he 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.200 came with agents, as you know, he was done. Now 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.920 I had the company, but having the space, having the equipment, 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:28.520 having even having the customers, you still need financing for 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.360 a business. For a jewelry business, I mean, I mean 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.240 you it's high end products. You need funding. But once 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.840 I was able to get again in that business, you're 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:42.560 able to get loans on a handshake. They're very old fashioned. 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.400 Whereas they look you in your eye, they feel you. 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.080 And once I was able to get funding, I was 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.720 probably like twenty five and one of the wealthiest people 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.600 out there was able basically had my back. So that 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.640 gave me the motivation and at that point there was 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:58.320 no turning back. 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.000 So you were originally you were under your mentor's umbrella. 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:03.640 Correct when did you break out. 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.800 Of at nineties? Probably ninety. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.640 Actually my father named the company AJC because at that 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.800 time it was the phone book, so anything with an 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:16.680 A he wanted to be on the top or whatever 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:18.920 this may be. So I'll always keep that name. So 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.520 that's not synonymous for anyone's name. No, it just stands 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.400 for all jewelry contracts. And I explained, well, i'll explain 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.480 it why it's a contracting company. But but yeah, so 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:35.200 I took over maybe late nineties, two thousands around that time, 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.680 very young, but again at that point, I've already had 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.880 so much experience, and I just knew everybody. 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:41.600 I knew everybody at this point. 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.720 And at that time in the nineties, what ethnicity is 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:46.360 in control of the Diamond district. 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:48.240 We're talking Russian, Jewish. 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:54.040 All three the Jewish, the allies that I had, Uh, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:59.200 we're Jewish people, which which they're awesome. And then again, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.360 but those are the three nationalities that I dealt with, 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.840 But they were vast contrasts for what I was going 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.720 home to in the Bronx at that time. I'm not 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.280 talking about the Bronx today, I'm talking about the Bronx eighties, nineties. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.480 You know, they weren't really role models out there. I mean, 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.440 you know, but I was able to have role models. 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.800 And I used to seeing people that were successful, so 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.160 I you know, I had things to aspire to. Whereas 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:25.600 I would go home and it was like the people 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:27.560 that aspired to I mean, we could go down that road. 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.000 The people that aspired to you. You know, they were 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.000 in the product that you. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:36.120 Correct, correct, correct, And I always say, you need again, 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.920 I feel like you need to. Once I could see it, 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.640 I knew, I knew I could, I could have achieved it. 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:43.920 I mean I knew I could do it. So what 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:44.720 were the steps? 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:45.160 All right? 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:46.760 So you got a loan alone? 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.040 Or so what happens is I had to I had 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.440 the customers at this point, okay, but and I knew 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:54.480 how to do the craft. 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:56.280 But I'm still one person. 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:00.520 So I knew I needed I needed staff and and 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.560 so now I had the customers, I knew the vendors 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:05.000 to get material. 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.240 And at that point I didn't have didn't have any 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:09.399 real money. 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.360 But what is money? I mean, once I had, once 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.240 I had the allies. Once I had the vendors and 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.200 they would extend me credit. All I had to do 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.040 was work at this point, you know, you know, promote. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.840 Back then, it was harder to promote, of course, but 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.520 it was word of mouth and things of that nature. 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.960 But that's pretty much that's what it was. That's why 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.240 I made the decision to move forward. And again I 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:34.960 grew up in it, so I love it. Like I 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.400 always say, manufacturing to me is the process of creating 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:39.680 something from nothing. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:41.240 So where'd you When did you open a spot that 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:41.800 you're in now? 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.600 This spot we just we we moved to this location 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:52.040 about two years ago, and then we were in another location. 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.160 I had branched out and I opened on thirtieth Street. 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:00.000 We were there for like twenty years. But I decided 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.760 to move back to the Diamond Diustry just for proximity 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.360 purposes of you know, getting my materials and just there's 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:06.880 just a flow. 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.600 There's more workers out out there, and so. 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.719 All right, So when you started out, what was the steps? 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:16.400 What was the first step that you had to take? 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.920 You got the backing financially correct, but outside of that, 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.000 like what did you do to actually get up and 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:24.320 running with your own shot? 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:29.080 So basically again now it was customer pleasing, it's customer pleasing, 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:34.800 it's it's being competitive with pricing and basically letting people 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:36.760 as of right now is just letting people know that 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:42.560 I'm there, because like factories, they don't really promote because 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.919 they don't really have to. Like the jeweler or the designer, 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.480 they promote themselves and they once they generate business, they 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.560 generate business and send it back to the factories. So 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:58.040 most of my competition they were kind of like lazy. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.320 They just sat back and waited for it for it 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:05.000 to come. But as time goes on again, you'll never 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.760 see most of these factories. They don't have a social media. 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:12.200 They're not going and for good reason, because I always 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.600 make this analogy like if you get your car washed 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.600 and they do a good job, you scream at the 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:19.320 top of your lungs. 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.080 Go over there, they do great job. 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:23.720 If I do a good job for you, I become 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.760 your best kept secret because you don't want your say, 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.600 if you are a jewelry designer, you don't want your 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:34.040 competitors to know where you manufacture, right because if you're 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:39.600 a jewelry designer, your foundation is your manufacturer. So I 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:41.400 do a good job for you, but you will never, 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:45.080