170: Building a Celebrity Designer Brand with Azature Pogosian

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or we've had a big setback? On this podcast, I'll be talking to some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on this planet who at their worst, learned how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up and creating everything from nothing. Assassher is also known as the Black Diamond King. He designs jewelry influenced from the craftsmanship and mythology of ancient relics and religion to modern pop icons like Beyonce and Rihanna, bridging those diverse inspirations together with impeccably handcrafted jewelry. Azasher's work is both intellectual and intuitive. It's also timeless and outrageous. He's known today as the Black Diamond King. But how did he build this from nothing? How did he take a mega vision and create it from scratch? Join in today and learn exactly how Azerture leveled up and created everything from nothing. Today I've got a special treat on leveling up. I'm talking with Azatur Pagosian. Did I pronounce it right? Azatur. I knew I was going to botch it. Pagosian. Azatur. Pagosian. And he is a leader with celebrity fine jewelry design, which is a really interesting niche. But I've always heard about him with all these amazing celebrities, and I've heard about his fabulous pieces, and I thought, how the heck did he get to where he is now? How did he get to work with these people? How did he get into this niche market? How did he create everything from nothing there? So thank you so much for being here today.

My pleasure. Thank you for having me. It's a great privilege and honor. So happy to be here.

So we have so many friends in common. We've had the same circle of people, but I've never really understood or knew your whole story. And it's such a niche market that you're in. Can you take us back? I'm assuming as a little kid, this is not what you thought you'd want to do.

No, as a little kid, I wanted to be a lawyer.

Okay.

And then I got into all the shiny things and I wanted to be a fashion designer because I thought the Dolce and Gabbana ad campaign was real life.

Okay.

But I got into the diamond business, which is. I like to tell people I dab into different businesses, which I do. But I really started in the diamond Business. And it was a complete accident, believe it or not. My mother's family, her side of the family has been in fine jewelry for a very long time. My background was business economics when I went to UCLA undergraduate. And I fell in love with fashion while I was at ucla, started an organization on campus. It became a huge success. And I realized I really should follow my passion and not pursue law, which I was planning on doing law school at the time. So coming from a traditional family, my parents are ready to murder me, but thank God I'm still here and alive. And cage.

Is it because they wanted the traditional. Were they like.

Yeah, they wanted traditional son from a Armenian family who follows the rules and does everything properly and doesn't create so much noise. It wasn't my thing, I guess, because I like to create a lot of chaos and noise in what I do. So.

Chaos and noise. So how did. So fashion is a big industry. How did that go into diamonds? Like, how did you decide that? And jewelry and that's so niche. Like, that must have seemed somewhat scary. Like, this is such a different direction. And I don't.

It was very, very scary. I. When I was in design school, I did my graduate studies at Parsons Design School, which is, you know, a fashion design school in New York City. Like, Tom Ford graduated there, Michael Kors and really big designers. And I started applying for internships, and I actually got hired by this woman named Andrea Lieberman. And when I was applying, I was just desperate. I had no money in New York City, so I needed to get a job. And I got the job, realized that she was the stylist at the time for Jennifer Lopez, and Gwen Stefani had no idea. So first day at work, it's like, oh, by the way, on Saturday we're going to Marc Anthony's house because we're styling JLo, you know, in Love island, he's like, what? Like, this is. This cannot be happening.

Yeah.

And so I just went with it. And then I realized that I wanted to dress everyone in black every time. And I didn't. I wasn't into the floral prints and the zebra prints or whatever that was happening at the time. And I decided I was like, this is not for me. So I gave in my notice. I was there for about six months, maybe to a year. Then I realized New York was very expensive. Came back to la, had a design position at a loungewear company here. Couldn't stand it. It was in Malibu. It was like beachy and seashells and, you know, and I'm all about Being in black all the time and very like, you know, edgy high fashion. Like, John Galliano was one of my favorite designers and Tom Ford. So I quit my job. It was Christmas. Went to Vegas to celebrate New Year's, and my uncle happened to be there, who was in the jewelry business. I missed my flight January 1st. It's kind of a long story, but it gets really exciting. But. But that's what happened. I was stuck in Vegas. My unc happened to be there, so I took a car ride back with him because I had a job interview on January 2 with Marciano, the brand Marciano, which is like, guest. And in that car ride, my uncle was like, azuther, what the hell are you doing with your life? Like, straight A student, law school, ready to go to an Ivy League, and now you're in design and have no job. Like, what on earth are you doing? And I was like, well, I have a dream. I want to be known one day as Azatur Worldwide. And he's like, okay. He's like, why don't we do this? Why don't I give you $5,000 and you create your own jewelry brand? I would say create your own fashion brand, but I won't be able to guide you. So why don't you get into jewelry? I was like, okay, I had no choice, you know, it was no choice. It was like it was all just happening. And I was like, sure, why not? And that's where it all started. That's how I got into jewelry. No plan to get into it.

So what's so interesting to me is that I think a lot of people that want to be an entrepreneur, want to create. They get very like, chameleon and people pleasing wise. Like, you had this opportunity around celebrities you could have easily gone into, okay, I'm going to create what they want. But you were like, I like all black. I don't like what's going on here. So I'm just going to leave without a plan. That's an interesting dynamic because I've not heard that before. With many entrepreneurs, typically they'll shift and be a chameleon to make that work, to get that on their resume or to get that credibility. Were you. Was that even occurring to you that I should not walk away from these things, or were you just so sure, like, I have to do my own thing and create there?

I was sure. I. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, to be honest, because I was living with, you know, I was back in LA living with my Parents in New York. I was like. I had, like, roommates in a single room, so I had no privacy, no nothing. And I was just taking this chance. I feel deep down inside in my heart, I knew that I had a very strong vision of what azerture stood for. And when I did not see that world of styling and I knew that it was not interesting to me, I felt somehow my heart pushed me to the net to just move along. Like, I didn't get stuck in the styling world because it just wasn't for me. And I knew it wasn't going to get better than Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani. I was like, we're already at the epitome of a list. Like, it ain't going to get totally that much better. So to be there and to see what day to day was, I was like, this is really not for me, because I also can use my creativity 100%, because you still have to. When you're dressing a celebrity, they have a vision of who they are as a brand. So you take seasons and you mold into something unique for them. That's their brand. It's not about your brand. So I feel like I struggled with that. And something inside of me said, move back to la. And that's, you know.

Wow. Yeah. Because as you're saying that, I'm like, gosh, I don't know many people that would walk away from that. Like, we would. I think even me would probably shift and mold and say, okay, I'm gonna. That's pretty cool. It's them. I'll do whatever we need to do for them. So that's pretty powerful. And especially without having a full vision on, like, exactly what it is that you wanted to create.

No vision. I knew I like everything that sparkles. That's.

Yeah. Black and then sparkles. That's what it sounds like. So you didn't really know much about jewelry design. So was it just this uncle kind of guiding you and directing you? And how did you even know what you were going to start creating first?

Well, when I was. When I was very young, I used to intern. Like, on my summer breaks, I would go into my uncle's manufacturing.

Okay.

I was very young when I was, like, 13, 14, like, in the summer break, my mom would be like, why don't you go with your uncle? At least you'll have something to fall back on.

Yeah.

You know, so when he gave me the 5,000, I would already be dressing a certain way. At that point in my life, I was only wearing black, so I had Been wearing black for a total of 10 years nonstop.

Were you, like, a goth person, or was it just you just liked black?

I just love black. I was actually not a goth person at all. It was. I just love the chic ness of the color black.

Interesting.

I love the black room. Like, my bedroom. I painted black.

Wow.

My car was black. I dressed in black. It was my thing. So when he told me this idea, he was like, why don't you just do an azure jewelry line? I had to literally get on Google, and Google black precious stones.

That's funny.

And now I'm 21 years old, by the way. That's when I launched. I was 20. 21 years old, actually. No, I take it back. I was a little younger than that. I think I was like, maybe in my 1920.

Okay.

But basically, I googled fine print, and then black diamonds popped up. My uncle had never worked with black diamonds, but that's how I launched the company. And I couldn't afford to put diamonds on all my jewelry pieces. So I created six jewelry pieces, and five pieces had no diamonds on it. And one piece, I put the black diamonds on it, and I went over budget about, like, I don't know, was it $600 or so? And I felt guilty. I told my uncle. I was like, I feel so bad. But that one piece made me who I am today, because that's my number one seller. That was the first piece that Rihanna wore. Rihanna was my first client, celebrity client, which is a whole other story behind that. But that's how it all. I became known as the black diamond king because of that one piece.

That's funny. So, okay, so back up on a minute. How did you, like, was this a vision you had? Like, I'm gonna create this. Like, did you do research on what would sell? Like, how did you know even what to create? And then how did you get her as a client?

I had no vision at all of what I wanted to create. I felt like I had. I was a walking ad. Like, a certain kind of, like, lifestyle as a person, because of all the black I was wearing. So the jewelry I created would be jewelry I would wear.

Okay.

That's really what it was. And as a designer, when you have a design aesthetic, you kind of can design anything, really, whether it's a home jewelry, like, because you have a vision of what you like, and you kind of go with it. So I created the jewelry for something I would wear. And the way Rihanna. I ended up getting Rihanna as a client was while I was out marketing these Pieces like going to social events in la, whatnot. I had met someone from Angelino magazine, which is a local LA magazine here. And in the magazine there was a tiny little blurb about me with one of the black diamond ring. That was the piece I made. There was a picture of it. Yeah, that's when I got the phone call. It was from that.

Wow. Wow. So do you think like without your uncle because you have created this, or do you think it's because you had that connection and that in like how. I'm just, I'm thinking ahead, just like somebody listening. Maybe somebody is listening and they're like, oh my gosh, I've had this idea to be a designer or whatever it is. Is that connection what got you there or could you have found that way?

Anyways, you know, my uncle was strictly manufacturing, so there was no branding. He didn't do any branding. He was a manufacturer, which means that he manufactures from multiple brands, multiple companies. So it's just manufacturing. So branding is a whole other world. It's two separate worlds. So if someone's out, I want to be a fashion designer, jewelry designer, I would say go for it, because finding a manufacturer you can find, you know, but the branding part is really who you are and what you're able.

So looking back now, it's funny because it's like you're this young kid starting this. You don't have really any money. Your uncle loans you $5,000 or gives you $5,000 to start this. Did you. How did you battle? Like, having a long term plan or even knowing this was gonna work. Like, what was your plan B or did you not have one?

I didn't have one. I tell people that in life, in order to do anything, you gotta really be ready to do everything and anything. So being in a comfort zone, I never succeed in the comfort zone. I always succeed by the pressures. So I knew that there was no doubt this company would have to work. There was no question in my mind. I was like, I gotta make some. I didn't realize where it was going because I really have a vision of where it's going. But I was like, as a sure, I don't care what it takes, you've gotta make this happen. Because I had nothing to fall back on. Fall back on my parents. I wasn't gonna go back to law school. I didn't have money to go to law school. So how did you.

Did you have to like fight your mind daily from going to the what if this doesn't work? Or how. What Was that. Because that's what would be coming up for me as I'm listening to you. Like, gosh, if you are using everything, you have to invest into this, and you don't even know. Like, you had to be battling that.

Fear every single day.

And how did you. How did. How did you handle that? How did you stay focused on not getting sucked into that?

I. You know, I had student. I had. I was. I had, like, student loans coming in. I didn't have much of living expenses because I was living with my parents at the time. So realistically, student loans, expenses, driving, you know, car insurance, stuff like that. So I knew that I got to make something out of it.

Yeah.

I struggled mentally to wake up, to keep pushing is the part, because I had to go out and network. So I had to go out all the time. And my uncle didn't have a network of people to lead me to Rihanna or to lead me to any client, because he doesn't deal with clients. He only deals with wholesale. That's his business. So it was very tough. But I just had to constantly put myself out there by socializing between some of my friends and then being introduced and moving along the social circles. It's like, I started meeting people, and it was a battle for me because I would go out and I have to put on the designer. Then you go home, and you're sleeping or you're crying in bed.

Yeah.

Oh, my God. Like, how am I gonna survive? But I had a really good support system, which was my mother. I had my really good friend Astrid, who's an attorney. She was my support system. So I had a very strong support system. So I'm forever grateful for them, because without them, I think I would have completely.

Yeah. And then my next question, Asher, is I'm sitting here thinking of you being young, you have this jewelry that you've put everything into. How did you basically sell it with conviction without being up, without sharing all that? Because I think a lot of people would show up, like, reserved and, like, oh, my gosh, I don't actually have success yet. And that comes through. So how did you manage that?

You know, what's really funny is every time I've ever launched anything, I believed in it so much, where I used to think, well, it's an honor for anyone to have azerture.

Wow. I love that.

So, like, I mean, I've owned beauty companies that I just sold last year. I built it in, you know, within 24 hours. It was a massive phenomenon. We could get into it. I owned A chocolate company before, I'd own a clothing company before. And every single thing I've launched is that is my. This is why I tell people that you must follow your passion. Because my heart, blood, soul, DNA while I sleep and wake up is all I think about is what I think and it's a piece of me. Like when people buy jewelry, I post images on my Instagram page all the time of people getting the jewelry and the impression that they have, whether it's someone getting engaged, whether it's an anniversary or whatever it is, the joy that that brings to people is my everything. And that's why I walked into everything I did is purely passion. And knowing that it's an honor for someone to own something that I genuinely took so many years to create.

Do you think that everybody has that passion somewhere within? I'm wondering because I agree with you that if you have the passion and you obsess over it, it works like. And it really is that obsession over it. I feel that so many people have this thing where they say, I don't know what my passion is. I'm curious your thoughts around that.

In order for someone to discover their passion, they have to be really diligent in putting themselves out there in the thoughts. So I think people have thoughts of possibilities that they think they can do and then it's led to your passion by checks, like just checking them off. So my undergraduate at ucla, I had an internship at a marketing firm because I thought marketing is where I wanted to push my creativity. You know, housing agency, Deutsche La, I was there before that. I thought law, so I applied for legal internships. I thought fashion design, so I did an internship at bcbg, Max Azria, you know, and this was all happening back to back. So when I started feeling like I didn't belong there, I would cut the cord and I didn't even care. Like, I was like, I'm only here for a month, it doesn't matter, I gotta go. Because for me, I felt college was a time of exploration in discovering truly what I wanted to do. And when I finished ucla, at least I had a vision, I wanted to do something. Which then I went to Parsons Design school because my background was business economics.

I love what you just said about the thoughts and putting it out there. And because I believe that as well, I do feel that sometimes people, they really do know what their passion is, but they're so in their heads on why it wouldn't work or why it would fail. So they are almost like afraid to admit it's. Their passion. So I guess the better question I would tell people that are thinking that is, what would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail to get to it? Because all kinds of crazy and amazing ideas come out from that, which is exactly what you did.

You got to be fearless. I'm not saying you wake up every morning, you're like, I'm going to do this. No, there are days where you wake up and you absolutely hate your life and hate the world and you don't want to get out of bed. I understand that. But you gotta remind yourself why you did that. You know? And for me, there was nothing to fall back on. Which I don't know if it's for everyone, but for me, definitely, when, when the pressure gets crazy is when I absolutely like excel in anything that I do, because I know there's no turning back.

Is it an instant Excel asset? Or like, if you could think back to those days where you were struggling. Cause I'm. You were struggling financially, you didn't have the clients yet. How did you like pep talk yourself each day to say, okay, I've gotta shift into this? I mean, was it you taking on and acting as like, how did you actually. I know there's people listening right now thinking this, and that's why I'm wondering where they like, they just, they're operating from circumstance, not their vision right now. And I know you get what that's like. So any tools or advice you could give on how you can focus out of that.

I think the key in life is to realize what your self worth is and what you're offering. So knowing that, you know, you're either if you have a passion, if you don't have a passion, if you thought of doing something, just do it. And you don't have to be a professional at anything that you do. People did not start their careers. Madonna didn't become Madonna because she just woke up one day and was like, I have the greatest voice on the planet.

Right?

Okay, so it's. She got up and did it. So I think the key is to go into it and push yourself. And failure happens in business and it's not going to be instantaneous. So for me, I always tell people, my first jewelry sale was one year after I launched my coffee company. So I had 365 days, a complete, utter ups and down, roller coasters, misery, wow, whatever. Took me an entire year to make my first jewelry.

Wow.

And then the company, within two years, I mean, basically I became a millionaire under 30 so the company was about. I don't know, like I think I was 28, 27. So it literally just took off by. By me not even knowing, like I didn't even know what was going on because I couldn't. It became out of control because all the stars aligned. And I think the stars align. When you walk into something and you know you're gonna do it, there is no turning back.

Yeah.

If you're gonna go one foot in, one foot out, don't do it totally. Like you gotta go and just do it all the way.

What one? How did you pay for things and find fund your life during that year? Like, how did you. Did you have to take other jobs and things you didn't like to do?

I had. I had saved up some money while I was in New York working while I was there because I had. I had the student loan for school. So most of that covered all my schooling expenses. Money that I was making I would just set aside. So I had a little bit of that. Not no astronomical number. Yeah, I had saved a little bit like a couple thousand. Like nothing big, but I basically was, you know, borrowing the car for my family, living with my family, you know, I mean. Yeah. Like I wasn't going to the movies at age 20 on weekends for sure. I want people to understand that there was. There is a sacrifice you make.

Yes.

And everyone always thought that I was some rich kid.

Yeah.

You know, that daddy gave all the cash and here you are doing jewelry. And it's like I stopped telling my story to people because no one ever believed.

Wow.

Carried myself. No one believed me. I was like, then why am I even saying it? There's no point. Why am I.

That's so. That's so amazing. Really though, if you really think about it, like you were so in your vision and so in your character of it and so in the belief system that that's why you attracted it. I believe that if you had operated from the other place of I don't have I am broke, I might fail. I don't believe you would have been a success. And I think that is. It's evident that you've done some work on this. You know, having. Loving yourself on knowing your self worth and living in that vision.

Yeah. I think you knowing who you are is so critical to everything that you do because it's no matter what you do in life. So that's key. And I firmly believe that there was a better life for me. I mean, coming from humble beginnings to a very conservative family and being Who I was and, you know, very outspoken. And I wasn't gonna be traditional, you know, I wasn't going to be, you know, this, you know, kid and, you know, just traditional child and doing everything by the books. So it was hard for me to venture out and kind of follow my vision of, like. And I always told my mother, I said, I always knew there was a life there for me that was not the life I was. I felt like my body and my soul was in a place that didn't belong. Yeah, my entire childhood, I was like. It was like outside. And then to create something where you feel like you created your universe and you belong is just so special. And that's what makes me happy. Because I think the hard work and the sacrifices then lead you to a space of where you can have that kind of freedom.

Now, how did. I'm curious, when you were little and you're, you know, did your parents speak into that with you? I know they. You said they wanted you to be in a lawyer. They had their own vision for you, and they weren't happy with the different direction. But did you have a supportive family that had you believing in yourself, or did you have to learn that?

Well, my. My family was first generation to the US So they didn't know anything about the school systems. They didn't know anything. English was their second language. My father had a very serious addiction problem till I was 30 years old. So he was not part of, really part of my life at all until I was 30. And I was way into my, you know, business at 30. So it's my mother. My mother was. She worked, you know, very long hours, but when she was with us, she gave us a lot of love and she celebrated our success. And she always told us, like, you know, if you want to have a better life, you've got to work hard. So the hard work ethic, a lot of love, and just being there for her kids nonstop and just really helping us, like, pushing us to always better ourselves, I think was a big part of it. But my mom, till today, tells a story of how I found my junior high school. Because I was scared to death to go into, like, a regular school in a bad neighborhood because we didn't lose live in the best neighborhood. So I knew if I didn't take a school bus and go outside of the neighborhood that I was growing up in, that I potentially would end up in some sort of terrible situation at the school.

Wow.

Yeah. So she talks about that all the time.

So it seems like you were very insightful from a kid of what you wanted to surround yourself with and how you wanted to uplevel your life.

Yeah, I think from the very beginning, my mom said I was quite special. Like, I didn't like to play with the other kids because I thought it was like they were getting dirty and I didn't want to get dirty.

That's funny. That's an unusual thing.

She was like, when kids were running around crossing the streets and mothers were like, don't cross the street, there's cars. You were like, I'm not crossing the street.

That's funny. You were a special something early on.

Something going on.

Yeah.

We couldn't explain, but there was, there was.

Yeah. So the celebrity niche, was that by accident or were you. Were you determined that you wanted to work with celebrities?

Celebrities at the time were very. It was a very different market. So celebrities were part of you getting notoriety in these days. Celebrity, you need like 50 of them to make any sort of noise.

Okay.

Back in the day when I had Rihanna, it was like sold out, you know, so like you would wear a piece and it was done. It was the days of paparazzi and like, you know, which so much has changed since then. So I never thought about working with celebrities, but I did part of the business, basically.

So because your stuff is so high end and it's like designer, custom, it's all of this stuff. How do you. I'm assuming you can't. You're not really selling to the masses or how does that approach change? Because you're obviously going for a niche type of clientele or do you like to educate the masses on it and then attract that.

Yeah, I always say that diamonds, there's all price points for diamonds. So grant people automatically assume that I'm in luxury.

Okay.

But that's an assumption because diamonds equal expensive. But diamonds come in all price points. So I educate my clientele to say, it depends on your budget. So there's people that come to me, I need an engagement ring for $2,000. I'll make it happen.

Got it. So it's not. So. So if you have a design, for instance, could do you make that same design but with different quality diamonds? So different because diamonds are such a spectrum.

So if people come to me and they say, well, I want the size of the stone is the. My main concern. So then I'll say, okay, we got to go down on the quality and the color, you know, So I try to work with everyone as much as I can. Now you can't come and say Well, I want a 10 carat for $500, then I'm gonna be.

That doesn't work.

Get cubic zirconia, you know, but reasonably where like I'm able to work with people and they could. And we're very technologically savvy. So all my clients, most of the time we're working via text message Instagram, like, you know, on my Azure Instagram page, like they'll just send me a direct message and I'll, you know, and we'll. And it starts. But I'm very open and accommodating because I know that any piece that I create is so. And jewelry is the type of thing that lasts forever. So it's part of the family and you could give it to your nieces, your nephews, your kids. So I know what I'm creating. No matter what the price point is, it gets the same amount of love, same amount of attention. If I, you know, I do create million dollar rings as well. I'm not, I'm not saying I don't, but I also do create, you know, a thousand. $2000.

Yeah. Can you speak a little bit into the costume jewelry trend and your thoughts on that? Because it's such a. There's so much costume jewelry now. Has that affected the market of people buying fine jewelry? Does it, does it help it? Like, I'm just curious how that impacts or if it doesn't at all.

It doesn't impact fine jewelry at all. Fine jewelry is a very refined consumer that no matter who they are, whether it's a very special moment they're buying their piece for, whether it's an engagement, a birthday that's special related, or it's someone that's very refined to the point where they're not even looking sometimes at costume jewelry because it's a very. Costume jewelry. I did costume jewelry for a while as well because when the celebrities were doing tours, like when I did work with Rihanna, when she was doing the tour, they didn't want to take diamonds on tour. So I made pieces out of costume material. And I had that collection called AZ by Azerture. It had a. So that division, I don't do as much anymore, but there was a very like five, six year period where we did costume jewelry. So it's two different clients. And I also think, you know, some people, they want to go, they want to have jewelry on, like at the beach, they don't want to take their diamonds. Yeah, for sure. Two separate worlds. Most of my clients probably dab into both.

So Azadshir any setbacks along the ways over the years where you thought maybe you're in the wrong field, maybe you'll change it around. And how did you overcome those?

The challenges that I always had and the setbacks that I had were always related to people. It was I genuinely, when I. When we, culturally, when we have success and I'm Armenian, so like when we have a certain kind of success, we want to share our success with other people. We want to support other people in their dreams and in their aspirations. And I think I realized very quickly that not everybody has the best intention for you, so they will ride on your success to get what they want.

Yeah.

My biggest setbacks in life have been to really limit like certain people in my life for many, many years. They were good friends of mine and then out of nowhere they did me dirty. And just, you know, just certain scenarios happen. And I think the best lesson that I've learned in my setbacks is you've got to cut people out. Like, don't even, don't even think twice. Like it hurts because you've known them for such a long time and it affects so much. So I think my biggest setbacks have been I've been too trustworthy in my business. Now, jewelry wise, it's a roller coaster because when people have money, you know, fine jewelry is skyrocketing.

Yeah.

Feeling the push or there's too much noise about wars, you know, and you know, having, you know, president that loves drama. Sometimes I don't drama every day on Twitter. Like people get emotional about it, whether it's really happening or it's not. You know, there, there's emotions. So that's the type of business I'm in. So I always say we know first in fine jewelry who the, who the successful ones are right now. Believe it or not, most of our, most of my clientele is us based. Where my business over the years have, have been. You, like, you know, Middle east was huge at one point and Russia was huge and then Asia was huge. Now the US is the one that's booming for fine jewelry. So it's interesting to see all these things.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Okay. And I can tell that you've got such a positive mindset and you're so vision driven and focused. So I'm wondering even if you didn't have to experience this because you lived in your vision so much, I'm wondering how you would advise someone if they're listening right now and they're in their own personal rock bottom or they haven't established what it is that they're creating. Yet they're a hardship place. And you were to give them advice on how they could start shifting and changing and creating everything from nothing, what would you tell them?

I would say diamonds are created under pressure. And diamonds have been my savior all my life. Like, pressure for me is the best thing that can happen. So if you're in a position where you feel like you're pressured, you're not feeling yourself, you feel like you're under a lot of bills and finance, whatever, this is probably the best time for you to think to yourself, I gotta do something and I gotta do it now. So I always say, don't waste your time. Truly believe in yourself. Conviction is such an important quality because you should never think there's anyone better. I don't deserve what today, what I've created more than you deserve what you want to create. We're all very equal. It's just how far are you willing to go and how far are you willing to push yourself to really get there? And it's going to be very uncomfortable.

So, so good. And I love that it's funny that you said that about diamonds being created under pressure, because that sounds like how you've lived your whole life. And that totally sums up your career. Like, that's where you've created the best of things. It was when you were under pressure.

Yeah. Because outside, I'm sparkling and looking at me thinking, rich kid, no financial worries. Daddy built his business. Reality is I'm stuck in a house, you know, that's the size. Like, my house today is very different. The way I live today. My bathroom in this house, my guest bathroom in this house is the size of close to, like, more than half of the house I grew up in. Wow. So it's. And it's. And I'm not saying that to be like, oh, this is, you know, look at me. I'm just saying that sometimes, like, you don't need to convince anyone anything because no one wants. How should I put this? No one wants your success more than you do. So you can't trust yourself. You can't depend on other people to be like, oh, here. Here's the golden ticket. Go be successful. Like, it's you. And I've learned that sometimes it's hard for us to accept that, but we are the reason of our current situation. We can't really blame anyone. And it's not luck. It's not, oh, you know, you had an opportunity and I didn't, like, sorry, not buying into that. I don't believe in that. It's about how hard are you going to work and how much conviction do you have that to go there no matter what it takes.

So good. So good. Azure. Where can people find you?

You can find me. The best way to find me is on ig, which on Instagram, which is just Azatur A Z a T U R E. And the jewelry is beautiful.

Over there when you follow that page.

Thank you. Thank you so much. It is my pride and joy. And when you get on, don't get freaked out because I have like a lot of like 15 carat, 10 carat. This is what people love to see. So I give people what they want to see.

It's amazing.

But you know we do everything, all price points and I'm happy to.

Incredible. Thank you so much Azadure.

Been a pleasure.

Thanks for leveling up with us today. Please share this episode if you found it helpful so others can join in. And don't forget to hit that subscribe so you don't miss out on future shows. And if you would leave me a five star review. I appreciate those so much. I read all of them and it's how I know that I'm giving you information that you find valuable and come interact with me over on Instagram. Instagram at nataliejillfit. I read all the direct messages and comments over there. Make it a great day. Creating everything from nothing.