Meet Reneta Tsonkova | Business owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Reneta Tsonkova and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Reneta, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think we live in a time where everything around us invites us to risk. We risk with our thoughts, our actions or lack of such, accepting or rejecting, falling in and out of love, commitment or loneliness, loyalty or betrayal.. and we risk financially. It’s a risk that we are tempted by every single day. We are surrounded by things we “need” which we didn’t even think we needed, but someone else thought of them for us… buy, sell, get it on a payment plan, don’t worry about it now, you’ll figure it out later, we can help you then too.

I started my businesses with my own money, with the conviction that even if they don’t make it I wouldn’t have lost more than what I already had. When it comes to my finances and business, my risks are always measured and premeditated. I never allow myself to be reckless in that regard. I can’t allow someone else to make a decision for me because I’m responsible for my family and the people I work with and I can’t take a risk unless I intuitively feel it with my whole being. Which is how I made the decision to start working for myself in the first place. I felt it instinctively. And maybe that’s why my progress has been slower. Maybe if I had taken more risks in my work and personal life, I could’ve been a giant in the diamond and jewellery industry by now. Sometimes I wish I had and I go through the cycle of feeling guilty to trusting myself and my journey and back again and it can really make my head spin sometimes.

But I’d say, for me, the biggest risk which seems to take over all parts of my life is to be okay with simply being human. Every day of my life has made me what I am today. Every encounter, every time I experienced joy, sadness, every success or failure has led me to be who I am today. And the truth is it doesn’t matter what I’ve experienced in the past, or what I’ll experience tomorrow, but how I’ll choose to live today. Every risk I’ve taken has led me to be the woman I am today and I can only hope that I won’t betray her tomorrow.

What should our readers know about your business?

I can’t say that I had a plan or a specific idea when I first started working. I was never seduced by the idea of my own business, the position of a leader and the power that comes with that. The only thing that I ever really wanted was to be myself and to live as myself and finally be at peace with what’s within.

Which apparently ended up with me owning three companies- a boutique jewellery store, the only diamond exchange market in the country and a company that designs acupressure mats.

All three are with a completely different activity and the only thing that unifies them is my presence and the heart and soul I put into my work. I insist on everything I do to have a piece of me, to have a soul, a meaning. Which can make me quite critical. Maybe in the eyes of other people that’s not the right approach and I might lose on sales, but I prefer to have that connection with my clients and my work.

At my jewellery store, Renée De Clair we are all about offering a customized, personalized experience and so we attract a small, but dedicated and educated audience who cherishes individual approach and insists on giving their loved ones truly unique gifts and engagement rings. I established an appointment-only policy because I value highly each client’s personal space, emotions, finances. It doesn’t matter whether their budget is $1,000 or $100,000 – everyone gets the same personalised treatment. I don’t allow anyone else to meet with my clients. Not because I don’t trust my employees, quite the contrary. But because I believe every client deserves me to be there for them. I want them to know we’re not just a merchant whose main and only focus is profit. To me diamond processing is one of the most exciting professions where we get to turn a
unique, natural, raw material into a crown of beauty. Our goal is to reveal the true beauty of the rough stone, turning it into a polished diamond- a symbol of power, love and dedication. Often, as a gem cutter and diamond evaluating expert, I work with rough diamonds still in their rock shell. In this case I need to find a crack in it to see what is inside. Which can take a lot of time.

Once I am aware of what the stone is like, I need to understand whether there are any cracks or intrusions, what its structure is. It is only then when I can say what cut will be best for this particular diamond. Modern technologies allow us to scan the rough diamond and suggest different cut options that maximise aesthetics and value. But for me each stone, intrusions free or not, has its own unique beauty. The question is whether the intrusions can damage the diamond during the cutting process. They contain gas and if you touch it during cutting, the stone might break.

When a Renée De Clair client wants to buy an engagement ring, I always insist on getting to know a bit about the woman who will hopefully wear it and how she looks. Only after I get a sense of her, we choose the diamond cut that will suit her best, that will underline or tone down a significant personal trait. For example- does she need to feel stronger and more confident or does she need to let her guard down and be more vulnerable.

We also choose the cut based on what message we want to convey with the diamond.

Each cut has its own history, meaning and even aura. Each cut has a reasoning behind the way it’s made. The Marquise cut, for example, is based on the shape of the face of the famed Madame de Pompadour and is best for powerful, strong-willed women. Another example would be the Brilliant cut. It’s the only cut where if it’s perfectly made when you look closely at it you will see the shapes of hearts and arrows, which is why it has become such a popular stone for an engagement ring.

It’s not only the diamond that speaks without words to the wearer and the other. It is the metal, too. Gold is the metal of sun, strength and energy and is for women who want to emanate confidence. White metals are colder and more restricted, and reveals a personality that would rather keep some mystery about herself.

We work with and sell only diamonds certified by GIA or HRD, the two world renown certification laboratories. Each stone has its unique number engraved. As an evaluation expert who testifies in court I am aware of the dangers of selling stones from unknown sources and I never buy from clients. I offer only diamonds that I can be responsible for.

As you can see, I put a lot of thought and soul behind everything I do which I believe makes us an extraordinary and unusual jewellery store.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
That’s easy. I’d love to take them to Runyon Canyon. I love that I can climb all the way up and get a view of the whole city anywhere I turn, from the ocean to the mountains. It’s a place where you can dream and feel free, a place where you can breathe in the quiet before going back down to the hecticness of the LA life.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I’ve had many teachers throughout my journey so far. Teachers I’ve accepted and ones I rejected because they hurt me or I didn’t understand them. Today I know that they are all a part of who I am because I needed them. An incredible person that I can never find the words to express my gratitude is Michael Newton. Through his discoveries and knowledge of the souls journey I was able and get to know myself and connect with my own soul.

Website: www.declair.eu

Instagram: www.instagram.com/renee_de_clair

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reneedeclairyogadesigns

Image Credits
Irina Shestakova, IG: @irinashestakova Nelly Tomova