Started out as a secretary, now the top saleswoman
Everyone in the Antwerp diamond industry knows Marianne Georges (60). As a 20-year old girl, she started working as a secretary for diamantaires Isi and Daniël Horowitz. But over the years she climbed up the professional ladder, and today ‘Madame Marianne’ is the top saleswoman at one of the largest diamond companies in the world.
Marianne lives and breathes diamonds. When you ask her what her favorite diamonds are, you will receive an elaborate story about, “the rarity of certain colored diamonds that, due to a twist of fate and the presence of certain substances in nature, have a beautiful color.” There is nothing she does not know about white diamonds either. “Eternity is what I find so fascinating about diamonds. Because diamonds are the hardest product on earth, they are indestructible. They formed in the Earth’s mantle millions of years ago, eventually to be sold as the ultimate gift of love. I am fortunate to work with such a fantastic product every day and I do so with the greatest pleasure.”
At Diarough N.V., Marianne includes the most exclusive jewelry brands among her clientele. “I am bound by a sort of confidentiality agreement, but for instance I was involved in the making of the diamond boots by designer A.F. Vandevorst, and I worked together with Mick Jagger’s ex – designer L’Wren Scott, who is no longer with us – on a necklace that was worn by Nicole Kidman. You have to know what the client wants even before he knows what he is looking for. Because there is such a great variety of diamonds, it is a matter of collecting the right stones, and then selling an illusion of what can be done with the stones.”
Closed world
The diamond industry has a reputation of being a closed world. While this is mainly due to the strict security regulations, it is also a fact that many diamond companies are passed down from generation to generation, and few newcomers enter the industry. “Today I regularly sell to the grandchildren of my first customers, which is fantastic to see,” says Marianne. “That is also the beauty of our industry. All of these different nationalities and cultures sharing the same passion for diamonds, but also often having the same family values. These days my boss is Indian, and through him I have come to know the Indian culture very well. You need to know these things in the diamond trade, and they are also very enriching and interesting beyond the industry.”
Hear, see and speak no evil
A working day in the international diamond industry never looks the same. “You are never bored,” says Marianne. “It is like a game of musical chairs that starts up again every day, where buyers and sellers negotiate. One day you are lucky they buy your merchandise, and the next day you have to accept that they go to your biggest competitor. But everyone knows each other and wishes each other well. That’s how it works in the diamond business.”
She entered the diamond trade as a young girl of twenty. “I answered the phones; I was the secretary.” But when the Jewish brothers Isi and Daniël Horowitz became the guardians of a new mine in the 1980s, she put her innate talents to good use. “I received opportunities to grow, but I also wanted to grow. Working hard, ‘hearing, seeing and speaking no evil’, having strong language skills, being very organized and enthusiastic about my career. That is how I climbed up the ladder.” When her son was born in 1984, she considered leaving the business. “I am happy I didn’t do that. But make no mistake. It wasn’t easy. A woman in diamond sales in the 1980s – that was unheard of. I just assumed: it doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman. You have to be good at what you do.”
Source: HLN
