Ruta Fox, CEO of Divine Diamonds
No matter what your business, everyone wants to get to OPRAH. I finally met someone who has.
Ruta Fox, CEO and Founder of Divine Diamonds started her journey in the Fall of 2000 when a friend expressed interest in a diamond ring Oprah was wearing on her pinkie. Knowing her flight attendant friend couldn’t afford Oprah’s exact ring, she shopped around and found a good deal on a similar ring from a wholesale jeweler in NYC. Within the next few weeks, she began buying and selling more of the rings, driving to her friends’ offices and adding a small markup to earn a profit (a former freelance writer, Ruta was unemployed after suffering from arthritis aggravated by hours at the computer). The rings, which she branded as the “Ah Ring” for “Available and Happy”, were selling faster than she could buy them.
Of course, any good story has to include a fairy godmother. In this case, it was a Psychic. A long-time friend of Ruta’s, psychic Bea Marot helped guide every turn leading to the successful launch of the business, including the key turning point-OPRAH. A friend of Bea’s had just started a job with O Magazine and Bea encouraged Ruta to get a meeting. The editors were impressed. Better yet, Oprah was impressed. Within six weeks, Ruta started a website, formed an S Corp, developed marketing materials, and opened an 800-number, all in preparation for inclusion in the March 2001 edition of the O List, just a few months away.
Attention from the Oprah recognition created as much turbulence in the business as success, as Ruta found herself unable to source enough rings, or even pay for them. Again following Bea’s advice, she decided to look for a US factory and found just the right connection in the very least place she expected, from a blind-date she met on Match.com.  With fate on her side, and with continued support from her family and friends, she went on to make Divine Diamonds the successful company it is today.
1. How has your life changed since the time you bought and sold your first ring?
Well, as a former freelance writer, I’ve never had to take another writing job. I was also given the opportunity to be a speaker at Harvard Business School and Brown University at their entrepreneurial events.
2. Now that time (and the initial wave of media) has passed, how do you keep your product name out there?
Well, HARO (Help A Reporter Out) has been invaluable, since keeping a full-time PR person on retainer is very, very expensive. I did get over 200 national media hits in the beginning with the PR agency. I had a background in PR, marketing and branding, so I try to keep up myself now. Plus, with the advent of the changes in PR, everything is different. I get to a lot of bloggers, and I’ve done promotions with companies like Sony Pictures. Hollywood celebrities love the Ah Ring, so that helps, too.
3. What advice would you give to someone looking to get in touch with Oprah, especially if they have no connections to get them in the door?
Oh, that is the holy grail of answers. I would say that the website Oprah.com is a start. Plus, there is a book I’ve heard about by Susan Harrow, How To Get Booked on Oprah. I know people try for years and years, and recently there was a TV special about it, “The Oprah Effect”. My friend and psychic Beatrice Marot in Los Angeles was my connection, because she knew a girl who worked at O, The Oprah Magazine, at that time. I went in to show Michelle an Ah Ring, she bought one, sent the presentation to Oprah, and the rest is history!
4. Having so much success early on can sometimes be as difficult as failing. How did you handle the stress, and did you ever feel like giving up?
OOOOOh, the stress was incredible because I had never run a business before. I describe it to people this way: It’s as if someone gives you a million dollars in cash and tells you that you HAVE it, you can actually KEEP it, but then they throw it into the air and tell you that you have to put it in numerical order. At moments when you are scrambling around on the floor, you say to yourself, “this is crazy”, all this work is just not worth it.
5. What’s the best thing about being your own boss?
Making all the decisions myself, not having to answer to anyone. And, being able to manage time the way I want to…i.e. going to the movies on a weekday afternoon if I feel like it, and working Saturday nights, if I need to.
6. Has being a single entrepreneur helped you or hurt you in business and why?
Absolutely helped. I don’t think the story would have been able to “ring true” if I was promoting The Ah Ring for single women, and I was married! I was living, breathing and sleeping my product, doing all the work myself, and had total contact with my target audience. They spoke to me on the phone, got personal emails from me, and were thrilled. Plus, the demands of a family would have been too much to handle in addition to the demands of the business.
7. Describe the ideal person who would complement both your life and your business.
I would love to be in a business, not necessarily jewelry, and work with my partner. He would have to be creative, like to travel, and of course, be smart and funny. I am ready to open that next chapter of my life!
8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I’m not much of a long-term strategist, hopefully doing something fun, lucrative and meaningful to people.
Ruta’s Bio:
C.E.O and President of Divine Diamonds, Ruta Fox is a trendsetter in the marketing of jewelry to single women. She created The Ah Ring, the first and only diamond ring designed for and marketed to single women to wear on their pinkie. A former freelance writer, Fox was selling a diamond ring to friends, who she discerned, were all  ”A, available and h, happy.” After wondering why there were rings for married and engaged women, but none for single women, she launched the company after research showed there were over 55 million single women in the U.S. When The Ah Ring appeared on the O List in O, The Oprah magazine, (2001) she did $1 million dollars worth of sales in the first year.
Want to connect with Ruta? Follow her on Facebook!
August 21st, 2009 at 10:54 am
Great article on Ruta!! Thanks for thinking of me Ruta.
I had to smile and leave a comment because the next short blog is about Lash Fary.
I did a reading for Lash Fary 10 years ago while helping put together a fundraising benefit with Sebastian International for Planet Hope run by Sharon Stone’s sister Kelly!
At one point, I said to him, “One day you’re going to be The Lash of the Party!”
And he sure became that putting together the great gift bags at all the major Hollywood parties and events!!