She travels the globe to help clients find the perfect slab of stone. It’s a dream job and frankly, one many never knew existed.
It’s a world that may seem out-of-reach to most, but working with such a diverse group of people has given Daniela Acosta insight that serves as a good reminder to be flexible.
"You are literally standing inside of a mountain! It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Acosta explained of her job at quarries.
She has spent her life around stone.
"The first quarry I went to with my dad he told me, 'Today is the day you either fall in love with stone or stone is not for you,'" Acosta explained.
She fell in love. Acosta joined the family business, Stone Boutique, three years ago.
Acosta and her family work with a lot of clients in high-end real estate and commercial properties. Communication and relationships are at the core of everything they do.
"Some of these stones I’ve never even heard of," Acosta said. "So, where do you go to find these? We go to literally every corner of the world."
And that takes trust between a brand and their client. Acosta explains that those long-term business relationships take time and energy, but that investment has paid off.
"Integrity, relationships and being honest and working hard are all things that we see across the globe when we’re working with our partners and suppliers," she said.
Her family’s business model was also created with adaptability in mind, so when the pandemic hit, they made a seamless transition.
"Instead of shopping for stone in a hot, dusty, often unorganized warehouse, which is the traditional model, we do our selection process at Stone Boutique through the visualization room," she explained.
Even rocks are going virtual! Each stone slab in their inventory is on a high-resolution image.
Clients view them remotely, in 3D, before the stone ever sees their space.
"That really gives clients a huge sense of certainty. Nobody else in our field can do that," she explained.
Acosta is a unique gem herself– there aren't a lot of women in her field.
"The stone industry has been a male-dominated field historically," she explained. "Every field and every industry has been strengthened by diversifying their workforce and the stone industry is no different."
Her ultimate piece of advice? Have grit and tenacity– proverbial gems that can open doors.
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