An Interview with “Diamond Wizard” Maarten de Witte: Part 2

A New Approach

“So, I decided to take a whole new approach,” de Witte smirked.

I’d walk into their stores and tell them I realized they probably already had a cutter, but they probably also had a little vial on their workbench filled with broken stones. Their cutter just wouldn’t mess with them because they were too small and a pain to cut. I offered to cut them to show them what I could do. Soon, people caught on that I actually knew what I was doing.

Step by step, de Witte eventually turned that small business into a bigger one, cutting diamonds all around central Illinois. However, it still wasn’t enough to make ends meet. So de Witte went back to school, studying African History to get more perspective on the diamond industry there. Eventually, he finished his Masters in Economic and Mineral Geography, writing his thesis on diamonds and development in Botswana.

Nevertheless, he was still stuck between a rock and a hard place when finding work. So, de Witte started sending out hundreds of job applications, hoping that something would jell.

In Chicago,