Welcome to the Jewelry District, a podcast by J.C.K. brought to you by Tracer. Today, Rob Bates and

Victoria Gamalski discuss Botswana's election and ongoing contract

negotiations with De Beers, Victoria's experience being a judge at the Comple de Lochrie de Geneva,

otherwise known as the Oscars of Watchmaking, and they touch on some holiday predictions.

Hey, everyone, welcome to the jewelry district. This is Victoria Gamelski, editor-in-chief of J-CK and J-CK Online.com,

calling in from New York City. And I'm with...

Rob Bates, news director of JCPK and JCP Online.com, also calling in from New York City,

and it's so good to have you in New York City. Thank you.

You're usually not here. We're usually by coastal. We're usually by coastal, but we're still not in the

same room, which is the kind of the sad part. I'm here in town. I'm calling in from the apartment of my

dear friend, Michelle Orman. Many of you will know her as the publicity officer in chief. That's not

her official title of the Couture show. She's a brilliant jewelry publicist and dear friend. And I am at her

apartment in Brooklyn Heights, which is in fact the apartment above my old apartment in Brooklyn Heights.

So when I lived in New York back in the 2000s, I spent a good chunk of my time

right below where I'm currently sitting. Can you tell us anything interesting about Michelle Ormond's

apartment? She's got a lot of beautiful little gem crystals. Oh, cool. Like lots of candles and lots of books.

She's a real bibliophile. So she's got tons of books. And she's a vegan and she made me a feast when I arrived last night of homemade, plant-based cuisine.

It was good. It was delicious. And yeah, I slept like a baby. I feel restored. And I'm really grateful to have it. It's always nice to come in. I did this last year when I came in. And by the way, I should say I'm in town because, and this will be airing a week after.

So this will already have completed.

But it's New York City Jewelry Week.

I wanted to explain why I'm in town because it relates to what you're going to be talking about, Rob, which is that there was an opportunity given to me, which I was asked to potentially moderate a panel on behalf of the Botswana government.

And if anyone recalls, I interviewed former president Massisi of Botswana back in June in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas show.

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