Welcome to the Jewelry District, a podcast by JCP Magazine and JCPK Online.

Today, JCPK's Rob Bates and Victoria Gamowski talk with Matt Stuller, founder and CEO of Stellar.

Welcome to the jewelry district.

This is Victoria Gamelsky, editor-in-chief of J-CK, J-CK Online.com, and I'm with?

Rob Bates, news director of J-CK and J-CK Online.com.

So today we've got another special guest.

This is somebody who hardly needs an introduction.

He's dialing in from Lafayette, Louisiana.

I bet you can guess.

It's Matt Steller, founder, CEO of Steller.

Also, I've been told, Chief Custodian.

Many of you will know his voice,

know his face and certainly know his face, and

certainly know the company he has built over the last 50 years, founded in 1970. I've spent many,

many, many good times down in Lafayette with the stellar crew. I have a lot of respect for the team,

and we're thrilled to have you, Matt. Welcome. Well, thank you. Excited to be with you guys today.

So, well, first of all, I think the story of how you founded Stellar is one of those industry

legends at this point. There's definitely a back of the trunk, a car involved. But I don't want

to steal your thunder. We'd love to hear it again. Many people know it, but I think a lot of

people still don't. So how did you get started back in 1970? Fact of the matter was I was very blessed

and fortunate to have gone to work for a local retail jeweler in my Southmore year in high school.

You know, one of the blessings that I have is I'm very mechanically minded. I work well with my

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