Ruta Fox has more than 15 years of experience in a career that spans several industries including advertising, public relations, marketing, publishing, branding and copywriting. Additionally, she is an entrepreneur with two successful ventures. As a former freelance writer for several magazines including Vanity Fair, Self, Health and Marie Claire, she is experienced at meeting tight deadlines. She also co-founded a publication that was successfully sold to Fairchild Publications, publishers of Women’s Wear Daily. She has worked as a copywriter for Saks.com and Bloomingdale’s New York, where she was senior copywriter handling women’s fashion.
Additionally, she was a former associate creative director at G2, a branding agency which is a division of Grey Global, working on a wide variety of clients. For the past eight years, she has been the CEO, president and founder of DivineDiamonds.com, an online jewelry website. She created the first and only diamond ring designed for and marketed to single women — The Ah Ring (TM).
The Ah Ring has been lauded as “the sexiest thing since the stiletto,” and is worn by major Hollywood celebrities. Singlehandedly, (no pun intended) she created a brand new niche in the jewelry industry by targeting single women and encouraging them to buy diamonds for themselves.
Ruta and The Ah Ring has received more than 150 major national media placements — television, radio, magazine, newspaper, and Internet and blogs, including coverage in O, The Oprah Magazine, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and more, and she has appeared on CNBC’s “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.”
Additionally, she runs rutafox.com, a website where she consults on branding. She is now a “Reinvention Expert” with www.thereinventionexperts.com and a trendspotter for Trendwatching.com.
What are you working on right now?
Growing the business and looking forward to either selling the brand and/or starting a new venture. I would like to move to Greenville, S.C., and develop some new business ideas I have. I have lived in New York City for 15 years and feel it’s time to begin again.
3 Trends that excite you?
Trends I am watching include:
Singlism.
The growing trend of singles in America. People are getting married later, divorcing more frequently and spending more time being single than married. This is helpful for my product which targets single women.
Rising Gold Prices.
This directly affects my business, so I’m looking at alternative metals to bring my production costs down.
Obesity.
This trend is not going to affect my business per se, but I am looking at ways to get involved. People are not heeding the advice to lose weight, so how can I help this market?
How do you bring ideas to life?
After a career as a freelance writer, I was disciplined enough to work at home, alone. This skill set is invaluable in start-up businesses. I am not a procrastinator either. Just do it as soon as you can and you can accomplish more. Networking skills are invaluable as well. You must be good on face-to-face meetings and getting people to be excited about your business.
What is one mistake you’ve made that our readers can learn from?
I thought it was going retail, but it turns out that would have been a disaster.
What is one book and one tool that helps you bring ideas to life?
I read trend forecasting books and look at trendwatching websites.
What is one idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I wanted to open a gentlemen’s grooming salon. I think there’s a great potential in a salon that exclusively is devoted to men, in smaller markets of the US.
How did you go from being unemployed to getting into O, The Oprah Magazine?
I had six weeks to pull an entire business together. From start-up to instant entrepreneur.
What skills helped you succeed?
Hard work, determination, discipline, dedication and a host of other qualities.
Connect:
Blog: divinediamonds.blogspot.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Ruta Fox on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/rutafox
Ruta Fox on Facebook: facebook.com/ruta.fox
Twitter: twitter.com/divinediamonds
Website: divinediamonds.com
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.