Fascination for Ammolite turns into entrepreneurial journey

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Toniguzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_01: Joining me today on Calgary's podcast is MRGT Greewall, who was president of Corrite
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: Amalite.
[00:16] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today, Mergett.
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me, Mario.
[00:21] SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: All right.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: Let's talk, first of all, about Amalite and this industry that you're in.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: Explain to me and to us, what exactly is Amalite?
[00:34] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[00:35] SPEAKER_02: Well, first of all, I like to talk a little bit about my background with the Amalite industry.
[00:41] SPEAKER_02: So Amalite is a gemstone.
[00:43] SPEAKER_02: I love to call it as a Canadian gemstone.
[00:46] SPEAKER_02: It is an official, award as gemstone as of 2022.
[00:51] SPEAKER_02: Corrite Amalite has been mining, bringing the Amalite beautiful gemstone from mine to
[00:56] SPEAKER_02: the market since 1979.
[00:59] SPEAKER_02: I have been with this brand for a good over 30 some years.
[01:04] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's a beautiful gemstone, but it comes from one place in the world and it's
[01:11] SPEAKER_02: in Lethbridge.
[01:12] SPEAKER_02: Believe it or not.
[01:15] SPEAKER_02: So our mission, or at least my mission is to bring it to the next level.
[01:20] SPEAKER_02: Be called as a Canadian gemstone.
[01:23] SPEAKER_01: So in terms of the color, what can you talk a little bit about?
[01:27] SPEAKER_02: It's a multi-color gemstone.
[01:30] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[01:30] SPEAKER_02: So it's a...
[01:31] SPEAKER_02: Oh, gosh.
[01:33] SPEAKER_02: As you can see in my background, this is an Amalite.
[01:36] SPEAKER_02: It's a fossilized Amalite.
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: So it comes in various colors, multi-color, so blues, red, greens, all colors of the rainbow
[01:44] SPEAKER_02: that you can think of.
[01:46] SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure if you can see my ring here and you can see it in a gemstone too.
[01:51] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's a multi-color gemstone and if you are...
[01:55] SPEAKER_02: If you fall in love with the color, I'm sure it's blue or red or green, you're going
[02:02] SPEAKER_02: to find it all in one stop shop, which is Amalite.
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[02:07] SPEAKER_01: So tell me, you know, the Amalite itself, you know, what is it used for?
[02:13] SPEAKER_01: Like, and the different uses of it.
[02:16] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[02:16] SPEAKER_02: So definitely, so as far as the...
[02:20] SPEAKER_02: I'll start from the top, like it comes in a fossilized form, which is an Amalite.
[02:26] SPEAKER_02: Gemstone, which I'm wearing in my ring here, is Amalite.
[02:30] SPEAKER_02: So the difference is Amalite is a gemstone.
[02:32] SPEAKER_02: Amalite is a fossil.
[02:35] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[02:35] SPEAKER_02: So Amalite can be used in your household, in your office, for a Feng Shui decoration
[02:43] SPEAKER_02: as a collector.
[02:43] SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's 70 million years old, right?
[02:48] SPEAKER_02: I mean, how many gemstones we can probably say that.
[02:53] SPEAKER_02: So there's Feng Shui Masters who do believe that it brings good luck and it also brings
[02:59] SPEAKER_02: harmony, good health, so different colors represent different things.
[03:04] SPEAKER_02: It's also, for me, it's a piece of art also.
[03:08] SPEAKER_02: And when I'm sitting in my office and I'm putting my thinking hat, which I do quite
[03:13] SPEAKER_02: often, it just empowers me and the confidence that it brings in me and wearing a piece of Amalite
[03:20] SPEAKER_02: is a bold statement for me, for sure.
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: Can you talk a little bit, Emergy, about the connection to the indigenous community with
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: this?
[03:30] SPEAKER_02: Yes.
[03:31] SPEAKER_02: So, like I said, Corridor Amalite has been in business for good over 44 years now, has
[03:40] SPEAKER_02: gone through its ups and downs.
[03:42] SPEAKER_02: As we all know, there was pandemic, which we like to not talk about it, but it did happen.
[03:50] SPEAKER_02: So last, I would say, three, four years, Corridor's journey has been quite up and down.
[03:58] SPEAKER_02: So last few years, the ups and downs has brought Corridor to a level where it was up for sale.
[04:08] SPEAKER_02: And it is mine on indigenous land.
[04:13] SPEAKER_02: In September, Beth and Tracey Day chief, who owned the Buffalo Rock mining and has been
[04:22] SPEAKER_02: in Amalite mining business bar, I would say good over 30 years.
[04:27] SPEAKER_02: They took over Corridor, so they bought all the assets for Corridor.
[04:32] SPEAKER_02: And so now, the beautiful thing with Corridor is we have two mind sites.
[04:37] SPEAKER_02: One is on the indigenous side, which is Buffalo Rock mining, and the other one is Corridor
[04:42] SPEAKER_02: Mine.
[04:42] SPEAKER_02: So we have our sources coming out of two beautiful mines.
[04:46] SPEAKER_02: So we can probably say that we have 95% of the market share as of now.
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[05:01] SPEAKER_01: So tell me in terms of the the fossil and the gemstone, what significance or doesn't
[05:07] SPEAKER_01: have some significance in the indigenous community?
[05:12] SPEAKER_02: So it is considered as a Buffalo Stone, which is a four-pro, a Blackfoot story, which
[05:21] SPEAKER_02: we can, there's a lot of stories behind it.
[05:25] SPEAKER_02: And there's a beautiful video on our website, which you can go to Corridor.com and look
[05:30] SPEAKER_02: at it.
[05:31] SPEAKER_02: Yes, so it is an indigenous gemstone.
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: Okay, then.
[05:35] SPEAKER_01: Now let's talk about your connection here.
[05:39] SPEAKER_01: How did you initially become involved with all this?
[05:46] SPEAKER_02: I've, it's been a long journey.
[05:49] SPEAKER_02: I've been in the Amalek industry for over 30 some years.
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: I feel like I was, I was born and raised in Calcutta, India, into Canada about 30 some
[06:02] SPEAKER_02: years ago.
[06:04] SPEAKER_02: I came into this industry by fluke.
[06:07] SPEAKER_02: I was, my background is accounting, had my undergrad in BICOM and wanted to be a CPA
[06:16] SPEAKER_02: one day.
[06:17] SPEAKER_02: And I joined Corridor, got about 30 some years ago and started my career in accounting.
[06:26] SPEAKER_02: And as I was growing with the company, there were a few positions that I had opened and
[06:30] SPEAKER_02: out of curiosity, I said, oh, you know what, let me try this.
[06:34] SPEAKER_02: And it was to do with the grading gemstones.
[06:38] SPEAKER_02: That's where I started my role in Corridor, which was again 30 some years ago.
[06:42] SPEAKER_02: I started grading gemstones and literally felt in love with the gemstone.
[06:48] SPEAKER_02: And I always say, you know, when you, when you buy a piece of Amalek, you're not buying
[06:54] SPEAKER_02: Amalek, you're actually falling in love with Amalek and Amalek chooses you.
[06:59] SPEAKER_02: So I feel like Amalek chose me and there was no looking back.
[07:05] SPEAKER_02: So yes, I do, I do have an accounting background, but you know, in my business aspect, in my
[07:11] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneurship, it tremendously helped me as you know, you know, it's not just about
[07:17] SPEAKER_02: grading gemstones, but it's about running a business.
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: What was it that fascinated you and still fascinated you about Amalek?
[07:28] SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, it's a beautiful gemstone.
[07:31] SPEAKER_02: Other than just the beauty of gemstone, I think it's the story behind it.
[07:36] SPEAKER_02: It comes, it is a 70 million years old gemstone.
[07:40] SPEAKER_02: It comes out of Canada, which I probably call my home now.
[07:46] SPEAKER_02: And you know, like I said, 30 some years ago, I came to Canada and I embraced Canada as much as
[07:51] SPEAKER_02: Canada has given me my, you know, my future, my families here.
[07:57] SPEAKER_02: I have so that there's a beautiful story behind Amalek.
[08:02] SPEAKER_02: It comes from Canada and it literally isn't our backyard.
[08:08] SPEAKER_02: And the third part is we don't talk about it enough.
[08:10] SPEAKER_02: There's not enough awareness in Canada.
[08:13] SPEAKER_02: So for me, my mission is to bring this gemstone to not only to a global level,
[08:18] SPEAKER_02: but also bring your awareness to the gemstone.
[08:21] SPEAKER_02: We're talking about, um, uh, sapphires and rubies and emeralds, but I just feel like I attend
[08:29] SPEAKER_02: a tons of great shows I'd travel around the world where it's very few people know about Amalek.
[08:36] SPEAKER_02: So my mission is to bring the awareness for Amalek globally so that we can openly talk about it
[08:42] SPEAKER_02: with other gemstones. Currently, I'm, uh, I'm working with GIA to bring our grading system to the
[08:50] SPEAKER_02: level, uh, level, same level as other gemstones. Um, Corrid has led as a, um, I would say, um,
[09:00] SPEAKER_02: uh, we set up the grading standard and the rest of the industry has kind of followed it
[09:07] SPEAKER_02: and then some, some other players in the Amalek industry has come up with your own grading system,
[09:13] SPEAKER_02: which kind of confuses the consumer. So our target is not to lead just with what we think should
[09:22] SPEAKER_02: the grading system should be. So that's one of the mission for me right now is to work in a
[09:28] SPEAKER_02: fear of grading system that the consumer understands when they're buying from Corrid or they're
[09:34] SPEAKER_02: buying from any other Amalek dealer that they're buying a piece of Amalek in the right grading system
[09:40] SPEAKER_02: that they, when they bring that piece home that they have a full satisfaction that they bought
[09:44] SPEAKER_01: the grading that they were offered. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, when you, uh, you look at your career,
[09:52] SPEAKER_01: and I know, um, uh, you know, we've talked about this in the past for another publication,
[09:58] SPEAKER_01: but you talked about the influence of your mother and in your career. Can you, can you just explain
[10:04] SPEAKER_01: just how important, uh, and your mother was through your journey and, uh, and the things she taught you?
[10:12] SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely. Um, I'm glad you asked. Um, yes, my mom is my rock and I, um, I owe my confidence,
[10:23] SPEAKER_02: my determination, my resilience, all of it to my mom. Um, number one thing my mom always taught me
[10:30] SPEAKER_02: or taught us with mother siblings was, um, you always need education. You always need to be
[10:38] SPEAKER_02: financially independent and, and I'm talking about 50 some years ago and, um, there was no woman
[10:45] SPEAKER_02: empowerment, there was no equality. We didn't talk about it. I mean, there was the, but we really
[10:49] SPEAKER_02: did openly talk about it. Um, I'm talking about 50 some years ago when my mom taught me that and
[10:55] SPEAKER_02: that determination, that resilience, I took that very seriously and I ran with it. And even today,
[11:04] SPEAKER_02: I'm part of a lot of nonprofit. I'm part of James for James giving it back to the community is a
[11:10] SPEAKER_02: big factor for me. Um, and I, and that comes from my mom and my mom was, um, big, I would call it a
[11:17] SPEAKER_02: big giver back then, but now it's like giving it back to the community. I'm a Rotarian and I like to
[11:23] SPEAKER_02: give it back to Rory. I like to give it back to my community, which is James for James. We, um,
[11:29] SPEAKER_02: it's not always the financial help. We empower them through education so that, you know,
[11:35] SPEAKER_02: abusive domestic women can stand on your two feet and, you know, raise your families.
[11:40] SPEAKER_02: Um, I am part of a lot of other organizations, which we can talk offline someday. But to me,
[11:47] SPEAKER_02: giving back comes from my mom and being resilient. Yeah. Yeah. I guess resilience is important
[11:54] SPEAKER_01: night for any business owner because everything's not rosy all the time, right? No, it's not. And,
[12:01] SPEAKER_02: you know, what, and that's, and that's part of the parcel of life, right? Um, you fall back
[12:07] SPEAKER_02: and stuff's gonna happen to you and what happened during pandemic wasn't just what happened to
[12:13] SPEAKER_02: Core i did happen globally. And, um, yeah, if you don't know anything from that was, hey, you know,
[12:19] SPEAKER_02: things are gonna happen to you and it's not about what happens to you, how you react to it.
[12:26] SPEAKER_02: Ups and downs are gonna come. Um, it's how you get up and how you react to it. And, interestingly,
[12:32] SPEAKER_02: I don't know if, I think we did mention in our last interview when we talked about it, I did
[12:37] SPEAKER_02: leave Korite in 2020, December 2020. Um, and, um, I started my own brand in his game, um,
[12:45] SPEAKER_02: like, at the time. Um, and that, and the reason I want to bring that up is just like total love
[12:51] SPEAKER_02: for Amalite. Even though I left Korite, it wasn't, um, it wasn't, um, it wasn't like the, um,
[12:59] SPEAKER_02: dead end for me for Amalite. I was like, no, I love this gemstone. And I want to bring, and
[13:04] SPEAKER_02: bring that awareness to the world. And that mission never stopped for me. Um, so I just want to
[13:10] SPEAKER_02: empower, um, globally all the rest of the gemstone industry, uh, through education, resources,
[13:18] SPEAKER_02: and support them. Being a skim, being a Korite didn't matter to me. It was just different
[13:23] SPEAKER_02: hat, same mission, same passion, and same vision for me. So I'm curious, uh, you know, uh, can you
[13:30] SPEAKER_01: recall the first time you, you went, say down to the, uh, the area where the, the fossil is mined? And,
[13:38] SPEAKER_02: do you recall that then what? Yes. Yes. Um, like I said, um, I was, uh, strictly based in my office
[13:48] SPEAKER_02: and never really visited the mine because that was my role. Um, I can probably tell you today,
[13:55] SPEAKER_02: I, I ran Korite from mine to the market concept, but I really never went to the mine or never
[14:03] SPEAKER_02: cut a gemstone. Those are the two things that I, um, how to do it. So when I went to the mine,
[14:10] SPEAKER_02: it was like completely fascinating for me. It was, this is literally happening in our back here.
[14:17] SPEAKER_02: We can actually go dig this gemstone and this beautiful gemstone and we bring it to Calgary and cut
[14:24] SPEAKER_02: and polish in, in house. Uh, it was like a, uh, moment for me. Um, and thank, um, thank you for
[14:31] SPEAKER_02: bringing that up because I do want to touch on that. The, I would say the best part that fascinated me
[14:38] SPEAKER_02: was not about just, hey, you know, we're gonna go dig some amole and, you know, cut some beautiful
[14:42] SPEAKER_02: gemstones out of it and bring it to the market. I think the best thing that resonated me was how
[14:48] SPEAKER_02: we actively mined it and bring that land back to the original state. And so when I came back, um,
[14:56] SPEAKER_02: I actually recently joined Corite in October, as I mentioned earlier, um, along with Beth and Tracey
[15:03] SPEAKER_02: Day chief, dear vision, um, aligned with me. Um, meaning we, uh, we want to leave the land in the
[15:12] SPEAKER_02: original state. We're not here to just get what we want, but bring that land to the normal state
[15:20] SPEAKER_02: that you would, if you even went there today and you won't be able to tell that there was any
[15:25] SPEAKER_02: mining process down there. So environmental sustainability are the top of my, top of my mission
[15:32] SPEAKER_00: and that aligned with Tracey and Beth. Discover the latest trends, strategies, and success stories
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: in the ever evolving world of business. Canada's podcast dot com subscribe now. Now obviously, uh, uh,
[15:47] SPEAKER_01: as a business executive, busy life, uh, you know, running in business, et cetera, but I'm just
[15:54] SPEAKER_01: curious. What do you, uh, what do you do to relax to unwind when you're not doing things at work?
[16:02] SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't, I used to believe there's a work life balance or actually I like to believe
[16:09] SPEAKER_02: there's a work life balance. There is no life balance. I call it work life enrichment for myself.
[16:14] SPEAKER_02: So I'm a big, biggest advocate of mine, but body and soul. And what does that mean? I mean,
[16:21] SPEAKER_02: fitness is number one priority for me. Actually, I call that my work is my number one priority.
[16:26] SPEAKER_02: My passion is my number one priority, but fitness comes to me naturally. And I think, and I practice
[16:33] SPEAKER_02: hot yoga, um, and that, um, sitting on that mat and practicing that hot yoga and grounds me,
[16:39] SPEAKER_02: brings me back to my roots and say, why do I do what I do every day? Making up in the morning,
[16:46] SPEAKER_02: um, is the best thing. I love Mondays. Mondays are the best days of the week for me.
[16:54] SPEAKER_02: I read it in the morning and what do I want to do? Take care of my family, take care of myself,
[16:59] SPEAKER_02: my body, my soul. And again, you know, this passion that I carry on with me, amolate.
[17:06] SPEAKER_02: Um, and the first call I make is to our my manager every morning and I say, hey, what did we find today?
[17:12] SPEAKER_02: And he said, these beautiful pictures of lemonade and that just makes my day.
[17:16] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, uh, fitness, walking around with my dog and hot yoga, spending time with my loved ones
[17:24] SPEAKER_01: where my family is my number one priority. I guess, you know, uh, some people tend, you know,
[17:31] SPEAKER_01: once they're in, uh, in the business world and they're so, you know, they embrace everything
[17:37] SPEAKER_01: about what they're doing in their business, et cetera, they tend to forget that, but
[17:41] SPEAKER_01: that's all that other stuff is, is really important right to, uh, it's important because it
[17:48] SPEAKER_01: translates to how effective and, uh, you are as a business person, right? It is extremely important.
[17:56] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, now since post COVID, I would say we're bringing, um, we're talking more actually
[18:01] SPEAKER_02: about mental health. Uh, I wish we talked about it earlier. Uh, and I've been a biggest advocate
[18:07] SPEAKER_02: about mental health. Um, and, you know, I, I practice what I preach. And I'm a biggest advocate of
[18:16] SPEAKER_02: that. And that's why I've joined, um, gems for gems. I've joined all these giving back organizations
[18:23] SPEAKER_02: because I think, um, you know, we're all in this business for revenues and ROI numbers will be,
[18:32] SPEAKER_02: will crunch numbers all day. But when we, like, like, I'm glad you were talking about this,
[18:39] SPEAKER_02: like when we settle down at the end of the day, what, what fills our cup? What is to me, number one
[18:46] SPEAKER_02: thing that I wake up in the morning before I go to bed is gratitude. I practice gratitude, like,
[18:51] SPEAKER_02: not tomorrow. I don't take this for granted. For me to come full circle here after I left in 2020
[18:59] SPEAKER_02: and coming back to core right is to me is this was a calling. This was a something, um,
[19:06] SPEAKER_02: mission that I want to bring down my life to the next level. I don't take this very, um,
[19:11] SPEAKER_02: likely I take this very seriously, but I don't take my life very seriously. Like, I mean, you know what,
[19:17] SPEAKER_02: life is too short. Let's, let's look after each other. Let's practice gratitude. Let's practice
[19:24] SPEAKER_02: taking care of each other. And if anything COVID has taught us is the new norm, which I feel like
[19:31] SPEAKER_02: a lot of us have forgotten. Um, I kind of like that new norm where we had paused ourselves, where we had
[19:37] SPEAKER_02: thought about each other. We were all running into meetings and traveling and staying away from
[19:44] SPEAKER_02: our loved ones or family. Um, but we survived, you know, we survived on Zoom calls. We survived
[19:51] SPEAKER_02: less traveling. I'm not, I'm a people person like I have to meet people. I have to travel.
[19:57] SPEAKER_02: But what is that? It did, it did teach us to pause, refocus and, you know, just breathe,
[20:05] SPEAKER_02: just breathe. Yeah. Breathing. And, um, you know, take care of your loved ones. Uh, take care of
[20:12] SPEAKER_02: your business because that's what keeps me going. Um, but there's a, you know, just pause. Sometimes
[20:19] SPEAKER_02: we just need to pause, rethink and refocus. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Well, thanks so much,
[20:25] SPEAKER_01: Emergy, for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. All right. That was Emergy,
[20:31] SPEAKER_01: uh, Grewal, who was president of Core Right Amalite. I'm Mario Tonoguzzi, managing editor of
[20:37] SPEAKER_01: Canada's podcast. Thanks for joining us today.