"My name is Maria Vella. I am 25 years old, am currently a full-time student pursuing a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Maryville University and am one of the 24 employees at Genovese Jewelers. I want to share with you all my personal story, detailing a transition from new customer to loyal employee, in an attempt to give you an honest impression of who I am as the narrator of this blog and how I am connected to the Genovese family business."
-Maria
In November of 2012, my parents, John and Theresa, informed that I would be gifted a class ring to commemorate my graduation from the University of Missouri, Columbia in the Spring of 2013. After looking online at the class rings offered for Mizzou students, I asked if I could instead pick out a ring from a local jeweler in lieu of choosing from the school’s selection. Thankfully, my parents agreed.
In previous years, my father had shopped at different jewelers in the area, but once he found Genovese Jewelers, he refused to go anywhere else. That being said, he recommended my Mom and I pick a day and go up to Genovese to take a look around at their merchandise and speak with a member of the sales staff.
I immediately fell in love with Genovese: with the aesthetics, the jewelry, and the staff. Elizabeth was my sales representative and she helped guide me through the entire process. From deciding what style of ring I wanted, to making sure that I stayed within my allocated budget, she was knowledgeable, approachable, and made me feel comfortable from the very beginning (which are common characteristics among the entire Genovese staff). With her help, I picked out a set of 3 stackable rings, which, to this day, I still adore and wear everyday.
At this time, Genovese Jewelers was looking to hire someone to help wrap presents during the holidays, answer the telephone and greet customers at the customer service desk. Elizabeth asked if I would be interested in helping out and I immediately said, yes! To my surprise, when the holiday season ended, Joe Genovese asked if I would come back to work after graduating from Mizzou. My responsibilities at Genovese have increased over time to include assisting customers on the sales floor, working on the Genovese Jewelers website and as of recently, writing the Genovese Jewelers blog.
Throughout my time at Genovese, I have had the opportunity to observe what goes on behind the scenes at one of the top-rated jewelers in the greater Saint Louis area. I have developed an understanding of what it is that drives the success of Genovese Jewelers: quite simply, it’s the community of people passionately working to make all of your jewelry dreams come true. As narrator of the Genovese blog, my goal is to offer you, our customers, further insight into who we are as a business, as a team of professionals, as individuals and as members of the Genovese family.
One of the most endearing aspects of being an employee at Genovese Jewelers is the atmosphere within which I work. The saying goes, “It’s not the place, it’s the people,” rings true at Genovese Jewelers. The focus of next week’s blog post is to reveal how our employees feel about coming into work everyday, the people they work with and the nuances of working in the jewelry business.
