How Hello Became Collante & Co.
We didn't begin with a business plan. We began with hello. And forty-six days later, we were married.
We exchanged simple wedding bands, promising ourselves we'd choose our forever rings later. Eventually, we did, and had them engraved with words that had already become part of our everyday language.
Inside my ring: Para Siempre. Forever.
Inside Adan's ring: Corazón y Alma. Heart and soul.
Adan had been calling me mi corazón and mi alma, and telling me para siempre, long before those words were engraved inside our rings. They weren't chosen because they sounded romantic. They were simply part of us.
And then, after the wedding, came the engagement ring.
Seven weeks after we were married, I traveled to Colombia to meet Adan's family. He couldn't make the trip with me, but from thousands of miles away, he found a way to share another piece of his country.
He connected me with the people he loves and arranged an afternoon with an emerald dealer in Bogotá. There, I chose a natural Colombian emerald that would become the engagement ring we never had at the beginning.
Yes, the engagement ring came after the wedding. We've never been particularly concerned with doing things in the expected order.
But something happened that afternoon that neither of us anticipated.
I fell in love with more than an emerald.
I became curious about where it came from, about the mountains that held it for millions of years, about the people who had spent generations searching for these remarkable green stones, and about the history of a country I was only beginning to know.
What began as a deeply personal experience became something we wanted to understand more fully.
We started learning about Colombia's emerald mines, the geology, the history, and the people whose knowledge and relationships make this extraordinary trade possible. The more we discovered, the more curious we became.
And somewhere along the way, an idea began to take shape.
What if we could help other people discover Colombian emeralds the way I had?
Not simply by choosing a gemstone, but through conversation, relationships, and a genuine connection to the people and places behind the stones. What if finding an emerald could be an experience worth remembering, even before it became a piece of jewelry?
That idea became Collante & Co. and the name itself carries a story.
Collante comes from Adan's mother's family, from Saldaña, the Colombian countryside, and the family history that helped shape the man I fell in love with. We wanted the company to carry a piece of those roots forward, connecting the life we're building together with the people and places that came before us.
Today, our focus is on natural Colombian emeralds. Through our trusted sourcing partner in Chiquinquirá, Boyacá, we work directly with miners in the legendary Muzo emerald region, connecting us to the people and places where these extraordinary stones originate. We bring that connection to our clients in the United States, helping them discover and select natural Colombian emeralds through relationships built on trust, knowledge, and a shared appreciation for their origins.
Some emeralds will remain loose, collected simply because someone loves them. Others may become engagement rings, meaningful gifts, or pieces of jewelry that mark an important moment in someone's life. As Collante & Co. grows, we hope to expand into select finished jewelry and custom designs, always keeping the experience of discovering the stone at the heart of what we do.
And because this story is still unfolding, I've started keeping a Journal.
It's where I write about Colombia, emeralds, marriage, motherhood, adventure, and the unexpected turns that make life so interesting. Sometimes the stories are romantic. Sometimes they're historical. Sometimes they're about my Colombian husband and the ridiculous things that happen when two people fall in love without speaking the same language.
They're all part of the journey.
Because Collante & Co. isn't something we dreamed up in a boardroom or built around a product we wanted to sell.
It grew out of a marriage, a family, a country, a little curiosity, and one very unexpected afternoon in Bogotá.
I still think about that first emerald and how much has happened since we chose it. I had no idea that a stone I wanted for my engagement ring would lead me toward studying gemology, exploring the history of Colombian emeralds, and building something with my husband that neither of us could have imagined when we first met.
Then again, we had no idea what would happen after hello, either.
Para Siempre is still part of our story. It always will be. It lives exactly where it began, engraved inside the ring that came before the company.
Because for us, the stone didn't create the story.
The story led us to the stone.
With love,
Molly & Adan
Collante & Co.
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