Greg (Gavriel) Sofiev // Leviev Diamonds

I was born and raised in Queens as the eldest of three boys. Both of my parents are Bucharian Jews who immigrated from Tashkent in the former Soviet Union. My maternal grandfather, a deeply religious man in Tashkent, discovered that the KGB was after them because they were secretly keeping Torah and mitzvos. With Hashem’s help, they were able to flee the Russian persecution, and they made it to Israel in 1973.
“My father’s side of the family was a bit more secular, so they didn’t have the same fear of religious persecution. My father immigrated to the US when he was in his later teens.
“When my father went to Israel for the first time, family members from both sides made my parents’ shidduch—the families knew each other through the community. They got married and moved to New York in 1981.
“My father is very skilled with his hands and always knows how to create and fix things. Starting off in America as an immigrant was difficult; he had to take on two jobs—he was a mechanic during the day and a part-time musician at night. He used to make his own guitars and play them. After a few years of hard work, he and his brother opened a jewelry store in Astoria called Almaz Brothers. They became a household name as jewelers among the Greeks and Italians in the area.
“When my mother and her family left the Soviet Union, they were only able to take basic items like kitchen utensils and cookware with them. Taking gold or diamonds out of the country was prohibited. During the 1970s, Russian bazaars were popular in Israel, so my mother’s family sold their possessions and used the money to enter the rough diamond business, teaching themselves how to manufacture polished diamonds. It become a successful venture, and at the age of 15, my mother joined the business as well. The business grew to become one of Israel’s top 20 diamond manufacturers at the time; it was called Elazarov Reuven & Sons.”
“By the time my parents got married, my mother was around 25 years old and had ten years of experience cutting diamonds. But I was born not long after they moved to America, so she didn’t have much time to explore a career. She was a stay-at-home mother until my brothers and I grew up.
“Growing up, I went to Yeshivat Ohr Chaim in Queens and Richmond Hills. My summer vacations were very different from the ones other kids went on. Most kids went to camp or on a vacation with their families, but I would go with my mother to spend the entire summer in Israel with my grandparents. Most of my family lived there, which is why we went so often. Spending so much time there made me feel Israeli in a certain sense, because I had a lot of Israeli friends and connected to the culture.
“For high school, I went to Ezra Academy. My father always encouraged me to come to his store and learn about the jewelry business from him. I was entrepreneurial from a young age, and his store was my playground for the next few years. A lot of my experience came from my father putting jobs in front of me and saying, ‘The job will show you how to continue.’ When I had days off from school, I would catch a train and go straight to my father’s shop, and he would give me tasks. For example, he would give me a ring, cut it down the middle and then ask me to fix it. He would show me the steps beforehand. He would give me the torch, I’d light it, and then I’d slowly learn what needed to be done to fix the piece of jewelry. I’d mess up once or twice, but by the third time, I’d learn what to do.
“I would also run around the neighborhood and buy things at garage sales. I bought things that I could trade or sell in school. When I was in high school, I got myself many jobs, always jumping around to different areas to learn various specialties. I worked for a catering company on the weekends. I also worked for a company that cooked ready-made food for people who wanted Shabbat meals. For chagim, I would work in a kitchen and help prepare meals. I was always ambitious in school. I often nagged my principal about ways to graduate early, and she would just laugh and say, ‘Sofiev, get out of my office.’
“After high school, I applied to study for a degree in business administration and finance. I attended college for about a year and a half. During that time, my uncles in the diamond business called me and asked if I could join and help their business with sales in New York. They had a big office here, with 30 employees working for them. I explained that I had no interest in joining the family business and that it was important to me to continue my higher education. However, they convinced me to just join them for the summer.
“The first five weeks of working in my uncles’ office were very difficult. My uncles wanted me to travel out of town to sell diamonds to retailers. They gave me the company car, and I would go on the road, spend the whole day knocking on people’s doors and making appointments and get back at 9:00 p.m. People rarely answered the door when I knocked—maybe because it was summertime and they weren’t home. It really wasn’t working out for me.
“Then one day I met with a large jewelry company in Long Island with which I had made a prior appointment. They scheduled me to come at a specific time and day, but then they made me sit in the waiting room for over four hours. It turned out that the owner of this prominent jewelry store had completely forgotten our appointment and had double booked. When he finally came out to speak with me, he couldn’t believe how patient I had been and was very impressed.
“I began the meeting by showing him all of the diamonds that I had brought—there were about 50. He took his time, looking over the GIA certificates and inspecting all of the goods. After an hour and a half, he had five stones on his left and the rest on his right. He said, ‘How much for these?’ I thought he was talking about the five on his left, but he said, ‘No. For these,’ and he pointed to the large pile of diamonds. I was shocked. I had to call my uncles, and they were able to reach an agreement for about $500,000.