Angeline Davies was the first face viewers saw on Gems TV when it originally launched in October 2004. A lot has happened in the years since, so we though we'd have a good catch up with Angeline in the comfort of her own home.
Angeline, our customers have got to know you as a GIA Accredited Jewellery Professional, bringing them some of the rarest gemstones from around the world, but how did you get started with Gemporia?
I first got involved with Gemporia twelve years ago now and at the time we were a channel that sold lots of different things: cookware, garden ware, and so on. We sold lots of different things, but we also sold jewellery as well. Very quickly after I came on board with the channel it became quite obvious that I liked jewellery a lot, I enjoyed selling jewellery a lot and I enjoyed that side of things. When you’re a presenter you have someone in your ear saying things like “could you go over to cookware now and present this bit” and I used to love it when they would send me over to the jewellery corner.
When you’re not on our screens, when you’re not bringing us these rare treasures from around the world, what is it that you get up to? What is a typical day?
Well, I’m a mum so a lot of my time is spent being a mum. I’m mum to a gorgeous little boy called Edward and a little girl called Scarlett and everyone knows my husband Nick, who presents on the Diamond Room. They are my world, but they do take up most of my time! If I do get any free time, I love watching documentaries about nature and geology and that’s what fascinates me about gemstones…the story of their formation.
Angeline after your four hours on air (which must be such an adrenaline rush!), how do
you relax and unwind when you get home
from the studio?
Well, I’m very lucky because I now do the daytime show which I love. Of all of the shows I’ve presented, that’s the one I’ve connected to most. It allows me to get home, pick up the kids from school, cook the tea, do homework, make sure everything’s done at home and have a little bit of supper myself. Nick arrives home at 7.30pm and sometimes he’ll go straight up and catch Scarlett and read her a night time story and other times I’ll be waiting in my running gear and then I can go out and focus on my other passion.
That is your other great passion isn’t it?
Oh yes. I love running. I’m not going to talk about it too much because I fully understand how boring this sounds. I’ve really got into it! I mean, massively got into it! It started in January 2015 and it was a big long change of lifestyle, and I’ve just finished my first Race for Life (10km) which I’m really proud of.
Oh wow, congratulations. I guess that keeps you driven doesn’t it? I guess it’s also a great release?
Absolutely. It’s the only thing that gives me a real mental clear out. If I’m feeling bogged down with things, running really allows me to clear my mind so I love it for that.
Your career, your vocation is so niche, it’s so specific, what do your family and friends make of it?
I don’t know. I think it’s a very specific job – it’s not like HR or accountancy. It’s presenting gemstones from around the world internationally, so it seems very bizarre. I guess my family are proud of me, at least I hope so! It’s a live TV presenting job, but certainly when I was stood in front of the careers officer at sixteen I didn’t even know this job existed! I mean my training is all in theatre – that’s where the baseline of everything comes from. I studied in Theatre School from the age of sixteen up until I was eighteen and then went on a national tour. After that, I then went to Drama School and got my Honours degree and then I ended up in the corporate sector with Nick, we ended up in Dubai for a while. It’s been such a strange sequence of events to get here. I used to job hop a lot. One year here, two years there, but now I’ve been with Gemporia for over a decade… I just love it!
The nature of this job means that there is such a steep learning curve to know these gemstones inside and out, how do you cope with the demands
of this?
Before I came into the business, I wasn’t into gemstones and jewellery at all really. All of the accreditation, all of the learning, all of the exams are down to Gemporia’s investment in its staff and the emphasis they put on education. When I was first employed, the other presenters and I were sent on a two week crash course in Thailand (our workshops were based there then). I mean we didn’t see Thailand. We spent the whole time learning! But learning about the skill and work that goes into producing these limited pieces of jewellery gave me this real sense of appreciation for them and this lit a fire inside me to really love jewellery and it’s this same sense of enthusiasm I try and get across on screen.
You obviously love your work, you’re passionate about gemstones but if you had to narrow it down what would be the one aspect that you love the most about this job?
I think I would have to say the people. I do love the people we have in our building, I think we have some very talented and some very special people in our company. Our building, as you know, is really like a big family and as with any family there can be drama and laughs and so on. But I love it, that’s the buzz and I’m very lucky that I work with an amazing team and we always have a laugh but it always comes back to the jewellery and the gemstones.
You mentioned the people here but I guess that ‘family’ is also extended into the ‘wider family’ of the customers. How do you find social media has changed the dynamic of your relationship with your customers?
Yes, well this is the thing. My shop window is the TV screen and my customers are my customers no matter what and I’ve got to know my customers very well over the years. Social media has really changed the game. It makes it very interactive and the relationship with my customers has flourished as a result and I love that. It allows for a conversation and I do get to know people, I literally know them through Gemporia now.
I came here going out with Nick and now we’re married and in that time we’ve had two amazing children and my customers have shared that with me. They’ve sent me lovely messages and they’ve sent me beautiful knitted clothes for both my children and lots of other things – I think I have the best viewers in the world! They have watched me grow up on screen and the changes I’ve gone through, I think social media has really allowed us to communicate a lot better.
You said you’ve been on our screens for more than a decade, in that time inevitably there must have been some embarrassing moments. Are there any that you are willing to share with us right now?
There’s lots of embarrassing moments, a lot of it unrepeatable! You’re live for four hours a day, there are going to be words said that you didn’t mean to say and there are going to be words in your ear that you hear wrongly! Sometimes there are graphics that are written on screen wrong and not to mention that I have got a very infantile sense of humour anyway, you can imagine can’t you? If there is something even vaguely amusing I will be in hysterics. This is why I could never be a news reader – I would just get the giggles all the time! Yes it might be a typo that’s wrong, that may spell out a rude word or even, like I’ve done before, gone over to show everyone the customer names on the big expensive screen and ended up knocking it over and breaking it live on TV! Whoops! It’s all good fun though and the customers are always in on the act. It’s just a lot of fun.
See Angeline between 11am and 3pm most days on Gemporia TV - watch live here.
