We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emerson Haile. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emerson below.

Emerson, appreciate you joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

All things considered, ever since i began doing this, it has been nothing but baffling problems/issues, that i could have never foreseen. I started doing the jewelry and gem/mineral thing in 2020, and despite literally finding a huge previously undiscovered fossil bed. It honestly felt like possibly one of the worst decisions of my life to pursue it; because at first no one believed me and like everyone just thought i was going crazy. To me this was a completely unexpected reaction from not just my friends and family but also from professionals. I had a GIA gemologist who was a member of the local gem and mineral society look at some stuff i had brought in, tell me “yes these are fossilized bones”, to which i tried to tell him i had a lot more and about the fossil bed, and he literally told me word for word “that’s nice” and he walked away and had no interest at all; which really surprised me. It still really surprises me if im being honest. The man basically told me he didn’t care that i found a previously undiscovered fossil bed with bones of large vertebrates. Its still nuts. But i mean last year i really finally started gaining the momentum and credibility, and its finally starting to feel like a good thing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So in 2020 i started doing the whole rock hound thing when i was 25 years old. I was taking my trash out one afternoon that spring and i saw something that looked like a weird piece of glass sitting in the dirt in the alleyway, and something in my head said “thats not glass.” So i picked it up and after much research and much discourse with a few of my friends, we finally figured out it was a little piece of topaz; and i just had this light bulb moment like “wait a second… I live in Idaho…” and for some reason from there i was just on it and then that progressed until i found the fossil bed; upon finding the fossil bed it became obvious that this was probably kind of a big deal, but no one believed me or would give me the time and consideration to even see if i was right or not. The lapidary side of it was/.is a necessary part of gaining any sort of credibility; but then i just also came to enjoy it as well. Currently i produce/sell stuff ranging from rough material for other lapidary artists, to mineral and fossil specimens, to cabochons and faceted gem stones, to finished jewelry and display pieces; all found and worked by myself personally. Uhh its been the most challenging undertaking of my life but its finally starting to pay off i think?

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Honestly i think that the past few years have been so destructive to social cohesion and to most communities as a whole. Now more than ever we should supporting our friends and neighbors and families out as much as we can, period. I feel like people have dont realize you dont know which one of these people may potentially have the next big idea, and also i feel like everyone’s so concerned with chasing after their individualistic and often self serving pursuits, all while not realizing that it isn’t working for them because they have no network of other people, support of otherwise. They just spout that nihilistic “everyone is bad, focus on yourself!” Nonsense not realizing that once you commit to that mindset, then you suck too, when it never had to be that way.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I literally spent two winters, with a rock saw or a tile saw in my shower in my one bedroom apartment, so i could cut rocks while it was below freezing outside.

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