The story
When grieving individuals seek a personal, extraordinary experience to help them memorialize a loved one, they turn to Eterneva. The Austin, Texas-based company celebrates the lives of remarkable people and pets by making real diamonds from the carbon in their ashes or hair.
“Behind every diamond is the story of a remarkable person and a remarkable life,” said Co-founder and Co-CEO Adelle Archer. “Remarkable is not just the level of fame and status in the world. It’s how you showed up in people’s lives and the relationship that you had with them.”
Eterneva, founded in 2017, originated from Archer’s own story of losing her business mentor, Tracey Kaufman. She searched for ways to keep her friend’s “legacy alive” and “honor her in a way that feels special.” Finding the memorial options for ashes to be impersonal, Archer partnered with Co-founder Garret Ozar to create a more meaningful commemorative experience.
Customers start their Eterneva diamond journey by ordering a cremation jewelry welcome kit with tools to send their loved one’s or pet’s ashes or hair by mail. “We purify the ashes or hair into carbon,” Archer explained. “We then have these incredible machines that effectively replicate the growing conditions under the earth, like high pressure and high temperature. Over time, that carbon crystallizes on a small diamond seed and grows into a rough, raw diamond.”
The diamond is inspected, certified, hand-cut and polished. Families can customize its color and engrave their loved one’s name. Eterneva also assists with jewelry design, incorporating desired details into the concept. Along the way, the team sends pictures, videos and updates of the diamond’s transformation, allowing families to share the process with their community as they look forward to their loved one’s return.
Once the process is complete, the company helps the family celebrate the special day when they can “welcome their loved one home” and “experience relief for the first time.” Archer said the entire diamond journey takes 8-12 months, depending on size, color and shape, but the customer’s story remains the company’s priority.
“From the beginning, it was about the relationship with our customers and getting to know their loved ones. We’re working on one loved one at a time – one life at a time – and they get very carefully taken care of throughout that whole process. We want to celebrate them, learn what made them special and share those updates as we go.”
Eterneva offers a unique opportunity to support grievers on their journey. Archer described the company’s work as helping people “access the optional sixth stage of grief, making meaning in the wake of loss.” Extensive research with Baylor University found that a person grieves healthier when they witness a state of transformation, like the diamond creation process. While their loved one’s “ashes were once a marker of death and loss,” the diamond becomes a “marker of life” and hope.
“People shouldn’t have to move on from their loved ones. They should be able to move forward with them. You wear their diamond when you go on your family vacation. They get to be there on your wedding day. They get to continue to do life with you,” Archer said.
Insperity has been instrumental in helping the startup, which has 29 employees, accomplish its mission of remembering lives remarkably. Head of Finance Jenny George shared that partnering with the professional employer organization (PEO) has kept Eterneva from “losing the empathy and caring touch” of an in-house HR staff. She said the company also appreciates the guidance it receives on HR issues.
“It feels like such a close and awesome partnership because (Insperity) seems to care just as much as we do about our employees,” George said.
The Eterneva staff is able to access a “breadth of benefits” through the PEO. “Having Insperity as a partner to help us (by offering our employees access to) benefits and ease my time is needed,” she continued. “Our frontline salespeople can have free therapy sessions if they have a really tough call. That’s an incredible benefit. We’re just grateful for the ways that (Insperity) is adding more value to our team,” Archer shared.
Dedicated HR specialists also assist with “hiring, performance reviews and terminations” and reinforce Insperity’s “level of care and attention to detail.” As the company grows, the team remains confident they have the right PEO partner to help them achieve their goals.
“Insperity is invested in us. They’re invested in our story. They sincerely want to see Eterneva be successful. They love our mission, and it’s inspiring. We feel so grateful,” Archer said.
Community impact
Beyond caring for their customers, the Eterneva team seeks opportunities to make a difference in the community. They’ve gifted diamonds to military families who lost someone in the line of duty. And on the anniversary of the 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the company partnered with a local funeral home to donate diamonds to the victims’ families.
Eterneva shines as a beacon of hope for grieving people, and being named an Insperity Community Hero underscores its remarkable work. The recognition “was a beautiful honor,” according to George. “We care so much about the grieving process, and it’s beautiful to have other people see that love and empathy.”
The company designated the award’s $5,000 charitable donation to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, a leader in suicide prevention and mental health crisis care. Eterneva also contributed an additional $5,000 in proceeds to the program. For Archer, whose grandmother died by suicide, donating to the Lifeline holds special meaning.
“It’s particularly a cause of passing that can carry a lot of stigma, and that’s something that I would love to see end. Their cause of death is not their brand. They’re beautiful people that deserve to be talked about and celebrated,” Archer said.
As the first end-of-life brand to appear on “Shark Tank,” the Mark Cuban-backed company has brought joy to thousands in its six-year existence, and plans for the future are bright.
“Our vision for Eterneva going forward is that we become the company that redefines the end-of-life space,” Archer shared. “We want to be a globally recognized brand that has ushered in a new way people choose to honor their loved ones.” With each life celebrated, the hope the Eterneva team brings comes full circle. “We’re so blessed to be able to live with the end in mind and learn from these incredible people about the ingredients of a remarkable life,” Archer said.
“Our frontline salespeople can have free therapy sessions if they have a really tough call. That’s an incredible benefit. We’re just grateful for the ways that (Insperity) is adding more value to our team.”
Adelle Archer
Co-founder and Co-CEO
Eterneva