Don't Flaunt It . . .
March 20, 25
Here's a cautionary tale for anyone in retail jewelry: If you've got it, think twice about flaunting it.
York Valdes built up a following of 175,000 people on TikTok and Instagram, with videos showing not only merchandise from his two jewelry stores, but also his lavish lifestyle, his cars and his luxury home.
Last week he was held at gunpoint for five hours - together with his young daughter and pregnant wife - as raiders ransacked his house, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA, and escaped with watches, jewelry, cash and clothes, together with his white Cadillac SUV.
The ordeal only ended when Valdes jumped from a second-floor window and ran to seek help.
Valdes later spoke of his ordeal in a five-minute TikTok video. "Yesterday I had the most bitter experience of my life," he said. "The biggest fear of my life is that something might happen to my daughter."
And crucially he acknowledged that he may need to "slow down a bit on social media".
That's kind of limiting in a business where success - and the perception of success - breeds more success. It's also - unfortunately for him - a little late in the day.
Selling jewelry is all about telling a story. And Valdes perfected his own brand of narrative - brash, engaging and ostentatious - with many thousands of posts, in Spanish, across his social media platforms.
They undoubtedly drove his success, but they also marked him as a target.
There is little doubt, he says, that the raiders had seen his videos and knew where he lived.
And the distinctive, life-sized statue outside his house of Saint Lazarus, the Catholic patron saint of the poor and sick, meant he wasn't that hard to find.
Even so, he was ill-prepared for the three masked and armed men who ambushed him outside his home last Thursday night.
Social media is a double-edged sword, enhancing our lives in many ways, but exposing us, at the same time, to the possibility of great harm.
In an age before smartphones and the internet - one that I, as an ageing "digital immigrant" remember well - Valdes would have used other tools to achieve success.
But he wouldn't have had the opportunity to over-share so readily, to reach so many people so quickly with nothing more than the device in his pocket.
Everything has changed. In the old days he may have taken out newspaper ads, put fliers through people's doors or bought airtime on local radio.
That would have promoted his business, but wouldn't have shone the spotlight on him as an individual. Social media provides infinite space for us to share infinite insights about ourselves. At our peril.
Valdes speaks in his video about alarms and other security measures at his home. He is a wealthy man with valuable possessions and he'd taken reasonable precautions.
But what actually happened was way beyond anything he could have expected. Thankfully nobody was physically harmed, but the emotional trauma will stay with the victims for a long time.
York Valdes built up a following of 175,000 people on TikTok and Instagram, with videos showing not only merchandise from his two jewelry stores, but also his lavish lifestyle, his cars and his luxury home.
Last week he was held at gunpoint for five hours - together with his young daughter and pregnant wife - as raiders ransacked his house, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA, and escaped with watches, jewelry, cash and clothes, together with his white Cadillac SUV.
The ordeal only ended when Valdes jumped from a second-floor window and ran to seek help.
Valdes later spoke of his ordeal in a five-minute TikTok video. "Yesterday I had the most bitter experience of my life," he said. "The biggest fear of my life is that something might happen to my daughter."
And crucially he acknowledged that he may need to "slow down a bit on social media".
That's kind of limiting in a business where success - and the perception of success - breeds more success. It's also - unfortunately for him - a little late in the day.
Selling jewelry is all about telling a story. And Valdes perfected his own brand of narrative - brash, engaging and ostentatious - with many thousands of posts, in Spanish, across his social media platforms.
They undoubtedly drove his success, but they also marked him as a target.
There is little doubt, he says, that the raiders had seen his videos and knew where he lived.
And the distinctive, life-sized statue outside his house of Saint Lazarus, the Catholic patron saint of the poor and sick, meant he wasn't that hard to find.
Even so, he was ill-prepared for the three masked and armed men who ambushed him outside his home last Thursday night.
Social media is a double-edged sword, enhancing our lives in many ways, but exposing us, at the same time, to the possibility of great harm.
In an age before smartphones and the internet - one that I, as an ageing "digital immigrant" remember well - Valdes would have used other tools to achieve success.
But he wouldn't have had the opportunity to over-share so readily, to reach so many people so quickly with nothing more than the device in his pocket.
Everything has changed. In the old days he may have taken out newspaper ads, put fliers through people's doors or bought airtime on local radio.
That would have promoted his business, but wouldn't have shone the spotlight on him as an individual. Social media provides infinite space for us to share infinite insights about ourselves. At our peril.
Valdes speaks in his video about alarms and other security measures at his home. He is a wealthy man with valuable possessions and he'd taken reasonable precautions.
But what actually happened was way beyond anything he could have expected. Thankfully nobody was physically harmed, but the emotional trauma will stay with the victims for a long time.
Have a fabulous (and safe) weekend.