By her own admission, Micherre Fox can be more than a little determined.
So when she happened upon the idea of digging up a diamond to use in her engagement ring, she went to extraordinary lengths to make it happen.
On the final day of a three-week camping trip involving hours of daily digging at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, the two-time Fordham grad made national headlines for her dramatic discovery of a 2.3-carat diamond.
The last-minute find marked the end of an emotional arc for Fox, who set out on the trip soon after earning an M.S. in management at Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business. She lives with her partner in Manhattan, where she works with startups as a consultant.
In between interviews with the likes of The New York Times and Inside Edition, Fox caught up with Fordham Magazine to chat about the experience and rewards of trying something (almost) impossible.
Congrats on your incredible find! Where did the initial idea come from?
I did my own research on diamonds, and I just had this moment. I was like, “You know, it comes from the ground. Maybe we could just find one. That would be cool.” Then within a few days, I was like, “I don’t know if finding a diamond is going to be impossible or really, really hard, but we’re not getting engaged until we find a diamond ourselves!”
What did you have to do to prepare once you realized you could hunt for one in Arkansas?
I needed a tent. I needed all of my food for three weeks. I needed mining equipment. So I spent about a week and a half getting all that stuff together, and I was on a plane. It all came together really quickly.
How hard is it to actually find a diamond?
About 140,000 people go [to Crater of Diamonds park] and about 600 diamonds get found there every year. Most of those are less than a tenth of a carat. So the odds are not awesome, and that’s why I went for so long.
Why was it so important for you to stick with it even after weeks with no luck?
A lot of it was symbolism and me [wanting to present] something to my partner, Trevor. When somebody proposes, they promise to be with you forever, do all these things, but the person who is being proposed to, you just kind of receive it.
If I hadn’t found a diamond, I would have brought a different rock home, and that would have ended up being my engagement ring. I went there to collect a physical representation of what I’m signing up to do in a marriage for the rest of my life, which is to wake up every day and work impossibly hard over and over again.
Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Franco Giacomarra, FCLC ’19.
Watch David Muir’s story about Fox’s find on ABC World News Tonight:
