Prior to launching AUrate, Kahn and Ezzahraoui had careers in consulting and finance, respectively. They tell Refinery29 that working in two fields dominated by men helped them realize that it’s easiest to evoke change by working hard and leading by example — which is exactly why they decided to open their own company. What wasn’t easy, however, was finding a diamond dealer that would take a chance on two women. “Our current partners were simply intrigued by this new way of doing things and decided to take the risk of working with us since inception,” they said. “We’ve grown a lot since then and proved that they took the right risk!”