A solo crystal seller uses Gemini for paperwork so she can focus on clients

The worry about losing the personal touch

Many small business owners fear that using AI will make their work feel generic, especially when the business depends on trust and intuition. As CoinGeek reported in a profile of Angeli Soriano-Gojo, the solo founder of StonedMNL, her experience pointed the other way.

StonedMNL is a crystal business. Angeli listens to a client's story, then handpicks, cleanses and matches pieces to what that person is looking for, whether clarity or balance. Alone, she also has to write content, answer inquiries and prepare for events.

That mix of a personal practice and ordinary business chores is where she brought in Google's Gemini, its AI assistant. Her aim, as the profile describes it, was to keep her head clear for the clients.

How a corporate banker became a crystal seller

Before StonedMNL, Angeli worked in banking, in sales and marketing. She was always curious about people, including their personalities, astrological signs and life stories. She turned to crystals as a personal practice, to bring intention into her daily routine.

Friends and colleagues noticed and started asking her for recommendations. Their trust gave her the push to launch StonedMNL in 2016. The business marks its 10th anniversary in 2026.

According to the profile, every piece still begins with understanding the human story behind it. That is the part she says she keeps for herself.

Where Gemini fits in her week

Angeli describes Gemini as a sounding board. In her words, "I use Gemini as a sounding board." She says the judgment about the client comes from her, and the tool helps her find words for it.

The profile lists four jobs she gives it:

• Explaining niche ideas. Crystal matching can involve astrology, birthdays and energy descriptions. Gemini helps turn these into plain language for newcomers.
• Tidying consultation notes. After listening to a client, she has Gemini organize her notes and draft explanations or alternative options. She edits and personalizes them before sending.
• Keeping a directory consistent. Each crystal entry is structured as three keywords and a short description.
• Handling event chaos. For multi-day pop-ups in busy areas such as Makati, Gemini drafts announcements, captions and collaboration emails, so she is not facing a blank page.

In each case, she reviews the draft and the final message goes out in her voice.

Her advice for beginners

For people who feel intimidated by new technology, Angeli says you do not need technical knowledge or clever prompt writing. A prompt is just the instruction you type to the AI.

She suggests picking one small task you already do regularly, such as writing a caption, drafting a reply or organizing the week's ideas. She explains what she needs in her own words, sometimes mixing English and Tagalog, and then refines the answer from there.

That approach is modest. It does not ask a business to rebuild its workflow, only to try the tool on a chore it already knows well.

How much to read into it

This is a profile of one person, and it should be read that way. The article does not say how many hours Angeli saves, how often she corrects Gemini's drafts, or whether the tool has changed her sales. Without those figures, it shows how she uses the tool, not whether it pays off.

It is still useful as a picture of everyday use. The tasks here are writing captions, replying to messages, summarizing notes and preparing for events, not anything glamorous. The pattern is also clear: she keeps the judgment and the relationship, and hands off the first draft.

Anyone copying that approach should keep the same habit of checking every draft before it reaches a customer.