This is a story about a radical death care company called Eterneva.

這則故事是關於 Eterneva 這間激進的死亡關懷公司。

With backing from Mark Cuban, Eterneva is turning people's lost loved ones into diamonds.

在 Mark Cuban 的金援之下，Eterneva 正逐漸將人們逝去的親人變成鑽石。

Wow! Welcome home, honey.

哇！歡迎回家，親愛的。

The way people react when they hear about this,

人們聽到這項服務的反應⋯⋯

it was either like, "This is the most amazing and incredible idea I've ever heard," or like, "I don't know, this is kind of weird."

不是「這是我所聽過最棒、最了不起的想法」的話，就是「我不知道耶，這有點詭異」。

They believe that America's cultural response to loss is broken, leaving people without rituals to help them heal.

他們相信美國對於「失去」的文化反應是破碎的，讓人們失去幫助自我癒合的儀式。

Grief is an experience we're all gonna go through; it's one of the most shared human experiences there is.

悲傷是我們都會經歷的一種體驗，它是由最多人類共享的感受。

And yet, it's governed by just tradition and obligation.

然而它卻只由傳統和義務支配。

That's doing more harm than good.

那樣的弊大於利。

And so, we have to overcome every obstacle because the cost of our mission not being seen out is too high.

所以我們必須克服每一個障礙，因為我們任務不被人們看到的成本太高了。

There's a slight lag.

有一點延遲。如果我踩到了你，我向你道歉。

If I step on you at all, I apologize.

如果我有搶你的話，我向你道歉。

I'm not trying to cut you off; there's just a little bit of a lag.

我不是想要打斷你，只是有一點延遲。

I'm literally fundraising right now, and all VCs do is cut you off, so, I'm very used to it.

我現在就是在籌款，而創投所做的事就是打斷你，所以我很習慣了。

This is one of our machines.

這是我們其中一部機器。

This one is under pressure.

這部正在加壓狀態。

So, we are currently actively growing a diamond right now.

我們目前正在積極培育一顆鑽石。

At these stations...

在這些站點⋯⋯

Adelle Archer is the co-founder and CEO of Eterneva, and she's on a mission to transform the way that we grieve.

Adelle Archer 是 Eterneva 的共同創辦人以及執行長，她正在執行改變人類哀悼方式的使命。

After completing her MBA, Adelle got the idea for Eterneva in 2015 after losing her good friend and mentor, Tracey.

在完成商管碩士學位後，Adelle 在 2015 年痛失好友和導師 Tracey 之後，有了創建 Eterneva 的想法。

When Tracey passed, she actually had her ashes split between three of us.

Tracey 過世後，祂的骨灰其實平分給了我們三人。

And she was just like, "Hey, you know, go do something meaningful that you think both of us would really like."

祂好像在說：「嘿，去做一些有意義、你認為我們倆都會非常喜歡的事情吧。」

So, we started doing a ton of research.

所以我們開始做大量研究。

Everything felt really, like, trinkety and cheap and transactional.

每個項目的感覺都很廉價、劣質且可隨意交易的。

And, you know, nothing, kind of, really spoke to me.

然後沒有任何一個東西引起我的共鳴。

But then, Adelle had a conversation with a diamond scientist.

但 Adelle 隨後和一位鑽石科學家進行了對談。

And he's like, "Well, if we can get the carbon out of Tracey's ashes, like, I think we could grow you a diamond."

他說：「嗯，如果我們能夠從 Tracey 的骨灰中提煉出碳，我想我們或許可以幫你培育出一顆鑽石。」

And, I mean, as soon as he said it, I was like, "This is the idea. This is the thing that I'm... I'm meant to work on."

而當他的話一說出口，我就心想：「就是這個點子了，這就是我註定要努力執行的方向。」

She was the first diamond that we ever made.

祂是我們培育出的第一顆鑽石。

Um... this is her black diamond.

嗯⋯⋯這是祂的黑鑽。

I wear it every single day.

我每天都戴著它。

I am so excited to introduce y'all to Peggy.

我非常興奮能夠跟各位介紹 Peggy。

We are growing two beautiful diamonds, one for her daughter, Laurie, and another for her grandson, Alex.

我們正在培育兩顆美麗的鑽石，一顆要給祂女兒 Laurie，另一顆則是給祂的孫子 Alex。

Yay, Peggy!

太棒了，Peggy！

Any time you start a company, it's like a huge rollercoaster.

只要是設立一間公司，就會像是搭乘雲霄飛車一樣。

One of the challenging things about starting Eterneva was just, like, it was so unknown in so many different ways.

成立 Eterneva 的挑戰之一但純在於它在各種不同面向都屬於未知數。

I mean, like, what we do has so much pressure, you know?

我是說，我們所做的事是有極大壓力的，你懂嗎？

Like, we're handling someone's most valuable possession, basically.

我們基本上是在處理某人最有價值的財產。

And you have this incredibly difficult thing to do, which is growing a diamond from carbon.

而我們需要做從碳當中培育出鑽石這間難如登天的事。

In the beginning when we started, this was a crazy supply chain to set up.

在我們草創時期，建立這個供應鏈是瘋狂的事。

A lot of these scientists don't even exist in the United States.

其中許多科學家甚至不存在於美國。

You know, we were hunting down scientists internationally.

我們是在全世界各地尋找科學家。

You know, flying to Europe, convincing them to get coffee with me, and having to learn how to negotiate in completely different business cultures.

像是飛往歐洲、說服他們和我一起喝杯咖啡，並需要學習如何進行在完全不同的商業文化中協商。

A lot of this technology actually came out of Russia.

這些技術很大部分其實都來自俄羅斯。

So, dealing with Russian business culture⏤it's so different than the United States.

所以說，在俄羅斯商業文化之下交涉與美國有很大的不同。

Honestly, that was kind of my first encounter with a... a bit of misogyny.

說真的，那可說是我第一次遭遇女性貶抑的狀況。

Gosh, I learned a lot.

天啊，我學到了很多。

But, Lord, the lows can be excruciating.

但我的老天，低谷期可能痛苦至極。

We've had moments where our entire supply chain went away.

我們曾經有過整個供應鏈都消失的時候。

They basically were like, "Good luck."

他們基本上可以算是只說了「祝好運」。

And then in 2019, Eterneva caught a big break.

然後在 2019 年，Eterneva 抓到了一個大好機會。

A 600,000-dollar deal with Mark Cuban.

與 Mark Cuban 的 60 萬美元合約。

Going on "Shark Tank", I mean, that was a moment.

登上《創業鯊魚幫》這個節目可說是個重要時刻。

We were the first death care company ever to go on "Shark Tank".

我們是登上《創業鯊魚幫》的第一間死亡關懷公司。

That was really a turning point, too, in how people started seeing this.

這真的也是讓人們開始了解這件事的一個轉捩點。

They're like, "Oh, wow! What if diamonds become the new urn?"

他們的反應像是：「哦，哇！如果鑽石取代骨灰罈會怎麼樣？」

Eterneva commissioned grief research from Baylor University to investigate the diamond's impact on the recipients' mourning experience.

Eterneva 委託貝勒大學進行悲傷研究，調查鑽石對接收者哀悼體驗的影響。

This is like John coming home.

這就像 John 回家了一樣。

John coming home.

John 要回家了。

Early reports suggest that Eterneva's months-long diamond-making process supports the vast majority of participants through their grief journey.

- 早期報告表明，Eterneva長達數月的鑽石製作過程 支持絕大多數的參與者 通過他們的悲痛旅程。

You know, going into this, we thought that this was all about the diamond.

我們投入這個產業時，以為一切都圍繞在鑽石上。

But what we ended up finding was, every time we shared an update with the family, we would just get these unbelievable responses.

但我們最終發現，我們每一次和家屬分享最新狀況時，都會得到一些令人難以置信的回應。

I wanted something that... when I had her diamond and people would ask me,

我想要一個東西⋯⋯當我配戴祂的鑽石時，人們會問我：

"That's so beautiful; where'd you get it?"

「那真美，妳在哪兒買的？」

And I can say,

那我就可以說：

"This is my daughter. And this is how beautiful she really was."

「這是我女兒，而祂就像這顆鑽石一樣美麗。」

Some of the biggest problems that we have are things that we don't talk about that much.

我們一些很嚴重的問題是，我們都有一些不太願意多聊的東西。

Death and grief is one of those.

其中就包括死亡和哀悼。

That's what I think that we at Eterneva can make a mark on this planet is by helping remove that stigma.

這就是我認為 Eterneva 可以對世界有所影響的地方，也就是透過協助消除那種恥辱。

And I can tell you that your dad would be so proud of who you are.

而我可以告訴你，你的父親會因為你感到非常驕傲。

And for that reason, we would love to grow his diamond for you.

也正是那個理由讓我們很希望為你培育祂的鑽石。

Hey, Cecilia, this is Garrett.

嗨，Cecilia，這是 Garrett。

This is going to be the starting point to create your beautiful diamond of Cali.

這將會是製造美麗 Cali 鑽石的起始點。

We have Cali's diamond.

這裡是 Cali 的鑽石。

We are going to grade and certify her diamond.

我們即將對祂的鑽石進行分級和認證。

It's really beautiful; thank you so much.

它真的很美，非常感謝你。

A lot of death care has been transactional, right?

很多死亡關懷的程序都屬於金錢交易，對吧？

You buy a coffin, you have a funeral, and then we're done.

你會購買棺材、舉辦葬禮，然後就結束了。

And that's not how grief works.

而那並不是悲傷運作的方式。

The death care industry used to be funeral homes, burials, and later, cremations.

死亡關懷產業曾經是殯儀館、土葬以及其後的火葬。

In 2021, human composting, biodegradable coffins, trips to space.

2021 年則是人類堆肥葬、可生物分解的棺材、太空之旅。

These are just some of the growing number of alternative options better suited to individual values.

這些只是幾個不斷增加的替代方案，能更好地適應個人價值。

I think what resonates with a lot of people about the diamond is you have that physical anchor to your loved one.

我覺得這個鑽石能夠引起很多人共鳴的地方在於，所愛之人變成了實體支柱。

This is the most precious thing I own.

這是我擁有最珍貴的東西。

One of the things that I realized was that I really find a lot of purpose in helping somebody through a hard time and helping them find some brightness in it.

我發現到的一件事是，幫助他人度過難關並重新撥雲見日對我來說是有很大意義的。

Eterneva's mission is, you know, really to challenge culture and to shift people's perceptions of grief and loss.

Eterneva 的使命其實就是挑戰文化並改變人類對於悲傷與失去的觀感。

There's this window of time that they're forming meaning around what just happened.

人們都會有一個對於發生事件產生意義的時機。

And if you can meet them in that window and you can help shape the messages that they tell themselves...

如果你可以在那個時間點跟他們連結，那你就可以幫助他們撰寫他們給自己的訊息⋯⋯

... you can go and change the world.

⋯⋯你就可以改變世界。