Less admin, more heart: StonedMNL’s founder balances the hustle with Gemini

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For many small business owners, there is a common concern that adopting AI might strip away the personal, authentic touch, especially in businesses, hustles, and crafts deeply reliant on human connection and intuition. But Angeli Soriano-Gojo, the solo entrepreneur behind StonedMNL, found that Google Gemini does the exact opposite: it handles the background heavy lifting so she can focus on her clients.

Running a niche, highly personal business as a solo creator means wearing every hat imaginable. Beyond listening to clients and matching crystals, Angeli faces the everyday realities of running a small hustle: drafting captions, planning multi-day pop-up events, writing client responses, and organizing inventory descriptions.

“Running StonedMNL involves both a very personal practice and the everyday demands of a business,” Angeli shares. “I love connecting with clients and choosing pieces that feel meaningful to them. But I also have content to create, inquiries to answer, and events to prepare for.”

To prevent burnout and keep her mental space clear for her clients, Angeli turned to Google Gemini as her digital sounding board and supportive creative assistant.

“I use Gemini as a sounding board,” Angeli explains. “The intuition, experience, and understanding of the client come from me. It helps me find the words to express those things.”

The origins of StonedMNL

Before she was curating crystal energies and matching them to people’s life paths, Angeli worked in the corporate world of banking, handling sales and marketing. Always curious about people—their personalities, astrological signs, and life stories—she found herself drawn to crystals as a personal practice to bring light and intention into her own daily routine.

When friends and colleagues noticed her passion, they began asking for recommendations. Eventually, their trust gave her the push she needed: in 2016, she launched StonedMNL, handpicking, cleansing, and matching bespoke crystal pieces to clients seeking clarity or balance.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this 2026, StonedMNL remains anchored in deep personal connections. For Angeli, every piece starts with understanding the unique human story behind it.

How to use Gemini to work smarter

The use of AI doesn’t strip away the human touch and connection needed to do readings. Instead, Gemini could do a lot of the admin and clerical tasks that are involved with consultations:

• Demystifying Niche Concepts: Matching crystals often involves complex astrology insights, birthday details, and energy descriptions. Gemini helps Angeli translate intricate crystal properties into clear, approachable language that newcomers can easily understand.
• Streamlining Consultancy Notes: During consultations, Angeli listens to a client’s story and selects pieces based on her intuition. She then uses Gemini to organize her notes and draft thoughtful explanations or alternative options, which she refines and personalizes before sending.
• Organizing Content & Directories: To maintain a consistent crystal directory, Angeli uses Gemini to structure entries into three keywords and a short description.
• Managing Event Chaos: Preparing for multi-day events or pop-ups in bustling hubs like Makati often means juggling client interactions while needing to push out real-time social media updates. Gemini helps draft event announcements, captions, and collaboration emails, ensuring she never has to start from a blank page.

For fellow small business owners, creatives, or parents who feel intimidated by new technology, Angeli offers simple, reassuring advice: you don’t need technical knowledge or complex prompt engineering to start.

“Start with one small task you already do regularly,” she suggests. “It could be writing a caption, drafting a reply, or organizing your ideas for the week. You can speak naturally. I explain what I need in my own words, sometimes in a mix of English and Tagalog, and refine the response from there.”

By handing off repetitive admin work and scattered thoughts to Gemini, entrepreneurs can protect their creative energy and keep what matters most at the heart of their business: meaningful human connection.