We had the good fortune of connecting with Anet Abnous and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anet, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Work, life balance can be different for everyone and every situation. You need to set your priorities and decide the things you can give up completely or put limitation in order to have a happy life. Some people are the happiest when they work more and make a lot of money and success feeds their energy and for some it is completely different. It was very hard and challenging for me to work and go to school and raise kids and at some point I had to put my career and dreams on hold and work part-time and raise my kids. But that didn’t mean that was the end of dreaming or setting career goals. I always knew I like to be in charge! In charge of my life, my work and my career and I was born to be an entrepreneur. Memories, especially childhood memories, are the essence of life and I wanted to enjoy my children’s precious memories and their activities through years of schools, birthdays, and sports…etc. All along preparing myself for a higher cause and dream’s fulfillment. Forty years old was my calling year to start Anet’s Collection, Luxury art inspired accessory and fashion line, and pursue my dream. There were other factors played key roles, I must say. My children are older, and less dependent, so, as I am getting ready to send my son to college what better way to fill my time than growing my business and pursuing my dream to the fullest. Transition factors: I make my teenagers do chores and help around the house. My husband works from home and is a great help with kids, home, and also cooking. When it comes to family, we are a great team and whoever has time and the energy takes care of the other. To-do lists and calendars are important for me, I have a substantial long to-do list of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. I depend on people, their energy and love, to surround myself with positive people that I can learn from. Some people might see having coffee with a friend as only socializing, for me not only socializing but feeding my soul and learn about people and their habits. The last, and I think one of the most important factor, is self-love and care. I push myself to exceeding my work limit. Which is normal when you bootstrap and building a business from the ground up, but then I remind myself to slow down and take care of myself in order to be able to take care of my family and my business and passion.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Dress to success with less expense with Anet’s Collection art inspired scarves and give the meaningful experience of gifting that brings different cultures of the world together. Specializing in Affordable luxury Armenian gifts for women and men. That is my brand’s story. My folk and cultural creations are deeply compelling and culturally diverse and have profound connections with civilizations and anthropology. As an illustrious artist, Anet often transforms her breathtaking and abstract imagery on to fabric, leather and silk to irradiate social behaviors, traditions and customs. Our mission is to partner with women and children based non-profit organizations through collaboration to raise funds and give back to our community and bring awareness to different cultures and that is how we have grown our company since 2016. Entrepreneurship in general is very exciting and has a lot of ups and downs and it is never easy. Sometimes you need to be born with it and other times you need to train your thinking and fix your attitude in order to be able to make it. It is hard work. Sometimes you hit your highest moment and the lowest in the same day. Specially being female owned business is even harder. There are many challenges such as funding, getting banks or Angel investors attention specially if the product you are selling is for female market and most investors are men. It is the mens world out there and we are trying the change the wrong norm and create a balanced norm.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh I love many things and the list can get very long… For museums I would say, The Broad being one of them or The Getty Villa or Center and Huntington Library and Botanical Garden. The Last Bookstore, Griffith Observatory, and of course some shopping at Americana or Rodeo Drive and I would love to experience Gucci’s new rooftop restaurant and compare with the original Florence one. Definitely a quick bite at IN-N-OUT Burger and special visit to Republique (French Restaurant) for the most tasteful meals and Barton G for their unique presentation designed to shock the guests and create Instagram-worthy pictures. I would make sure to finish the trip with a relaxing day or two at Laguna Beach to enjoy the beach, the galleries and the view.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Inspired by art and embarking on a lifelong dream, I started my business of Art-inspired scarves and accessories focusing on females ages 22-55 in the luxury segment, opening numerous Glendale, Chicago, Pennsylvania … boutiques along with my DTC website, www.anetscollection.com . A business acquaintance told me about the Tory Burch Foundation, and I applied last year. The coursework was perfect, as it opened my eyes to proper planning, creating and executing a strategic plan, and managing income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow on my way to earning my Women Entrepreneur Certificate from Cornell University. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity. There is another fantastic group “Female Founder Collective” that I am grateful to be a member. It is elite network of female owned and led businesses to positively impact communities, both socially and economically founded by fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff and co-founder Alison Koplar Wyatt.The community of the collective enables women to connect with other women in order to give vetted resources around capital, as a result, growing their business and operating more efficiently. I recently came back from NYC attending 2 days event at the beginning of March, the first one which was invitation only by Tory Burch Foundation for #embrace ambition summit and the second one was with FFC. I came back fully charged and ready to face the challenges and I know I have big female owned organizations support, so a big shout out to both of them.

Website: https://anetscollection.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/anetscollection
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anet-abnous-a41872bb/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anetscollection
Facebook: https://facebook.com/anetscollection
Other: https://pinterest.com/anetscollection

Image Credits
Design: Anet Abnous Photogropher: Liana Grigoryan Model: Nicole Castillo Model: Nare Israelyan Make up: Andrew VelAzquez Make up: Andy Calero