We were lucky to catch up with Angie Masciantonio recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Angie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I am very much happier as a business owner. The last time I had truly contemplated going back to a regular job was when my business, much like many other small businesses, struggled to make much progress during COVID-19 and ultimately crumbled. Although it’s not back to its high numbers, I currently work a part time job to help rebuild evange. And being able to compare both a regular job and a self run business makes me appreciate all the dedication and effort and things that I get to learn from running Evange compared to working a regular job. The community and customer relationships I build through Evange are much more rewarding.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Evange is a unique, quirky, and odd business where you can find a variety of things from clothes, accessories, toys, and home decorations to things such as taxidermy, strange art and 3d printed art. All my peices are hand made and are rarely to never repeated, Evange strives on individuality and providing my clients with things that are made to be one in a million. Evange also runs a beauty segment including nail art and hair styling. I was trained as a nail technician with the goal to allow everyone to feel that their sense of who theyl truly are can be worn in plain sight. I push the boundaries when it comes to my work to make items or nails/hair styles that people can look at and just go “what in the world is that!?”.
Evange is made for those who have weird and random ideas and want them made into something real. That’s my goal ultimately, is to share my crazy with the world.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I had a pivot in Evange right around the age of 13. I had learnt that what people wanted in the general idea of trends was all a come and go scheme. I wanted to provide something that could remain a constant trend, not something that people got bored of. This was when I really let my weird and crazy ideas come to life to get that twisted reaction from the general public. It also allowed for the best growth in attention, and I still get old clients telling me how a piece they ordered years ago still gets so much attention cause it’s just so random.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Having autism growing up made getting a regular 9-5 funny cause I just wasn’t the “normal” that employers were looking for. Running Evange only made me more nervous for public markets and events because the thought of people thinking that people with autism can’t run a business was just daunting. If anything, my first big market gig was when I really grew the balls to share that I had autism as I had a collection at the time based on sensory disorders that stem from having autism. Never did I think my business would further expand or get more connections and meet so many new people from sharing that. I now brand Evange proudly by saying it’s run by someone with autism.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Evange_Boutique
- Facebook: Evange Boutique