We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anastassia Selezneva. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anastassia below.
Anastassia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
There are many highs and lows to entrepreneurship.
You can ride the highest wave and finally feel a call to relax and that you’ve finally made it. And then like all waves, there is a drop. Big or small. Now this drop doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. It can feel extremely uncomfortable, and you may find yourself tumbling under water, but, it’s all good. You have about 10 seconds to hold your breath and to think of a really nice memory. Whether it’s a memory of the sun. A memory of how you carved that wave. Maybe how big the wave was and how you stood up, and how you rode it for as long as you could. Or any other memory that brings you into the state of peace.
The key is to remember that you will come out of the tumble. That you will remember it, that you will reflect on it and it will be a victory for you when you come out.
Know that it’s all for you. These highs, lows and in betweens are really all for you.
That’s really what entrepreneurship is all about. We are definitely not in it to have an easy life. But we are in it to have a meaningful life, a flexible life and to learn adaptability. To be able to bend instead of break. To learn to change forms and be malleable. To take on forms we didn’t think we would or could but be adaptive and understand that the new form is necessary, and maybe only just for now.
To be able to act like the archetype of water. To flow, to change, to transforms. Water steers away and finds ways around obstacles. Water gives sustenance to all life. We take note of the obstacles and we create a plan to solve them. The key is to remember but not live in the obstacle that already passed. To move forward. To flow forward. To live the high. To remember the highs and lows but direct the energy to the highs.
There have been many high in my entrepreneurial journey. They can come on a daily, monthly or even yearly basis. All years are massively different.
One of my earlier and pivotal highlights was when I first began to see how life was opening new doors into entrepreneurship. They were hard to miss. Hard to mis-interpret. Essentially, a billboard that said “this way ->” with every encounter and every open door.
In 2014, there was a craft show that was held by a large e-commerce platform for makers. It was considered one of the best exhibits in Ontario, and one of the hardest to get into. At the time, I was wire wrapping large stones in brass and silver wire. I knew nothing about goldsmithing and was honing in my jewelry design skills.
At this show, there was a man that kept coming over to my booth. He had wild curly salt and pepper hair, colourful clothing, a silk scarf around his neck, and a vibrant personality. He was fascinated by the iridescent stones that I had in my jewelry and kept saying that he wanted me to create something for a show he was organizing. And of course, that I should google him as the show was legit. At that point I didn’t think anything of it. I kept nodding and agreeing and saying “absolutely, I’d love to know more”.
The next morning, I forgot all about my new friend as soon as I went back to my 9 – 5 banking job. I saw a missed call. And then another, that I picked up. On the other end was this vivacious man asking me to come by to his members only club on Queen St to discuss the project. If I am to be honest, I thought of all the worst case scenarios, but then there was a little voice that said, just say yes. I told my partner at the time where I was going, and if anything happened I gave the vivacious man’s number and the address. Just in case.
At the time there was a popular saying “fake it, till you make it”. When I showed up to meet this person, I, as a jewelry hobbyist by night, and Business Analyst by day, was using that at full force. I showed up, my heart beating out of my chest. I called the vivacious man to let him know that I am downstairs. In the background I heard many voices, women, men etc. Phew I thought.
He came to greet me at the door, vibrant as I remember, and took me to the space. It was in fact a members only club, filled with beautiful soho esque furniture and decor. A great sigh of relief over took me. We are all discussing the project in the in the back meeting room, he said. Now I was used to grey wall meeting spaces. Life-less. He brought me into a room with a large wooden table, leathers chairs all around, some sort of animal handing on the wall, and an ornate chandelier over the over the table. A man with glasses and a woman with long dark hair sat at the table. The table had bags of stones, material and a sketchbook. What did I just walk into, I though. Fake it till you make it, said the voice.
The three quickly brought me up to speed on the project. The model is going to be the wife of the guy from the matrix they said, and she will have two hounds walking the runway with her. The show is for Toronto Fashion Week by the way.
My mind momentary blew up. But I showed none of that.
These are the stones that we want you to use. What would you design for the hair piece, and for the hounds.
I took the pencil and my hand began to draw like it knew exactly what the design will look like. Granted, I did know how to sketch as my parents had me take art class since I was 5 years old up until 17 when the priorities changed to university, studying IT and business.
Those designs look great, they all agreed. How long will it take you to create the pieces? The lady with the long hair asked. A week or so I answered (wildly guessing since I did have a full time job). Great, here are the stones. That one is $5,000, my vivacious friend said, pointing to the main stone. Be careful with it.
Bags full of stones, I was on my way. In complete disbelief of what had just happened. What the f.. I thought.
That was the beginning of how I created pieces for Toronto Fashion Week and then soon after New York and Milan Fashion Weeks. I worked day and night. I took time off work to learn metalsmithing using YouTube and a great deal of trial and error. A week before NYFW, they flew me out to visit the studio of the New York designer we were collaborating with to work from their studio.
On the day of the show, I woke at 6 in the morning, to see the backstage prep. The models, the media, the fittings and all the creative chaos one can dream of. I sat front row and saw the pieces that took 50 or more hours to create walk the runway. I met my idol at the time, Kelly Cutrone who was the PR of the show and then casually ran into my favourite comedian, Chris Rock, walking the streets of New York. I could pinch myself.
The next day, I returned to Toronto with a plan. A plan that initiated the beginning of my entrepreneurial wave; to quit my job, to go back to school and study Jewelry Arts, and to start my business full time.
Anastassia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Anastassia, I am the founder and lead jewelry designer for Anastassia Sel Jewelry, a Toronto based fine jewelry company, specializing in meaningful talismans, handcrafted in Canada from certified Canadian gold and sustainably sourced diamonds and coloured gemstones. Each design holds hidden meaning specific to its wearer and serves as a reminder of our unique sense of self and the journey that has brought us to where we are today.
I first began Anastassia Sel Jewelry, in 2015, when I started to feel a call to do something more meaningful and creative. My secure banking job that first felt excting, slowly began to dwindle in relevance, and I found myself crying in the washroom every morning like a ritual. I started to seek out creative callings and shortly after found myself in a jewelry supplies store bewildered by all the options and possibilities of what I could create. That chance encounter I bought a starter kit consisting of pliers, wire and stones and went home to discover my new calling. I YouTubed jewelry making and began something that will soon take me into a completely different career trajectory as a creator and entrepreneur.
My business allowed me to live a nomadic life, travel and live in places like Bali, Australia, Mexico, Panama, while running my business out of Toronto, Canada.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
When I first began, I fabricated everything myself. I loved the design aspect, but didn’t enjoy creating under pressure. At some point, late into the night in the studio, tired, looking down at my hands, aching and covered in polishing compound, I had a sober realization:
1) I was limited by the hours in my day
2) My revenue depended on how fast I can produce
3) In order to grow and make a profit I had to free up my time to work on the business
I received a recommendation from a friend for a production house she once worked at. It was a family business, they worked with Canadian gold and Canadian diamonds and were based in Toronto, Canada.
My biggest lessons with working with a production house:
1) Design Specification
Every aspect of the design journey has to be documented and available for the makers of the production house to reference. Even if the design details seems intuitive. Every angle, every dimension, stone detail, and colour. If you miss something, you may be surprised with the product after production.
2) Quality Control
No one will have the same eyes as you. Outlining quality control standards with the production house, having a well trained quality control rep and quality control documentation is key to having a high quality product. A quality control rep that’s not affiliated with the production house is important because they are trained to maintain your level of standards which may not match the factory’s.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
In 2017, I decided to pivot from my sterling silver line to a fine jewelry line. I was adamant on producing my products in Canada, and saw that fine jewelry can provide a better margin. I was hesitant to move into the bridal space because I saw how traditional it can be which didn’t match my design aesthetic. I took it on as a challenge – to create a bridal jewelry line, that was different, that utilized components of traditional jewelry in a way that was not traditional. I knew I wanted to work with a marquise cut as it was a traditional cut and that it will be facing a different direction.
I met my first 3D designer through my cousin while I was visiting my family in Belarus. Together we created the first 3D design. The ring featured a marquise cut morganite, facing east west, versus the traditional south north. A crown that traced the top of the marquise centre stone, instead of a halo, and a band that was delicate instead of wide and heavy.
The CAD designer created two life like renderings from which I made the first product listing on Etsy. Shortly after I recieved my first sale. The piece sold to a woman that was a public figure with an instagram following from which I gained my first five thousand followers on Instagram and the start of many sales to come. I remember looking at my IG page, as the followers were rolling in. I kept refreshing and laughing. A win. The peak of a wave.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AnastassiaSel.com
- Instagram: anastassiasel
- Facebook: anastassiasel
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/anastassia-selezneva
Image Credits
Photography: Luana Suciu Anna Laskin Dasha Shchukova