We recently connected with ANNEBENANNE and have shared our conversation below.

Hi ANNEBENANNE , thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Some of my earliest memories as a child, are gazing at my mother in admiration while she got dressed up to head out to church or to social gatherings she was always well groomed poised, perfect make up perfect hair, perfect nails, and I think watching that ignited the love and fire in me for fashion. I created my first fashion piece, which was a dress I sewed for my Barbie doll when I was about seven or eight years old.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

So I’ve always drawn and sketched different designs, for fun and I think that after years of pursuing a career in human services, that desire to dig back into fashion on a more serious level became reignited during the pandemic of 2020. I was dealing with a lot of frustration with my weight at the time and not being able to purchase swimsuits that were attractive for my size, and I thought that since we had so much time on our hands because of quarantining, it was the perfect opportunity to focus on building a swimsuit brand that would highlight The sex appeal of women from all shapes and sizes and so in 2022 I officially launched ANNEBENANNE SWIM, which has become my heart and soul! We did our first fashion show ever this past summer out in Miami Swim week and it was a complete success. Then I thought to myself hey, I need a platform for more visibility for the swimsuits , I’m always on Instagram doing lives and speaking about my opinions on every day, trending topics, whether it be fashion or entertainment news, why not create a platform officially as a podcast so that I could combine the two and things would take off from there and so I contacted a friend of mine and Guileless Intentions was born. My podcast has elevated and expanded immensely since its first episode on Instagram live about a year ago, we have now found a home in Times Square to shoot out of. We are attending many media and industry events interviewing interesting, creative and artist from all different walks of life we also have a philanthropic and charity department, where we Collab with other businesses, to raise money for the needy, the less fortunate and disadvantage populations, and I really take pride in that because it pays respect to my background and human services so I kind of take all the things about myself that I love and use it to enhance my different platforms , our biggest accomplishment was the dribble for dreams game that happened this past August, where I collaborated with Soulfully Spoken organization to raise money for the precious dreams foundation and we were successful in raising over $5000 by curating a celebrity charity basketball game in the Bronx New York at Fordham university., When it comes to acting I’ve always been a dramatic personality haha. I’ve always been a empath and I’m able to feel emotions and thoughts and things very deeply, and I think that that plays a big role in being able to adapt and place myself in the character of whatever role I am trying to land . I’m still aspiring and I’ve done a few small projects but I hope to one day be on the big screen..

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well, first and foremost, I am a woman who comes from the Bronx New York. I was raised in a single parent household following my parents, divorce and I was a mother by the time I was 16 years old. I had to drop out of high school to work in order to afford an apartment and I’ve been through the shelter systems. I’ve been on Food Stamps I I’ve been through it all and I picked up my big girl pants and decided that I wanted to be a product of my decisions and so re-enrolled back into school went to college found a career and used my career to fund my Dream. I made the decision in the beginning of this year of 2023 that I was going to become a full-time entrepreneur and I liquidated all of my savings from my 401(k) and I flipped it on my Dream and it’s something that I don’t regret now do I have some times where I’m frustrated and I’m a little bit nervous and things aren’t flowing the way that I want them to or just dealing with the doubt that comes from friends and family who don’t believe or see the vision yes, I will not say that this is easy, but the fire and the passion in my heart, and the belief in myself is stronger than any doubt of myself or anyone else’s and I do believe that consistency is key and great things take time and if you’re doing something that you love, and you’re chasing it for the right reasons, the success and monetary gain will follow.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Honestly, I would say that the Internet has a great advantage for creatives that are currently coming up. I think it’s probably easier in these times to gain access to bigger opportunities however, at the same time it would be great for the people who are seasoned and have figured out the ropes to send the elevator back down and help less, gatekeeping be open to sharing resources mention the newbies names in rooms of opportunities that you know align with their purpose you know each one teach one and there’s more strength and numbers there is room at the table for us all . Offer more mentorship as well , having a mentor definitely was a game changer for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iammsbenanne, @guilelessintentions, @annebenanneswim
• Facebook: Guilelessintentions
• Youtube: @annebenanne, @guilelessintentions

Image Credits
@tlopezphotography Terrell Lopez @sc_photographynyc Simieon