We recently connected with Natalia Beley and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Natalia, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

Both of my parents are immigrants and I think that made a big impact on me. They always taught me to be grateful for all the opportunities I have, they taught me work hard and to take risks. I think most immigrants are really risk takers and I think that is sort of in my blood. My father owned his own retail business so I think that is in my blood as well.

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.

Well I am the owner and chief curator at a gift shop located in Milton, GA called Evimero Marketplace. Evimero means “to thrive” in Greek and we really specialize in products that are either fair trade, small US brands, non-profits and local Georgia brands. We love uplifting and supporting other small businesses so we really make it part of our core values to work with other new brands and artisan groups.

I’m most proud of the fact that when you shop with us you aren’t just buying a piece of jewelry or a candle let’s say but you are making a positive impact on another business or non profit. We work with several social entrepruenerships that use the power of business to make big change in people’s communities.

If you’re looking for a gift that you can really feel good about giving then we have something for you.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Right now i’m really leaning in to business books. I just finished reading Raving Fans and I loved the principles in that book. The idea that we need to create raving fans not just customers and that what is going to differentiate us in the noisy world today is our level of customer service. Amazon, target and those big box stores are just never going to be able to provide the personal touch and level of service that small businesses can still offer. The authors idea that we have the ability to delight our customers by improving their experience 1% at a time. Just doing a little better then the last time.

One of our core values is “to turn our customers into friends” and I think one way we’re doing this is trying to address and thank them by name if we can. People want to be known and we want them to feel welcome in our space.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m always still trying to build it but honestly i’ve sort of shifted my focus from just the numbers to engaging with my audience. I try to be authentic, share content that I enjoy and then of course share about the fabulous products that we carry. So I haven’t always had a “strategy”, its just really been more organic. I love Gary V’s advice to not always be selling but just share valuable content and relate to your audience first.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evimeromarketplace.com
• Instagram: @evimeromarketplace
• Facebook: @evimeromarketplace
• Youtube: evimero marketplace

Image Credits
Katya Vilchyk, Atlanta Brand Photographer