Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Sweeney.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Anna. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
For a semi-quick (not really) overview – in 2012, I started a one-of-a-kind flower headband business with my best friend for fun, because we love DIY, crafting and fashion. We started selling them at festivals and at Pike’s Place Market up in Seattle. It was crazy the amount of money we’d walk away with from our headbands that didn’t cost us much ourselves. We collected shells from the beach ourselves, cut up old clothes, clothes, and Free People bags for the braids, got fake flowers in mass from Amazon and the Dollar Store, broke apart old jewelry for beads, the list goes on. They were very beautiful pieces and perfect for festivals, vacations, the summer, even weddings, etc. We made an Etsy account to see if anyone online would want them and started getting orders overseas for weddings and events in larger quantities as well as individual orders. We became obsessed with business. Soon after, we started a business IG for all our favorite creations to gain buzz. Originally named “Adoriblestuff” we changed the name to “Celocia Crowna” from the word “Celosia” referring to fire-like flower heads. We thought this would reach a more mature audience. I moved down the summer of 2015 to Los Angeles during college to continue this business with my best friend. We would sell our headbands on the Santa Monica Pier and Venice beach. We got in contact with Audrina Patridge’s manager and were able to gain some influencer momentum on IG. We were on a roll. We got some articles published about us in several newspapers and added on another friend to help take on some of the workloads.
In 2015 is where we began to realize we needed to make this a full-time priority, hire on actual staff and make this an actual business. It became hard because we were the only ones that wanted to make the hand-made headbands, as others were not producing headbands that we liked. It was hard as full-time college students, in two different states to keep all the momentum built during the school year. I decided to continue and finish my college education and slowly left this business behind. After my undergrad, I went back to pursue and get my Masters degree in Business administration. Ever since 2015 moving to Los Angeles was something I wanted and knew I would do. My passion for fashion design and business continued to grow. Unfortunately, as I was job hunting I wasn’t initially offered any in those fields and took a great offer in the financial/banking industry in Seattle. I gave it the “don’t knock it till you try it” and had a few of those offers because of my MBA and Finance degree. During that year I studied and became fully licensed in my Series 6, 63 and Life and Health.
For those who do not know, those are essentially licenses from the federal government to be able to sell securities, insurances and (some) stock. I hated it. I hated it. I couldn’t even lie to myself how miserable I was, how unhappy I was to go to work, study for these tests, be at all interested in anything I did. There was no creativity and I hated having “goals.” I was not passionate about what I was selling and I didn’t enjoy doing it. On my Instagram, I began curating daily outfits. I would post one every morning, it held me accountable to create a completely different/new outfit every day. It was my favorite part of the day, though working in such a conservative workspace I was extremely limited on what I was allowed to wear. I still made it work. I knew it was something I’d love to do for myself but thought people might get annoyed. The exact opposite, people loved my daily outfits, I got so much hype I wasn’t expecting. I was encouraged to take my Instagram off private and begin what many call “blogging” my fashion trends/ideas/etc. People expect my daily photos now. It helped me build my confidence and drive in what I like to do. I quickly got out of my rut and decided I was going to make real moves and enough was enough. My lease was ending in July and I made a promised to myself that I would not renew, I would move to Los Angeles, job or no job, house or no house, friends or no friends.
It was around February, I really started applying to every and any job in a more creative/marketing/fashion field down in Los Angeles. I had phone interviews with CEO’s in companies like FabFitFun and applied to a ton of companies like Revolve (dream company). Nothing was sticking. No one tells you how really hard it is to land a job when you can’t meet in person, you’re 23 and have little to no “legit” experience in the field. Its like… you know you have what it takes for the job and would be a perfect fit but they don’t know you. As June hit, it started to seem like I was going to be moving down without a job, I was about ready to announce to my friends and work that I would be leaving, started arranging my move and let me tell you it is $$$ in the middle of summer on your own.
Out of nowhere, I was offered a job at an online startup called Collide, a platform for creatives/influencers to monetize their fans and what they do, as the marketing research analyst. Wooo finally a creative marketing job for creatives! I quit my bank job end of June and Collide wanted me to start full time immediately, so I began working remotely in July. I was happy to do so to help pay for my move (this is a contract job so I was not compensated for my move). In this past year, I have really begun to grow my Instagram, I have become a lot better at photos, worked a number of collabs with different clothing shops, other influencers, and photographers, and started to build my “brand.” I quickly realized that this is what I LOVE to do. Right now, I’m the marketing research analyst for Collide full time but would love to be on the other side of it as a creator some day. A 9 to 5 job for me isn’t a forever. I have dreams to build my Instagram, start my own shop/business, take on modeling and get a full-time blog up and running. I want to travel the world and help with fashion designs, be apart of all the fashion weeks and build a name/brand that is highly reputable in that industry. Right now, I manage to work 8-11 hour days and keep my Instagram running single-handedly with daily posts. My weekends are spent building up and curating content for the week. If you consider that work then I’m always working. But the amazing thing about that is that it’s what I love to do and doesn’t feel that way. I have met so many amazing women and individuals down here from the fashion/blogger community, through Instagram, etc. The amount that I have grown in the last year, even the last five years is insane. I have goals and milestones set for myself and I’m excited to conquer them.
Right now, my company Collide is about to leave beta and can I tell you… the platform is so cool. I’m so excited to be part of such a great team and a great platform from the very beginning. I hold it responsible for a lot of my growth. Collide, as a platform for creatives with large followings, has allowed me to meet some really amazing, influential people I never would be able to on my own. I’m finally on my own (right) path and I’m extremely motivated to do it all. I’m extremely flattered by you guys in noticing something special in me!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not. Deciding to give up my headband business, Celocia Crowns was not an easy decision. Shark Tank is one of my favorite shows and I always dreamed/saw myself one day going on there. College is hard, but grad school was even harder. I took on a full-time GA position to pay for my tuition as well as a 20-hour internship for 13 months on top of it all the whole year. Grad school, marketing assistant, GA for the research department, all at the same time. That was easily 80 hour weeks every week for a whole year. By the end, I was drained but I was so proud of myself for accomplishing (and doing it well) a schedule people told me was impossible. I got myself through grad school with no debt.
My parents split in 2015 and went through the divorce process for two years and as soon as I graduated college, I was cut off. My dad even bills my every month for my portion of my phone bill. I watch many friends move back home, not have a job, and have their parents continue to take on financial responsibility. Not me. I didn’t want to move back home. I’m the oldest of four and with the divorce and all the different personalities, moving back home would be a black hole for me. I wouldn’t be productive or motivated or happy. Moving back home wasn’t an option for me. Though all the money I would have saved would have been amazing. I’ve also lived in five states and moving to LA was my 6th state move for me. The hardest but most rewarding decision I ever made was picking up everything, driving myself down and moving to LA. I had NO idea what to expect. Really didn’t have any friends here, a couple people I kind of new here and there that I tried to get in touch with but other than that, no one. I left everyone and everything I knew for the last 11 years. Some people that’s crazy but I think moving to five different states as a child as made it very easy for me to adjust. Moving down here without a job would have been hard but I was fully prepared to do so and I honestly think that mentality is what landed me my job. I have learned so much being financially responsible and making huge choices like quitting a secure job and moving all by myself. There have been plenty of haters and people that didn’t believe in me. My mom was not happy in my decision to leave either. I think I had been a way to save in college for way too long. I went to a school two hours from my house, had a high school sweetheart for a while and never went to study abroad. I was ready to create waves in my life. None of it has been easy but I just take it day by day and it always works out when you look back at it. It’s all about the mindset and the attitude. Smooth roads don’t take you anywhere.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with your business – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Before college, I ran a one-of-a-kind flower headband business with my best friend. We made the headbands, sold them, dealt with the financials, worked with influencers and newspapers, created a website and an Etsy account, created and managed a business IG. It was a great experience in business for years and grew my passion for being an entrepreneur and working in fashion. I got my college degree in finance and international business. Went on to get my MBA. During my MBA, I worked through the year as the graduate assistant for the research department in the college of business and economics. I was responsible for managing undergraduate intern workload and helping them with work. I was in charge of major research projects, working with SIC and NAIC codes, creating graphs and 40-page paper analysis, etc. I also worked as the marketing intern for over a year during that time for CSA (cloud security alliance), a cloud computing and best practices not for profit company. I worked part-time as an exec. assistant in creating the CTO and head of membership’s schedules. I scheduled calls and meetings and took notes. I filled out and created all Salesforce profiles and information. I worked on membership retention and did a lot of email campaign marketing, etc. After, I went into the financial/banking industry. I worked part-time on the corporate side and part-time on the banking side. I completed my series 6, series 63 and life and health tests to allow myself the ability to sell securities and insurances. I learned how to be a teller, a banker, run the atm and other banking jobs. Learning the financial industry was not for me, I quit and moved down to LA and took on a job at Collide as the marketing research analyst. It’s an online startup for creatives/influencers that’s a platform for those creators to monetize their work and their fans. I fully run the LinkedIn, sharing articles, writing posts, community management and engaging with others posts on relevant topics/competitors, and writing articles. The articles are stored on our websites blog page and I have responsibility for that. I also help a lot with the social media for Instagram posts, twitter and advertisements. My company also uses my personal curated photos/etc. for our ads sometimes as well. I have been learning and working google analytics and will be soon taking on the search ads. There are numerous tasks I do, as we are all very hands-on as a small company startup. My favorite job is going to meet and onboard our larger creators. On top of my full-time work, in the last year, I have worked with boutiques and shops for collaborations, numerous photographers and other influencers on creative work and have really begun to create my self-brand through my Instagram platform. I also work with Liketoknow.it app as well.
Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
You can go on and on about the challenges women face today but as for opportunities, I think being a creative on social media platform is highly centered towards women. There are a lot more women in lines of work as creatives and influencers on these platforms then there are men. I noticed a massive switch in genders from my financial/banking job to my marketing creative job. Advertising and marketing are highly geared towards reaching women. While there are a million challenges (literally), there are also opportunities you can take advantage of it being an “attractive” women. I feel as women, it’s a lot easier to make friends. A lot of the friends I’ve met down here have been through Instagram and online platforms have all been women. I just don’t think straight men meeting straight men is something many do, maybe it’s just me. Women are a lot more open to those sorts of things. It’s also exceedingly easier as women to just meet people in general out and about. That has been very helpful. Women are clearly more nurturing, thoughtful and physically comfortable with other people.
Contact Info:
- Email: annasweeney@outlook.com
- Instagram: @annasweeeney
Image Credit:
photographer: @shannonlaurine, Makeup: @jaquelynsmakeup, Hair: @hairdidki
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