Today we’d like to introduce you to Oksana Kolesnikova.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My journey started in my native Siberia, Russia, where my parents enrolled me for piano lessons after noticing I had a strong interest in this instrument. I went on to win my first piano competition at age 9 and at age 15 my family and I moved to America (1993).
There, barely speaking English, I attended an American high school, mastered the language and later enrolled at Saint Petersburg College, studying piano. In 1999 I graduated from SPC and won the Florida State Young Artists Symposium Competition, which earned me a full scholarship to attend Florida State University. At that time, I met my future husband/manager (have been married to him for almost 18 years at the time of this writing). In 2001 I graduated with honors from Florida State University, and I embarked on what became a very successful career.
First, we relocated from Tallahassee, FL to St. Petersburg, FL where, while performing at a local high end venue, I was spotted by an executive of the Home Shopping Network who landed me the opportunity to perform in front of millions during the anniversary sale presentations of cosmetic mogul Adrienne Arpel.
At the same time, I started to tour the world, performing for the US Troops, with two World Tours, one in Europe and one in Asia. During these tours I also performed for the United Nations on several occasions.
Shortly upon our return from these tours, we moved to Los Angeles, in view to expand my career to the next levels. That’s where we created the opportunity for me to perform on PBS alongside the popular ‘Scott the Piano Guy’, who invited me to perform and break down in teaching components several songs, including Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The PBS performances allowed me to gather a huge following of US fans.
The beginnings in LA were however not easy… We literally knocked on every door of Hotels, resorts, restaurants, club, etc looking for venues for me to perform and so have a steady source of income, all while working on the ‘big picture’.. The main breakthrough came when I was hired as the in-house pianist at the legendary Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where I performed five days a week during their busy lunch hour, from 2006 to 2013. That’s where I met just about every A-lister celebrity – from Angelina Jolie, to Oprah, to Elton John and countless more. I often interacted directly with all these celebrities, who were very appreciative of my music.
My repertoire consisted of over 6 hours of memorized music – anything from Back to Rock. My YouTube channel is a 160+ videos testimonial to that.
While at the Polo Lounge some celebrities would ask me if I also gave piano lessons, as they would have loved their children to take lessons from me, and so the seed for what later became Oksana School of Music & Art had been planted. I started giving piano lessons to celebrities and their children, and I slowly built my school to what it is today. We now serve the entire Los Angeles area, Beverly Hills, Rancho Palos Verdes and Santa Clarita. I was featured on the Los Angeles Business Journal twice. On a side note, I became a US Citizen in 2006 and our child was born in 2009.
While building Oksana School of Music & Art, we realized the same music lessons clients also needed additional services, such as Foreign Language instruction and K-12 Academic Tutoring. And so we formed Oksana Management Group, Inc. (OMG), which includes all our three businesses. We pride ourselves with hiring only the finest instructors, and that’s one of the keys to our success. We currently provide After School Enrichment Programs to several schools in the Santa Clarita area, and plan to expand to other counties as well in the near future.
These days I don’t perform much anymore, and when I do it’s mostly to help worthwhile causes. I am a strong supporter of Smile Train, who provides free surgeries to children born with cleft lip and palate deformities. I am however in the midst of planning an online platform where I can teach, or perform, for hundreds or even thousands at a time, on a subscription basis, thanks to innovative technology as provided by Cisco.
At the same time, we are re-creating a presence in the Tampa Bay area, Florida where we have family and business ties.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has been far from being smooth…. when we decided to move to LA, we didn’t know anyone and had no financial backing…. LA is a beautiful city but is equally unforgiving… Anyone with talent comes here, so it’s extremely competitive and difficult to conquer. Let alone the ‘sharks’ who are ready to take advantage of any and all of your vulnerabilities. We were blessed – and perhaps street smart – to filter out all the ‘junk’ and persist until we found the right contacts – namely two wonderful people named Tony Maloof and Dana Bronson, who gave me an opportunity to make it in LA during the tough beginnings.
Please tell us about Oksana Management Group (OMG).
Oksana Management Group, Inc. (OMG) is a three-pronged company. It includes Oksana School of Music & Art, Oksana School of Languages, and Oksana Homework Tutors. My name is included in all four companies for branding purposes.
We pride ourselves with impeccable service – our slogan in fact is ‘Your Gateway to Exemplary Service”. We truly care our clients are offered only the best, and at competitive prices.
What sets apart from the others is that perhaps my husband and I are very ‘real’ – no falseness, no pretenses, no gimmicks. What you see is what you get – and what you get is the friendliest, most professional service anyone could ever have. Our client retention rate proves this. Some of our clients trace back from many years ago.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have NEVER considered acquiring a partner… That was a short lived and extremely painful experience. Other than that, we wouldn’t change a thing. Tough times are necessary steps in order to learn lessons and eventually achieve success.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.oksanamanagementgroup.com
- Phone: 323-284-7930
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/pianistoksana
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oksana.schoolofmusic
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/pianistoksana
- Other: http://www.youtube.com/oksanabella
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