October 15, 2016

Meet West Hollywood Fashion Expert & Jewelry Designer: Yana Tammah

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yana Tammah.

She is a top-notch professional image maker, who has recreated the images of TV & Film personalities, including artists, presenters, and politicians from start to finish. She also has an extensive list of private clients. To understand the quality of her professional work, one just needs see her “before-and-after” work with some of these high-profile clients. She has authored a self-help book on how to create a high-fashion makeup look at home.

As a jewelry designer of semi-precious stone accessories, she has created YarT. Her jewelry designs are available in boutiques throughout Russia, Europe, and the United States. Her work has adorned Russian pop stars and appeared on the pages of fashion magazines and on international runways.

She is a style and fashion editor for ORT First Channel, giving expert advice to the public, models and Russian show business stars. She has trained them to understand their positive qualities, subtly hide their flaws, and magically transform themselves externally, and internally as well.

Has it been a smooth road?
Of course, sometimes it wasn’t a smooth road. I was born in Siberia and moved with my family in 1991 to Northeast Russia (Magadan) in the middle nowhere. This is a small town really close to Alaska and there is nothing over there. But since I was 17 years old I was dreaming about living in Los Angeles. I first began to work as a distributor for Herbalife, and that’s how I learned about the US and Los Angeles. We had no Internet or television where I could learn about lifestyle in the US, but I came across a videotape about some Russian immigrants who came to live here and they were so happy. People don’t always believe that dreams come true, but I got so excited and truly believed that one day I would be living in Los Angeles. I started to read a lot of American authors (like Dale Carnegie) about success and motivations, self-improvement, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. I learned a lot. And working with Herbalife made me more confident. It was a great experience for me. Later, I got married and had two daughters. I opened my own beauty salon and I was very successful in Magadan, but it wasn’t enough for me. It was never my final goal. I always admire women who try to build a career while being a mother and wife, because I know, first-hand how difficult it is.

The next step in my growth was when I decided to move to Moscow. We left everything behind and started a new life from beginning. Of course, it was difficult to establish myself in a huge megalopolis with millions of people who, like me, came there to follow a dream! It took a while but I finally reached where I wanted.

When I was working in the fashion industry in Moscow I realized that it too had become small for me. It was then that I decided to move to LA for a while to learn English and see if this was where I wanted to stay, in a totally different country.

As usual, it’s very hard in the beginning. The most difficult obstacles were understanding American culture, and of course the language. I still don’t speak English perfectly 🙂

I realized I just had to believe in myself and not be afraid of changes. That’s what I learned.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
I’ve had a lot of proud moments! After I had built a successful career in Russia I decided to move to the US without any knowledge of English it was a huge challenge. And after a few years of trying to build my career in Hollywood, I haven`t given up and still continue to hard work because helping people to become beautiful and stylish is my passion! I was very happy to publish my second book on style this year. It was great when my publishers in Russia told me that my book didn’t look Russian (it looked very American). But I think my proudest moments are still waiting for me. I always feel like after I’ve accomplished something, my best moments are still in the future. I never enjoy my achievements for too long. I am always moving forward to keep improving.

Tell us more about the struggles you’ve faced along the way.
Life is a struggle if you want to want to improve yourself. Time changes everything, and to be relevant and successful you must always keep yourself, your style and your ideas current. It is very difficult to change your habits over time, it requires a lot of work on your ego. Small successes feed the ego and justify choices, but constant change and growth only happens when you can set ego aside. There is no growth when you stay where you are. Life is always testing us.

What’s your outlook for the industry in our city?
It doesn’t matter where you find yourself, there is always a chance to improve and succeed. I am from a very small town and was able to achieve my goals there, but as my goals became bigger I had to move to places where I could achieve those goals. Some people love being the biggest fish in a small pond, it serves their ego. Other constantly need self-growth and challenges. I am that type of person, so I moved from my hometown to Moscow, to Los Angeles. And I am sure that I will eventually need a bigger challenge that will take me elsewhere. It takes a great deal of inner strength to leave one place and set goals for yourself elsewhere. But when you are up to the challenge and then succeed it is very gratifying, and should inspire a person to set even higher goals to reach.

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