Today we’d like to introduce you to Priscilla Martinez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Priscilla. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
This is always the weird part for me as there are many layers to this story, I never really know where to start but I guess my career started off as a stylist, both locally and in NYC with The Cannon Media Group. After graduation, I landed a job as a personal assistant and brand manager/stylist for a local start-up called High Hill Entertainment. It was a heavy loaded job with many responsibilities, but also a time of tremendous growth. I was working a lot and didn’t have a lot of creative freedom in my personal life. I kept having this nagging feeling that I was abandoning my creative side, it always felt like I was doing a disservice to myself. Another thing that was also starting to bother me was Miami, I was having difficulty extracting any inspiration from the city, so I eventually quit my job and moved to LA.
LA was incredibly inspiring and grounding to me, something about being in such a dry area, surrounded by cactus and a desert-like vibe allowed to me to dig deep and discover what I needed to do. It was during time that House of Anouk was created. When I had been living in Miami, I was working with a spiritual healer and we did an akashic record journey. During this meditation, I met with my soul guide and he told me my spirit name was Anouk. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but years later when I was trying to develop the DNA of my company, the name Anouk kept popping up in my head, it wouldn’t leave. I started to do some research and discovered Anouk was a war goddess worshipped by Asian immigrants in Egypt. At some point, Anouk was merged with Neith, who was the goddess of weaving and voila… I couldn’t think of a more appropriate name for my brand than that of a goddess warrior woman who was powerful and creative.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
OMG def not, haha! There were so many challenges. When I look back, I honestly can’t believe I was even able to launch! During this time, I started suffering from weekly migraines and was having a GI issue I couldn’t resolve, it was incredibly taxing. I had to change my diet drastically and lost a lot of weight. At the same time, I had become engaged and was living a fairytale relationship but was battling a mental health issue that was contributing factor to the break-up of my relationship. Because of these issues, I couldn’t work full-time, so financially, there was a strain that held me back from being able to develop my brand faster. During this time, I moved to Amsterdam as my fiancé was Dutch and continued to work on House of Anouk. I do have to say living in Amsterdam was so magical, it’s a city that moves me in so many ways. While living there, I went into therapy and was diagnosed with a light form of PTSD.
When winter came around, things got a little dark and I decided to move back to Miami to see if the sun and ocean would heal me and to generate some income to continue developing House of Anouk. All in all, I didn’t start to feel emotionally better till the earlier part of this year, so in total, it was about almost six years of emotional and physical issues. After the move to Miami, a year later, my fiancé broke things off and I suffered the worst heartbreak of my life. During this time, I also returned to school to complete my fashion design degree and became unemployed during the launch of my brand. And this is just the personal stuff!! The production of the bag was another saga! Because I created a bag with so many details, it requires the handywork of various artisans, therefore it further complication the production process.
The brooch on the bag was developed in collaboration with an accessory designer Lia Terni, who is now a very dear friend of mine. However, unbeknownst to both of us, the manufacturing process of this brooch would take over a year to produce. The stone that accompanies the brooch has to be polished at a lapidary, this process has to be done locally for quality control purposes. The base that holds the stone was handmade by a local jewelry designer. The bags are made in Barranquilla, Colombia, by a wonderful studio, however, the leather braiding also needed to be done by a leather braiding specialist in Colombia. I got so lucky in finding this guy, it’s not easy to find artisans! He was very responsible and professional, I even flew him to Barranquilla to train the staff on how to braid the bags. All in all, the process of finding artisans, coordinating samples, production times and sourcing materials took about four years in total. I also had to do it in steps because I was funding this from my own income, till this day I don’t have any investors.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about House of Anouk – what should we know?
My company designs and produces luxury statement accessories, I am the founder and creative director. I am very proud of our craftsmanship: I have managed to produce a luxurious bag, that is 100% artisanal, customizable, but most importantly, it is a sustainable, slow fashion brand. The accessory market is a tricky one, the big fashion houses have a lot of disposable income for marketing. They have managed to convince the masses that accessories such as hats, sneakers, and bags are worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Sadly, this is not the case, these items costs less than $50 to produce. What the consumer is paying for is the marketing and brand recognition, there is no real intrinsic value to the items. My brand aims to be the opposite, I want organic, sustainable brand growth. At the moment, I treat my brand as a passive income. This allows to me to fine-tune my production to meet the market’s demands and to maintain my 9-5 career. Especially now, during these turbulent times, many fashion brands have collapsed, with massive layoffs and large bankruptcy claims. Luckily, being a small brand with an organic growth strategy, I have been untouched by the epidemic: I have zero bags on inventory, zero employees on payroll and no fixed costs. In retrospect, all of the challenges I faced which delayed the launch of House of Anouk were a blessing in disguise, it helped me navigate the black swan moment our economy is currently enduring. The American consumer wants everything now and it’s such a detrimental behavior to our environment. My hope with House of Anouk is to be a grain of salt in the movement towards sustainable fashion.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I wouldn’t say there is a single quality or characteristic to my success. I do have endless passion and determination for my craft, many dreams and ideas. Every day I create and keep planting, eventually, the success arrives but it is a byproduct of the work you put in.
Contact Info:
- Website: houseofanouk.com
- Instagram: @houseofanouk
Image Credit:
Instagram: @imcarolinaperez
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