entrepreneurs
Three Women – One Voice
For many years an educator, a writer and poet in my spare time, I was led by circumstances last year on a spiritual journey, a time in my life when I began to question what I wanted to give back to society, how to use my creativity, achieve a work/life balance, and gain well deserved recognition. After being a full-time mother for over a year, I returned to work part-time in 2019, only to find myself job searching again six months later. It was just before the first confinement in Switzerland due to COVID. My job search turned into a period of introspection. I began to look to other strong, entrepreneurial women as guides and muses. Three women inspired me greatly, having turned passion into a vocation, overcoming numerous boundaries, at times self-imposed.
I first met Anurima Das Nambiar on Women Rock Switzerland, a Facebook group in which women support each other, founded by Denise Nickerson and Michelle Guiliano. I learned that Anurima was the owner of an Indian restaurant, Moksha, opposite my mother’s apartment building in Territet/Montreux. I love Indian food, and Anurima’s dishes are both authentic and scrumptious. I also admire the fact that she is running two other restaurants during such difficult times.
Anurima’s passion first began while watching her grandfather manage a popular club and restaurant in India. She later observed her father running a hotel and food plaza with four restaurants under one premise. By age 15, Anurima was discussing ideas for her father’s project, Abcos Food plaza. She later worked for her father in this business for five years. After studying Hotel Management, she realized her true passion was to open her own business. A move to Switzerland in 2006 for her husband’s job, followed by two children, put Anurima’s dreams on hold for a brief period. Yet her passion never lay dormant and one day she faced her challenges – being a woman in a male dominant milieu and not speaking the language fluently. Anurima learned the language, and gained knowledge of the Swiss culture. She was propelled forward to take over Le Château in 2019, followed by Purple Ivy, both in Villeneuve. In 2020, she founded Moksha Resto-Lounge in Territet/Montreux.
The biggest rewards for Anurima are organizing banquets, planning menus, and rediscovering her identity – she is a mother, wife, daughter, but also Anurima – a woman living her passion to the fullest, each restaurant reflecting another essence of that multi-layered identity.
Links to Anurima’s restaurants: https://www.lechateaudevilleneuve.ch/
I met Michelle Chung Levesque at Boston University where I was majoring in Communications and she was pre-med. Michelle was following in her father’s footsteps. He was a doctor. I don’t think it had ever occurred to Michelle to do anything else in life. She later became a dentist and then a sonographer.
After having three daughters, Michelle took a brief hiatus, then owned an upcycling shop where she sold beautifully crafted felt animals she hand-made herself. Confinement last year motivated Michelle to tap into other creative skills and produce vivid paintings, bringing her sub-consciousness and consciousness to life.
Since Michelle was a child, creativity was always an inherent part of her being. She loved making dresses and furniture for her dolls, was driven by an urgency to bring life to art. Her greatest challenges were her own insecurities, preventing her from giving her emotions a voice and she felt the need to ask herself for permission to thrive. Yoga, meditation, and Buddhist principles have taught Michelle to be gentle with herself as well as others, removing toxicity from the equation, and making creativity a less strained effort. At the same time, learning not to measure success by flattery, but by the ability to pursue this passion full-time and to connect with others through art, are her greatest rewards. This journey into becoming a better human being have found their way into Michelle’s art, and the result is both authentic and captivating.
Michelle has sold various pieces of her art and is now working on her e-commerce while experimenting daily, improving her skills, and having fun in the process. She hopes one day to use her art to raise money for a noble cause.
Link to Michele’s Instagram profile:
I was at the local pool in Vevey with my daughter when I spotted Yulia Syrotiuk with her own little girl. We started talking and she was kind enough to share her baskets of fruit with us. We began to chat about work and Yulia revealed to me that her passion lay in designing baby clothes and shoes. She has her own Etsy site and showcases her work at various fairs and in shops. I admired Yulia’s initiative, her ability to consolidate motherhood and career through DomixDesign.
Yulia’s passion began early on in life. She dreamt of becoming a fashion designer since childhood. Unfortunately, her parents did not take her hobby seriously. Luck had it that she would meet and marry a man who believed in her forgotten dream and encouraged her to realize it.
Originally from the Ukraine, Yulia’s greatest challenge has been finding her niche in a foreign country, doing her best to provide locals with quality products. This has driven her to self-develop on a daily basis, to experiment and improve, one step at a time. Grateful customer reviews are her biggest rewards. Yet she is not afraid of criticism. Constructive feedback is equally valuable to her as it helps her to improve and tap into her greatest potential. She feels blessed to be doing what she loves and already has goals to open a space with a show room and a small children’s room. But family is Yulia’s number one priority, and that priority creates an equilibrium for her, bringing life to her passion in the form of intricately designed children’s apparel.
Link to Yulia’s Etsy site
Spring has arrived, and as I continue on my spiritual journey and opportunities are opening up, I use the inspiration gained from these three women, all with one voice. A voice of passion, a voice that allows one’s identity to be expressed, a voice that overcomes all challenges, and thrives in creative freedom.
About the author:
Maya Ramati Grossi is an American citizen with German/Polish roots. She grew up in Switzerland and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Boston University. She obtained her MBA later on while working at Glion Institute of Higher Education. With over twenty years experience in education, Maya comes from an artistic family. Her father was a writer, producer, and filmmaker, and Maya and her mother acted in his films, contributed ideas, and helped with promotion. Maya’s passion is writing. She lives above Vevey with her daughter and husband.
Wow, those stories are truly inspiring.