Anna Gres on business: “When you do things for yourself or for your mother, everything will work out”
6 May 2024 17:20
МАМА БРЕНДУ
Anna Gres, actress of the show Mamakhihotala and founder of the Shovkovo brand, took part in a special project by Kommersant Ukrainian 
Anna, this is a very personal question, but your brand of silk sleep accessories Shovkovo was created in memory of your mother as a reminder that life should not be put off until later. This moment changed a lot in your life, which had previously been mostly about show business and art. You were successful even before you created your own brand – how difficult is it for a successful person to start from scratch in another field?
The story of creating the brand is really personal and sad. When I was a preschooler, I saw how poorly we lived, how my mother denied herself everything. She raised two children on her own, always worked many jobs, but there was always not enough money. We always lived in debt, dressed in second-hand clothes, and ate very poorly. As a child, I decided that I didn’t want to live in poverty. I asked my mother how I could thank her when I grew up and became successful. She told me that she had once seen a film where the main character woke up on black silk bed linen, and this image stuck with her. Then I promised that one day I would definitely give her such a gift. At the age of 18, with my first salary, I went to Troyeshchyna, but I couldn’t find any silk bed linen there, so I had to buy cotton. Later, when I was 27, I knew where to buy silk, but it was very expensive. So I gave my mother black satin cotton bed linen. When I was 30, I could already afford silk bed linen, but my mother was gone.
I launched my brand on my mother’s birthday, 16 July 2021. It was the first year that I had to celebrate my mother’s birthday without my mother, but with my mother.
My brand of silk pillowcases was created primarily so that every girl could buy at least a silk pillowcase. It is not only beautiful, but also very useful. Since I come from a poor family and also counted every penny, I have rational pillowcases – I call them “smart”. They have silk on one side and cotton or perfectly matched viscose on the other. Now there is a palette of 9 colours. There is no point in having silk on both sides. This approach is cost-effective. You can, of course, take a completely silk pillowcase – if you have a habit of turning your pillowcase or pillow, but I don’t see any point in it.
“Shovkovo was also created from scratch, but it already has life experience and established values. “Shovkovo is already about environmental friendliness, love, care, rationality, and about allowing yourself the best.
In fact, when you have values and an understanding of what you want to do, when you do it for yourself or for your mother, everything will work out.
The main motto of Shovkovo is don’t put your life on hold. Because it may not come later. I live by my mood and emotions. And as soon as I come up with something, I immediately implement it. I often rely on my intuition: whatever mood I’m in, I do, because it’s the best thing for me at that moment. You have to make your old dreams come true. You have to live for today – live your best life now, because we don’t know when it will end.
Your brand Shovkovo is about self-love, which costs a lot and is quite unusual. Not everyone understands the value of sleeping on silk underwear or wiping your face with a silk towel. Does silk really have such miraculous properties, as it is written about in books and on the Internet?
At first, I also thought that this was just marketing and that sleeping on this silk had no effect. I made my first test silk pillowcase and slept on it for 8 months. When I changed my bed linen, I compared my silk pillowcase with the cotton one my husband slept on. His was in tatters, and mine was as good as new. That’s how I saw the effectiveness of silk with my own eyes. Cotton irritates the skin and leaves a mark on the face. It is impossible to wake up wrinkled on silk. It is smooth and does not leave creases on the skin. Silk even smoothes wrinkles due to the proteins and amino acids in its composition and moisturises, which is essential if you have problem skin. Girls who go to the beautician forget that they buy very expensive jars of face care, but sleep on an ordinary cotton pillowcase for 8 hours, or a third of their lives. A silk pillowcase is an investment in beauty. This is exactly what I’m trying to convey, plus I have my own experience – I have treated acne three times, so I know what I’m talking about.
In addition, I have a lot of feedback from clients. No one has ever written to me saying that they didn’t understand the magic of this silk. On the contrary, they write that life is divided into “before” and “after”. They say I can’t sleep on a regular pillowcase anymore. I need my silk one. Even girls whose husbands are bearded, brutal, alpha males just wrote me a lot of such reviews: “I changed the bed linen, and there was not a silk pillowcase, but a cotton one, and my husband said: “What kind of cotton pillowcase is this? Give me a silk one – I want to sleep on silk. Because sleeping on silk is an incomparable experience, it is a completely different tactile experience, and it is really both pleasant and useful.
Before you created the Shovkovo brand, you already had acting recognition and a large audience. Does fame help to open doors to a newly created business more easily?
I am still an actress on the Mamakhihotala show and the founder of the Shovkovo brand. I have actually been thinking about creating my own brand for the last 10 years. Only then did I want to create a swimwear brand. I have loved sewing since childhood: I used to make outfits for my dolls. Once I made a swimsuit for myself and posted it on Instagram.
It received a cosmic amount of reactions and comments. People started asking where I bought it. That’s how I got my first orders. I sewed 6 swimsuits by myself and planned to launch this brand, but at that time I worked in the office from 9:00 to 18:00 five days a week. In the evening, I went to Mamakhihotala rehearsals, and at night I sewed swimsuits. Around the third day of this regime, I started experiencing hallucinations due to overwork. Then I decided to quit the office, but stayed with Mamakhihotala. I kept thinking that I was about to start, but I kept putting it off, and I still do. However, this year I had the idea to return to it again. Perhaps I will eventually create the swimwear brand I have long dreamed of.
On social media, you are quite open about the different stages of your life and the development of the Shovkovo brand. Your fans like this frankness and it helps the brand to grow, because frankness inspires trust, but there is another side to it. You let people you don’t know into your world. Where is the line between personal and public? What are the risks of communicating a brand that is tied to you personally?
Of course, this is a test of your strength and confidence – you are constantly running somewhere, talking to new people, learning something.
I’m back on YouTube again – I don’t know how long I’ll last. I’ve just uploaded my first vlog. In this video, I’m not wearing make-up, lying in bed and talking about how I procrastinate and how much I have to do, but I don’t have time for anything. Everything will be tied to my personality, and I like that. It inspires me and motivates me to live my best life now and show it. I want to show by my example that everything is possible. I am a simple girl from Nyvky who did not have rich parents. I have achieved everything in my life on my own. With my determination and stubbornness.
How do you build communication with clients when you offer them a completely new experience?
I am interested in Ukrainians buying my silk products, being happy and living a great life! I want to inspire people, show them examples of how to go in for sports, make conscious choices, plan to have a child, talk about honesty, transparency, paying taxes, blood donation, and waste sorting. I want to live in a circle of cool, healthy, strong, beautiful, rich people.
What advice would you give to those who are hesitant to start their own business or wait for better times?
I would definitely advise anyone who wants to try to start their own business to do so. First of all, it’s very interesting, for one thing. And, secondly, it will reduce anxiety about the war: you just don’t have time to think about it. Of course, there are other nuances – you are constantly worried about people, products, supplies. However, on a global scale, you simply don’t have enough time to sit around and worry about what will happen tomorrow.
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