Thank you 2016!

2016 has been by far the best year since I moved to Austria in 2002. I arrived in Vienna with a morning flight, on the 5th of October 2002. I didn’t plan to stay here for the next decade and even longer, but I also knew that Bucharest was not offering me the future that I wanted. The following years were a constant struggle but I was prepared for that. Being a Business Management student at that time in Bucharest, coming from a middle class family with both parents being intellectuals, I had no problem nor didn’t feel any humiliation to take all the little steps / jobs from working in a tea & coffee shop, cleaning a lady’s apartment, bar-tending in a nightclub and a wine bar, sampling for a promoters company (offering perfume samples to passers-by in department stores), babysitting, modelling for students at the Applied Arts University... I didn’t have any help or support from anyone just, of course, a handful of friends, that were very kind and heartful.

In 2005 I enrolled at a school for fashion and dressmaking techniques and although some classes were completely new to me, other classes were similar to what I have studied for almost two years in Bucharest, which helped.

Opening my atelier was an act of courage, desire, ambition and living necessity. I didn’t know what awaits me, I was a bit naive assuming that I can make a living, but all I knew was that I wanted to bring 100% of my heart, soul and body to build an universe that makes me feel secure, allows me to dream and helps me improve and develop. It’s now a bit over 10 years since I opened my atelier; the path was rocky, challenging, sometimes frustrating and deceiving... I had moments of despair, desolation and worry. Although I constantly see that many colleagues have loads of help from their parents, contacts, even the government, I never wanted to be in their shoes... I always wanted a genuine success; a hard worked and hard achieved one.

And 2016 came! It crowned all the work, sleepless nights and investments; 2016 was so good to me, I had moments when I woke up in the morning and I was asking myself, is it real? 2016’s generosity extended into my private life and what I was dreaming of throughout my adulthood so far, it happened in autumn. 2016 exists on God’s will and I fall on my knees and I say: Thank You, God, thank you 2016!

I wish for everyone to look ahead with hope and faith, every step you do is accounted for; don’t give up on dreaming, putting your heart in, respecting yourself, your work and the others around you. Anyone that wants to drag you down, simply cut any connection, it’s the healthiest and smartest way to be able to grow and become better and better.