Owner of former Hatton clothing shop creating more passion projects

The owner of a Hatton clothing shop that recently moved online is continuing to expand her horizons with more projects.

Anya Gunkova moved from Russia to the UK when she was a teenager with her mother to start a new life and now, 23 years later, she making her mark on the business world with her latest projects.

She created the award-winning Sofya and I brand – a magazine, new radio station and ladies’ clothes shop, which was until recently, based in Hatton.

Anya, who has a Ladies First national business award, opened her shop at Hatton Adventure World in October 2018, selling new and pre-loved clothing and accessories.

But the seven-day-a-week demands of the business resulted in her taking the shop online-only at the end of last year.

She said: “My lifestyle had changed and the shop was a seven-day-a-week commitment and I couldn’t afford to hire any help and I needed to be at home on weekends and the site wasn’t working out for me.

“As it turns out with the Covid-19 situation, it was perfect timing. Now I’m so relieved I closed when I did because that wouldn’t have worked out at all well for me financially and it’s been doing well online.”

The career mum has also had to overcome a series of personal challenges, including, becoming a single parent.

The three generations are the inspiration behind the success of the brand. Indeed daughter Sofya has put her name to it.

And it’s her mum Elena that’s credited with the valuable life lessons that still drive Anya today.

She said: “She worked so hard after my dad died when I was 12. It was just the two of us and she had about four jobs at a time. That’s where my hard-working attitude comes from.

"It set me an example of how you do what you have to do to provide for your family.

“I’ve created a job for myself that I’m good at and I want to carry on doing it and growing it.

"Now, the big driving factor for me is that I want Sofya to see it as well, to see that I’m finally doing something for me. How many people can say ‘I’m doing what I love?’"

Elena gave up her career as an English teacher in Siberia when she relocated with her daughter to start a new life in Bedford.

“For me it was hard leaving everything behind, including my friends. I had to start a new school because to prepare for the GCSEs I had to repeat some of my education,” said Anya.

“We had no family here, no friends and I had to try and adapt quickly. The language was a barrier. I was picked on for the first couple of years because I was different because of my language and my upbringing.

“It was a challenge making friends and finding people you could trust again.

“I considered university but decided not to because I didn’t want to put that financial pressure on my mum and I was keen to go out and earn my own. I always had this hunger for making my own money and being independent.”

It wasn’t until two years ago that Anya’s creative ambitions were realised – and only after emerging from a series of unfulfilling office jobs – and a broken marriage – which left her suffering low self-esteem.

Now living in Leicestershire, but with her daughter of school age, she instinctively knew it was finally her time to shine.

She said: “I was slowly just losing myself and my self-identity over the years and was at my lowest when Sofya was five. I felt like I was becoming that empty cup that you can’t pour out of. I was aware of what was happening to me and needed to find something to dig me out of it.

"The 9-5 work wasn’t going well and I wasn’t enjoying it. I wasn’t getting any support and felt unfulfilled. I needed something that was mine that I could develop.

“I used to write a fashion article for a monthly local magazine and enjoyed it and started to learn the process. I thought, how hard can it be? so I researched the softwares and trained myself – while still also juggling a full-time job and all the parenting duties.”

In January 2018 the first edition of Sofya Style rolled off the presses firstly as an A5 bi-monthly magazine and website is something Anya describes as, ‘for real women with real stories.’

“It is not your typical beauty magazine discussing products that no one can afford, but it was home-made stuff and body positivity - content suitable for real women and not just so-called ‘beautiful women.’

"And all my front covers feature real women with photos they send me. I don’t use fashion images.”

Her current ‘cover star’ is 65-year-old Kate Findlay, from Barford. The founder of online gift shop Peach Perfect is currently a finalist for a national award after establishing her business later in life – whilst also nursing her husband through the latter years of his dementia.

Sofya Style has grown and earlier this year, became monthly. Now, in a sentimental nod to her roots, Anya and her mum are planning to translate the next edition for the 300,000-strong UK Russian community.

She said: “In the shop I had finally found something I was good at and enjoyed.

"This was when I started reinventing myself. It gave me a focus at a time when I was going through a frustrating separation and my self-esteem was very low.

“During lockdown I was thinking of other ways to take this forward. I started to get involved with a lot of local radio stations and getting an insight to the processes involved.

"I decided it would be great if I could interview the people in the magazine in a more interactive way and bring to life.”

“More and more people came forward wanting to contribute and interest is growing. Eventually I want other co-hosts to have their own shows on my platform.

“I don’t want to create a playlist like most other radio stations with the usual chart music, I prefer to give airtime to unknown and sometimes unsigned female music artists.”

For more information go to: www.sofyaandi.co.uk