How does a successful, strong, and powerful woman navigate work, employee relationships, love, and life in a world that still feels uncomfortable with strong women? In this interview series, called “Power Women” we are talking to accomplished women leaders who share their stories and experiences navigating work, love and life as a powerful woman.
Published in Authority Magazine
Q: Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
A: My childhood is a little bit unique in terms of I wasn’t born in United States I was born in Ukraine from a city called Lviv and I immigrated with my family in 1979, when I was nine years old. My childhood was a little bit displaced because I didn’t have that security of being raised in one home and in the same town. I was pulled out of a different country to into a completely new one with a different language and culture. English is my second language, so it was absolutely challenging and exciting at the same time because everything was new to me, my surroundings, new school, but it was a struggle at the same time because of not knowing the language. When I came to America, I was placed in the fourth grade and I was constantly being pulled into ESL, which is English as a second language and that was hard on me as well as being picked on because I didn’t know the language and it wasn’t easy being an immigrant, but I think it showed me to build strong character and probably made me who I am today; a strong person.
Q: Can you tell us the story about what led you to this career path?
A: I’ve always enjoyed party planning and hosting dinners at my home no matter the holiday, doing it professionally is a whole other level. I just put all my heart, my soul and so much energy and every fiber in my being I invested into this place. That’s the only way to succeed, you don’t take no for an answer and fear is not an option. You become successful by repetition and consistency. Being a mom first and foremost, I saw a need and marketing 101 says that when there is a void you can fill it!
Q: Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
A: We’re not what we were in the beginning, we were a family entertainment center, it was a high-end birthday party playground for kids, so we invested significantly into buying all the things that kids enjoy, mini bowling, arcade games, three-level playground, laser tag, and paintball. I did this because there was not a place that was clean, safe and climate controlled for children to go to in Bergen County. Families felt that this was a wonderful place to celebrate birthday parties. Fast forward seven years, we started doing bar and bat mitzvahs. SPACE took a pivot when I celebrated my son’s Bar Mitzvah here 17 years ago, that was when we decided on doing high-end events. We celebrate now Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s, Quinceaneras, corporate events and weddings. Therefore, it has morphed itself into what it is today, I think what’s interesting is that you never know what something can turn into. I think the idea of being open, flexible, and staying relevant to the flow of market needs and wants is important.
Q: You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
A: Passion, being fearless, and determination were the three characteristics that were most instrumental to my success.
I would say having passion is so incredibly important, I was passionate about opening this business and most importantly passionate about becoming a female entrepreneur. It is very rewarding to look back now, that I was on a mission and kept on pushing for what I wanted and accomplished what this business is today.
Fear was not an option and I never let get in the way of my pursuit of happiness, I knew that if I wanted to make SPACE be what it is today, I must keep on going and cannot let things get in the way.
When you are fearless and passionate, you do and create things based on the passion because it is very organic to me. When you are naturally into the details, optics and aesthetics, you realize that this is your purpose and realize that I had to embrace my “gift”. When you speak with conviction people believe in you. SPACE is my creative platform.
Lastly, determination, when I was searching for warehouses I faced many troubles, I was not taken seriously due to my lack of prior experience, however I was determined to bring my vision to life and never took “No” as an answer and that is exactly why I am doing what I love today.
Q: Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. The premise of this series assumes that our society still feels uncomfortable with strong women. Why do you think this is so?
A: I faced this in the very beginning when I was first looking for warehouses to open this space. I had tremendous challenges, with the landlord who wouldn’t take me seriously I had to get my husband involved. I had planning board challenges; they didn’t take me seriously because I had no prior experience. However, I had such a vision and passion for it. I thought this would work because it’ll serve a purpose and a meaning, which that was the void that Bergen County needed to fill. With that said, there is discrimination against women, and when women do become successful, society still feels uncomfortable. Men and women can both be strong leaders, society needs to change their perception and embrace the fact that a strong female can be successful and should have equal respect as well as pay.
Q: Without saying any names, can you share a story from your own experience that illustrates this idea?
A: What is important to me is self-awareness by practicing self-reflection, humility, and being resilient. Understanding what is within your control and accepting what is not by managing my reactions and emotions, you can navigate challenges with a clearer and more rational perspective.
Q: What should a powerful woman do in a context where she feels that people are uneasy around her?
A: Being a female entrepreneur or businesswoman gives you power in terms of you are the boss, but I am human too and I treat everyone with dignity, so I feel like people who are uneasy around me, I go out of my way to make them feel secure and I feel that I need to nurture them. I think nurturing and making staff/people in general feel comfortable around you is super important, just because you’re a woman of power doesn’t mean that you’re not a human.
Q: What do we need to do as a society to change the unease around powerful women?
A: We need to share our opinions with calmness and empathy and must be compassionate about how we deliver messages. We need to break the stigma of intimidation of powerful women.
Q: In my own experience, I have observed that often women have to endure ridiculous or uncomfortable situations to achieve success that men don’t have to endure. Do you have a story like this from your own experience? Can you share it with us?
A: No woman should have to suffer when wanting to become successful. I have always been one to speak my mind and simply if there was a time that I felt that I was in an uncomfortable situation, I shared my opinion and separated myself from it.
Q: In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women leaders that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
A: I would say unequal treatment; unfortunately, if you are a woman, you are not taken as serious if you were a man. There have been times that a vendor has came in and asked to speak to the owner as I am right next to my husband, but at the end of the day we are both owners, and I am an equal partner of this business and sometimes women are not taken serious because of the stereotypes out there. All we can do as women is to be persistent and never give up. Sadly, we have to fight the societal stigma and must work so much harder than a male to receive the same respect and to prove ourselves.
Q: Let’s now shift our discussion to a slightly different direction. This is a question that nearly everyone with a job has to contend with. Was it difficult to fit your personal and family life into your business and career? For the benefit of our readers, can you articulate precisely what the struggle was?
A: Being a mom first and foremost, it is always a challenge. It is a challenge because it has always been looked like a double standard, since woman for the most part is expected to stay home it can feel like guilt, however, us women that are hard workers and business owners need to embrace what is good for the system. We are in the 21st century and both men and woman can work.
Q: What was a tipping point that helped you achieve a greater balance or greater equilibrium between your work life and personal life? What did you do to reach this equilibrium?
A: Finding a healthy balance between work and home life is super important. The way I was able to achieve a greater balance between both was finding the right people and putting them in the right seat, those that aligned with our company’s core values and understand the vision, that helped alleviate the pressure and struggle to maintain the balance.
Q: Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Powerful Woman?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
A:
1 . Be Enthusiastic: As Winston Churchill once said “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”
2 . Find Your Purpose: “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” -Winston Churchill
3 . Have passion: If you love what you are doing you will be successful.
4 . Be happy: Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
5 . Be courageous: As Winston Churchill said, “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”
Q: We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
A: If there was someone that I would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, it would be Gary V, both being immigrants I find him very relatable, inspirational, and raw. He says it like it is without a buffer and I admire that!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
