Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in art education but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Alexandra Rozenman, Owner of Art School 99, located in Somerville, MA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My business is a small, private Art School aimed mainly at adults and grown-ups, people who have dreams, need time to relax after work, parents who want to do art with their children, and couples who enjoy doing art together.
Tell us about yourself
My career has taken me from the Soviet underground to a prominent place in the American art world. Born in Moscow, I found my footing alongside now-famous dissident artists before political pressures brought me to the United States as a refugee in the late 1980s.
From that point on, my multilayered, often mysterious paintings have only gained momentum, taking me from a BFA at the Empire State College to an MFA at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to international exhibitions—to a fellowship with the MacDowell Colony, to a Brickbottom Community in Somerville, where I am a gallery director.
Somehow teaching has been my bread and butter since I was in high school. It is probably partially because my mother is a good language teacher and was teaching all my childhood, or partially because I am also a much older sister to my younger sister, but I have enjoyed creating projects since I can remember.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I think my biggest accomplishment as a business owner is creating a system that works for grown-ups in which we search for what we know and discover comfortable zones in the art world.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The hardest things are unpredictable things, like COVID, space limitations, and the inability to predict the future :)
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Follow your dreams to the end, be careful with Groupon, and keep trying.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.artschool99somerville.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063582159591
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artschool99somerville/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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