We’re looking forward to introducing you to Marian Paronyan. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Marian, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
Overall I am a confident person, because I have dealt with a lot of difficult situations in my life and no matter how hard they were, I overcame them all. A few things helped me through those hard times- coming from two parent household, with both mother and father being people of conviction, ethics of hard work and integrity.
At the beginning of me and my 10 year old daughter having immigrated to US, with only $800 in my possession, I saw a quote that said- ” never, never, never give up”. It sounded so American, seemed so profoundly wise to me to abide by such concept, so I decided to adhere to this principle forever.
I walked a path to prosperity through hard work in real estate in Phoenix AZ and giving my best effort to whatever I was doing, which landed me into middle class living.
However, for the last 2 years I feel like I am wandering, because my dream to open my own store, selling artisanal handicrafts from Ecuador is not possible for the moment. I am tempted to go for it, but seeing many stores closing and not making it in the current economy keeps me circling around the issue, wanting to do it one day and changing my mind the next.
I am very happy when shoppers stop and admire my handmade merchandise from Ecuador, tell me that there is so much beauty and uniqueness in these things; that people always ask them where they bought them.
I love giving people good value and see them walk away happy with their purchase and the price they paid, even if in many cases i undersold.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
After closing a chapter of being in real estate business in Phoenix, my husband and I moved to Ecuador to live expat lives for few years. The discovery was that there is no better place to live than in your homeland, USA.
We returned to Long Beach, where we had an apartment in the downtown area, that we bought earlier for our retirement age.
Having lived in Ecuador I saw the tourists and the locals wearing unique , high quality handmade items and jewelry and got interested in them. I found my way to the artisan families who made them and developed relationships with them.
Before our return I bought some ponchos, shawls, scarves and handmade jewelry to sell them in the city fairs. As I suspected, shoppers liked these things very much and since then i make trips to Ecuador twice a year to buy the newest designs and colors of textiles and jewelry that artisans have made.
I called my website Treasure of ANDES- Treasure being the combined talent of all the artisans of the Ande’s region, who make these various things, each item being made one at a time, with character and uniqueness, creating enormous variety of artisanal things to purchase and wear. There are leather shawls, leather purses, artisanal dreamcatchers, Andean blankets , wall decor tapestry etc. , but not having a brick and mortar store I limit my selections to Andean ponchos, Alpaca blend shawls, cotton/silk scarves, organic Tagua nut Jewelry and fine necklaces assembled with Checoslovakian beads.
Ideally, I would like to find a partner who would open a store, run it and the merchandise would come from me. I would also be responsible to provide the new inventory for restocking the store.
I am researching ways to find a partner to share this business with. If you are interested, please contact me though my email [email protected] or call to discuss 562 314 6254
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
i was born in Armenia. When i was 11-12 yo there was an expo show organized from USA.
My family went to see what was presented, The thing that struck me was the American people who worked at the show , answered the questions and interacted with the public. They were all friendly, had great white pearly smiles, well dressed, were not arrogant at all, although the attending public was not well dressed or looking successful- after all, people in Armenia lived under the Soviet regime and were treated as 2nd class individuals by the Soviet administration and Russian people. Life under the Soviet socialism was miserable and minimalistic in every regard.
I could never forget the impact those people made on me- I constantly relived the moments that I spent with those Americans speaking English the best way I could ( learned at school) . It instilled a determination in me by all means to end up living in America, as unrealistic as this dream was at that time, because the Iron Curtain of the USSR was fully established, meaning- nobody could leave or travel to foreign countries. I listened to Voice of America with my sister, we listened to every new Beatles album, Rolling Stones, Bee Geez etc and my determination that I will live in America and achieve middle class life only grew. It happened in 1989 and I immigrated to Phoenix AZ with my then 10 year old daughter. She was a timid 10 year old kid when we arrived, but through love of learning and excellent teachers in a Scottsdale school where she was a student, and later in ASU and Clairmont University Eva achieved the best education and established herself as a professional, living prosperous independent life in Los Angeles.
Two of us are the only ones from our whole family who immigrated to USA and became citizens in 2008.
What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
My parents were big hearted, hospitable people , our home was always open to guests, including newcomers and people we did not know much about. They pressed their children to excel at school studies, but it never came to their minds to warn us about dangers of the outside world and being careful with our trust,
Because of this we grew with naivete, not exercising any caution when dealing with outside world- all people seemed good enough to never think about being conned or taken advantage of. While this principle was ok while we lived in Armenia, with pretty much all families around us being similar in these ways, in America I was taken advantage of a number of times, which in every case ended up causing financial damage. .
Then a friend told me- You always have to protect your principal.
I took this advice in a broad way, to apply to all important situations and decisions that I had to make going forward.
These few words became detrimental in improving my relationships and well being going forward. Being open, sincere and naive is not going to help a person to successfully navigate their lives, since they contribute to failings and hardships. I also learned a lot from reading stories about lives and mistakes of other people and learned from those how to be resilient, stronger and smarter in my relationship with the outside world. I also give same advice to other people when situation calls for it.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
Being a trusting person, open to let them come to my house, let them feel free to feel at home.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What light inside you have you been dimming?
I feel that time has exponentially hastened, each year passes mauch faster than I remember from the years lived.
it turns out that getting to the age of 60 happens very quickly, after which a lot of issues enter into one’s life and I believe that all people at that stage in their life fully would comprehend what I mean.
Biggest of them all is the concern to stay healthy, to stave off the deteriorations to health and looks as the Father Time moves to the front and center of one’s life. There is also a sense of needing to accelerate to achieve many things that were left lagging thruout years and now seem urgent to accomplish. Every day acquires more importance to live fully and find little joys even in most commonplace situations, like enjoying an evening walk on the Marina, inhaling the smell of the ocean tide, listening to the soothing sounds of the seagulls and admiring the lowering of the fireball of the sun at the sunset. Unfinished projects and dreams are on one’s mind with frequency, urging to act on them. However, slowing down and no longer feeling that it is important to follow fads and trends contributes to better living and overall wellbeing, because fads and trends indeed are superficial and do not enrich lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.treasureofandes.com
- Instagram: treasure_of_andes
- Facebook: Treasure of Andes
- Yelp: Treasure of Andes
- Youtube: Treasure of ANDES @treasureofandes
Image Credits
All photos taken by me
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
