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Ella Abdullayeva: "Anna October is a brand that is always ready to meet your needs"
You already know that I launched the #VyOgonyok section on the blog, in which I talk to guests of Ogonyok. However, you don't know yet that in addition to this, I like to tell the stories of the people I work with every day. People who ensure smooth work in brands, who are involved in sales, communications, and production. When I started traveling to Paris and talking to brand representatives, I realized that this is what I tell everyone around me about after returning. These are the most fascinating stories for me. This is the truth about the inner workings of brands, about how such a business and fashion in general function. Because when you talk to designers, they ask, first of all, about creativity and inspiration, and when, for example, you talk to the head of the sales department, it's a completely different conversation. And in my opinion, it's a very interesting conversation. For me, such people are the heroes of brands, and it is with them that I talk in the new section of the Ogonyok blog. My first heroine is Ella Abdullayeva, Head of Sales, or rather, as she calls herself, Partnership Development Officer of the Ukrainian brand Anna October. I get great pleasure from working with the brand and with her personally — she is one of the few representatives of Ukrainian brands who shows the highest level of communication with the client. Working with Ella was my personal discovery last summer — Ogonyok and Anna October successfully worked it out together. We recorded this interview in the brand's Kyiv showroom, where an incredibly hospitable reception awaited me: I was introduced to all the employees, invited to the table and accepted as a member of the family. I was very moved and at the same time impressed by Ella's story. I think you will be impressed too — enjoy reading.
View from Anna October's office
— Elu, how did you get to Anna October?
— It was very unexpected for me. I have a great friend, Khrystyna, who works as an HR director and consults on professional growth issues. She called me and said: “You know, a great fashion brand here needs a person like you. Please go to them. I know you’re not looking for a job, but go.” And at that time I was teaching math and English at the National Agrarian University, working with foreign students — I really liked it. But I still decided to go for an interview, where Anya immediately charmed me. That curly hair, snow-white skin. I’m an aesthete, I really love everything beautiful, and at that very moment I fell in love with this person in the literal sense of the word. My mom says that Anya looks like an angel. Anya, of course, is far from an angel (laughs), but the first impression and the ability to attract people to her — it was incredible. I very rarely feel such energy from people. I was so impressed by the way she talked to me that I said: yes, I will work here. And I don’t regret a single second, although it was extremely difficult for me. It was so difficult for me that I can’t tell you. The first six months I was still working at the university, and the second half of the day was Anna Oktyabr. But today I feel very happy.
— What position was Anya looking for?
— Anya offered me the position of Sales Manager, she was just recruiting a new team at the time, and as a result we reached the position of Head of Sales. Honestly, I wanted to quit many times, very many times (laughs). It was difficult to enter a new rut, master and understand the world of fashion, because it was a completely new environment for me — at first I didn’t understand at all how it worked, who was running it all. Before that, I had bushings, nuts, pistons (laughs). Even my first Paris, where Anya and I went together, was not as effective as I would have liked, because there were things that I didn’t fully understand yet. But Anya is the person who believed in me immensely. She always supported me and said: “Elya, you can do it,” and I am very grateful to her for that, because I am a person who works for praise (laughs). I'm kidding, of course, but it's important for me to understand that my work has an effect, that I'm making a certain contribution to the development of the cause. The feeling that you are part of something beautiful, part of a strong team, doing your job with great pleasure and seeing the result. This is the biggest motivation for me. Money has never motivated me. I am a child who grew up in a Crimean Tatar family that was deported. I had a very difficult childhood and had almost no opportunities until I was 19, until I went to the USA. So I understand that money cannot be a motivator.
If you are motivated by money, then something in your life has gone wrong. I am motivated by good deeds, I am motivated by volunteering, I am motivated by the fact that I bring benefit to society.
And it makes me very happy, because in life, you know, as it says in the Quran (I am a Muslim after all): you should bring good. Here I am, the person who brings good in life, and I am satisfied with that.
— Tell us about your previous job: what was it in, what position, what did you do there?
— My previous job was directly related to agriculture — I worked in a company that manufactured equipment for growing broiler chickens. I was a personal assistant to the sales director, it was one of my coolest experiences. Sometimes I received and negotiated with clients who ordered equipment worth over $1 million. It was the upper class of society, and I had to do my best. Everything — from communication to equipment delivery — had to be so perfect that clients would come back to us. I partially gained knowledge in the field of communication in the USA, and my boss taught me business communications. Plus, I was engaged in self-study and underwent a large number of trainings.
Actually, in all my previous jobs I was a personal assistant. Do you know the TV series “Suits”? There was Donna there, who could solve any issue. So I was Donna for each of my three bosses. As the boss’s right hand, I could do absolutely anything, even organize a personal chess game with Garry Kasparov, when my boss wanted it. I parted ways with all my bosses amicably, some of them still call me back.
— You mentioned the USA several times. Tell us what you did there, what you learned, and how you ended up there.
— I first came to America in 2009. It was my second year of university — I was studying at the Faculty of Economics of the Agricultural University in Crimea, where they announced a selection for an internship in the USA. I passed it and got to a hotel in Colorado, which was among the top 10 hotels in the world — The Broadmoor Resort. This was one of the best periods in my life: I was 18 years old, I was on a cool internship in a cool hotel in one of the most beautiful states in the USA. Its level was such that the world golf champion Tiger Woods was playing golf literally three steps away from us. It was an agricultural internship: we were engaged in landscape design on a huge golf course. After it, I returned home, and in 2018 I went to the States again — this time to Washington, for an internship at the Library of Congress. It was dedicated to my volunteer work, which I live by and which I treat with great trepidation. This internship primarily concerned the topic of displaced persons, people who suffered from the military conflict in Donbas, as well as issues of promoting the culture of the Crimean Tatars, which I am also actively involved in and which are painful to me, because I myself am a Crimean Tatar. In 1944, the Crimean Tatars were deported, and now they are experiencing the crisis of the second deportation.
America taught me many things — it's a completely different mentality, different from ours. Their approach to work and in general to understanding what you do, their approach to punctuality, why you can't leave for tomorrow what you can do today — I really like all of this. Now I'm working with American partners, and if they said they'd launch a trunk show (pre-show of the collection) on the 27th, then they'll do it on the 27th. Nothing can happen or change with them. It's clear that force majeure happens to anyone, but in 90% of cases, Americans do everything on time — they're always punctual, and our business partners always do the maximum that we demand of them. Now in the USA we're working with Moda Operandi and recently started collaborating with the Intermix store, which makes me very happy. The level of communication that I have with them, as a brand representative, is aerobatics for me.
— It's a very big responsibility to communicate with giants. How do you cope?
— I am a hyper-responsible person, and I have never perceived work as work. My work is my life, and I try to always do my job very well. This brings me certain fruits, and it is not very well reflected in the fact that I do not have time to go to the gym or do not have time to dance, and I really love to dance. But I am pleased with myself when I see that everything works like clockwork for me. If I say that I will do it today, my client is sure that I will do it today. Yes, it does not always work out, but I strive for it to work out in 90% of cases. I am meticulous. If I wrote a grant and it did not win, I will write it ten more times so that it definitely wins. I am a person who looks for opportunities.
You just need to understand how to solve this problem, how to correct this mistake. I know very well the ten-year history of the Anna October brand and I know how many difficulties Anya has gone through - and this deserves unlimited respect. Based on the example of my life and the example of Anya's story, I understand that if you don't achieve the result on the first, second, third attempt, you need to do it ten times - and you will achieve it.
I believe that if someone on the team makes a mistake, that's good - it means the team is working.
We have a very high level of culture in the company. I'm not praising our brand, I just see how other people communicate. This is very important. In all your actions, there should be respect for the other person a priori. Even if a person makes a mistake, even if a person does the wrong thing. If you want to have warm relationships, relationships that are more than just a partnership, you have to show maximum flexibility. My mother taught us to be diplomats from childhood. And this ability to be a diplomat in any situation, even if you're just being annoying, is very valuable. As I said, my ultimate goal is always for the client to order more and for everything to sell well for him. I love situations when a client calls and says: "Ella, we have crazy sales of this dress, or this one, or the entire order in general, we're burning, let's urgently supply an additional supply." That was the case with Ogonyok, and I have such a drive! In these cases, I come to the team and say: "We have an additional delivery, put everything away, we have to ship it today." I understand that this is how it works. If we have the product in stock and Moda Operandi asks for it, we stay until nine in the evening. Once there was a situation when I left work at three in the morning. And the next day I come to work, and clients write to me: "You won't believe it, everything went well for us, everything is great, thank you very much." And I understand that this rumor works in our favor. Still, the communication of buyers with buyers works very well. I can talk as much as I want about our brand, how cool and cool we are, that we are sold in 30 stores in the world, in the largest stores in the USA, but when they hear it from our clients, it's a completely different level of perception.
— And if we segment it, do you work only with wholesale clients?
— No, we have two directions: wholesale and retail. Wholesale is our big customers, about 30 stores around the world. And I am very proud that the brand's geography is constantly expanding - we are doing everything possible for this. We have Vivian Graf - a store in Switzerland, and the huge Intermix store in the USA, which I already mentioned. In the retail direction, we work through our website, we deliver purchases from the website throughout Ukraine and around the world. We ship a lot of things from the website, and the feedback we receive makes me very happy - people thank us a lot: both for the product and for the packaging. We add a postcard signed by the designer herself to each purchase. We realized that the more attention we pay to customers, the better we think through everything so that our customer is comfortable and gets maximum pleasure from the entire purchase process, the more positive feedback and sales we receive. And I consider all the improvements we make in all areas of the company's operations to be our great achievement.
— As the head of sales, do you participate in both wholesale and retail work?
— Basically, all my time goes to wholesale clients, but I try to control retail issues as well. Vlada is in charge of this area for us — and she conducts communication in the same way that I conducted it at the beginning of my journey. I like this communication: it is very neat, smooth. Even if some conflict situation arises and we understand that the client is wrong, and the client is always right, we will go to meet him, regardless of what the situation was.
The first thing I strive for is the absence of negative reflection in the client. If it appears, for me it is a priori a bad indicator, regardless of the reason. The entire culture of communication and building communication is aimed at ensuring that the client remains satisfied. And in 95% of cases, he is satisfied with us.
Anna October is a brand that is always ready to meet your needs.
I had a lot of communication in my previous jobs: from diplomatic techniques that I discovered at one time to communication with partners in the agricultural sector. And today I have come to the conclusion that the ability to communicate with a client in the right form inevitably leads to a successful partnership. And I am now observing this successful partnership with many of our clients: I see that their sales volumes are growing, satisfaction with our brand is growing, and their loyalty to us is growing. I think this is also due to the fact that we make a very good and intelligent proceeding. We make it like this because we have a cool team. Why do we have a cool team? Because we have a cool CEO. Why do we have a cool CEO? Because we simply have a cool CEO (laughs). He is the one who keeps the whole proceeding in one place.
— What does "suspect proceeding" mean?
This means that we deliver quality goods and deliver them on time. Anna Oktyabr creates incredible things, but they also need proceeding. We have a whole system of checking the quality of the product: each unit is examined length and breadth - and if we suddenly find any defect, we postpone this product and make a replacement. At some point, the whole team and I came to the conclusion that we have to be as scrupulous as possible. In fact, our Anya, first of all, is very picky about quality, and our first indicator, which I am very proud of, is the quality of the product. Our entire production system is built so that the first priority is the product, the second priority is the product that is delivered to the store on time. Because if you don't do this, the store's sales window is over. It depends a lot on which region this store is located in. If it is Australia and the warm period, we must definitely fit in exactly those two weeks of warm weather that they have for active sales. If we don't have time, the product goes on sale - and that's how the entire system of global practice works, which we cannot go against in principle. In addition, it is important that the client receives the product with the full set of accompanying marketing materials, so that he has the opportunity to actively promote the product.
— Tell us in more detail what your communication with customers is based on.
— When communicating with clients, I like a personal approach. We know some clients personally, like you, and some I have never met in person. It's good when there is the possibility of live communication, it always works well: a person sees you, sees how you are in the mood, sees that you are fully responsible. If you said you would ship on time, everything will be perfect. This builds a certain level of trust. What I strive for in communicating with my clients is trust. It is thanks to it that a person is ready to give you a second chance. What I really love about myself is the ability to find a way to give a person a second chance to fix the situation. There have also been moments in my life when I was given a second chance. Because operations management is not always smooth. In trusting relationships, I understand that even if there is some critical, force-majeure situation in which the client needs to meet us, it works 96%. If I call a client and say: “We have a force majeure: the fabric is stuck at customs and we can’t do anything about it, no matter how hard we try. Can you give us a delay?”, they give me a timeout to solve our problem. This is called reliable partnership, a reliable partnership that I strive for. And this is a completely different level of communication with clients - when you can count on them, when you understand that you will always be paid, no matter what the situation may be. Yes, different clients have different payment terms: there are huge stores that work exclusively on their own terms, and you can’t dictate anything to them, no matter how cool you are. However, you understand that after the agreed period expires, you will receive the amount for the shipped goods and a sales report.
— Speaking of reports, how important is analytics in your work?
— We always conduct sales analytics — this research on each client is extremely important for me: because I have to understand who I am communicating with, what kind of store it is, what brands are hanging there, what their priorities are, what floor they are on. I try to understand everything, even the smallest details. Sometimes there are situations when the sell-through, the percentage of sales of our product, is not as high as we would like. This often happens when a buyer does not conduct analytics of his retailers. In my subjective opinion, if you do not conduct active analytics of your buyers — what they buy from you, in what period of time, with what frequency, and so on — you lose understanding of what units should be ordered. For example, if I communicate with Germans, Swiss or Austrians, I will definitely not offer sexy models, because women there prefer casual. I really like buyers who have analytics. They call me and say: "Elya, look, I have these clients: they are women, they all work, they need casual clothes, because you can't come to work in Germany with an open back. What can you offer me?" And then everything we do makes sense. And I understand that in the end I will get a good order.
The analytics that I conduct for each of my clients, and the client, if we are talking about wholesale, conducts for their retail buyers, works very well. Moda Operandi, for example, sends us sell-through (ST), according to which we see which unit was purchased how much. For example, ST for our Zefir Bustier dress reached 137% or 140% - and this is wow. Therefore, when you make a selection for Ogonyok, I recommend positions to you based on these indicators.
— Tell me about your working day.
— My day always starts with my son. He comes in the morning and says: “Elechka, wake up, you have to go to work” (laughs). He doesn’t call me mom, he always says “Elechka”. And then I go to work. And it often happens that I’ve just arrived, but it’s already six in the evening. Sometimes I don’t even have time to keep track of the time, especially when there are calls on Zoom. Usually you have to manage a lot of things: talk, send, receive, answer. It’s always a meat grinder — in the positive sense of the word, of course. I think it’s good when there’s a lot of work. It means that the company is functioning, the wheel is turning. For example, we have already received 7 orders for the SS'21 collection. This is not counting our largest client Moda Operandi, from whom we are waiting for an order. And I am happy. I am spiritually satisfied, because I understand that I, the team and, first of all, the designer did the maximum for this. We are reaching a new level - this motivates me a lot.
— Do you have weekends? How do you spend them?
— Of course, I have weekends — I often spend them in the gym, often in choreography. I am a professional dancer, I have been doing choreography since I was three and a half years old. My mother first sent me to gymnastics, then I danced in a large Crimean Tatar ensemble. I am involved in cultural projects and volunteer activities. Soon, Suspilne will be filming me: they really want to come visit me. And I really love receiving guests, I love cooking. I cook a lot: manti, yantyki, chebureks — everything from Crimean Tatar cuisine and not only from it. In fact, my house has a walk-through courtyard (laughs). My “we will have guests” no longer embarrasses anyone. Recently, girls from work came to visit, sometimes the former advisor to the minister, general producer of Crimea.Realiya, artists come. You know, it’s very Crimean Tatar. Crimean Tatars are people who can come to your house at seven in the morning and say: come on, let's have some coffee. I'm used to having a lot of people at my house all the time, I cook delicious food and we drink wine. My friends always make fun of me for having some kind of selective Islam: I drink alcohol, but I don't eat pork (laughs).
— What do you like to cook the most?
— I love to cook manti. Manti and yantyki. You should definitely try it too! I don't have a specific recipe — I cook the way my mother used to cook. I always put everything by eye — I just know what the consistency of the dough should be, what the minced meat should be. When you cook a lot, you just know it. My little one loves to eat deliciously — I cook a lot for him. My son comes to me and says: "Elechko, I'm hungry, I need to eat something" or "I think we should have lunch somewhere in a restaurant today, preferably at "Chornomorochka" — they have excellent oysters" (laughs). So I love home and various delicacies.
— You said that one of your main motivators is volunteering. Tell us about it: what direction do you pursue and why, how did you get into it, and what results are you proud of?
— I am actively promoting the culture of the Crimean Tatars, because the topic of displaced persons is very painful for me. These are my parents, this is a home in Crimea, these are memories. My grandmother is still alive, who was deported in 1944, so this topic is very painful for me. I do a variety of work, for example, I write nomination dossiers for UNESCO — all so that the spark of the 250 thousand people of the Crimean Tatar nation who remain today does not go out. We are scattered, active assimilation is taking place, and we do not have a cultural layer built here, on the territory of Ukraine.
Most of my volunteer projects are related to the promotion of Crimean Tatar choreography, which I myself dance professionally, in Ukraine. We have already submitted the Crimean Tatar ornament to UNESCO for world cultural heritage status, and now the priority is to submit the Crimean Tatar dance as well.
Once I opened a diplomatic reception dedicated to the 25th anniversary of friendship between Ukraine and Georgia — I danced on the largest stage in Georgia, where, for example, Elton John performed. I am very proud of this. I also often organize receptions and events at America House Kyiv — at one time I communicated with both the US ambassador and his deputy. My last collaboration was with the Germans on a German project. It was an online concert — old Crimean Tatar songs in a jazz arrangement.
All my communication skills didn't come out of nowhere—I'm constantly working on them.
I understand that in the current situation of occupation, the Crimean Tatars who are on mainland Ukraine are trying to do everything to at least somehow preserve their national component. I strive for the same, I do everything to have an effect. I am the kind of person who works for the effect and for the idea, my parents taught me that. After all, if you are not passionate about your work, you will not be a good employee, you will not be a pro at your job. And I like to be a pro.
— And traditionally, lastly. What is Ogonyok for you?
— You know, at the beginning of my work, Ogonyok was equal to Jordan for me (laughs). It was your contacts that Anya gave me for communication, and until I came to you, it was like this. And when we met, I thought: wow, what a cool store. I remember how you talked about the renovation, how Anya gave an interview. I was very impressed by Victoria, the founder of Ogonyok, I imagined her differently. And I was very impressed by your reception of us as guests — and I, as a Crimean Tatar, really love hospitality, such things really captivate me. As for our further cooperation, I would really like you to develop and for us to be your headliners — and we strive for this. I understand that the sell-through that you did last summer is a very cool indicator. I am very sensitive to all my clients, but my favorites are Moda Operandi and Ogonyok. And as the main representative of Anna October in Ukraine, of course, I love you very much. In a nutshell, it is love. I love you.
End
I am very lucky with my interlocutors. I am surrounded by pure love. Of the things that were not included in the interview, this is a conversation about the new Resort '21 collection, which Elya successfully sold to us and many other stores back in the summer and which you will see in our store very soon. In the meantime, below you will find a small list of recommendations from Elya and the announcement of a new direction in the Anna October brand. Just don't tell anyone, Anya will kill us!
Announcement
From Eli:
Favorite thing: a menthol-colored sweater that Anya gave me.
Favorite movie: "Meet Joe Black."
I really liked the book: "The Theory of Lies" by Paul Ekman.
What item would you buy in our store: (laughs) I would buy a blue bustier dress, it's one of my favorite dresses.
Advice to our readers: In this extremely difficult time for us, we would like to wish you a peaceful sky above your head, consciousness, and a sensitive attitude towards your health and the health of the people around you. And in general:
Create yourself. Life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.