Company/title: Owns Olia Zavozina Fashion Design; operates from Wedding 101 boutique in Franklin.
Age: 25
Background: Originally from Siberia. Grew up in Aksarka in western Siberia and came to the United States as a work-exchange student after getting a degree from Tyumen State Institute of World Economy Management and Law in her homeland.
Early days: In the U.S., she worked at Beech Bend Amusement Park in Bowling Green, Ky., for a while and later attended Free Will Baptist Bible College here and got a graduate degree in business at Tennessee State University.
Getting started: Her first clothing design was a dress for a Barbie doll as a child. Later, as an adult, she abandoned a potential career in economics and designed suits for men, wedding dresses for women and other clothing. She has spent perhaps $100,000 since 2006 starting and operating her business. She now rents space in Wedding 101, a boutique at the Factory in Franklin — taking a corner of the boutique for perhaps 40 percent of the rent she'd pay at a shop of her own.
Thoughts on America: "My parents said, 'Go get a job; be successful.' I was born for America. I first told my parents that news when I was just 8 years old. It's a land of opportunity, if you're willing to work hard. Still, so many sheltered Americans haven't seen the hard way of living."
Raw materials and money: "Silks, double-sided satin for our wedding dresses. I love classic, clean looks," she says. Zavozina raised much of the start-up cash for her design venture from her parents — Anatoli and Elena — who are in private business in Russia two decades after political upheaval tore apart the former Soviet Union.
No place like home: She misses snacking on Pelmeni — a Russian dumpling filled with beef, pork and onion that can be eaten boiled or steamed.
RANDY McCLAIN