Meet Dianna Pozdniakov the Maine-based handbag designer after our hearts! Dianna is a designer, entrepreneur, and working mother new to the Lewiston area. As an accomplished architect in New York City, Dianna desired a functional and professional handbag that would help organize her busy day and give her confidence, but she couldn’t find a stylish bag mixed with modern-day practicality on the market – so she decided to create her own. Dianna creates timeless bags focused on interior organization, structure, with exterior versatility and style.
Whether a new hire starting out, a working mom always on the go, or bona fide career woman, Dianna wants to empower women by providing stylish versatility. Featuring thoughtful organization in all her bags – from compartments for your laptop to lip gloss – every day, her bags help modern women carry on being the formidable GirlBoss they know they are with complete confidence.
Read on to learn more about Dianna and the Sofia Fima brand!
Tell us about the process of creating Sofia Fima. I had the desire to create what is now Sofia Fima when I was studying Architecture in college. At the time the concept began as a mini version of architecture that women would carry daily and it would be designed in such a way that everything had a designated place. The original term I gave it was a bento box. The concept evolved, and my vision and passion evolve once I immersed myself in understanding the craft. In 2012 I was at a low point professionally (I was quite unhappy with my job and felt a total lack of creativity) I enrolled in an evening class at The Fashion Institute of Technology taking Handbag 101. It was here that I began to learn the process that takes place after conceptualizing the design. The pattern making process, the materials, the sewing, the types of sewing machines, the types of stitching, the types of glues, the types of fillers and so on. I fell in absolute love with making. Every weekend I was working at my dining room table designing and mocking up what would end up being my original launch collection for Sofia Fima in 2015. Once I realized that to be a maker creating the finished product was a skill that required years of training and practice I decided that I could not be the person making each bag on my own by hand. I am the designer, the visionary and would have to find a team to help me bring my ideas to life. It was at this point that a massive amount of learning about the fashion and manufacturing world came about. It is a very complex industry with a very convoluted process of sourcing and manufacturing. It took me from 2013 to 2016 to find the manufacturer that I currently work with. Because I did not have a background in fashion the entire process has been and continues to be a learning experience daily. Today I am focused on learning about the customer, how to reach her, and how to provide the most value in a very special and memorable way.
Have you always had such strong entrepreneurial drive? Ever since I was little I dreamt of being on the cover of a magazine! I guess I equated this with success, strength, and recognition. I always knew I wanted to have something of my own and lead people to do something wonderful. I didn’t know back then that it was going to be in the leather goods industry. I still hope to get on that cover someday!
What brought your business to Lewiston, Maine? How are you apart of the community? My husband was born and raised here so once I knew I had to leave New York to be able to financially survive as a startup and have the ability to begin a family I decided we had to go to Maine. We had no intention of staying in Lewiston. We were all about getting that old idyllic farmhouse and two acres of land. What ended up happening couldn’t be more opposite. We bought a historic building in downtown Lewiston on Lisbon Street and fell in love with visions of renovating and restoring a once impressive property. Nothing Kevin and I do ever seem to be “the easy way”. We seek out challenges and as much as we complain about it through the process we are always so happy and pleased with the results. After all, we still don’t have a backyard!
We just launched our Sofia Fima shop at 46 Lisbon Street and are so excited to have a presence on the street and to be part of the community. I am really looking forward to hosting events and being a meeting space for people to come, chat and hang out. I love seeing women carrying their Sofia Fima bags in town. The tribe is growing, and it puts a huge smile on my face every single time. I am excited to be here, to share myself with the community and hope I can play a role in the vibrancy and rebirth of this city.
How do you manage your many roles and life demands (mom, business owner, etc.)? Oh, this is a tough one, as my daughter would say! I think the first thing is to be ok with not doing it all, at the same time. Things slide and that is just the reality. Recently I have had a concept brought to my attention a couple times in the past month that resonates very true for me right now. It’s about asking myself if what I am working on is going towards my bigger goals. If it is, then it is worth doing, if it is not, then it doesn’t get my time. It’s not so much managing the things as much as my expectations. I am quite unrealistic in many ways and this is something I am working on getting better at. I have wonderful people around me reminding me and sharing their best practices with me on how to be present and allowing for space. My honest answer is that I am a work in progress. My daughter is my world. As she gets older I want to spend every moment I can with her. She is growing and developing so quickly. I want to be part of all of that. I want to be there teaching her, guiding her, supporting and loving her all along her journey. My business and aspirations take most of my remaining energy. I am working on how to have more time with my husband and to just be there for each other. It’s been a challenging three years. We left our home of 10 years, moved to a new place, launched a business, had a baby, renovated an old building and continue to push all fronts forward. It is very easy to get caught up in the daily grind, the to-do list, the must-do list, etc. I won’t lie my laundry is more than 50% of the time in a pile in my bedroom! That is just not a priority for me and I own it.
What lessons did you learn working in past roles and how did they help you transition to your current role? A lot of my experiences stem back to believing in myself. The moments that I believed in my gut and my intuition are the ones that brought me the most joy and success. My first job taught me how to be incredibly rigorous with drawing and precision. This is something that is engrained in my design approach. I would say I am sensitive to making sure everyone I work with is happy and is given enough creative freedom. This comes from a job where I felt totally stifled and not allowed any room for creativity. I would say I learned a lot of what I didn’t like from this job and I often say it’s better to know you don’t like more than you know what you do like.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? I have met and spoken with so many wonderful people throughout my professional career. I would say I always come back to the one thing I am all about and that is believing in yourself. The moment you believe and see it in front of you is the moment everything is working in your favor. This is still a struggle of mine daily because it is hard to understand how to get from point A to point Z, but I am starting to believe more and more that as long as you believe, the way you’ll get there is secondary.
Photography by Centered Images
No Comments