As many of you may know by now, Annie Kantor launched AJK Design Studio in 2015. It’s easy to see that she is creative, talented, intelligent, and business minded, but today I thought it would be fun to share a few things about her you may NOT know…
First and foremost, Annie grew up in the Salinas Valley raising horses, goats, and rabbits. Maybe this is something that made Annie and me click considering I grew up about 30 miles east of Salinas in Hollister, California. One thing not so similar about us? Fact number two – Annie is just shy of five feet tall. Considering I am just shy of six feet tall, I guess we have proved that even in business, opposites attract.
Her three teenage kids are the third fact. As the three of them excitingly navigate throughout the world, Annie and her husband energetically guide. For fact number four I asked Annie what her favorite color is and her answer may surprise you. Her prompt response of ‘white’ isn’t one you hear everyday, but one that is definitely clean, versatile, and unique. Along those same lines, Annie’s color memory is razor-sharp, a great skill for any creative position, and a great fact number five!
Ever consider law as a career? Well, fun fact number six – Annie did! She went to law school for a year before deciding it didn’t excite her creative conscience as much as she wanted. In fact she knitted her way through law school to relieve stress! This leads us to fact number seven, and led her to eventually study, work, and learn as much as she could about commercial wovens which, if you take a look at her impressive resume, you would find is the majority of her background. Eventually, for great fact number eight, she designed a fabric based on the Starr Report, a 1998 examination and summary of president Bill Clinton as told by Independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
When it comes to fact number nine and exercising the creative side of her brain, Annie tends to be quite objective to her own designs, which is, in my opinion, a blessing in this cut throat design industry. And last, but not least, our tenth and final fact is that Annie loves to play tennis whenever she has the chance!
