Katia Zakarian is a self-made woman, building her empire brick and mortar. At a young age, she understood that tomorrow is not promised, and dedicated herself to building her business and an online community. Today, with legions of followers, she scaled her business from her bedroom to an online store, then to a flagship location in the East of Montreal.
Here’s Katia’s story.
Petrona: What is your official title?
Katia: I am the President and Founder of Dressmetour.
Petrona: What is your greatest passion? Did that fuel you to get started?
Katia: As cheesy as this may sound: LIFE and everything that comes with it. Many don’t know this but my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis out of nowhere when I was thirteen years old. As a young girl, I grasped the importance of life and the understanding that tomorrow is never guaranteed. This pushed me to live my life unapologetically, and freely on my own terms. It made my inner voice so loud that no outside noise could ever divert my focus. Not only did this fuel me to get started, but it fuels me to keep going.
Petrona: What is the message you wish to convey to the world? In other words, how do you want to be remembered?
Katia: Women empowerment and self-love is the message I want to convey even more to the world. I want to be remembered as someone who went after her dreams and encouraged those around me to do the same.
Petrona: Describe your business, service, or mission.
Katia: Dressmetour is a womenswear clothing brand, that focuses on fashion forward unique pieces that look high end but is affordable for any woman to look and feel good. Dressmetour started as an e-commerce brand where I was wearing all the hats, but now, we are a dream team of 5 and counting. We also opened our first store in Montreal, exactly a year ago.
Petrona: What is your biggest quirk?
Katia: My goofy personality. I’m a kid at heart and always want to laugh and have fun! Everyone prior to meeting me often think I would be serious, calm, maybe even obnoxious. But all I truly want, is to enjoy life and have a good time.
Petrona: What has been your biggest challenge in business?
Katia: My biggest challenge in business has been to not make decisions based solely on emotions. For any entrepreneur specially at the beginning, you’re constantly juggling your personal life versus your work life, so it’s inevitable you mix your feelings with critical thinking. Now I make a conscious effort to not make permanent business decisions on temporary emotions.
Petrona: What’s next for your business or for you?
Kaita: I am in the process of scaling Dressmetour.com to a global business. I also partnered up with a local company to implement a virtual dressing room shopping experience which will launch the spring of 2021. I am also working on a sister brand that will launch in 2021!
Petrona: What advice would you give to someone reading this?
Katia: Just START! In the world of social media, I see people comparing themselves too much to others, more often comparing their beginnings to someone’s finish line. The reality is, that person who reached their finish line, didn’t start there… No one does! So instead of comparing or coming up with excuses as to why “you’re not ready” or “if you only had this or that…” – just START. Slowly you will see the more you grow, the more your community will grow as well. And the more your your community grows, the more you will be able to invest in your business and eventually reach your very own finish line.
Petrona: Your favorite quote.
Do something today that your future self will thank you for – Sean Patrick Flanery
