Anna Maria

Born in 1972, Anna Maria was raised in a house full of her dad's paintings and with a closet full of her mom's handiwork. Beds were warmed by the hand-loomed wool blankets from her Greek grandmother and she was kept warm by beautiful hand-knits from her American grandmother. Spending hours in fabric shops with her mom and sister on the weekend was as normal as designing her Barbie's first wardrobe using the family trunk of fabric scraps.

Anna Maria earned an honors BFA in Drawing from the University of Tennessee in 1995 before opening a small handmade clothing shop with her mom the same year. Designing and sewing a clothing label while managing a shop for five years primed her for a career in textiles and small business.