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Greetings from Aleksandra
I'm thrilled to announce my graduation from Harvard Business School! Saying goodbye on Friday, March 26, was both exciting and sad. When I first applied two years ago, I had high hopes but couldn't fully imagine how the OPM Program would meet and exceed my expectations. Looking back, I know that I will always remember those weeks of intensive study with both fondness and satisfaction, and that my Harvard experience will be with me throughout every aspect of my life.
As I return to Chicago this week (after traveling to New York and D.C.), what's first in my mind is how I will implement everything I learned at Harvard, from my brilliant professors, fascinating classmates and in-depth studies. I've already brought much of this learning into my everyday work with Russian Pointe, and I look forward to developing the company even further.
 I miss Harvard already, but I'm happy to be home, and eager to "roll up my sleeves" at the office, at the Boutique and on the road!
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March Trade Shows
 Elizaveta Efimova and Juneanne Nguyen greatly enjoyed meeting many Authorized Retailers at the DRN Expo in Las Vegas on March 7-9. "It was a wonderful opportunity, especially to meet west-coast retailers we might not see in person very often," Elizaveta reports. "It was also great to see our Boutique vendors." While in Vegas, Elizaveta and Juneanne got a chance to see two Cirque du Soleil shows.
 The same weekend, Stephanie Unger traveled to a quieter destination: West Springfield, MA, for the annual Northeast Dance Retailers (NEDR) show on March 8-9. Stephanie's seminar on Sunday morning was well-attended, by retailers with plenty of questions about Russian Pointe. "Retailers' questions are so important to us," Stephanie comments. "They give us a chance to take note of how well we are conveying information about Russian Pointe, and what details we might be missing."
(In fact, our latest Focus article - to appear this month on the website and in the May Newsletter- was inspired by a question asked at NEDR. Keep those questions coming!) |
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March Dance Happenings
The Boutique staff had a grand time with dancers from The Tchaikovsky Ballet Theatre of Perm, Russia, who performed at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on March 20 and 21. "They adored the Boutique, and we enjoyed helping them shop and hearing their stories," said Elizaveta Efimova. "I was especially inspired by a dancer who had gone right back to class after each of her two small children was born."
Elizaveta, who attended with several friends and her daughter Klava, found their performance of The Sleeping Beautyeven more meaningful after having met the dancers. "I loved recognizing them on stage," she said. She reports that the production was "very Russian" and traditional, with exquisite dancing, exceptional costumes and beautiful backdrops.
Also in March, Russian Pointe staff members attended performances by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (March 18-21) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (March 24-28). Boutique manager Ali Aguilar called the Ailey performance an "emotional and wonderful experience. I was just speechless afterward, and will see them every chance I get - witnessing such a memorable performance could never get old!"
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