You could call her Superwoman, but her real name is Ana Reyes. She’s from Panama, raised by a Panamanian father and a Bolivian mother. She has worked for the Panama Canal for 14 years. A year ago, a friend of hers living in Shanghai offered to help her start a little business importing silk embroidered bags from China.

It’s how took her first step in the fashion industry. Ana has always liked fashion, but a job at the Panama Canal means security and good benefits in Panama. What to do? This smart woman decided to start her accessories business, called AR accessories, on the side.

Ana represents 3 different brands, 2 from China and one from Bolivia. The one from Bolivia is a jewelry designer named Gonc — they have their own boutique in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. They create earrings and necklace sets with semi-precious stones and silver. The clientele ranges from 30 to 60 years old, and the average price is from $60 to $150 per set. The second jewelry collection she imports is from China, not as unique as Gonc, but still quite nice with semi-precious stones. The clientele is a little bit younger and the average price cheaper (about $30 a necklace).

The bag collection is from the Designer called Denise Huang — gorgeous colors such as fuchsia, olive green, purple and a shiny classy black with beautiful embroidered flowers with a bamboo handle. Very sophisticated. I would mostly wear it at night as the silk in very thick and shiny. With a dress or a silk top and jeans these accessories will shine up your outfit.

Ana sells her collection from word of mouth, from her home, and sometimes she organizes sales in cafe, lounges, and bars. She has generously donated a bag to the Styletuesday networking event to raise money for the Fundación Neurologica Lucy Tzanetatos in Panama.

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Filed under: Business on May 16th, 2008