Our founder Alisa Zotimova shares her 13-year business journey with Mother+, discussing her move to London, the launch of AZ Alliance, and how motherhood has redefined her approach to leadership at AZ Real Estate.
What does a typical day look like for you, if there is such a thing?
Alarm is at 7:40am most days. I wake up my son and get our morning dose of cuddles and interaction. Drop offs alternate between my husband and I and it’s a pleasant short ride to a lovely school close to where we live.
Perks of working for yourself include flexibility on your schedule and I have been using that mostly for having steady time slots for sports. Then I either head to the office in Marylebone, roughly 3-4 days a week or have a day of working from home which I frankly enjoy less than going in. Sometimes it just makes more sense if it’s a few calls lined up and the place is tranquil.
I attend quite a few events, personal catch-up meetings and launches mainly within the property industry – those are a must to keep my network up and win new clients. But I try to line it all up during the day, so I am home by 7:30pm with plenty of time to hang out with my favourite people.
We do love the theatre, so on a night out that would be the typical pastime – there’s a gorgeous arts scene in London that we are lucky to have.
I still manage to put my son to bed on 95% of nights around 9:30-10pm and that’s one of my favourite parts of the day, despite being fairly knackered myself.
After over a decade working for global real estate giants like Cushman & Wakefield and JLL, you took the leap and launched AZ Real Estate with your own capital and most recently, AZ Alliance. Looking back, what moments stand out the most across your journey from corporate life in Moscow to entrepreneurship in London?
In Moscow, I was fortunate enough to be there at the dawn of the office leasing market, so I seized that opportunity, working on some huge developments and closing big deals. In 2006 I was Cushman & Wakefield’s top producer in Europe at the age of 26, which I am very proud about. In London, the year was 2012, it was the summer of the Olympics and there was an incredible buzz.
It was at this point I made the leap away from the relative safety of corporate life and launched AZ Real Estate. I had no outside funding, just determination, some savings and an open mind!
On a personal level, my life “puzzle” fell into place a lot more when – aged 34 – I met my partner Artem, a fellow Russian here in London. Our son Leo was born five years later (through IVF after a missed miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy) and that’s a milestone of milestones as every mother knows.
You’ve become a strong advocate for women in business, mentoring others and sharing your experiences openly. What progress do you think we’ve made and what still needs to change to better support women in leadership?
I believe in supporting women, women-led businesses, hiring flexibly – which has taken me to create a business proposition for independent property agents in AZ Alliance, so they can work for themselves on their own terms. So many women simply cannot go back to full 9-5 and there’s a huge waste of talent taking place. So if I can and the quality is the same, I will always try to put a female candidate first.
The pendulum has simply not swung far enough for women gaining equality. I am a feminist and this word needs our protection from those who want to turn it into a swear word and misrepresent it. I’m also for the friendship of genders, not battle of the sexes. We need men to lift us and support us when they can, and we need to raise kids who will know how to do it.
But do I think the government could do more too to support equality. Maybe I’m too jaded to expect it, but it would be great if they did. Should it be just women in leadership or all working women? Possibly the latter is more important and then the leaders would naturally emerge and thrive.
And finally, what’s one thing you’d tell other women who are trying to do both: raise a family and build a business.
I’m here to tell you it can be done! Just do it your way.
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