I have known Anita Srivastava for a majority of my life. Being a second generation immigrant, her Indian parents were always a bit strict and always attempted to steer her on the right track. She studied hard and went to Penn State where she decided to become a political science major. She graduated in 2008 Anita but had no clue where she would go from there. Anita had always understood that she was going to become a lawyer which her parents had supported. However, when she graduated she knew law was not her calling. So she took a year off and tried to figure out where her talents laid.
“This drove my family mad. Here I am fresh out of college as the recession hits us and my future just kind of hangs in the balance.”
“I started out paying a NYU student a few hundred dollars because I couldn’t afford anyone else. I employed him to put out fliers and accompany me to different martial art fights to see if we could sell anything.”
Anita designed her own clothes and began to produce them. She still believes that she is in the beginning stages of her business but Anita has come a long way. Her material is produced only in New York and is hundred percent cotton. Anita has also created a few apps that go along with her fashion-designing theme that will soon be released to the IPhone and Android. Observing only the American culture displayed on many apparel, Anita wishes to add a bit of Indian and other Asian elements to her work. New York City is a diverse place, and Anita wishes to portray this aspect. She has many things in store that Anita wants to be properly executed for the world to see.
When asked if she had any doubts or regrets about the choices she has made, Anita replies, “When you look at any entrepreneur magazine, they all feed you a bunch of lies. They say with passion, you will be where you want to be. Unless you are the child of extremely wealthy parents, this won’t be the case in New York City.
And I don’t mean to discourage you because if you have a job that makes you doubt every move you make, that takes a million failures before one actual achievement it may become the greatest joy you have every had.
Not only is Anita the epitome of a New Yorker following her dream but she is also an example of a second generation kid straying away from her parent’s dreams to pursue her own. There is a line that Anita has designed that is called Angry Man. It was created with this phrase in mind: 
“This drove my family mad. Here I am fresh out of college as the recession hits us and my future just kind of hangs in the balance.”
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