and try to make a sale,” Efimova began selling ballet shoes out of her apartment near EMU’s campus, and used those sales to put herself through school. Even then, says Efimova, “I knew I wanted to have an interesting, impactful, meaningful and fulfilling life.” Efimova developed her problem-solving
skills while studying international business and marketing as an undergrad at EMU. Later, she graduated from Harvard Business School’s elite Owner/Management Program for executives.
“I have arrived” In her younger days in Russia, Efimova
couldn’t have imagined being a business owner. But in June 1993, her family arrived in the United States. Efimova’s mother, Elena Townsend-Efimova, came to Ann Arbor to launch a private art school called Talking Colors; Efimova’s father is an engineer by training and a business owner. Efimova aspired to pursue art like her mother, but reality set in aſter a tour of the art studios at the University of Michigan. “Her face was changing,” Elena recalls.
“In the end she said, ‘Mama, do I want to sit in dirty jeans on the floor? No! Do I want to have graphite on my hands and my legs? No! I want my manicure, high heels—I’m going to business school!’” Efimova fondly recalls Lorraine Uhlaner,
a former EMU business professor and her “coach and eye-opener on the world of entrepreneurship,” who took the aspiring mogul under her wings. “Aleksandra was one of my most
memorable students,” Uhlaner says. “She was obviously quite talented, but also already very much the entrepreneur.” Uhlaner recalls the business plan
Efimova wrote, noting that she won a class competition for plotting Russian Pointe’s future. Now, Russian Pointe is responsible for two percent of Illinois’ imports, a fact that Efimova takes prides in. Efimova “perfectly understood the ballet
world and the importance of high-quality shoes,” says Uhlaner. “One tries to excite students about an entrepreneurship career, but very few students really succeed.”
30 | SUMMER 2016 | EASTERN MAGAZINE
Melissa Chapski of Dutch National Ballet (wearing Rubin), Rachelle Di Stasio of American Ballet Theatre (wearing Entrada Pro), Ashlyn Mae from Ellison Ballet (wearing Rubin)
“I’m telling the story of Russian Pointe as an
example, for individuals to visualize their success.”
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