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ANNA REEVES

Meet Anna Reeves, CEO of  Paws and Claws Pet Bakery. Paws and Claws Bakery strive to make the best All Natural Pet treats and provide their retail partners with a strong product they can stand behind. Made in the USA.  Anna is inspiring.  you will learn later why is use the word “inspiring”; her journey is like no other–it’s divinely created.  Let’s jump into our questions posed to Anna…

 

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QUESTIONS: 

 

Q. What inspired you or led you to your current career?

A. I started a bakery when I was 15 ; between 15 and 16. I was homeschooled, so I was able to follow my parents’ footsteps in business.  When I saw them with their business, I wanted to have one and I loved baking. So I just started kind of baking and then I opened a bakery. But after the recession or more so, during the recession, it wasn’t feasible to continue operations. So I stopped and then went to work for different people I met in the community. One of them just happened to be a lady that had moved to the Augusta area from Jacksonville and we became friends.   She taught me about the dog bakery business.

 

Q. What is your favorite restaurant in Augusta, and what do you love there?

A.  It would be Oliviana Bar Italiano & Pizzeria in Surrey Center.  I like the feel of it. It’s like, you know, it’s kind of an upscale place, but then they still have reasonable price food and it’s locally owned; always really good service. It’s a nice place to have dinner; I had my graduation dinner there.  It’s definitely a nice restaurant for special occasions.

 

Q. How long have you lived or worked in Augusta?

A.  27 years.

 

Q. Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Augusta? Who would you like to see nominated as a Face of Augusta? 

A.  Ed Presnell

 

Q. If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?

A.  New Zealand or Australia

From the time I was little I saw this magazine, my parents had a personal care home that was their small business; they had an interest in travel magazines.  In one of the magazines I remember reading about this train ride from Sydney, Australia to the Outback; the pictures were so colorful and just enticing. From that point until today, I have had a desire to travel there. Yet, I think about the snakes in Australia. . . . making me think of New Zealand. You still can experience lush landscapes without so many dangers.

 

Q. What advice would you give a crowd of people?

A.  It starts with you.  Be the change you want to see.

 

Q. What is something on your bucket list?

A.  To run for office; a political position.

 

Q. What is your favorite music/ 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?

A. 60s/70s/80s music; Beatles to Elton John to Steve Green

 

Q. What current / former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Augusta?

A.  Regency Mall.  I remember going as a little kid and going into a KB Toys with my grandmother; she lived in the South Augusta.

 

Q. Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative: with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? Where in Augusta would you have lunch?

A. Robert Hirsch from Shark Tank. I watch all of the sharks and I watch how they interact. Well, Robert when he picks projects to invest in he will pick things the other sharks don’t like.  We would have lunch at Takosushi in Surrey Center. Also, I admire him for his commitment to feeding the hungry.

 

Q. Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

A.  In 10 years I will have definitely ran for a political office.  I want to say five years but I, do want to give my child some time to grow up a little bit before I run off and leave him. Now I need him to hold political signs. (laughs)

 

Q. (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?

A.  My parents, I was chosen to be with them.  My adoptive parents heard about me two weeks before I was born. They traveled to Mexico when they heard I was going to be born on a particular date; when they arrived I had not been born as of yet.  The original plan was that I was scheduled to be adopted by the same doctor who had been treating my birth mother throughout her pregnancy; he spoke only Spanish at the time. My parents had a friend who went to see this doctor and the doctor mentioned to them about my pending birth. No one knew my birth mother except for the doctor.  Two weeks before my birth, my adoptive parents learned of me from their friend and the doctor asked if she knew anyone that wanted to adopt a baby; the doctor had several children of his own. No one knew my adoptive parents had been praying for a baby of their own for almost a year. The friend called my parents back in Georgia and they traveled to Mexico—yet, I had not been born. They knelt down to pray and then, surprisingly, my birth mother went into labor and I was born that next morning.

 

Q. Can you describe the neighborhood you grew up in?

A.  Oh, we moved around a little bit. By the time my parents adopted me, my dad had already retired from the military.  He was in construction in the beginning. We lived in Atlanta and he did some construction work there and in Chicago.  The construction industry started to boom a little bit again and so he wanted to move there when I was three. So my mom braved the cold and she never been anywhere besides Georgia and Alabama. We moved up there; from ages three to five, I learned all about snow and, city living cause my dad worked in the city.

When I was about 5 or so, we relocated back to Georgia and I was pretty much homeschooled from 1st grade –  9th grade. In ninth grade, I took my GED and passed and then I started my businesses. So I did not pick up my education again until I was 25.

 

Q. What is your favorite thing or something unique about Augusta? 

Phinzy Center and Natural Park.

 

Q. What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?

A.  Love, Wisdom, and Endurance

 

Q. If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?

A.  Pierce Brosnan.

 

Q. If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose?  {Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, or Nanny} WHY?

A. Definitely a Housekeeper.  My husband runs around cleaning up before he goes to work.

 

Q. If you could hold on to one memory from your life forever, what would that be?

A.  What I remember the most is a particular Christmas; my dad got injured by a drunk driver. During this time; our family had to use food stamps and basically call upon the Salvation Army’s empty stocking fund for Christmas gifts. Mom made me some little dolls. I received a few toys; dad was out of work and had to recuperate for an entire year.  I remember my gifts being wrapped in Barney paper–yet, it was the most memorable; as a kid, I knew they did not have a lot. But, it was the love we experienced in our home for each other. This is the main reason why my parents started the personal care home; my dad could no longer work in construction.

 

Q. Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?

A.  Bob Pratt. He has now passed away.  When I first got into business he had a coffee business, which I now own as well.  But, he and I had the bakery and he also had the coffee business and we would make sales calls together. I was only about 17 or 18.  He taught me that, it’s not about, what you know, if you buy this Cup from me, you know, I’m selling you this cup, you know, whatever your line of service is.  It’s about really just getting to know the other business and really wanting to genuinely help them grow their business. Because if you help them with their business, it will help you and you’ll also learn about giving, not just taking. When he visited clients/businesses he took the time to really learn about their business needs; he made it very personal and that stuck with me.

 

 

OUR FINAL QUESTION

 

Q. IF YOU COULD SHARE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

A.  I would say be true to yourself.

 

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Thank you Anna. You made my experience easy and comfortable.  To new beginnings.  Friends for Life.

~micki

 

Micki Esposito of Momentous Realtywould love your Faces nominations.

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