We had the good fortune of connecting with Yuliya Gabriella and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yuliya, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born and grew up in a small town in Kazakhstan. My parents were not giving me pocket money, instead, they were giving me opportunity to work and earn my allowance since I was about 12 years old. My father and my grandmother taught me how to be organized and plan my day. I was spending summers and my grandparents’ country house and I remember how every night my grandmother was asking me to make a plan for the next day, which included studying, helping her with farming work, taking care of all the animals we had, and only after that – hanging out with my friends. My grandmother was also my spiritual teacher, she was telling me how everything is connected, about manifesting and visualizing my dreams. I can spend all day talking about that wonderful woman, and about everything she taught me.

Since middle school, I knew I will be living somewhere else. After I graduated high school I moved to Beijing, China to study Chinese and got my Bachelor’s degree there. Living in a city with a population of over 20 million, in a culture that is different in so many ways, has taught me how to be tolerant, patient, and understanding to all kinds of people and build connections. I was working as a consultant for international companies, finding products and services in China and delivering it to their countries. That has built my confidence to start my own business – I opened a wholesale store of women’s handbags and accessories in my hometown, which was a great opportunity to learn about business management.

When I was 23 years old, I decided that I’m ready for another big change in my life and I moved to the United States and started my personal shopping agency. That was a very exciting journey transitioning from the wholesale world to a more personalized retail world. Over 5 years of work together with my partner, we grew a company sending around 600lb of clothing and accessories to our customers per month. I enjoyed doing that, but I really wanted to create my own clothing brand. So I sold my part of the company to my partner, took a year off for myself and started working on my lingerie brand Bed Behaved. The collection was a perfect representation of a woman I personally am – sexy, appealing, bright, a little edgy, but very comfortable pieces of fully adjustable lingerie that can fit any body type.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Now, along with continuing to grow Bed Behaved, I found another outlet for my creative energy and started to do art. The first collection is called “QUANTUM”, every piece in that collection has a secret message written in binary code. For example, the first piece in the collection “WORDS” that took me over 3 month to finish (you can check it on my website), has a quote by Rumi: “Raise your words, but not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder”. I also do wearable art – custom designs for jackets featuring my clients’ spirit animals. It is very exciting to get to know the client before making the design – I try to get to know the heritage, the passions, to incorporate those details in the design.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
San Diego has so many beautiful places! I would definitely take them to Torrey Pines for a little sunset hike, stroll over the streets of La Jolla (Bobboi Gelato is the best sweet snack along the way!). Take them to my favorite restaurants – Cucina Urbana is a great place after visiting Balboa Park, they have the best wine selection for wine lovers. I love Herb&Wood for their chill atmosphere, the food is amazing too! Mister A’s for the best views and fine dining experience.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think every person we meet on our path is bringing something to us – the opportunity to give, to learn, to collaborate, to share. I am grateful I met so many wonderful people in my life through work, travel, studying overseas, and actually, Burning man community has connected me with so many beautiful souls! Might be surprising for anyone who hasn’t been there, but burners will understand. Everyone who knows me can tell how I love to read. Business books, psychology, and philosophy have always been my favorites. One of the books that I read recently and think it will help everyone to read it – “The laws of human nature” by Robert Greene.

Website: juliegabriella.com

Instagram: Yuliya.gabriella