Recently, in an American magazine, published in California, two articles appeared with photographs of two gifted young Bukharian sisters who have achieved high results in business, having created their own recruiting company to employ people. They, Innesa (Inna) and Serafima (Sema) Zavulunovs, are from Tajikistan. They are my beloved granddaughters. I would like to devote my humble story to them with love and pride, share some facts and thoughts with the readers.
They grew up in an educated immigrant family permeated with an entrepreneurial spirit. A constant desire to improve their lives, while being conscientious and serious about their work, was embedded in them at an early age. In 1991, as part of a refugee family of ten, they fled from persecution in Tajikistan, which was engulfed in the civil war. Inna and Sema graduated from Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix. During the years of study there, they were granted a substantial scholarship.
During her university years, Innesa met a young boy named Leo. Their friendship grew stronger and turned into a great love. In 2010, Innesa graduated from the university, while Leo completed his studies at the same university a year earlier.
Their wedding took place on October 12, 2010, in Phoenix. Almost the whole family – my wife Zoya, me, our children – flew in from New York to attend the ceremony. My nephews, Marik and Liana, arrived at the wedding. The rabbi (allow me to note that he was a very handsome man) was invited from Los Angeles. By the way, the musicians were also from that city.
The wedding was fun, there were many guests and interesting performances. Before that, a ceremony of the Jewish marriage (Kiddush) was held in the open air.
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After the wedding, Inna and her husband Leo moved to San Diego. She got a job at an employment agency, where, in addition to individuals looking for work, also organizations applied with requests to find appropriate specialists. In 2012, after graduating from university, Simochka joined her sister Inna in San Diego, and she was hired by the same agency. Working there, the sisters carefully studied the subtleties and secrets of the recruiting industry.
Building on this experience, they launched their own company on July 7, 2014, under the name San Diego Pro Staffing. The company is now called Boutique Recruiting. Innesa Zavo-Burrola became president of the company and Sema Zavulunova took the position of director of recruiting.
It took the initial two years to gain a foothold in the new business. Despite the fact that opening a business is fraught with great difficulties, the new company has successfully found and mastered its niche in one of the most competitive business sectors: recruitment and placement of personnel. Over the course of seven years, Boutique Recruiting has served over 4,000 companies in Greater San Diego and expanded to the federal level. The sisters have been awarded citations many a time for their successful work.
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Before telling how Inna and Sema climbed the social ladder to those high business positions that they occupy today in this fertile country, I want to draw the readers’ attention to the fact that they not only preserved their former friendly relations, but also, living together, strengthened their family relationships, finding common family happiness. Perhaps this has become one of the main factors in their successful business activities.
For many years I have been observing, in particular, what successful sculptors of family happiness are Inna and Leo. They share a common budget and complete understanding. She is a leader at work. Everyday issues are resolved between them easily, without any problems; in some ways she plays the main role, in something else – he does.
Inna believes: family happiness (where love, common views and interests prevail) is created by the heart, and the leading role in creating a family atmosphere belongs to a woman. If a wife really wants family happiness, while both husband and wife are sensitive and wise, and, in particular, they are capable of making concessions to each other, then the family will be happy.
Leo is also sure that both husband and wife should preserve and protect the family – then the warm atmosphere will always prevail in the house. Family is happiness, but also work. He believes that the secrets of family happiness lie in mutual love, mutual understanding, support, cooperation, friendship, tenderness, in the joint solution of problems that arise. For example, Inna and Leo will never scream at each other. As Leo notes in a downright poetic language: the family is a small piece of heaven on earth.
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The new millennium began for our large family with important and pleasant events, as a result of which it has grown significantly. My and my wife Zoya’s son Eduard had our grandson Jashua in 2006. Alexander’s granddaughter enriched us with great-grandchildren Jaydan and Liam, and Esther’s granddaughter – with Ariana. Ezro and Emma were born to Innochka and Leo. Another important event happened in February 2017 – the wedding of our second granddaughter Simochka and Ilyavu was celebrated. In the same year, Innochka and Leo gave us another beautiful, intelligent great-granddaughter and named her in honor of grandmother Zoya – Zoechka. And the beautiful great-grandchildren Adam and Aviv became a gift from Simochka and Ilyavu.
I am always happy to talk on the phone with Innochka and Simochka, I am always pleased to hear their voices, to learn about their successes. And on August 8, 2021, I received a large postal packet from my granddaughters. It contained an American magazine of 44 pages. I opened it and on page 15 found beautiful color photographs of Inna and Sema, on pages 18 and 34 – also two large photos of them and large texts, stories of their creative and work activities. Of course, I was very happy, enchanted and pleased. I delighted to read about them and immediately proudly sent them my congratulations.
Following the recent pleasant events in the families of Innochka and Simochka, we, almost the whole of our family, decided to fly to San Diego. The three of us, Ritochka (my daughter), Arkady (my son-in-law) and I, flew out on September 21, 2021, and after a 5-hour flight, we safely found ourselves in a warmer, hospitable city of San Diego. We were met by my son Boris and went to the La Jolla Cove Hotel.
Why a hotel? Let me explain. Arkady and Rita decided to take a rest by the sea for the first three days and stay in a hotel, and the rest of the days – at my dear granddaughters’ homes.
The hotel was next to the ocean. We chose the fifth floor. When we took the elevator, we found ourselves in a huge open area, from where it was a stone’s throw to the ocean – a beautiful view. A few tables and chairs were set up here. You could sit down and breathe in the fresh sea air. There were also a few soft sofas in this huge area.
Innochka decided not to wait for three days but come to see us at the hotel on the very first day. We were glad to see each other, we talked for more than two hours in the hotel, laughed, recalled our former life.
The next day, Inna and her hospitable husband Leo with their three children invited us to the Kona Kai restaurant, located by the resort and spa. The restaurant food was cooked well, all treats were delicious.
By the end of our meal at the restaurant, I noticed one unexpected detail. The waiter brought the bill, Leo paid, left the bill and his wallet on the table and left for a while. Although the two elder children were sitting at the table, it was little Zoya (she is 4 years old) came up from the other side of the table, took the things left by her father and handed them over to him when he came back.
All the following days, when we stayed with them, I carefully watched her. She is special: she is very smart, sings well, brilliantly recites long English poems by heart.
A few more words about her. We were at Inna’s house, in the kitchen, having breakfast. Innochka asked Zoechka to come down from the second floor. She replied, “No, Mom, braid my pigtails first, only then I will go down.” And she didn’t go down until her mother came up to her. This is how children are, and when they grow up, they become distinguished by a special intellect...
We had a great rest at the hotel for three days. On Friday, September 24, Boris came to pick us up, we went to get acquainted with the city and to do shopping. Borya brought us to our eldest granddaughter Innochka, to their new home.
The house is located within a 20-minute drive from downtown San Diego, in a beautiful forest, surrounded by greenery. The house is located in the expensive area of Dela Mar, where you can enter only with a pass. On our way we passed two checkpoints.
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2021 was a special year for the Zavulunov sisters. As I noted above, a large material with photos was published in the San Diego Business Journal about their work and the success of their company.
Sema Zavulunova, played an important role in the founding of the company and is a reliable partner and colleague to her sister. Her contribution to Boutique Recruiting directly influenced the development of the company. Working there, she quickly and deeply understood how the industry functions and what determines the success of the selection of an appropriate candidate for each particular employer.
Sema has the ability to establish direct contact with her candidates. Her sincere, enthusiastic and determined approach has helped her find jobs for thousands of candidates. She maintains relationships with people from the moment she meets them. At the same time, she successfully cooperates with her network of professionals. She leads a team of recruiters and enjoys taking the time to train, instruct and communicate with her employees.
I am pleased that Inna and Sema are highly respected in the state of California, they have been awarded citations and rewards by the city authorities.
Their company works with different industries. The staff includes 20 employees and about 45 freelance contract workers. Thus, the total number of their employees comes to about 65.
Even before founding her company, Inna had established many valuable contacts, striving to provide a tailor-made service to her clients. With exceptional perseverance and little business experience, she, along with her sister (they were both a little over 25), boldly embarked on an independent career and successfully run their new company, Boutique Recruiting. Inna, as the president of the company, controls the sales, business development in general, interaction with all the company’s 5,500 clients, and also carries out general management of the staff and marketing activities of all departments.
Sema is in charge of recruiting candidates and filling all recruitment vacancies in the recruiting department.
The president develops ways to solve emerging business problems of the company. Each employee has strict responsibilities for fulfillment of the tasks assigned to them. The company’s operations are progressing smoothly in overall because of its strong leadership. In turn, the management shows generosity towards their colleagues. The work is carried out in accordance with the motto: “The more you give, the more you get.” Consequently, the employees of the company are very well rewarded and, in turn, work hard to complete the assigned tasks.
When the sisters decided to start a new company, the parents made some financial contribution, but it was insignificant. In fact, the company had no funding and was successful on its own. At the time the company was founded, its assets were zero. Nevertheless, to this day the company has no debts, it does not owe anyone any money. The company’s revenues are increasing every year. When it was created, its leaders decided to annually transfer 5% of the profits received to each of their parents (father and mother). Their parents each received approximately $80,000 in 2020. It’s just great! There is no such example in our community, and I would like to know if there is such an example in America at all.
Over the past three years, Inna and Sema’s company has been ranked among the 5,000 fastest growing US companies published by INC magazine. The income streams are getting higher every year. The company ended 2021 with a profit of about $10 million. In 2020, the company entered the federal market and does business in all 50 states, looking for recruiters across the nation.
I would like to wish my beloved Inna and Sema, businesswomen who successfully lead their company, new success in their work! Keep up the level of high achievements! To both my dear granddaughters – I wish personal happiness and prosperity in life!
By Arkadiy Zavulunov
Triumph Of Young Sisters
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