Anastasia Brotherson

ANASTASIA Brotherson’s Aura-pregnant. sexy. motherwear (Aura psm) is a good example of the notion that personal experience can provide the spark for a successful business concept. The creation and success of Aura psm was based on Ms Brotherson’s ability to recognise a gap in the Perth market and to capitalise on this specialist niche. Frustrated at the lack of fashionable clothes available during her own pregnancy, Ms Brotherson decided to design and make clothes that she and other expectant mothers would want. She sourced fabrics that didn’t require ironing and designed her ‘motherwear’ range. Aura psm also is the exclusive local stockist of Fragile, one of Australia’s leading specialist pregnancy brands. All of this was achieved with no fashion, manufacturing, accounting or formal business training on Ms Brotherson’s behalf. Aura psm has been in business for 16 months but took only five weeks to go from an idea to a registered business and into new premises. The company gives the pregnant women of Perth, Australia and the world a fashionable choice for pregnancy and life as a mother. Ms Brotherson’s biggest career setback, but ultimately her biggest blessing, was the realisation after six years of university and professional study that she wasn’t destined to be a chemist. A personal growth course set her in a new direction, which ultimately led to Aura psm. “It also made me realise if I really wanted to I could run a business and have a career in conjunction with being a wife and mother. All I needed was the desire and drive to do so.”