Hi,
I joined her initial couple
Hi,
I have always been interested in self-improvement and leveling up. When I joined her course, I was already doing most of the things she speaks of on her youtube vids. I have always shopped for high quality clothing items (not to be affluent, but because I prefer to buy a few good quality pieces that fit well rather than fast fashion), I am already educated and have a well paying job as well. The things that she teaches on her course are pretty common sense.
Most of the people I know are affluent (but that wasn't because of Anna).. it was due to my upbringing and the way I carry myself and behave.
I am not a wealthy person, but I live well and within my means.
The thing I noticed with what she teaches is that a lot of affluent people I know do not follow her teachings. A lot of people wear "jeans".. skinny jeans to be exact. They don't always look "perfect" all the time; and a lot of people I know carry in your face designer items that she deems "tacky".
The video that didn't really resonate with me was the one about Carolyn Kennedy. She pretty much broke all the "elegant" lady rules when it came to how she dressed.. especially her casual off duty looks. Yet she still married a Kennedy.
I think something that would help people more is actually doing the inner work rather than trying to constantly fit in to a community that may not be what it seems. While navigating "affluence".. you come across a lot of fake people: people who appear to have money, but don't.
For me, the most important thing is to associate with genuine people.
Thank you for your heartfelt response, S.A.
It's really clear that, on your own, you would have continued to grow and flourish without AB's course.
I suspect that's the case for many women who ponder paying for her course or for those who end up paying for it. AB knows there are a LOT of women out there who are interested in self-improvement, and who are willing to make the effort towards it. And, they are willing to invest in themselves.
That's admirable.
The problem I have with AB is that she takes advantage of exactly those positive energies. Women are searching, but AB and what she has on offer is not the answer.
What gets me really angry about AB is that she plays on women's insecurities. ALL women are insecure. We all doubt our looks, position, qualifications, acceptance. All of us. No matter where we are from or the supposed level we have reached. That's because we live in society as it is at this time. All of us, all women, get a lot of messaging from the society that surrounds us.
So, really, AB and her scam has an unlimited potential audience of subscribers. This is what keeps her going. She knows this to be truth.
She's not alone. There are entire industries built on the self-doubt rampant amongst women. (Anna and her Gucci belt falls prey too).
If AB were just some middle-aged woman giving out free advice on YouTube, none of us would be here. She could be ignored. But AB is charging $300, $1,000, for video lectures that have almost nothing to do with strategies for improving a woman's life. She's taking money from women who often cannot afford it, and who could have been investing that money instead in real things that really matter.
But Anna also simply doesn't know what she's doing. All she knows of "elegant high society" is the JetsetBabe life and escorting. She's mistaken apples for oranges.
I agree with you completely that AB's video on Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was eye opening. Anna is completely and utterly clueless, and she demonstrates it here. Anna frames Carolyn as an ordinary middle-class girl who used remarkably smart strategies to land an American prince. This implies that if one follows AB's course material, any other woman can have the same strategic luck. Except that she's gotten Carolyn Kennedy completely wrong. Carolyn was never middle class. Not even close. She grew up in Greenwich, CT, a town I am very familiar with. It's the East Coast equivalent of Beverly Hills. Her mother remarried when Carolyn was very young and her step-father was a prominent surgeon. In the days before the hedge fund and tech guys made billions overnight, people in professions like Carolyn's step-father made up the 1%.
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy grew up rich, and part of that 1%. She was surrounded by country clubs, yacht clubs, and the movers and shakers of NYC area society life.
You are right that Anna has the dress rules for the actually rich and powerful completely wrong. Women in Carolyn's former town and the surrounding areas DO wear skinny jeans, all the time. (The only women I've seen in the newly fashionable loose or mom jeans are the bloggers and vloggers representing brands). There is, in fact, sort of a local dress code, even for casual looks, but Anna would never in a million years be able to figure it out. It would be like her studying Martians. Anna doesn't have the energy or attention span to decipher it, in the same way that she gets English country style completely wrong too (and ends up advocating wearing ill-fitting jackets and weird horsey boots around random towns and cities). People who are from these areas see right through it, and would see through her in a heartbeat. (And yes, fake-affluent logo-wielding brand addicts get a lot of eye-rolls).
I can tell you that if Anna turned up in Carolyn's Greenwich in her white cropped flared pants with white sneakers in November, what people would do is feel sorry for her. They'd seriously believe that she must not have the money to dress properly -- meaning seasonally. i.e. for the weather. She might be offered a coat because she's probably cold, or a job at a pizzeria, maybe, but no one would go to lunch with her. She'd just appear strange.
And this is a woman who is literally selling the secrets to joining elegant high society. For $,1000.
You don't need AB. You are well on your way to improving your life on your own time and exactly as you wish to. So many resources are available out there ( for free) on things from etiquette to culture to style to finance. You sound like you should be the teacher, rather than the student. I imagine that's true for many women who ponder joining AB's nonsense. Again, the fact that so many are susceptible plays on our society's tendency to keep us all off balance a bit, to doubt ourselves, to think we aren't enough or can't move ahead using our own common sense and energies. But we are enough, and we can.
As you say, almost all of this is common sense. Pair that with some energy and no one has to pay $1,000, especially to a former go-go dancer who is most definitely not a member of anybody's high society anywhere.
The danger, apart from simply wasting that $1,000 (although what a waste), is that since Anna knows nothing of what she preaches, but DOES know the JetsetBabe and escorting life, a generous portion of the life lessons she wishes to impart end up gravitating to those topics. But women who become her subscribers get caught up in the appealing sales messaging and by the time the escort vibes start, they've already paid their money and have given her their attention. So dangerous.
Anna is a woman no one has ever seen rubbing shoulders with the elite. Ever. She's inappropriately dressed for every occasion. Her claim to fame is that she got someone (who, exactly??) to fund her stay at a summer session of a Swiss finishing school. Big deal. It's been years since then, and there's no evidence AB has "leveled-up" in any way. She's got no home, no job, no wardrobe, no cozy routine, and no warm relationships. My guess is that anyone who is thinking of spending $1,000 on AB's "course" already has many of those things. They are women who are far, far, ahead of her in life. It's hard to get past our hard-wired insecurities to realize that.
And on that her scam depends.
You sound like you'll improve whatever areas of your life you wish to improve, using your intelligence and instincts. I truly wish more women would do the same. None of them need AB or the empty nothing she's selling.