There's no question vintage is having a moment. There are the crowds of city-dwelling women fighting over limited pairs of vintage Levi's 501s. Or the fact that flea markets have become a weekend destination for 30-somethings more than their retiree parents. And then there's Artists & Fleas, which stands firmly at the pinnacle of the movement. 

Self-described as a "multi-merchant marketplace that has been disrupting retail for over a decade," the project began humbly as a side project for Amy Abrams and her husband, Ronen, as a way to meet and support local artisans, vintage dealers, and makers. Since then, Artists & Fleas has expanded to multiple locations across New York and recently set up shop in L.A. with no signs of stopping. We caught up with Amy to talk about her unique trajectory from working in investment banking to running her own recruiting firm finding her niche in a world she built herself. Here's Amy: 

"There was a store called Heart’s Desire in the town where I grew up. There was a woman by the name of Bonnie Levin who owned the store. I would go there and I would spend hours talking to her. She had antique jewelry and buttons that I would buy and I wanted to have a store like hers. Now I think, ‘Oh my God, I do all of those things.’

So maybe you should really lay down what you want to do when you’re 10 years old.

On Following—And Creating—Opportunity

I had spent my junior year [of college] in Israel and then I picked up and moved there. Very briefly, I waitressed, which was super fun, but then I landed a job working in an investment bank and consulting firm. That job was the most formative for me. I was surrounded by entrepreneurs. I would definitely sit there and write my own business plan. It really connected me to the world of entrepreneurship. 

When I came back from Israel, I worked at a software company in a marketing role. But then the company started hiring people and I realized I’d be much better at that. So I moved into recruiting and I joined a woman with a very small recruiting firm. It was a great job for me because it was high people interaction, [emphasized] using your instincts, [and] very creative. I helped this woman build her business really rapidly—and we’re still friends to this day. But she didn’t want that big of a business, and I realized that I could just do it for myself.

I didn’t really hesitate [before starting my own recruiting company], I figured I knew enough about how to do it. I’ve always had the attitude 'Well, if things go south, I’ll get a job.’ 

From Side Hustle to Serious Business: On Starting Artists and Fleas 

While I was in graduate school, my then-boyfriend, now husband Ronen and I started Artists and Fleas. I wouldn’t say we took it very seriously as a business at first. I mean, we registered it as a business, but we saw it as a fun place to hang out and create this cool shopping experience in Williamsburg. When I was in graduate school, I worked on it, but I wasn’t working full-time in the business until about five years ago. The two of us took it back and forth a little bit. 

[But] when people who were selling with us told us that they were making enough money to quit their day job and do it full-time, we took that responsibility pretty seriously….If we were going to have this platform, if [artists] were going to depend on it, we had to be a lot more serious as well. We feel very grateful that we’ve been able to facilitate that and that we’ve been able to show so many artists and designers.

On Balancing Work and Marriage....

In working with Ronen, I’m really, really grateful. We have a pretty unique situation in that we can spend tons of time with each other and not get sick of each other... I think we also share in the upside of our success in a very unique way. But we have similar skill sets so that sometimes forces us to be very clear about where we need to fill those gaps in terms of hires.

A lot of my friends are always like, 'I don’t know how you guys work together.’ But I think that different people have different kinds of relationships. We were really good friends for a long time before we dated. And I think we just get along really well.

...And Family (And, You Know, Life) 

I think some of it has to do with personality. I definitely know people who cannot turn off work. It doesn’t matter if they work for themselves or someone else. My kids have grown up and seen us work. Sometimes on the weekends we stop at the market, or certainly at night we have to work, but we try pretty hard to say, ‘When we’re home, we’re home.’  

I think that the beauty in terms of work-life balance is that, if you have a certain type of personality and if you have your own business, it gives you a lot of flexibility. But you’re never 100 percent off, right? But if you have really good staff that you count on, they want you to be off—so when they’re on vacation, I don’t bother them either. That’s the culture in our company. But I think [work-life balance] has really shifted. Especially in the digital age where you’re like always connected. It’s tough to make a concerted effort to turn off our phones. 

On Supporting Other Women 

I think one of the important things for women, in particular, is to find really strong mentors within their jobs and outside of that. And by extension, I think it’s really important to connect to communities. So I encourage women to join networking groups or other types of organizations that help them meet more people outside of their friend circle. And that creates opportunities for collaboration. That brings new ideas into the mix. I think you have to really cultivate a professional identity and when you meet smart, interesting women, you should learn from them."

Photos provided by Amy Abrams.