Eryn Anitavi has been an entrepreneur longer than she’s known algebra. At the age of 10, she was already dreaming up her first ventures. By the time she was 16, she co-founded her first company, setting the foundation for a career that would later bring Sapphire Partners into existence. Today, Eryn is the CEO and Founder of Sapphire Partners & The Sapphire Academy; she offers premier executive and chief of staff support to visionary leaders, and her notable special focus is on neurodivergent individuals. Eryn is an autistic creative visionary, driving the company’s mission of enabling others to focus on their brilliance while Sapphire takes care of the mundane but essential tasks that drain energy. Her business’s proprietary Clarity Matrix™ is growing into a formidable EOS system rival because she knows what it takes to support your team. “Leadership is hard,” she admits. She talks openly about the emotional milestones in business—from the first hire to handling today’s business reviews. Once she was diagnosed with autism, her newfound clarity drove her to help others.
The business inspiration for Sapphire Partners came from a networking event in 2018, where someone asked Eryn if she could spare five hours a week to help with their business. It seemed like a small ask, but as Eryn started to manage executive support, she realized how much of a difference even a couple hours of help could make to a business leader’s focus level. Burnout is a large threat, especially to neurodivergent entrepreneurs—Sapphire Partners is the place to look to answer the question of relieving burnout and looking forward. Eryn wanted to focus on neurodivergence when she started this venture, which sets her business apart from others in her field. She’s built a team that understands the needs of both neurotypical and neurodivergent leaders, offering a unique perspective on how to manage energy, time, and resources. To be frank, building a service that helps minority groups like neurodivergent business start-ups helps the majority by offering more complete services. Sapphire offers a fixed ‘subscription’ model with over 250 service options, catering specifically to small businesses and solopreneurs. This innovative approach blends AI, automation and human expertise, so their service model is both scalable and customizable. Eryn’s predictive energy management algorithm looks to revolutionize the way leaders manage their workloads.
Eryn has developed her acumen from both successes and financial challenges. Every time she’s gotten low on funds, she’s found a way to secure more. Her business management mistakes of the past were serious learning opportunities, like hiring the wrong people or not having strong enough processes in place. At one point, two employees were falsifying their time cards, costing her $10,000 before she realized what was happening. She’s had moments where she lost clients because of poor hiring decisions and failed to spot red flags early enough, but despite these setbacks, Eryn’s resilience always brought her back to business. Her approach to leadership changed when she applied stoicism she learned from independent reading; she realized that tribulations are something to seek out and grow from in order to have a more fulfilling life. By age 19, she had sold her first co-founded business. At 29, she returned to school to study business and psychology, deepening her understanding of leadership and human behavior. Eryn has been featured as a Dean’s list speaker at her college, and her creative pursuits led her to pitch a screenplay in Los Angeles, eventually getting an option agreement. Although the financing fell through, the experience solidified her confidence in her creative abilities. She catalogues the positive moments in business, like the glowing testimonials and hard-fought partnerships she’s made throughout the years.
Eryn’s leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in a few core beliefs; One of her favorite sayings is, “Build a life you don’t need a vacation from and Work in your Brilliance™.” She firmly believes that leaders should never have to choose between success and burnout—there’s always a path that allows them to focus on what they do best while outsourcing non-central tasks. She also wants to promote delegation, distinguishing it from abdication. One empowers a team; the other can destroy it, and it’s worth your energy to empower your team. Another central tenet of Eryn’s leadership is inclusivity. As the mother of four brilliant children—and someone who is diagnosed with autism—she has designed Sapphire Partners with accessibility in mind, ensuring that people of all abilities feel welcome. Empathy and strategy are two sides of the same coin, and business leaders who can utilize empathetic strategies to build up their ventures are more likely to succeed.
Sapphire Partners will continue growing until their services are able to support a global audience, training and mentoring those interested in executive support and business administration. While most businesses forecast predictable goals, even in the long term, Eryn has gone further, planning for the creation of Sapphire Castle, a retreat center in Europe that will serve both employees and clients—her other ideas match this creativity, like the AI-based proprietary algorithm in predictive energy management that makes up her Clarity Matrix™ or even business ventures to bring back malls or reframe road trip traffic jams! Eryn is passionate about revolutionizing the way leaders approach business strategy and work-life integration, and getting a castle for less than an office is certainly unique and rewarding. This ingenuity has gotten Eryn on panels and into fancy social spaces, and she wants to expand her vision and become an international speaker with a TED talk on neurodivergence and leadership. Your team is the most important client as a leader, and Sapphire Partners and their academy are resources purely for improving your cohesion. Let Eryn’s team reduce your burnout so you can hone in on what you’re best at in business.
Published By: Aize Perez
