Kalistan

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Catching up with: Princess Michelle Ananto-Sandoval
Youngest Ananto tapped to be next head of House Ananto
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
January 18, 5606


Princess Michelle Ananto-Sandoval wants to engage in Socially Conscious Investments

Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina I Ananto turns 60 this year, and has already begun moving His Highness Crown Prince Fredrick Ananto-Sandoval into more state responsibilities as she begins preparing for a transition which is expected to take place within the next 10 years.  But as Crown Prince Fredrick takes up a larger imperial profile, Her Highness Princess Michelle Ananto-Sandoval is also stepping into some new roles.  She has completed her National Service and has begun her studies in Bachelors of Accounting and Finance Program at Kaliburg Polytechnic at the request of Lady Dana Ananto-Alvarez, the Viceroy of Gaduridos, who herself is looking for a smaller role in Kalistan.

Princess Michelle is more than happy to do it:  "I've always loved math and have always been interested in how money is made," said Her Highness.  "Under Lady Dana and her father Victor, House Ananto went from being wealthy to one of the larges holding companies on the planet.  They have major investments in Kalistan, Gaduridos and Egelion, and have been really very successful through a series of very conservative investments and careful stewardship.  Lady Dana is really someone I look up to, and I have long thought that it would be amazing to follow in her footsteps."

House Ananto has long separated itself from its business arm at Miramar, and now exists as a trust for which Miramar operates.  "I think the model is very innovative and creative," said Princess Michelle.  "Miramar is still a privately held corporation and the majority stake in the corporation is held by House Ananto, so the company retains its fiduciary responsibility primarily to the fiscal wellbeing of House Ananto, but the fact that the Royal Family is behind it also encourages institutional investors to seek to hold securities in Miramar, because it is seen as an incredibly safe investment that all large investors will want to have in their portfolio, along with other rock solid investments like deposits in the Imperial Bank and Imperial Rubles.  The trust allows Miramar virtually unlimited ability to raise capital for large projects.  Miramar has paid a dividend every single quarter since it was founded."

Princess Michelle said when she takes House Ananto over, she will begin looking for socially conscious projects to invest in.  "We will continue to invest in development of the nations around us," said Princess Michelle.  "But I'm also going to start looking for projects that provide a public good:  Miramar makes billions of Imperials a year, so its time we put some of that back into restoring natural wildlife habitats in the Empire, including helping restore the Ananto Strait, which is a project I have long been interested in."  She said that Prince Fredrick and she have long talked about an ambitious environmentalist agenda.

"I suppose I am a bit of a hippy," said Princess Michelle.  "I'm interested in peace and helping the environment and reducing pollution, both in Kalistan and across the entire Anantonese Ocean.  And I want to plant trees all across the open spaces in Neveras so we can increase carbon capture and sequestration--Nevaras is perfect for that, because most of the Duchy is wilderness already.  And as head of House Ananto and Miramar, this is something we can do without putting a huge burden on the taxpayers of the Empire."

Princess Michelle may be a treehugger, but she is also a rocker.  "Oh yeah, I'd also like to see GanJam come back," said the Princess.  "I've only read stories about these massive rock festivals, and while the smokeouts are pretty well attended, none of them are multi-day events, and I think this is something that Miramar can invest in as well, cultural and musical events.  Kalistan is a land of a thousand venues, big and small, and I think a GanJam would be just what we need to reinvigorate the fairly boring music scene we have in Kalistan at the moment."

La Moda met the Princess at her home in Dulnerstaad, where she greeted us wearing a "Travis and Bob" T-shirt.  So, of course we had to ask.  "Yes, of course I am a fan.  My mom and I watched their episodes on the weekends when I visited last fall.  She grew up loving that show and I think she is just thrilled that I can share them with her.  There's a lot of great old music on that show:  for her, those shows are like a trip back to a time before the weight of the entire world was on her shoulders.  But while these two guys are funny, my favorite part is watching the joy she gets from hearing the same funny comments she's heard a hundred times before.  She never stopped liking them and Fred and I got to watch them when we were younger, before Fred lost his hearing.  It's great that they came back on TV for another season.  I hope they do another season again.  They're so funny."

Princess Michelle closed with saying, "I think when my mother was a girl, the world was much more positive.  But all around there is war, and evil all around us, in places like Kundrati where the government actively murders its own people.  I think Travis and Bob are good because while they are kind of a parody of the world right now.  Every once in a while, they will sneak in a joke about fascism, but its always in reference to like some kind of crud or scum.  Its very subversive.  Like the one episode where they were doing the Rorschach test and Bob said it looked like a 'guy spanking his monkey' while Travis said it looked 'that stupid dumba-- with the scar.'  Little jokes like that where they are just mocking these fascists kind of bring light back into a very dark Terra."

Princess Michelle said the family is getting ready for Crown Prince Fredrick's wedding in July, and then she will be travelling to Gaduridos for two months to shadow Lady Dana Ananto-Alvarez and begin transitioning to become the next head of House Ananto.

@LaModa