Araceli Kopiloff-Zimmer, 43, owner of Rue Lafayette, a cafe and boutique at 2026 Lafayette Avenue.

FAMILY • Married to Richard Zimmer, 53, owner of a product labeling company. One son: Pablo Nalerio, 20, cooks at the cafe and is in training to be a paramedic. Araceli is the elder of two children born in Uruguay to Dr. George Kopiloff, 75, and Nelly Kopiloff, 74. Her parents are of Russian descent and grew up in Argentina. The family moved to the United States when Araceli was about 10 and lived mostly in Loma Linda, Calif. Her father is a retired psychiatrist; her mother is a homemaker. Her brother, George Kopiloff, 36, is a physical therapist in California. She has one nephew.

EDUCATION • Studied psychology and fine arts at Loma Linda University from 1984 to 1987; Associate of Arts degree from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, 1989.

It seems like a long way from fashion in California to a cafe in St. Louis — what got you here?

I was recruited by the May Co. I went to work for them in about 2002 designing for their private label. A few years later the company was bought by Macy's and my job dried up, but by then I had met the man who was going to become my husband and I didn't want to leave.

So your background is in fashion?

Yes. My first job was in Milan with Benetton. I was working on a project to create fashion software for Apple computers while I was in school and that led to the job with Benetton, which was using fashion software in its design.

Did you work for long in the computer side of fashion?

I worked for a couple of years with another company in Beverly Hills that was using computer-assisted design software for the fashion industry. During this time, I also got married to Claudio Nalerio and had our son, Pablo. Claudio was a fashion designer, too, and shortly after we got married, we moved to San Francisco.

Did you do fashion design work there?

Yes, I got a great job designing women's and children's wear for Levi Strauss, which is headquartered in San Francisco. I traveled everywhere for them — Paris and London every year and in between I went to Pakistan, India, Korea, Singapore — all over the world actually.

Were you with Levi's for a long time?

I stayed with them until I moved here for the job with May.

How did you meet Richard?

We met online. I wasn't really looking to get involved, but I fell for him on our first date.

Did you get married right away?

No — I met him in 2003 and we got married in 2007.

Did you do any design work here after you left May?

I did some freelance work — I was designing cocktail waitress uniforms for casinos — but there wasn't much work available.

What prompted you to open the cafe?

We live nearby and I would walk the dog past this building and I always thought it was a neat space. It's only one story and it faces the park and it was really run down, but it looked like it had potential. One day I saw it was available for sale, and we bought it at auction in 2008.

Did you always intend to open a cafe in it?

Well, I've always wanted a cafe, but I don't know why because I never worked in the food industry — I think just because I like to drink coffee and talk to people. At first we thought we'd renovate it and rent it out. But in February '09, HGTV came and did a show about me renovating the building. The deal was they were going to come back in six months to do a follow-up so I had to have a business idea by that time. We opened in September 2010.

Was the boutique part a nod to your fashion past?

It's my stuff and Richard's. Richard collects antiques. I also have a lot of unique accessories I find and like to share with people.

How about the food side?

I knew nothing about it so at first I planned to just serve espresso and croissants — I got the dough from Paris and we bake the croissants on the premises. But customers wanted more food so I got in touch with chef Marc Felix who developed our menu and taught me the kitchen business. He's been wonderful.

What one thing would people be surprised to learn about you?

That Michael Jackson once asked me out on a date. I have a picture of us together to prove it.

What's your vehicle of choice?

A baby-blue Beetle convertible to go with my baby-blue Vespa and baby-blue sunglasses. My license plate is "Rue."