The busy South Otago businesswoman and mother of three is a director of Beauty, Spa and Wellbeing, a company that supplies depilatory wax, skincare, make-up and consumables to the beauty industry.
It also provides postgraduate and distance learning training courses from its education facility in Auckland, under the direction of fellow director Mary Cox.
Mrs Anselmi-Hewett's career choice amid the highly competitive beauty industry was "just the way things evolve" but it did combine several of her interests - sales, people and, particularly, helping people.
Brought up on a farm in the King Country, she moved south to study commerce at Lincoln University.
Entrepreneurship was in the blood of the Anselmi family.
Her grandfather William Anselmi, who emigrated from Italy to New Zealand in 1936 via England and Australia, was a successful farmer who also acquired shoe shops in the North Island.
Her uncle Tony later established a factory and manufactured shoes under the Fabia label. He was later joined in the business by his son Shane, who now operates the Overland and Mi Piaci chain of stores.
While living in Wellington, Mrs Anselmi-Hewett started selling jars of ornamental fruit around New Zealand and at home shows. She got to know the people who made the sealing wax for the jars.
Later, when she and her husband Rob decided to return from living in Melbourne to farm a 960ha property at Waitahuna, she was asked if she wanted to sell depilatory wax.
She had no hesitation as she knew the people involved and knew it would be a good product.
She started sending out samples from home and selling the wax.
Then she met high-profile stylist and author Mary Cox - a familiar face on TVNZ's Good Morning show for several years - and the pair went into business six years ago.
Mrs Anselmi-Hewett is now based in the company's warehouse in Milton, from which products are dispatched throughout New Zealand. The pair employ five staff.
Despite being at nearly opposite ends of the country, the two women worked together closely and had a very good relationship.
Although they had started a business during an economic downturn, it had continued to grow. That was the result of having a very good wax product, she said.
Beauty, Spa and Wellbeing was continually introducing new products, the most recent being a product which soothed shaving rash and banished ingrown hair after waxing.
"We're just interested in quality. At the end of the day, quality makes all the difference," Mrs Anselmi-Hewett said.
Another advantage of their business was that they were able to provide the complete package from products to education.
"It's a very competitive market. You've got do do your apprenticeship and do it well. We concentrate on service ... and they [customers] come back to us because they like us," she said.
The aim for the future was to become one of the major wholesalers in New Zealand.
While they were big in the wax and education side of the industry, there was room for further growth in skincare.
Mrs Anselmi-Hewett recently enjoyed some welcome time off, spending a week on the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust's cavalcade with her father, Leo, and uncles Brian and Tony, who came down from the North Island to take part.
