The entrepreneur, wife, mother, publisher, author, business mentor and 2009 Veuve Clicquot Woman of the Year simply makes "money out of fabulous frocks".
In Queenstown recently speaking at a ladies' lunch organised by the Chamber of Commerce at Prime Restaurant, Ms Stretton (50) gave an insight to her business philosophy - doing business with a "wise heart", which is also the name of her second book, published by Random House.
The title was chosen because of the Veuve Clicquot prize, part of which saw her travel to France and meet 13 other women from throughout the world who had also been awarded the title.
"We spent three days drinking ... the Grande Dame as well as eating fabulous food and staying in this amazing place.
"During the time, the women would just randomly stand up through the meals and talk about their business decisions.
"All of the women ... did business with wise hearts.
"I suppose the biggest example was a South African, called Natalie, who developed a business that provided a caging that went over the roofs of the mines, which stopped the rockfalls.
"She only employed disabled, black South African miners who had been hurt in the mines.
"When I reflected on the things that are important to me, it was about doing business with a wise heart.
"A lot of what I do today is about the way I pay it forward."
Ms Stretton began her road to success in Hawkes Bay then moved to Dunedin to study fine arts - during which time she realised she was "never going to be the next Ralph Hotere".
At the age of 19, she moved to THC Wairakei to run the restaurant and functions centre.
It was there she "met a man" and the couple moved back to Hawkes Bay.
Shortly after, the couple, along with members of Ms Stretton's family, got into a debate about the left and right sides of the brain, she said.
"They believed you couldn't turn a right brain [creative] into a left brain [business].
"I said you could ... it's just about application.
"You can't teach someone to be creative ... but you can teach someone about numbers."
Ms Stretton asked for them to "pick a degree" and she would show them.
"I chose accountancy.
"Seven years of part-time study and I had an ACA.
"It was very difficult, but at the end of it, inadvertently, I was setting myself up for life."
Following her studies, Ms Stretton was pregnant with her first child, daughter Sam, working for an accountancy firm "because I had to" and involved in a small restaurant in Morrinsville she and her sister had gone into together.
Fashion was an opportunity that knocked, she said.
After her maternity leave she received a call from the accountancy firm informing her it was time to come back to work.
Her response was: "Not to accounting."
"They told me there was a small clothing firm wanting to hire me on a part-time basis as their accountant."
Ms Stretton took the job and when the company wanted her to take on a full-time role, her response was an "immediate 'no"'. "So they said, 'How about design?' [and] I accepted."
Her first foray into the fashion world saw her travel to the United States and the United Kingdom choosing styling that would work for New Zealand chain stores, including KMart, Farmers, Deka, Glassons and Ezibuy.
Eventually, Ms Stretton was given an assistant from Auckland who convinced her six months later to give it a go herself.
"I started out doing what I knew ... wheeling and dealing with the chain stores.
"In my first year, I made over $1 million and it was 50% profit - I had come off a salary of [about $40,000].
"I didn't know what to do with the money."
It wasn't long before Ms Stretton was making $5 million and, when business started going offshore, it was time to "reinvent".
"So, I started Annah. S and sold it to the boutiques.
"The challenge for me was a lot of them were hobbyists.
"They didn't merchandise well, they didn't buy well and they barely ever paid me.
"I could only ever be as good as they were."
Ultimately, Ms Stretton decided to lease a store in Havelock North and be the cause of her own effect.
"The philosophy is simple - women need to look and feel great, be served by a great retail girl in a great environment.
"Havelock North worked.
"There are now 30 outlets across New Zealand from Invercargill to Whangarei and 80 boutiques throughout the world."
However, there was no time to rest on her laurels, with a decision in 2005 to enter the world of publishing, buying Her magazine.
At the time, she was a columnist for the magazine and one day received an email saying there was "no real need" for her column any more and "by the way, the magazine is for sale ... PS, you don't want to buy it?".
"I said 'yes'.
"I had no idea how to be a publisher - I didn't even know the terminology of the industry.
"The reality is ... front-foot thinking."
Ms Stretton now has a second title in the market, a magazine called Pink, which is a lifestyle breast cancer publication, from which all the profit goes to breast cancer initiatives.
Her success boiled down to a can-do attitude for a woman who said she had never doubted herself.
"If I'm not tripping and falling, I'm not growing."
She spoke in Auckland recently with Arrowtown-based entrepreneur Michael Hill, who told her the problem with "most of New Zealand today" was that people doubted.
"They really do," she said.
"People don't do stuff because they doubt their ability to achieve it before they've even started.
"I always believe things can happen - if you just think that way, you might surprise yourself.
"It's about a positive way of thinking.
"In Wise Heart I talk about passion - a lot of the work I do with women in that mentoring sense ... is people have fallen out of love with their businesses and their lives.
"If you don't love what you do, you need to get out.
"You can never be great at something you don't love."
Wise Heart, from Random House New Zealand, is available in book stores for $39.99.
