The Transcript

Karthika: Welcome Maggie. Thank you so much for joining us all the way from Hong Kong.

Maggie: Thanks for having me. I’m so excited to be part of this.

Karthika: Absolutely, it’s such a thrill for me to be chatting with someone literally halfway across the world. So let’s jump right in. you have a very interesting journey of migration and movement. Can you tell us a little bit about your life growing up?

Maggie: I think for me, even a simple question like “where are you from?” sometimes gives me anxiety because depending on how much time we have or the mood I’m in — What do I tell you? How much do I tell you? It’s kind of a long story. So I’ll just start from the beginning. I was born in Taiwan and I grew up there until I was 10 years old and my family immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. I went to school there from fourth grade all the way until I finished high school, and after high school I moved to Los Angeles to go to college at UCLA. So I was in LA for four years, and then after that I moved back to Taiwan because my parents had relocated back to Taiwan.  I moved back to work for two years, and then I decided I didn’t really want to stay there so I moved to New York. I went to Parsons for their Fashion Marketing Program because I wanted to work in fashion. After the one year program I started working in New York for the past eight years. About two years ago I got married, and a lot of interesting events happened. We ended up moving all the way to Singapore for a year, and after that we moved to Hong Kong, where I am now based.

Karthika: Oh Wow. You really have touched a lot of places through life, through school through family. That’s really interesting. You said something about going back and forth a couple of times, so you migrated and then you went back and then you migrated again. Do you have any really vivid memories of your experience going back home? I know you were pretty young, but do you have any sort of distinct memories perhaps?

Maggie: Yeah I think when I first moved from Taiwan to Canada, because I was young, I didn’t really feel like I had any cultural shock or that I was not used to it. However, when I moved back to Asia when I was older, a few times I felt that even though this is supposedly my “home,” I didn’t really feel like I belonged here. That was a very strange feeling because for the longest time I was feeling: “I’m from Taiwan. I grew up there, my family’s there, my grandparents are there, yet I don’t feel like I’m from here.” I didn’t feel like I belonged there when I actually lived there. So that was kind of a reverse culture shock I guess, and that’s something I never realized until I actually moved back there, because when I was abroad in Canada or later on in the US, I would always visit Taiwan a lot for summer break & winter break. And I always felt like “oh yeah, I’m going home” whenever I visited. I thought Taiwan was my home until I actually lived there and I realized, okay, this is not my home anymore. I don’t really fit in here. That was a very kind of strange feeling to have because all this time I just thought this is my home and then you realize, oh, it’s not really. And then it’s like “oh, where do I belong?”

Karthika: Now you brought up a couple of very interesting concepts that I would love to touch on. When you said when you were younger you really didn’t have any culture shock and that’s such an interesting thing on the way I guess like the psyche of kids, right? I mean they are so open and willing to just absorb anything that life throws their way and then as we get older maybe we have more sort of prejudice. I don’t know if prejudice is the right word, but you know, we kind of have a lot of things that we really think hard on before saying something or before experiencing something. We don’t, we don’t have that child like abandonment. Right. I want to explore that a little bit. I mean, do you have a sense of sort of why you felt that way a little perhaps when you first moved and then when you kind of went back?

Maggie: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that a lot actually, because you know, a lot of people, especially with this cultural awakening in the States, like with Crazy Rich Asians, a lot of people are sharing their stories. After reading these stories, I’m like, oh wow. I never really felt I was discriminated against. I guess for when I was in Vancouver, there’s a lot more Asians there, so I never felt like I was like the only Asian girl. I never felt that way. Also Canada is kind of different from the US in that they’re more embracing of different cultures. They always Canada is like a mosaic where different cultures fit together, and whereas the US is a melting pot where they expect everyone to melt into this idea of American culture. I never really understood that until very recently I look back and I think back and thought “wow that is really true.” Even when I was growing up in Canada, my teachers or some of my classmates were Caucasian, and they seemed to be genuinely interested in Chinese culture or different kinds of culture. Even in our Home Ec class, our teacher asked us to share a dish from our home countries. So I talked about dumplings, like some Korean students shared recipes on Korean rice cakes, and there’s also Greek students with Greek salads. I feel that different cultures are really appreciated there. So I didn’t have that experience. Especially having read up on a lot of Asian American people’s experience. A lot of them have had this self-hatred with their own culture because they felt that they didn’t fit in or was kind of discriminated against. I am very fortunate that I never really felt that way. I even did like a Chinese culture dance when I was in fifth grade in front of the whole school. I don’t think I could ever have done that in the States. I mean I might be generalizing here, but I think just from reading a lot of other people’s experience in the States, I think that seems to be the case. So yeah, when I was growing up in Canada, I didn’t feel thatbecause I ate fried rice during lunch or because my English wasn’t good when I moved there (I didn’t speak a word of English), that I was outcasted. Whereas, when I moved back home to Taiwan, especially because I had western education for a while, for example I have definitely become a lot more outspoken because, especially in the West, if you don’t speak your mind, you don’t get anything you want and people see that as a weakness if he can’t articulate what you want. Whereas in Asia, if you do that, especially as a young girl or young woman that can be seen as you’re standing out too much or you’re too prideful or you’re not humble enough, so that was kind of difficult for me because for years with Western education, I trained myself to speak publicly, to stand up and speak what I believe in and to come back to Asia and doing the exact same thing is being seen as being impolite, not respectful of elders or people above you or you’re just asking to too much. That was something kind of difficult for me especially, I was never like a natural public speaker, but because I was in the West, I knew that’s something I had to do because I didn’t want to be seen as a weak person or I didn’t know what I was doing. That’s something I trained myself to be good at and then suddenly to be told like, Oh, you’re not supposed to do that.

Karthika:  Some of these are kind of very subtle. You don’t kind of think about them until, until you actually experience them. I mean I’m from India and I remember growing up it was very similar. I mean, you did what you were told, you didn’t speak until you’re spoken to. Yea, I mean the school and all of that was different, but the culture is very hierarchical and just everybody just goes about, you know, living life in the box that they are a fitted in, so to speak. Right. And then you kind of get exposed and inexperienced to a culture or an environment where. So what do you think or how do you want this, how do you see this unfold? And you’re like, you’re not used to it.

Karthika: It takes you by surprise, but it’s kind of a great feeling to feel appreciated, to feel like you, like what you say and what you think matters. but if you don’t experience that, you don’t think about those things. Just life just goes on in whatever way it was. So it’s very interesting that this is your experience. So I do want to make sure that the whole premise of all these conversations is to get a person’s perspective. So that we can understand people and we can understand situations better. So when you say your experience of being in Canada as a mosaic versus the US versus being a melting pot is very, very interesting and it’s a great perspective to look at and sort of understand what’s going around, what’s happening around us right now. You kind of left Taiwan for the second time and you moved to La and to New York. How did your family sort of react to all these changes in your life?

Maggie: I mean, I guess my family’s kind of, not a typical Asian family. I think they are definitely a lot more open to letting me do whatever I want. I think one, they know that I probably won’t listen to them anyway, so they just give up. I think they’re kind of used to it. I mean obviously now that I am in Hong Kong, I could see that they’re like really happy that I’m close by. However I think when I was younger, I think they didn’t, they didn’t try to stop me. They didn’t tell me, Oh, you should stay here because I guess they could see I was pretty unhappy when I was working in Taiwan. So yeah, they’ve been pretty supportive and open about with it, but in a way I’m pretty glad I’m back here right now because they’re getting older and Hong Kong and Taiwan is an hour and half flight away so I get to see them a lot more. I think that they don’t say it but they are like happy that I am in Hong Kong, compared to New York, which is like 20-something hours flight away.

Karthika: How did you like living in New York? New York was a place where you had a lot of change in your career and professional life too. So maybe you can kind of tie in both of them and kind of talk a little bit about the New York experience and how you kind of moved essentially what you did from a career perspective.

Maggie: I guess feeling like I didn’t belong in Asia, and then obviously I am not born in Canada and the US, a lot of times I don’t feel like I don’t 100 percent belong there either. So before I moved to New York I almost felt like “oh my God, I don’t know where I belong.” It’s so weird because I’ve lived in many places and I never felt 100 percent like I belonged anywhere, until I moved to New York, and then I felt like “oh my God, I’ve found my home, this is where I belong, 100 percent.” Everything just felt right. The people there, the vibe. It just has so, so many different cultures & people coming and going all the time. Similar to how I’ve been in my life where I’ve moved around a lot. Everything kind of made sense when I moved there. And when I was there, I obviously had a lot of great opportunities to learn about the fashion industry. That’s something that I was very interested in and I worked in many different departments, but deep down I always knew that I wanted to have my own company and I always made accessories for fun and then when I got married it just all clicked because I couldn’t find headpieces that I liked that was at a reasonable price and were also lightweight and comfortable that I can imagine myself wearing all day. There were a lot of beautiful pieces that were either super expensive or really heavy. As soon as I put it on I will take it off and because I would make these things for fun, like especially in a place like New York, there’s all these like dress up events. I was like, oh, why don’t I just make my own. And then one thing led to another and I felt like oh this is the thing that I’ve been looking for. I want it to create something, my own brand. But it didn’t never knew what exactly. And then at that moment it felt okay. Like ever since I couldn’t find it in the market, there must be other people there too. And it was something I felt like it was simple to start with. I did a photo shoot and put it online and then I started promoting on instagram and then it was getting traction and then I felt like, okay, this is. But then a year in also, that was when I moved away from New York. I think I went through a personal transition and I also did not like the message that it was sending with the bridal headpieces where every time I posted a photo of a bride and was talking about this bride, I felt like I was sending this message that like women can only celebrate themselves or be celebrate it if they’re getting married. That’s something I just 100 percent don’t agree with, you know, even though I am married myself, it was never something that I made to be like a goal in my life. I never thought like I’m defined by who I marry. I’m me and I can celebrate who I am even till this day. I’m Maggie Wu. My last name is Wu. My husband’s last name is something else. I’m not changing it. My brand is named after me, Maggie Wu, you know, I don’t like this idea of women being defined by if they’re married or not or if they have kids or not. And I felt like because I was promoting all these weddings and bridal things, I was sending this message that didn’t align with who I am at the core.

Maggie: During this time I moved again from the US back to Asia and I felt like this message is constantly being pushed at woman so strongly in Asia. My friends around me, I’m 32. A lot of my friends are my age or older than they are not married. I can see like the stress they have from their family. This constant pressure that “you need to get married now”. Like it doesn’t matter if there’s nobody good in lined up, like you need to get married now. And then I just hated that message. And so I did this whole rebrand. It was kind of a bit painful because I kind of had to put a stop to something that was kind of working. And getting momentum and kind of pivot to doing, you know, really looking deep into myself and what I believe in, what in, what kind of message I want to send out to the world. And through this whole rebranding process I came up with kind of the new Maggie Wu studio and it’s about celebrating women and they all have their moments big and small. To promote and hopefully to send the message that you don’t have to be getting married to feel special or feel like you can celebrate. Any other day you can celebrate. It could be something big like a promotion or birthday or just, you know, taking care of yourself, looking inward appreciating the small moments in life and giving yourself a pat on the back. Because I think we as women, we tend to be really hard on ourselves and I think that’s something that I really want to promote with this brand and with this message.

Karthika: Maggie, I think everything that you’ve said just fits and ties in so beautifully with sort of who you are as a person. I mean, I know we’ve not known each other for too long, but you talk about finding your place, you talk about not sort of wanting to fit into something just because it’s the way society is sort of telling you to. You moved from one place to the other, you took what you liked from each of those sorts of experiences and you kind of created something that speaks to you as a person and having a brand and having a message that essentially ties that is being so true to who you are. So I really applaud you for that. I can’t tell you how proud I am for the fact that somebody is, you know, somebody is actually doing what they really feel is right deep down and not what society tells them, not what family tells them, not what culture tells them. Now, we kind of transitioned a fair bit in this last sort of questions. I want to maybe go back a little bit because you said some, some very interesting things that I think will be very valuable to our listeners, especially if they are sort of going through this transition, this notion of where do I belong this not quite fitting into the norm. So let’s maybe revisit some of that. You are an entrepreneur and you are a successful entrepreneur. Is that something that is culturally sort of typical or is it based on sort of your experience of living in New York where like you said, the vibe, the people are outgoing, you know, people want to know things and people who appreciate expression of individuality and culture. Is it because you had that entrepreneur gene or is it because, you know, being in New York sort of catapulted that a little bit?

Maggie: Well, first of all, thank you for the compliment. Like about how like everything seemed to make so much sense to you because while I was going through all of this, a lot of times I felt like nothing makes sense, like everything I was doing, I would feel like, oh, why am I doing this? And I’m changing and I’m like living here and I’m living somewhere else. Like I constantly felt like there was something wrong with me that I can’t seem to follow one path or I can’t seem to live in just one place. But yeah, now that when I think about it, I think everything do kind of make sense. The fact that I’ve moved around a lot, the fact that I’ve done a lot of different things because now that I’m doing my own thing, I can say, Oh yeah, I’ve done this at this point in time when I was doing PR in Taiwan and I kind of understand a little bit of that. Or like when I have to do a little bit of design, Oh my, Oh, I’ve done something like this when I was working for a small jewelry designer and like I learned how she designed and how she negotiated with her factories and then like if I need to do pricing, I’m like, oh, I used to be a merchandiser at some point too. Like I know what it means to like look at pricing and costs and like all these things kind of make sense. But while I was going through the process, obviously did not feel like I was. I guess because the society wants us to fit into one mold. Like oh you’re an engineer so you’re an engineer your whole life or you’re a photographer for your whole life. But I was never liked that and I always felt like there was something wrong with me or like I never was able to stay in one city for that long. And I almost felt like, oh, most people would just live in one city all their life. But now kind of creating something on my own. Like I’m able to draw experiences from ones that it seemed to make a lot more sense and I mean, I guess that’s what’s interesting about life. I guess a lot of times you don’t know what’s going on until  years later you’re like, oh, that’s, that’s why that happened, and then you know that’s why I did it then. It didn’t make sense then, but I feel like it kind of makes sense now.

Karthika: Yeah. Life is always a sum of all our experiences. You’re absolutely right with that. When we’re going through it, we, we feel like, what the heck, why is this happening? What learning could this possibly bring? But, you know, hindsight, you realize that I did learn something good or bad, whatever it is. I did learn something. So, now with the whole Maggie Wu studio and the message that you are promoting of celebrating women, celebrating who we are. We don’t have to have an occasion. We don’t have to have something important in our lives to celebrate. We can just celebrate everyday for the fact that we are who we are. That message is here in the states that message is loud and is very clear and a lot of people are talking about it. Do you find that in Asia and where you are getting as much sort of a visibility as it is here in the states or what? What are you experiencing because you’ve essentially changed your entire brand to give this message and you don’t live here in the states, you live in Asia. So how has that been like?

Maggie: Yeah, it’s been very interesting. I still follow what’s going on in the US and I definitely see that happening a lot especially with women’s rights and having more diversity in representation anywhere. I see that in the US and being in Asia, it’s been interesting in that, first of all, if you’re in Asia you don’t really think about, oh, I need to be represented more in TV. Like all you see are like Asian people most of the time, like it’s not like Hollywood where you only see white people, but it was also shocking for me when I came back here because I always felt like, oh, maybe Asians don’t appreciate who they are because they feel like they’re minority and they’re surrounded by, you know, their version of success is in America unfortunately is still Caucasians, represented in most places. And I felt like, well maybe they didn’t appreciate themselves because that’s all they saw. Whereas in Asia you would think because they see a lot of representation of themselves in movies and music and whatever, you would think they would appreciate their own history and culture more. But that’s even less the case. Which was really sad for me when I came here. I actually recently wrote a blog post on my website because that’s something I’ve felt within the past two years just being here that because within the last century or so with what’s happened with the world, a lot of countries that were left behind. And then I feel like they feel that in order for them to grow economically and to advance was to follow whatever the West has done. And this created this weird psychology of thinking everything from the West is better, everything Westernized is better. And then they kind of started to throw away or push away their own culture and tradition, not because they, you know, hated it or anything, but they want so badly to move forward to advance that they kind of like forget about it or throw it away. Especially in a city like Hong Kong, until very recently they would just tear down buildings without thinking about restoring them for heritage and cultural reasons. They would tear it down, build up tall skyscrapers. I think just very recently they’re starting to realize, well, there’s nothing left here that they need to start preserving things. Even when I  go back to Taiwan, a lot of things I find very interesting that are cultural related like the art of drinking tea and even like antique stuff. Young people there, they don’t really care about it. And when I was taking like tea ceremony classes, my friends will let go, like why are you such an old lady because that’s something that maybe old people were interested in only. I mean to me that was very sad because this is the only place that we have these things and then if nobody appreciates it anymore, they’re all going to be gone. I’m pretty soon everybody’s going to look like the same city with tall glass skyscrapers. There’s not going to be anything interesting left. I mean I do see that like people are starting to appreciate their own culture and trying to preserve it. And that’s also something that I hope I can do with my brand. And like, you know, the whole idea of celebrating not just celebrating who you are, where you’re from or your own culture and your own heritage. And you know, you don’t have to do it the way other people have done it. Like for example, traditionally like Chinese weddings, people wear red.

Maggie: Like you can do that, you can wear a red dress. Or you can incorporate it in some new modern way. However way you like that is meaningful to you. It doesn’t have to look like every other red dress with gold dragons on it if that’s not your style. But you can incorporate that somehow if that’s something special and meaningful to you. So that’s also part of the message that I hope I can bring to the world. Culture and heritage, they can be beautiful and modern if you do it in your own way, you don’t have to be, feel like, oh I have to do this because that’s what everybody does.

Karthika: Yeah. it’s interesting. You bring up the need to catch up with the West and I feel like when I go back home to India I see a lot of that happening too. I’m from Bombay and Bombay is just as cosmopolitan as Hong Kong, but you know, there aren’t too many cultures and rituals and customs that are front and center. I mean talking about weddings in Indian weddings in India, we suddenly seem to have cake cutting and first dances, which none of that is traditionally Indian. So it, initially it felt a little weird because this is not something that we do. I mean we have other ways where, you know, the father gives away the bride in a sort of a prayer and a ceremonial thing that’s done in the wedding. There’s no walking down the aisle concept, but it just felt a little weird. It felt like we were trying to mesh all these things because that’s the way the West does it with sort of losing a little bit of what those things mean to us. So I certainly understand your point of view of people sort of like tearing down buildings and not really kind of thinking about the heritage or anything of that sort.

Maggie:  Yeah. Or how they look, which I think is also very sad. Cosmetic surgery is pretty common here and not that I’m against it, but like a lot of people and they get like double eyelids and they make their nose super tall. And why is that? Because how Caucasians look like they have wide, big eyes and tall noses. So even when I was doing my look book for one of my photo shoots, it was also hard for me to find a Chinese girl that had classically Chinese Asian features, which I think it’s beautiful. But you know, when I was looking for models, like all the popular models had big eyes and tall noses and all thing. I mean that’s beautiful in their own way, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. And it was also sad for me that I was in Asia and I couldn’t find someone that was classically Asian looking as a model.

Karthika: I don’t want to use the word authentic, but for lack of a better word, I will showcasing culture in an authentic way. But yet in a modern way, I mean I’ve seen your designs and there is a distinct sort of cultural influence in Asian cultural influence, but it looks very modern and like you said, you don’t have to have a red dress with dragons on it. You can have some other sort of visual, but still kind of retain your heritage and you do a lot of that. You use Chinese models, your designs speak of your ethnicity, but still it speaks of that modern sort of a concept that you are trying to promote. So I think you’re there Maggie, and I think we need people like you to show that it’s alright. It’s alright to be proud of who you are. It’s alright to acknowledge and accept that, but also danced your own tune, you know, you don’t have to fit this mold just because you’re Chinese or just because you’re Indian, but don’t completely change if that’s not who you are.

Maggie: I mean obviously it’s easier said than done like a lot of times, especially being here, I do feel like maybe I shouldn’t be so outspoken. You know, sometimes when I see people’s reaction and I’m like, oh my God, did I say something wrong?

Karthika: Haha.

Maggie: I feel like the world is more interesting if everyone’s a little different and doing their own thing instead of everyone trying to be exactly what everybody else is.

Karthika: Yeah. Oh, I completely agree. I mean I love that reference of a mosaic mosaic versus a melting pot because in a mosaic we all fit together, you know, and it’s different colors. No two colors are right next to each other, but yet the outcome is so beautiful. So I really love that reference. I think want to use it now.

Maggie: My social studies teacher in maybe 10th grade, he will always say that when I was in Canada and I was like, what are you talking about? But it really hit me recently, especially with all that that’s happening in the US right now. I’m like, oh my God. Like I totally see. I mean probably finally after all these years, I’m like, I understand what he would say. And he was, you always said it really proudly about Canada and a lot of times even for me until very recently you would think Canada is like the less cool sibling of the US. But now I’m like, Oh my God, I’m so glad I grew up there because I never felt like I had to be ashamed of my heritage or background or I had to hide that or put that away in order for me to become quote unquote Canadian or American because I think that’s contradictory. You know, you can be. That’s why their terms such as Asian American, Asian Canadian, you can be both and it shouldn’t be like one or the other.

Karthika: Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. Now I asked this to a lot of my guests. Perhaps I have to change the question a little bit for you, but I always want to know, especially for people who live away from where they are from, I want to know do you have any sort of nostalgic memories of home or something that, you know, when you kind of feel homesick, you find your mind sort of gravitating towards? Perhaps for you, now that you’re already home, maybe it’s like from all the places that you’ve been. Has any place really imprinted itself in your brain and do you have any memories that you sort of find yourself gravitating towards when you feel a little homesick?

Maggie: Definitely with food? When I’m homesick. That’s why I love tea cause I, I drink tea growing up I would like my grandparents would always drink, it’s just kind of like water to us. We can, we even think about it and I’ve been drinking all my life. Even when I went off to college I would bring like tea leaves with me so that will always have like fresh tea after a meal because there’s matter what I ate, if it’s like something super greasy or super Western and like if I can have my tea after a meal, I feel like my stomach feels a bit more settled and more at home. I definitely miss my food from Taiwan the most. I mean obviously I’m biased. I think it’s the best and you know, especially before I was living in the dorms, I didn’t have a kitchen, I can’t cook myself. And I think tea for me is what I think of when I think of home and it’s something that I can bring with me anywhere. It doesn’t matter where I travel as long as I have a cup and hot water, I can make it and I can feel well rested and I’m kind of settled in no matter where I am, if I have my cup of tea.

Karthika: Yeah, it transports you back to perhaps the time, you know, when you were with your family, with your grandparents, with that memory. Right. And maybe it is an Asian thing because I am a tea addict as well. There’s nothing like having that cup of Chai with the milk and I know a little bit of the sugar and Indian spices, but it just instantly transports me back to my childhood and back to being home and sharing that tea with my family, so I’m totally there with you. I think tea is sort of a universal appeal and maybe perhaps for us Asians.

Maggie: It’s so funny because in the US, people drink coffee and if they meet up with friends they, they’re like, Oh let’s grab a cup of coffee. But I mean I only drink coffee in the morning. I don’t like one cup when I go to work, but I try not to drink it throughout the day and if I’m meeting up with her friend, usually I’m like, oh, let’s get tea. And then sometimes like they look at me weird like, Huh?, I think they think of British tea or whatever. You think it’s like a fancy thing, but I’m like, oh, it’s just the same as coffee. It’s just I don’t want to drink coffee, you know,

Karthika: I totally get that. This has been an amazing conversation. Thank you very much. And perhaps we can kind of wrap this up and kind of tie all of this together and I wouldn’t ask you, so what lies ahead for you back? Are you living your dream now that you’re back home or you have other plans if you’re willing to share that with us?

Maggie: I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know how long we’ll stay in Hong Kong. I think for the longest time in my life I always, because I was moving around so much and I just assumed that one day you will have to settle down and I thought that was when I got married, but you know I was living in New York and when I got married I thought because my husband’s family is from LA and in my head I was like getting ready to move back to LA, you know, I even got my driver’s license because I knew I have to drive there to like settle down. But then it turned out it was unexpected. We were sent to Singapore and now we’re Hong Kong and I honestly, I feel like this is more what I’m supposed to do, instead of settling down in.

Karthika: Right. I love it.

Maggie: I mean probably eventually we’ll do that, but I kind of am really enjoying this moving around experiencing different places, different cultures. Even in Asia, I mean I’ve never lived in Hong Kong before and before and I never lived in Singapore and it was a completely eye opening experience for me. Even though it’s in Asia, it’s so different from anything that I’ve known because I grew up in Taiwan. It’s East Asia and East Asia. They tend to be kind of just care about East Asia. I don’t really think too much about Southeast Asia and Singapore was in Southeast Asia and then I kind of opened my eyes to another part of Asia that I thought I always knew, but I actually didn’t, so that was very interesting that I think I would love to continue to do that because it keeps enriching my life and what I see and in a way it allows me to do many different interesting things with my business compared to if I just stayed constantly in one place. So yeah, I don’t really know where I’ll be and we’ll see.

Karthika: I love it, Maggie. I love that attitude of let’s see where life takes us and every experience that we sort of encounter it. It helps us grow, it helps us become more understanding, more acceptable and more open to opportunities. I mean, look where you’ve taken your business from what I knew a few in New York to now, it’s so much more than just bridal accessories. It’s almost like a way of life. It’s like you can be who you are and you know, here are all these beautiful ways you can celebrate yourself. I mean, I think having these experiences of getting into Singapore, seeing life in Singapore, seeing life in Hong Kong, even though you are an Asian, but looking at life in Asia from a different lens just opens you up to so many opportunities and I hope that’s the message we can share with our listeners to be open to any sort of new experiences, whether that’s down the street to have Middle Eastern food or that’s halfway across the world to stay in Singapore for six months. I think being open to the possibilities of what that can bring to your life and your business or you know, wherever you are. I wish you the best Maggie and I cannot wait to kind of follow your journey. I know you’re going to do amazing things and thank you so much for being on the show.

Maggie: I’m so excited about the show. When you reached out to me, I was like, oh my God. Like these are all things I’ve been thinking about and I would love to hear other people’s stories about this too is just, you know, it’s very exciting times. It’s sometimes it can be scary because there’s a lot of change, but I think, you know, like you said, if people are open to change, they can see there’s a lot more things to be excited about them to be afraid of.

Karthika: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Maggie.