Meet Dali Ma

We were lucky to catch up with Dali Ma recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dali, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

My confidence developed less like a sudden revelation and more like a long philosophical experiment. At Oxford, I studied physics and philosophy, and both taught me something quietly transformative: uncertainty isn’t a threat — it’s the natural state of the world. Once you accept that, you stop waiting to feel ‘ready.’

Confidence, for me, grew from engaging with uncertainty rather than fleeing from it. In physics, you learn that even the most elegant theories are approximations; in life, your identity is an ongoing approximation too. Each time I made a difficult creative decision, or defended an idea that felt ahead of its time, I was essentially running another iteration of that experiment.

Over the years, those iterations became evidence. Evidence that I could trust my instincts; evidence that I could survive being wrong; evidence that growth requires exposure, not protection. My self-esteem didn’t come from believing I was extraordinary — it came from recognizing that I am capable of continuous refinement.

In that sense, confidence is not a state of perfection but a practice of inquiry — a willingness to step forward even when the equation isn’t fully solved.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My work lives at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and culture. I started my journey photographing people on the streets of Europe, then later built a career in fashion, media, and brand strategy in the U.S. What ties all these chapters together is a curiosity about how people express identity — through clothing, through images, through the stories they choose to tell about themselves.

Today I split my energy across a few domains. As co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Purmulti, I’m building a women’s fashion brand rooted in modern Chinese aesthetics — pieces that let professional women move from work to life with confidence and beauty. As the founder of Truly Yours Inc., I help brands grow with data-driven creativity, blending storytelling with AI, marketing science, and cultural intelligence. And through Dali Studio, I continue my work as a photographer, creating visual narratives inspired by the dialogue between East and West.

What excites me most right now is this moment where technology and culture are reshaping how brands are built. AI is transforming creativity; global audiences are redefining aesthetics; and younger generations are demanding authenticity as the price of admission. I love operating in that tension — translating it into products, images, and strategies that feel fresh but grounded.

We also have some exciting things coming up. Purmulti is expanding into new categories and preparing its next major collection, building on the response we received from our Beijing runway experience. On the business side, Truly Yours is working on several cross-border campaigns and preparing an AI-driven workshop series for marketers who want to understand the future of storytelling.

If there’s one thing I’d want readers to know, it’s this: everything I build — whether it’s a photograph, a garment, or a brand strategy — comes from the same place. A belief that beauty, clarity, and intelligence can coexist. And that creativity, when done with intention, can quietly change the way people see themselves.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

When I look back, three qualities shaped my journey more than anything else: curiosity, resilience, and the ability to synthesize — to connect ideas across disciplines.

First, curiosity. It’s the engine of everything I do. Studying physics and philosophy trained me to question assumptions, to peel back layers until I understood the underlying structure of a problem. That same instinct guides my creative and business work today. Without curiosity, you only ever build on what you’ve already seen. With it, you’re constantly discovering new ways to think and create.

Second, resilience — the quiet kind. Not the cinematic, heroic version, but the simple willingness to keep going when things feel unclear. Creative paths are full of ambiguity, whether you’re building a brand, directing a shoot, or starting a company. I’ve learned that resilience isn’t about pushing harder; it’s about recalibrating faster. It’s the ability to adapt without losing your center.

Third, synthesis. This has been the most unique part of my journey. Moving between photography, fashion, strategy, technology, and philosophy taught me to see patterns that others miss. The world rewards specialists, but it’s the synthesizers — the people who can translate between disciplines — who often create the most original ideas.

For anyone early in their journey, my advice is simple:
• Feed your curiosity intentionally. Read outside your field. Ask questions that have no clear answer. Follow your interests even if they don’t seem “practical” at first — they often connect later in surprising ways.
• Build resilience through small experiments. Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Try things, fail quickly, reflect honestly, and keep iterating. Confidence comes from exposure, not avoidance.
• Practice synthesis. When you learn something new, ask yourself: Where else could this apply? What does this remind me of? What pattern does this fit into? Innovation often comes from combining ideas that don’t usually belong in the same room.

If there’s a theme running through all three qualities, it’s this: your journey isn’t a straight line. It’s a constellation. The more points you collect — experiences, skills, questions, failures — the clearer your picture becomes.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

If I knew I only had a decade left, I think I would treat time the way a photographer treats light — not as something to hoard, but as something to shape with intention.

I’d split my life between three things.
First, I’d pour myself into the people I love. I’d want every year to be dense with shared memories — dinners, travel, long conversations, the things we usually postpone because we assume time is infinite.

Second, I’d create relentlessly. Not just for career or ambition, but to leave behind the clearest expression of who I was: the images, the ideas, the stories that feel uniquely mine. I’d want Purmulti, Truly Yours, and my artistic work to reflect something timeless — beauty, intelligence, cultural connection — something that could outlive me.

And finally, I’d simplify. That’s the philosopher in me. A decade is long enough to live fully, but short enough to force precision. I’d choose projects that matter, people who matter, and work that brings meaning rather than noise.

In a strange way, the question isn’t hypothetical. None of us really knows our timeline. The only difference is whether we live reactively or deliberately. If I had ten years, I’d live with clarity. But the truth is, I’m trying to live that way already.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trulyyours.love
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dali.photographer/