Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Grace Nguyen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Grace, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I’d say my resilience comes partly my inherent personality, and partly learned from seeing my immigrant parents work relentlessly. Born a Capricorn, I’ve always been a work horse – very stubborn about making sure I accomplish what I put my mind to, naturally passionate about my work and making sure it aligns with finding my purpose. Also, being a 1.5 generation immigrant meant that I came to the US at age 8, I observed how hard my parents had to work. My mom worked 12 hour days at restaurants, and my dad worked at liquor stores as well as church while attending school for his masters degree. Not only was I exposed to their hard work, but also since my parents did not speak fluent English, I contributed to the family by learning English quickly and translating for my family to assimilate into the American life. They say, whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
LOUPN is all about encouraging confidence and creating a safe space to be yourself. When we launched LOUPN nearly 3 years ago, we focused on men’s jewelry, especially highlighting minority men (Asian, Black, and Latin communities), since there was such a lack of jewelry and avenue for men to express themselves through jewelry, as well as a lack of representation for our audience. However, as we grew and met more and more clients, it became apparent that women also became attracted to our brand, and we expanded our pieces to include both smaller and larger sizes to serve our audience.
Our new “Coming Home” collection is inspired by my journey to finding my way home, and a sense of belonging through LOUPN. Although many people still ask, can only men wear this? Do you have to be Korean to wear this? The answer is always, anyone can wear anything you want! We don’t like limiting ourselves to a box and through this collection, we’re actively evolving the brand to be even more inclusive. We’d love for everyone to join in our community of individuals who wishes to think positively, and in pursuit of something greater than ourselves.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Adaptability, mindset of improvement, and service have been the most impactful in my journey of entrepreneurship.
I think being adaptable is key to reaching success in anything you do. As Bruce Lee said, “Be water, my friend. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water.” If you can’t adapt to situations and find solutions to work through challenges, you’ll eventually be a dinosaur.
Mindset of improvement rather than perfection has given me freedom to explore, make mistakes, and grow. It also gives me hope since taking learnings from past mistakes as learning opportunities means I’m improving and evolving everyday.
Service means making sure you’re catering to clients needs, and being mindful to provide the best products & interactions to help solve the client’s challenge.
Overall, entrepreneurship is pretty rough. It’s a lot of hard work and practicing resilience, but I keep going believing that one day I’ll make it!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
We’re always looking for ways to partner and collaborate! We have created collections in collaboration with our stylist, catalyst and muse, Benjamin Holtrop, and content creator Johnny Thai in the past. Our new “Coming Home” collection includes a collab piece with MAUM who has created a platform for us to build a positive community through their monthly popup market, Maum Market as well as their store Maum Korean Goods. Next, we hope to collaborate with a fashion brand to create another meaningful collection. Whoever we collaborate with, the most important thing is building relationships and aligning on our values of helping people build confidence, and exuding positive energy. Of course, aesthetically, we love a good clean luxurious look.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://loupn.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loupn_collection/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loupn.collection
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/loupn
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDrKvVqAwvkRDU8yk2gNVTA
Image Credits
Personal photo by Sohyun Lee. Campaign photos by Raul Romo. Art directed and styled by Benjamin Holtrop. MUH by Nicole Chew. Styling assisted by Emily Johnson.
