Sonia Kang, the daughter of an African-American father and a Mexican mother, never thought she would leave her career as a registered nurse in a hospital intensive care unit to become an entrepreneur, creator of a multicultural children’s clothing company.
“Because I am the mother of four multicultural children, and my husband Richard is Korean-American, I thought I would buy them clothes that they would be proud of from their many cultures.”
However, she remembers that she did not find anything in the stores, but since she had learned to sew since the seventh grade in high school, she dedicated herself to making the clothes.
“I started looking for fabrics that represented our cultures around the world, and I turned them into fun everyday clothes like dresses, blouses, pants.”
When people saw her designs on the street and in the parks, she he began to ask her where she had bought them. “I told them that I made them and we started talking about the fabrics, the prints. The conversation was opened and they shared their culture with me”.
That was how interest in her creations awoke, and Sonia took on the task of making to sell and began to sell them online and in the open-air markets of Los Angeles.
“One day my husband told me, what are you doing. ‘I think I’m going to start a business to make clothes,’ I replied. I want it to be something bigger than clothes and convey a message of empowerment and pride in our culture”.
In this way, it makes 12 years born Mixed Up Clothing, a multicultural clothing company focused on highlighting the beauty of the world’s vibrant cultures, with designs exclusively for boys ages newborn to 12 years.
But before launching herself, Sonia had to learn about business. “I went to a small business organization that supports African-American and Latina women; and they helped me write my business plan and get started.”
At first it was just her who looked for the fabrics, sewed, sold and sent the orders, but in three years, things took a turn in their favor.
“When I started to grow, I was able to form a work team here in Los Angeles that helps me make hundreds of pieces and keep growing ”.
And consider that definitely what people like most about their clothes, usually made of cotton, are the vibrant colors and symbols that they may never have seen before in stores.
“I have incorporated not only elements of the Latino, Mexican and Afro culture but also of the Asian culture because of my Korean-American husband.”
Did you imagine one day being a businesswoman?
“Never. I was born in Puerto Rico. My father and mother were both United States military, Three years later we moved to Hawaii, and when they separated, we came to live in Pacoima, where I grew up”.
And he keeps very beautiful memories of his grandparents’ small farm with chickens and hens, and how they cooked outside the house, with music in the background.
Therefore, she says that she grew up in an environment where she was taught that it didn’t matter where you came from if you worked hard, and you should be proud to be Mexican and Afro-American.
“I want to share that with your children because it wasn’t always easy.”
Sonia had to leave her job as a registered nurse to focus on her multicultural clothing company, but feels that many of the things she learned in nursing school apply to her business.
“I was one of the first to manufacture cloth masks during the pandemic. In that way, I felt like I was helping and that I was still part of that family. And it was very nice to see the fabrics of the different cultures in the masks.”
But the infirmary also taught her to think fast and prioritize what needs to be done first, second and third. “That is something that she has applied as a business owner, and also nursing is about delegation, what can you do, and what can someone else do. When you run a business, you have to decide what is more important, what you have to do and what others can do”.
In short, says that as a multicultural clothing entrepreneur she is connected to nursing in some way.
On April 1, she launched her clothing line at Macy’s, after graduating from a program organized by the same department store chain, dedicated to minority women who own high-potential businesses in order to give them tools to help them succeed in the clothing industry.
Sonia, mother of 4 children, two adults and two minors, does not hide feeling happy with the place where she has arrived.
“ A part of me wants to be seen in the world as a designer. You need to know that there are African-American and Latina women in these positions”.
At the same time, she is very clear that she has a lot of work to do and she wants to reach more famous department stores with her creations.
“I want more people to know us and it is a challenge because those who make the decisions are not like me; and they don’t necessarily understand that children need to see representations of us”.
So many times she takes no for an answer, which forces her to to work even harder to make it understood that people are buying these clothes because they want to see themselves.
“I want people to see, she was able to achieve it and she is a mother, she has four children, she left a secure job, and she did it”.
To know For more from Sonia Kang, visit the Mixed up Clothing page.