VoyageMia: Meet Linda Chiou of IVY Swimwear
IVY Swimwear featured in VoyageMia's Community Highlights: Meet Linda Chiou of IVY Swimwear.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Chiou.
Hi Linda, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
From a young age, I’ve always been very entrepreneurial. By 19 I had started a variety of e-commerce stores in the fashion and beauty category. I was always growing, improving, brainstorming and eager to turn new business ideas into a reality.
By the time I graduated University while working my 9-5 corporate job, I decided to start another online business. This time IVY Swimwear was born. I was always sketching up fashion designs from a young age and was fascinated by this industry. I noticed a gap in the market for swimwear that fit petite bodies at the time and came up with the business idea during one of my trips to Mexico. I didn’t want to give up on being an entrepreneur because I knew that was the only way for me to achieve that freedom to travel and to control my own schedule I yearned so badly for. I achieved my goal of bringing my swimwear brand to Miami Swim Week four years later which was a dream of mine for years. I was also able to quit my corporate job and focus full-time on my own business. I look back and I’m so proud of myself for taking the leap. There is nothing more rewarding than building something from scratch and seeing it come to reality. I’m doing what I’m passionate about each day and it doesn’t even feel like work. I can travel when I want to and I don’t need to ask anyone permission! The freedom of this is priceless.
Today, I attribute a huge factor of our success to social media. Social media is such a hub of creativity and helped connect us to incredible talent across the world. We’ve been published in print, shot by extraordinary photographers and worn by influencers and talent across the world. Social media has allowed us to increase our brand recognition with networking and organic word of mouth even before having a large budget for advertising. We utilized the power of social media to the full force and with the support of this network quickly amassed our following. It was the beginning of how we garnered enough attention to have the privilege of showcasing our collection at Miami Swim Week and bringing IVY Swimwear to the next level in front of more press and media. We’ve met so many talented people in the industry through the launch of our brand and we wouldn’t be where we are today without their support.
Read the interview here!
