Kat Kuan

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Creative Process of Kevin Kwan, Author of Crazy Rich Asians

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Last month, Kevin Kwan, the author of the book-turned-movie Crazy Rich Asians, came to Palo Alto and of course I had to go! Here’s my recap of the event and what Kevin shared about his creative process.

First off, the anticipation for the event was high! The event was sold out. Seating was first-come first-serve so there was already a line outside the door when we arrived early. I didn’t mind the wait though – I was eating my poke bowl dinner that I got from across the street the Town & Country Village.

kevin kwan event line 2

I was excited! Vince… well, he was not-so-excited to be doing this on a Friday night, haha.

kat vince kevin kwanA SURPRISE

Finally the event began! And to our surprise, Tan Kheng Hua (who plays Kerry Chu, the mother of Rachel Chu in the movie) also came! She would be interviewing Kevin Kwan on stage. She was so bomb in the movie, so it was exciting to see her!

kevin kwan author talk books incWRITING THE BOOK

So apparently the Crazy Rich Asians book was written sporadically over 3 years. Kevin was inspired to write the book in 2009 when his dad was dying. It was actually intended to be a serious book to reflect the sad time of his life that he was going through, but instead it turned out to be an over-the-top comedy about crazy rich asian people.

At the time, Kevin was a creative consultant full-time, so he wrote the book in his free time. He said he would write it in airports when he was waiting for his flights and when a lot of his flights were getting delayed. He would just take out his laptop and start writing. When he was traveling for work, he would write in his hotel room and order room service late at night. Writing became a way for him to unwind at the end of the night.

THE ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE

He kept this project a secret and didn’t tell anyone that he was writing the book until the last third of the book. In fact, the book was going to be called “Empire Days.”  Jaw drop. We were all shocked at that name! After telling people about the book, he would casually refer to it as the book about crazy rich asians, and then he thought, hmm why don’t I just call it “Crazy Rich Asians”? And so the name stuck!

GETTING DISCOVERED

When he sent the book to literary agents to try to get published, he got rejected a lot. At one place, the agent told the junior agent to reject Kevin’s manuscript and didn’t even read it. (They don’t have time to read all the proposals they get.) By chance, the title “Crazy Rich Asians” caught the eye of the junior agent, and she started reading it. By the end of the first chapter, she knew she wanted to sign up Kevin, and so that’s how he got published.

THREE BOOKS

kevin kwan books

Kevin says that he knew the whole story he wanted to tell. It was all in his head – all 3 books worth. He knew that consumers wouldn’t really want to read such a thick novel, so he broke it up into 3 separate books: Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems. Wow, I can’t believe he had all that in his mind! But he said the story had been percolating in his mind for the last 20 years.

He grew up in Singapore until age 11, moved to Texas, and eventually moved to NYC as an adult. He said that all these memories (including of his childhood in Singapore) were “crystallized in amber” in his mind. And when he started writing these books, all of it came tumbling out like a waterfall.

He says that it still mystifies him how he wrote 3 books. It just happened one page at a time. When he goes back to read them, he just gets lost in them. He feels a sense of comfort and amazement at what he wrote. He thinks, “who wrote this? Did I really write this?” That’s pretty funny. I guess it’s like an out-of-body experience.

Once he had the book publisher, there were aggressive book deadlines, so he had to finish writing the second and third books within 1 year each. But since he had the whole story in his head, it was just a matter of taking the time to write them down.

TURNING THE BOOK INTO A MOVIE

He says writing is a lonely process and he really enjoys the collaboration process and filming process. He had great respect and trust for Jon Chu, the director of the Crazy Rich Asians movie, and didn’t want to mess with Jon’s creative process.

For example, when Jon cast Awkwafina as Peik Lin (the college friend of the lead Rachel Chu), Kevin was surprised. As the creator of the character, Kevin had a different idea in mind for Peik Lin, but once he saw Awkwafina in action, he loved the casting choice.

Tan also praised Jon Chu as a director, from the perspective of being an actress in the movie. She says Jon would give very clear and concise directions for scenes. For example, if you saw the pivotal Mahjong scene in the movie, it’s not just about a mother protecting her daughter. She said it’s about 2 mothers experiencing the same powerful love for their children but express it in very different ways. It’s not just “you vs. me” in terms of the 2 mothers. It’s that you and I are actually the same.

Wow that is so deep. Those things didn’t occur to me when I was watching the movie, but I felt the depth and complexity of emotion – which is probably why I teared up when watching it.

ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

When asked about giving advice for young people, Kevin made a remark that a lot of young people are in such a hurry to be a superstar, but there are no shortcuts. His advice is, “Do what you love and keep doing that.”

When asked what character in the book/movie Kevin most identifies with, he responds with Alistair (the guy who works in the film industry in the movie). Kevin explains that Alistair was the cousin that no one really understood. And that’s how he felt in his own life. No one in his family really knew what he was doing. The story would change depending on which relative you talked to. They didn’t understand what a creative consultant was. Kevin was the creative guy in the family that no one respected.

But he didn’t let that stop him. Even before the books, Kevin had a very successful career working for magazines and even starting his own creative studio with high-profile clients like TED.com and The New York Times. It’s pretty inspiring what he’s done in his life and how creative he is in other ways besides writing.

Kevin’s advice is go to the stories that inspire you. He never wants to be pigeonholed as the guy who writes about Asians, so I’m sure he will keep entertaining and delighting the world with what he produces.

He also is grateful for his move to America, and for the experience growing up in different cultures, though it was hard to adjust at first. Because he says, “A wider world is always a better thing.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Kevin’s working on a TV series now, a one-hr Amazon drama series, about the most powerful ruthless family in Hong Kong. Sounds like it will be juicy!

And he shared that they’re hoping the movie sequel to Crazy Rich Asians will come out in 2020! Wheeeee!!!

Thanks to Books Inc, Kevin Kwan, Tan Kheng Hua, and everyone who made this event possible. It was awesome!

P.S. We also made it into Kevin Kwan’s Instagram post of the event! He took a picture of the whole audience when he got on stage, and we are the tiny dots of people in the corner. 😀

Grow Your Instagram Following

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This is intended to be tips for people and small businesses who want to grow their Instagram account.

I know number of followers are a superficial metric, and there’s all sorts of biases like fake followers and people who just temporarily follow and unfollow you later. And I also know that there are many more people with a ton more followers.

Regardless, to build a solid following on Instagram, you have to be able to show up consistently, create quality content, engage authentically – all of which doesn’t just happen “on accident.”

In any case, it’s been about a year of intentionally working on growing my Instagram account @kat.kuan to develop my brand and presence online. I even booked a session with a social media consultant to get feedback and advice on my profile. So these are 5 takeaways I wanted to share with you. First off, I want to start with why this matters.

WHY INSTAGRAM IS IMPORTANT

Sometimes I think Instagram is the fastest way to reach people. Once I post something, folks can “like” my post WITHIN SECONDS!!! I don’t think people check or respond to their email nearly as fast!

For anyone creating a business or having a job in a creative industry (such as art or cooking or fashion – something where you create something), I think it is vital to have an Instagram account to show your portfolio of work. The economy is rapidly changing and I like to think of an Instagram account as a quick-glance resume of what your work is like.

For example, my friend is a hairstylist and captures all the haircuts and hair coloring she’s done for clients on her Instagram @hairstyle_by_natalie. That way, future clients can also check out her Instagram and see her work on past clients within a quick glance.

For my profession of personal styling, my Instagram showcases outfits I’ve created so that people can decide if they like my aesthetic and want to work with me.

1. POST CONSISTENTLY

Content creation is hard. Some creators swear by posting multiple times a day. I tried that, and it’s a little too much for me. I feel like it floods the audience with too much of me, and it’s hard to come up with so much content.

So settle on something that feels right to you. For me, about 5 days a week (basically 1x per weekday) is a good target to aim for.

Your account will grow with time. Here’s the analytics for my account from the InsTrack app. You can see sometimes it goes up faster than others, and there are dips as well. Also, for the time periods where it grew the fastest, I was spending way too much time on there that I was in a bad state of mind. So growth at all costs is not worth it.

And go easy on yourself if you didn’t reach your target. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions trying to be consistent. I would get really motivated and post multiple times a day, and then get busy in my life, and not post for weeks. So I would be super active, then not active, and then super active, etc.. Now I try to be a more moderate amount of active and try to keep that steady.

Because our schedule can vary widely from day to day, the best way to make sure you have consistent content is to plan it out ahead of time. I’ve tried various tools but now I just use a Google Sheets spreadsheet that I call my “Content Calendar” and keep track of the date I want to post it, the name of the post, what format of content it is (social media post, YouTube video, blog, etc..), and any notes.

2. DON’T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT PERFECTION

Especially when you’re first starting off, I think there’s a desire to make everything look “Instagram worthy” and beautiful and editorial like the mega influencers, but sometimes it’s just better to get it out there and do it consistently. Then you can work on slowly raising the bar for the quality of content – better photography, better graphics, better photo editing, etc.. Just don’t try to aim for all those things at once in the beginning.

It took a while to develop the look-and-feel of my content. I really like clear and concise images. Clarity is super important, and I use Canva for any graphics that involve text. I wrote a tutorial for using Canva earlier, which can be found here.

Let your style and subject matter content naturally evolve over time.

For example, back in September 2017 (over a year ago), I posted random things – quotes, food, personal pictures, drawings, stuff about my children’s book.

Then I started to post more pictures of myself and book stuff – some lifestyle / food stuff sprinkled in here and there. Posting pictures of yourself (while it feels weird and self-centered in the beginning), it’s important because it helps people see and recognize you.

In the summer of 2018, I moved more boldly into posting fashion photos for my personal styling business and developing an aesthetic with the bold text, and using that consistently.

And these are my most recent posts – fall of 2018. It’s includes photos of me, fashion (photos taken by photographer friends), and a consistent font style.

3. SHOW THE PROCESS

Instagram is great for telling a story with visuals. A great image tells a story without any words, without even reading the caption. And over time, the all the images you post will tell another story – a broader story about yourself or your business.

To keep it interesting, I think it’s important to show how you evolve and show timely events and show a growing / transformation process. So if you’re working on creating a product that takes a long time, show the process.

That provides values to your followers and allows them to “follow” your journey.

Example: This is how I documented the journey of writing my children’s book Use Your Voice.

kat kuan learn to illustratecreate a business kat kuan kat kuan use your voice book announcement kat kuan first store for use your voice book kat kuan instagram local newspaper

Sharing your story is SO important because it differentiates you from the other people/businesses out there. If you have a clothing line, it can be hard to differentiate from the many other clothing brands on Instagram. Glam shots with beautiful people modeling the clothes can only go far. BUT sharing how you designed / manufactured / and tested out the items can make people more invested in your business and want to be a part of your journey too.

4. BE AUTHENTIC, USE INSTAGRAM STORIES

People come on Instagram to be inspired and to connect as well – to relate to others. I know that the advice of “being authentic” is overused and vague. My tangible tip for that is to use Instagram stories.

This is where you can record short video clips or post images and use their creation tools to add text / emojis on top. The stories only last 24 hours. The stories content DOES NOT need to look perfect. In fact, the more rough-around-the-edges, the more real it feels.

 

On another topic of authenticity, create genuine connections with people by writing thoughtful comments on their posts and responding to comments on your posts. I think this is an area of improvement for me, sometimes I get carried away on the content part, that it’s easy to forget that the whole point of this platform is to bring people together. So connect and grow your community by encouraging others and cheering them on too!

5. HAVE BOUNDARIES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

You could get addicted to social media and start scrolling / liking / commenting on stuff all day long, but that is incredible draining and I start to hate Instagram after a day like that.

The reason I stick to weekdays is because social media can be a sinkhole of your time. And too much social media can be unhealthy for mental health because you’re seeing all these other things and can feel FOMO (fear of missing out) or feel like you’re comparing yourself to others, or sometimes people get negative comments, etc.. So I think having limits with social media is good for having balance in life and also having time to focus on just living life, being present, and not worrying about having to capture it for the ‘gram.

To check out my profile, visit @kat.kuan.

kat kuan instagram

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Why Life is like Leaning In For a First Kiss

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THE FIRST KISS

In the movie Hitch, Will Smith plays a dating coach named Hitch, who teaches guys how to win over the woman of their dreams. It’s a fun romantic comedy, and there’s a scene where Hitch is teaching Albert about the art of the first kiss. Hilarious clip here.

They talk about the 90-10 rule, where Hitch says, “The secret to a kiss is to go 90% of the way, and then hold… Hold for as long as it takes, for her to come the other 10.”

Hitch explains that most guys make the mistake of going all in, at 100%, while his technique makes the girl work for it. With his move, the guy should be so irresistible that the girl leans in at least 10% for the first kiss.

LIFE LESSON

I think of this scene as an analogy for life, except we are the ones receiving the kiss, and we have to go the 10%.

I think about this a lot because I feel like life is giving me all these signs. First of all I have to be observant about them – or be quiet / reflective enough to realize these signs. The signs can include: go talk to this person, or go to this event, or write / create a video about this topic. There’s all these things that I get hinted about. And I write them down, but sometimes I don’t have time to get to them. Or maybe I get too intimidated and don’t want to follow up on them. But then we don’t get the results we’re hoping for.

ENTREPRENEUR

I think the mistaken belief I had as a new author and new entrepreneur was that good things would just come to me automatically – at 100%. I believed that they would just land in my lap.

What I’ve realized over the last year is that we must take that 10% step to meet life halfway – or not even halfway. Life already brings good things into our life, but we still need to take initiative to grasp them and make them ours.

For example, life will plant a seed in my mind about a certain event to go to. It may be through the form of an email in my inbox about the event, or it may come up when talking to someone. Then my curiosity is piqued. Then it’s me to register for the event on time, and then to get dressed and show up to the event. Life / fate / God can’t magically transport me to the event. I have to put in the effort to get myself to the event. What ends up happening is I meet someone new or something positive happens, and I’m glad I went!

SELF-DOUBT HOLDS US BACK

What makes the process difficult is that sometimes we’re tired and we don’t want to take that step towards our goals, or sometimes we’re too overwhelmed by self-doubt. For scarier opportunities that require more visibility, we may feel like we’re not ready for them and we’d rather hide in the shadows than be seen.

So I think sometimes our mind will rationalize all these excuses and try to talk ourselves OUT of going.

COMMITTMENT

And I think that’s where commitment comes in. Being committed enough to our dreams and goals, means that we are willing to do whatever it takes to seize each opportunity as it comes.

Because unlike the first kiss strategy, “the guy” or “the opportunity” won’t always wait forever. Sometimes the opportunity is only available for a limited time window, and then disappears. And all you get left with is regret for not acting soon enough.

I feel the tides are turning. I’m realizing the signs that God has given me, and that it’s really my choice and responsibility to act on them. Some days, He will give me wonderful surprises all the way, but I think He wants me to work for it and to learn what’s really involved in building a successful business from the ground up. There’s a long road ahead and I’m going to need lots of bravery and guts.

I’m going to say it here, so I am publicly accountable: Regardless of my doubts and fears, I commit to leaning in to life. Hurrah!

Thanks for reading. XOXO

kat kuan

Is there a time in your life where an opportunity came up and you had to lean in to accept it?

OTHER ARTICLES

How to Stay Focused & Manage Your Time

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I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a procrastinator. I’m also super ambitious and have tons of things on my to do list. But it’s hard to gather the energy to do what I need to get done, especially for the more challenging tasks that I’m not sure how to do yet.

I’ve tried all sorts of routines and things to stay on top of my tasks. These are the tips that worked best for me.

1. SETTING A COUNTDOWN TIMER

I use the countdown timer in Google search on my computer. You can use a physical timer or one on your phone if you prefer. I set it to 30 minutes and then start working on a task – like writing this blogpost!

google countdown timer

That makes me feel like I have a short term deadline to get the task done, instead of feeling like I have all afternoon or an infinite amount of time. Otherwise the task will drag on and fill up the entire space that I allow for it.

If I start to feel antsy and want to do something like get up to get a snack or take a break, I’ll tell myself that I can do it after the 30 minutes are up. Hence it reduces distraction because the timer is running. Seeing the timer jolts me back to focus at the task at hand.

If the task takes longer than 30 minutes, then I can reset the timer, but then I’m conscious that now it’s taking me an hour. And so on, if I need more time. This is helpful rather than letting hours slip by unconsciously. If I reset it a couple times, then I realize I should hurry up because it’s taking longer than it should. Or maybe the task is too big and needs to be split up into parts that can be done in smaller time increments.

2. TRACKING TIME SPENT PER ACTIVITY

At the end of the workday, do you ever think, “Wow, where did the whole day go? I got nothing done!” Well, I’m sure you got something done, but maybe not the right priority item.

In any case, tracking what you did and for how long can bring you awareness of where your time is actually going. I use the Toggl website, which is a free tool. You can start/stop/pause the timer when you change activities. I’m not the best at remembering to always start the timer, but you can go back and add entries if needed.

toggl time tracker

I wish I could be better at tracking everything because Toggl has this cool aggregate report where they show you a breakdown of what you spent your time on for the week. As you can see, I got lazier with tracking as the week went on. It’s hard to remember to track things when I’m driving around and not sitting at my computer. In the column on the right, it also shows what you spent the most time on.

toggl dashboard

Anyhow, Toggl has a bunch more features like tracking multiple projects, tracking for a whole team, track billable hours worked for a client, etc…  There’s so many features, I haven’t dug into them much yet. I use the basic free plan. I don’t know if Toggl has a countdown timer, so I use it in conjunction with Google’s countdown timer.

3. PLAN AHEAD OF TIME

In the SELF journal I use, there are 30 minute time slots to schedule each day from 6am – 9pm. The 30 minute slots are really important than just a big old blank space for the whole day. I find the 30 minute time slots force me to be very specific and account for what I will do throughout the day, instead of hand waving approximately how I’ll spend my time.

self journal day planner

Hence I started planning my days the night before, trying to block out time for eating, gym, cooking, meetings, content creation, even accounting for driving time to get to places.

I definitely don’t follow the plan exactly, but sometimes I try to pencil in how long actual tasks took so that I can learn how much time to allocate for them next time.

One thing I learned is that my morning rarely goes as planned in the journal. -_- And that sleeping past my alarm makes me go off schedule as well. Ah well, tomorrow’s another chance to stick to the schedule!

CONCLUSION

Trial/error with these different techniques is the only way to figure out if they work for us or not. It often requires repeated attempts at the same technique to get it to work.

I’m still grappling with how to manage my time. Time is our greatest and most precious resource. So I hope that by all this planning, tracking, observing, and reflecting, I can get a more realistic view of how I spend my time and be more intentional about how I use it.

Alright, well checking the clock, I’m 10 minutes overtime already, so it’s time to wrap this baby up and go take a break! 😛

toggl timer

What techniques do you use for managing your time? Would love to hear what works for you!

 

September Favorites

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These are my favorites for the month of September 2018!

1. Pur Water filter – 18 cup capacity.

2. Crest White strips

3. Everlane Cotton Box-Cut Pocket Tee – Muted Pink. I got size XXS.

4. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. I listened to the audiobook version.

5. KKW beauty

Nude Creme Lipstick – Nude 5

Nude Lip Liner – Nude 2

I also mentioned the EM cosmetics brand Rose Nude Infinite Lip Cloud.

6. Morning motivation YouTube videos

Just do a youtube search on “morning motivation.” Example: Live Your Dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Keep an eye out for my blogpost soon about the author talk with Kevin Kwan from the book Crazy Rich Asians.

And register to vote if you haven’t already!!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I enjoy these items regardless and want to share them with you!

Feeling Guilty for Having the Opportunity to Chase My Dreams

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This is a hard post for me to write. But a part of me likes being challenged to be honest with myself and to the world, so here’s my best attempt at finding words to express myself.

If you’re new to my blog, I left my job to start a business (see Reflection on Leaving Google).

One of the hardest things is to figure out who I am and what I want in life. And for me, that can also trigger feelings of guilt.

If a friend told me they were feeling guilty for having the chance to leave their job and have time to figure out what they want in life, I would encourage them not to feel guilty. So on the obvious level, I shouldn’t feel guilty. But my subconscious mind can still hold onto those feelings.

I wanted to write this article because I don’t think this topic of guilt is acknowledged much in the media / literature on entrepreneurship.

SEEING EVERYONE ELSE OVERWORKED AND STRESSED

Being around other people in Silicon Valley and witnessing their overbooked, overstressed, and overworked lives – trapped in demanding jobs because of all their bills / debt, made me feel guilty that I was free from that (at least temporarily). I mean, I have my own stresses and problems, but I would say our struggles are different.

Anyways, it made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough and wasting time “enjoying” life, when others were working their a$$es off. It made me scared that I’d have later regrets for enjoying my life in this moment, and wishing I had worked harder and self-sacrificed now. For some reason, I also felt like I must partake in their suffering, otherwise I would be falling behind in life. Weird, I know.

I knew that comparing myself to other people’s lives wasn’t a good idea. I knew that enjoying life in the present is all we can do. But the guilt still lingered.

GUILTY THOUGHTS

A lot of my guilt was around the thought, “Why do I get this opportunity (and this time in my life) to chase my dreams? And why do others not?” It would make me shrink back because I couldn’t fully accept this opportunity or think I deserved this chance.

The best way I was able to overcome this thought is through this poem by Marianne Williamson called “Our Deepest Fear.” This is my favorite poem, so I highly recommend that you read it. I printed it out on paper (archaic, I know) and put it by my bedside so I could read it and absorb the words.

In the poem, she actually says “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Which is very similar to the questions that were circling in my head.

Her response in the poem is, “Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.”

Well damn. I guess that’s the answer.

The journey in dealing with this guilt was a long process and more complex than just reading a single poem, but this poem helped me reach a turning point.

NEW THOUGHTS

I try to see this time in my life as a gift from God – an opportunity to break the bad habits of my old life and create a life on my own terms. I try to see it as I got this opportunity and I’ve got to take a hold of it and run for as long as I have this opportunity.

Here’s another thought that helped me.

It’s this mental image of a big globe. And all these people on the earth, who are standing on different parts of the globe. (I should really sketch this out at some point.) And they’re each given a different path for their life that extends outwards from the globe in different directions. Yet these people don’t realize that everyone’s path is different and going in their own direction – the beautiful uniqueness of each person. Instead, they try to look at each other, they get competitive, and try to travel someone else’s path and follow that person’s steps – neglecting their own path that God had laid out especially for them. So I think the lesson is to follow our own path, and not get distracted by the paths other people are on. We all encounter pain and suffering along the way, but in different ways. And it’s not productive to take on someone else’s pain that was meant for them to learn from.

The guilt has waned over time as I’ve read more, talked to more people, and reflected more. It doesn’t bother me as much, but that was a mental mountain to climb. Just like I’ve been trying to declutter to get rid of things that don’t serve me in my life, I’m trying to let go of the thoughts that don’t serve me. And guilt for sure does not help me at all.

Guilt holds us back from embracing all that we can be. Guilt can clip our wings and ground us, when all our soul really wants to do is spread its wings and fly in all its beautiful glory.

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Nude Nails

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Having clean and polished nails adds to a positive first impression that you present to the world. It shows that you are detail-oriented and take care of yourself – even in the smallest ways.

But keeping your nails looking great (especially if you paint them) is a high maintenance task. And when work and personal life already keeps us so busy, who has time to worry about something as tiny as nails? While it may appear tiny, it can be one way to make space in our schedule to take care of ourselves. And actually we look at our hands many times a day (if you’re sitting at a computer), so having nice nails can boost your self confidence. So how to achieve this?

Well a trip to the nail salon can be one solution. Manicures can get costly though, and also the gel manicures actually weaken my real nails (they start chipping a lot), so I’ve taken a break from those.

Today, I wanted to share a tip that I learned from Kim Kardashian. The nail polish she uses often is this nude colored one from OPI – in the color Samoan Sand. It is pretty neutral, so people can’t really tell if it’s starting to chip a little. Whereas if you were wearing a bold, bright color, you would easily be able to tell if it starts to chip. So in that sense, this nude color nail polish is a little easier to maintain than other colors. And I think it looks pretty classy and will match any outfit!

samoan sand opi

She also files her nails herself too, so I picked up a nail file and started doing that as well! It makes the nail shape look smoother instead of having jagged edges from the nail clipper.

Anyhow, I’m still working on a regular routine for my nails, but this color is really starting to grow on me, so I’ll definitely be using it more often!

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Featured on The Coffeehouse Invite with CHI Creative Agency

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I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been featured on The Coffeehouse Invite, which highlights local businesses and artists.

In the video, I sat down for a coffee with Lailani Africa and I share why I jumped from being a children’s book author to being a personal stylist.

Here’s a short and sweet Q&A I did with her on fashion and business as well.

Follow CHI Creative Agency to hear more about creatives in the Bay Area. Cheers!

Returns for Online Shopping Made Easier

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The returns process for online shopping is such a headache.

EASY TO BUY, HARD TO RETURN

It’s so easy to get carried away when online shopping though. Sometimes I get so excited about a great deal that I forget to check the shipping costs, and much less, the return policy.

Only after I receive an item I don’t like do I look up the return policy and realize how annoying it will be. For example, for Gilt, it costs $9.99 to return something and get your money back, or it can be free to return something but then you get merchandise credit. I don’t want to buy things I don’t need (just to spend my credit), so I opted for paying for the return.

Getting the item mailed is another hassle: print the return label, pack it up, and then drop it off at a FedEx or post office location. Also, when I tried to return a pair of shoes in the original big box (which came with more items), the FedEx person told me I would have to fill the box with extra paper so that the items don’t shift around. Or pay them to fill it for me for $5.99. -_-

It’s such a pain to return these items that we may end up keeping things we don’t like, just to avoid the process. Or we avoid online shopping. Or sometimes I only buy from places where I can return to a physical store, but that’s still troublesome.

AN OPPORTUNITY

In any case, my point is that there’s definitely room for improvement in this process. There’s been so much innovation (like Amazon Prime) with getting fast shipping, but now we need something for fast returns.

HAPPY RETURNS

This isn’t the silver bullet, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out about a service called Happy Returns.

happy returns stanford mall

They only work with limited brands, the ones I recognize are Everlane and Rothy’s, but here’s the process:

You buy something online from a place like Everlane. The nearest store location to me is all the way in SF, and I do not want to drive to SF just to return a shirt. Instead, you can just bring it to a Happy Returns location, several locations in the South Bay – including Stanford Shopping mall and Westfield Valley Fair mall (a lot more accessible and easier to park at).

You go to the Guest Services desk and they’ll scan it and process the return for you. I even forgot my receipt, but they found the transaction. The service was a lot quicker and more pain-free than I expected.

To see if there’s a Happy Returns location near you, you can search here. And these are the supported brands.

happy returns guest services

Anyhow, I hope they open up more Happy Returns locations and that they also have more retail partners that they support!