Balancing two careers: How to navigate and set a direction
One of the most memorable interviews me was by Ms. Ishikawa who is a contributor for Asenavi (ASEAN Work Navi) which is a Japanese website catered for those in 20s looking for a career in the ASEAN region.
This was the first interview that focused more on the duality of my career rather than one side of it being Etrican or Interpreting. Ms. Ishikawa’s questions were different from my usual interviews and so the session was truly enlightening and the end article which was published became one of the most interesting read (even for myself)!
You can find the Japanese article here (https://asenavi.com/archives/19860) but using my skills as an interpreter I am also sharing the excerpts of the interview in English below.
“The key to success is to become a pioneer."
Yumiko Uno, co-founder of Singapore’s ethical fashion brand Etrican
Ms Yumiko Uno received the Expatpreneur Awards 2018 which is an award to honour successful foreign entrepreneurs in Singapore. Since young having a broader horizon, she had launched an ethical fashion brand in Singapore which she had some roots [her mother being Singaporean and schooling at UWCSEA]. On the surface her career seems to be smooth sailing, but Yumiko shares she was able to built her career because of “constant self-inquiry and correction in navigating [her] career”. What does it take to built a career you can be happy about? Also we deep dive into the essence of her success.
Q: Tell us what you do?
A: I am the co-founder of Singapore’s ethical fashion brand Etrican, which was incorporated in 2009. Ethical fashion means that we care about the environment and social problems caused within the fashion industry and we minimise the damage. It’s been 10 years since we began so we are focusing more on B2B than B2C, currently for example we are making staff uniforms for Ben&Jerry’s in ANZ.
Q: Why and how did you set up a brand in Singapore?
A: Because we wanted to make organic cotton an option in Singapore. After I had graduated from University [in the UK] I had a chance to do an internship at Oxfam and then started working for the ethical label PeopleTree in Tokyo. I was put in charge of an organic cotton factory and that is how I started to learn about it.
Back in 2009 the awareness of organic cotton was very low. Once a customer asked if she could eat the t-shirt since it was made of organic cotton and was serious about it. So we had to build our brand and at the same time raise awareness about organic cotton.
Q: Did your interest in organic cotton or ethical fashion began with your internship at Oxfam?
A: Our university student union carried ethical [and fair trade certified] products so I knew what it was. Also in the UK students are a lot more active and they will do protests or petitions on serious issues.
And in classrooms we are encouraged to express our opinions a lot more than in Japanese universities and many of the topics covered international or civil conflicts so you can say that I had interest in a broad range of social issues. Probably it stemmed from there and I started asking “what is ethical?” and “what is organic?”
Q: Has your perception on these issues have changed?
A: During my university years you can say that it was more vague. Something like, “organic is good for the planet and the environment, and being ethical is fair and guarantees wages or solves social issues”.
But it was difficult to have an actual grasp on the issue until I started to work as part of a team in People Tree. There are times where you will not truly understand what you had learnt in university until you had applied that knowledge in the field. I did not truly understand “how ethical or organic [things] are affecting the people or the environment.”
Q: So we understand more as we gain experience in a corporate environment.
A: Yes, and by working in different companies and knowing a variety of points of views in regards to social issues had fuelled my passion for starting our own brand.
I came across a BBC article about how small farmers were pushed to suicides as they were growing non-organic cotton and had to get a loan for the pesticides that came with the seeds and as they could not repay the loan they had no choice.
Because I was in charge of production for organic cotton tees I thought I should learn more about the different of what is organic and non-organic, and that is how I found that article. I learned the merits of producing organic but at the same time there were contrasting social issues. This was part of the journey of why we started our own brand.
And if you dig deeper there is fast fashion. Fast fashion creates new collections a couple of times a month. That means there is a lot of waste as they can’t sell all of what they had produced, and waste problem is another social issue. That and the linkage to KAIZEN the Japanese system [of efficiency] had sparked an idea of building a brand which did not over produce.
Q: It seems like you had a direction since your university years. Were there times you would be in doubt of choices you have made?
A: I am constantly in doubt, but I think I was able to navigate precisely because I was always questioning myself.
After getting your post-university job, the first few years you are just barely managing so I don’t think we have time to think whether our career is according to the trajectory we had set. The crucial thing here is after your mid 20s whether you make time to reflect and ask yourselves every few years, “am I doing what I like to do?” or “do I need to review and correct my career path?”, and by doing so I believe you will be able to navigate a career path you will be happy about.
Etrican Backless Dress and V-Neck Dress
Q: I would think owning an actual business for this long is quite a challenge, what was the key for longevity?
A: I always say go thin and long. The real estate situation in Singapore is one of the reasons why we had focused on online business [and e-commerce].
Sometimes I have the opportunity to give talks for schools in Singapore or be a guest of panel discussion for an after-work event and people in 20s would come for advice.
I’ve adviced to think about the long term rather than investing tens of thousands of dollars on rent or launching too many collections in the beginning. I had done this for 9 years and I have seen many brands come and go because of cash flow problems.
But in the beginning online shopping was not common so it was tough. Customers will ask about returns and how smooth would that be.
In the last few years the perception for online shopping has changed dramatically in Singapore. That may be just a change of habits in Singapore but it is also the government’s direction [to actively use online and digital platforms]. Singapore is a country of change, so everyone must get used to the latest trends. How you shop online, and the penetration of app usage is also changing rapidly.
Q: Going back to navigating your career, is there any core belief that you use to ground yourself?
A: In the end I think it would be difficult to be specific in terms of a sector, an area or a job title so I would start from somewhere very simple.
Like, if you enjoy drawing are you inclined to art and design or how about marketing? Because this is also about communicating or expressing in a visual manner. We need to really break it down to that micro level or return to the basics.
Q: That’s simplifying to an extreme.
A: What is important here is to find out where does your motivation lies, and when do you feel content or satisfied about what you had achieved.
Other than Etrican, I am also a freelance conference interpreter. In retrospect now I know I feel great satisfaction when I help people.
My favourite part of being an interpreter is seeing my clients being nervous before a big meeting and afterwards they are so relieved and tell me that they were able to have a fruitful meeting because of my help. Etrican is essentially also about helping people by providing an option for organic clothing and contribute to the society.
But, while you’re in university if you say you want to help people they might say, “do you want to be a social worker or a therapist?”. I actually did a career test and that came out as an answer before. But answers to those tests are limited [and predefined]. I did consider being a social worker at one point. But answers are not always visible on the surface.
Q: What interests you right now?
A: The digital space, there are many simultaneous interpreting for conferences related to the digital landscape. Our lives have changed, and we cannot live without our smart phones. You do not know where the next ground-breaking app is coming from. Singapore is welcoming start-ups and sometimes use this space as test-beds so there are opportunities to see and feel the momentum.
Q: Can you share with us what was unexpectedly successful or not-successful for Etrican?
A: Since we were able to build awareness of our brand and it has grown steadily, I do not have anything in particular that I wish we could have done better.
However, I am very much aware of the advantage of being the first one in the game. I think it’s been made quite obvious in the space of entrepreneurship or start-ups that you have to be the starter in that space. In that sense we were able to position ourselves as the firstcomer in Singapore’s ethical fashion and organic scene.
As you can see our tagline says “Pioneers of Eco Fashion”, and many previous newspaper and magazine features have used that line to describe us.
This is not only for South East Asia or domestic Japanese market, for anyone who wants to start something, if you are very clear on offering “something that has never been done before in your market and it is not replicated” you probably have a good angle.
Q: Did you feel like [ethical or organic] could become a trend back in 2009?
A: I felt that eventually there will be a shift [in people’s awareness], but even more than that by being involved in ethical fashion through People Tree and the fashion industry, I felt the importance of having social responsibility as a brand and traceability.
While I was researching in Singapore I’ve asked my friends [about launching an ethical brand]. They said “people in Singapore are not aware of that so you should wait for another 3-4 years”. But there is no starter advantage in that, we wanted to begin right away but that meant the first few years were extremely tough.
But I feel even Singaporeans did not imagine how fast Singapore will develop as a hub. To be a place where so many companies and technologies come together.
Q: How do you feel things have changed?
A: The simplicity of finding answers and solving problems for those who are interested in ethical products have changed.
Previously [organic or sustainable] were thought to be a niche, now if you wanted to know of a certain social issues or the definition of it, you can search easily over the net and it can be shared effortlessly over Facebook or other social media platforms.
I am not sure which is the case, if people are more aware of the term organic and it had helped our business grow, then you can say that there is an increase in interest.
Whether that is the increase in the number of people who are interested or if it means those who are interested in organic [products] are able to search easily and connect to other brands so these businesses are growing… if we are a bigger company we could probably conduct a quantitative research.
Q: Do you have a message for our readers?
A: There are only very few people who know exactly what they’re doing in terms of career paths, and its something that we build on trial and error, mostly being in doubt constantly but correcting our paths as we go. So, if you focus more on the little moments that makes you excited and if you could find a job that incorporates those moments you may have better chances at arriving at a job you could be happy with.
Interviewer’s notes: I myself was interested in “ethical fashion” as it became quite a common term within Japan. But I had no idea there was a correlation with internet [and online shopping culture].
Also, the most memorable phrases were “starter’s advantage” and “questioning and correcting”. When Singaporeans only new of organic in terms of food, for her to have decided “we have to start now” means she was able to understand the surroundings and situation quite clearly. I hope to get closer to my ideal self by questioning myself repeatedly when I am in doubt of my career.
