give kids strong roots & teach them how to fly

At 25, I had just quit my preschool teaching job to be a stay-at-home mom with my two babies.

When my aunty gifted me her electric Kenmore, single-needle sewing machine, no one could have guessed what would happen next.

With 10 pregnant friends and no income to purchase them gifts, I taught myself to sew with YouTube University 😂

Within the next 16 months, my new Kenmore and I would have a business creating exquisite baby gift products and we’d start a sewing school that would later help me buy my first home.

How did this happen?

The old adage: Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, is exactly what happened for me.

My sewing machine was the fishing pole and entrepreneurship created my ocean. See, my late father was an entrepreneur and a firefighter. I’d play with him at the firehouse during the week. Then I’d watch him install central vacuum systems in people’s homes on the weekend.

He made sure we were so rooted in our family values and also told us to dream big and “never forget you can fly.”

I didn’t know that I’d be teaching 500 students how to sew one day and that this creative business of mine would connect me with some of the most incredible people in the world. No one could see that future for me because it was my destiny to create.

Fast forward to the summer of 2023. My daughter couldn’t get hired for 2 summers and wanted to work to have financial freedom.

Our kids are already so plugged into social media so and I saw an opportunity for them to grow their skills and work ethic. This led me to start Aloha Junior League where I can share all I have learned and empower the youth to grow their skills and help the community.