AALLYN wasn’t born in a boardroom. Before it became a brand, it was a personal shift and a decision to build a life that felt true to me instead of chasing what I thought I should want. These reflections are the foundation of everything we create. They’re rooted in real values and choices, and in a vision to build something meaningful. I hope it helps you understand the intention and care stitched into everything we make.

WHAT INTENTIONAL LIVING LOOKS LIKE DAY TO DAY

Growing up, I used to chase dreams that weren’t really mine. It wasn’t until I hit my 30s that I started choosing a path that felt true to me, even when it wasn't the popular choice. That shift gave me a sense of clarity that I'd never had before; it was the moment I began building a life that finally felt like my own. 

Living an intentional life means aligning my daily choices with my true values.

During the pandemic, I hit a hard reset on my life. My husband and I made a sudden decision to move out of state with our seven-month-old daughter to a quiet town in Northern California, close to my mom.

I'd felt surrounded by so much noise and I couldn’t hear my own gut. The move was my way of pulling the plug on a way of living that wasn’t sustainable. A life spent chasing paychecks to fund a version of success and way of life that I never actually wanted, but was taught to admire.

I had to sit with myself away from the distractions and peel back all the layers of noise to finally realize that so many of the beliefs I held weren’t even my own.

That realization was both scary and freeing. But the opportunity to dismantle all of these beliefs, bit by bit, and uncover what I really wanted was worth the challenge of learning to look inward first.

In this journey, I uncovered truths I’d buried under years of other people’s expectations, layers of what I’d been taught to want and care about, and in doing so, I began to see more clearly the parts of my life that actually mattered to me.

To this day, intentional living means building from that foundation a day at a time and moving in the direction that gets me closer to having the life I want. 

I realized I was done waiting. I didn’t need to plan it all out or think through every possible outcome. I just needed to move. I’ve always trusted action more than hesitation, and I knew the only way to build the life I wanted was to start now. Not someday. Today. So I did.

As I kept going, my choices started to fall into place. I stopped trying to make decisions that made sense to everyone else and started making the ones that felt right to me. Each step forward felt a little more solid, a little more like I was finally living as myself.

Somewhere in that shift, my husband, Yi, became my anchor. We’ve found a rhythm in how we support each other and talk about where we’re headed. We make space for the conversations that matter, even when life is busy. It’s made me see how much of this life I’m building is shaped by the fact that we’re in it together.

Habits & Life Changes Integral to my Mindset Shift

Moving to a small agricultural town after quitting my ‘dream job’ at Meta was the first of many big steps.” I had finally realized how little this job, the one everyone told me I should love, actually did for my soul and my happiness.

After the move, I decided to take a lower-paying job because it brought me closer to the kind of life I wanted. One where I enjoyed what I did, learned every day, and chose where to put my energy. This shift changed how I saw work. It stopped being just about a paycheck or status and became about how it made me feel and the meaning behind it.

That change made me value flexibility and freedom more than ever. It’s what eventually pushed us to sell our larger home and choose to live between two smaller condos. As a family, we realized that owning a house wasn’t the goal right now. Our focus is raising our daughter and spending real time together. Redefining what “home” meant helped us move away from valuing the material side of things and toward valuing the experience of being with each other.

With the smaller space came all the challenges and upsides of downsizing.

Our motto: one thing in, two things out.

It’s important for me to show my daughter Andie that life doesn’t have to feel like your belongings own you. That hamster wheel of earning, buying, and repeating can take away from everything else life has to offer: the memories, the experiences, the adventures. That lesson has stayed with me, and it’s something I want to pass down to her.

She’s also become a big part of how I structure my work and life. I’ve started keeping afternoons open so I can pick her up from school and be at her events. I’ve drawn a hard line around that time. I work to build a good life for my family, and that can’t come at the cost of actually being present with them.

 

How my Personal Philosophies Influence how I Run my Brand

In my personal life, I’ve stripped back what doesn’t serve me, and I try to run AALLYN the same way. It’s not just about having a simple business model. It’s about carrying my own values and ethics into the way I communicate with customers and my team, and how we operate day to day. I’ve moved away from the cold, corporate way of doing things. I want this to feel personal, enjoyable, and human. It isn’t just about selling bags or hitting numbers. It’s about the community we build with the people who are part of it, from customers to creators to freelancers. We’re a small business at heart, and I want to keep it that way.

The bags themselves are without the fuss, and fit into real life. We don’t follow what’s popular (which is another alignment with my personal beliefs) and instead focus on what sustains, what’s easy, and what makes you feel good. I don’t even have time to really pay that close of attention to what’s happening outside of AALLYN, and it felt more sincere to stick with styles that feel right and natural to us. Trends seem to pass faster than the seasons these days, especially with the speed of short-form content, it's hard to keep up with every micro-trend. The goal has always been to bridge the gap between what is usable or practical, and what adds to someone’s personal style and confidence. 

That same mindset shows up in how we run the business. I’d rather follow a “fewer and better” philosophy. I want our bags to be staples people can rely on for years. I want the business itself to mean something, not just be about chasing the next dollar. That’s why we work with a small, family-owned factory and produce in small batches. It might slow things down sometimes, but it lets us keep quality and trust at the center of everything.

There is a balance to running a business. I have learned through trial and error how to balance all the many meaningful pieces of my life. From building something I believe in, to being a mom, a wife, a daughter and friend. I do my best to keep myself focused on the chase for purpose and alignment without getting sidetracked by the noise of social expectation for a glamorous life that is often assumed for entrepreneurs. Like all business owners I do want growth, but not at the cost of my well-being or integrity. The same goes for my co-workers, employees and freelancers. That is why we grow AALLYN steadily, with keeping quality and customer trust first.

Up until earlier this year, I handled every single customer interaction myself. For the first four years, every email, every DM, and comment response was covered by me. It mattered to me then, and it still does.

But my customer-first policy truly started when I was selling on Poshmark where the individual interactions could be very personal. It was a place where you were selling something in your hands to someone who trusted you to describe it and ultimately was after a good value. And it's my hope that the same spirit is translated over to what we do today. 

I want our customers to feel cared for. That shows up in how we price our products, the little extras we include, and the way we approach customer service with speed and kindness. At the end of the day, it’s about long-term trust, not quick wins.

What Both Physical and Material ‘Success’ Looks Like in My Current Stage of Life and How it Has Changed Over Time

Success used to mean chasing the usual external markers. 

The fancy salary, title, and big-city lifestyle that looked good from the outside. The designer pieces and shiny things that were supposed to mean something. I had worked so hard for those things, without ever really asking myself why I wanted it.

At this stage of my life, it’s time to redefine. Success feels more grounded, more quiet, more personal. What I want now is a warm, comfortable home filled with love and laughter, and quality time with my daughter and husband. 

I want to invest in my energy, longevity, and well-being. Having the health, the mental space, and the freedom to show up fully for myself, my family, and my work is what makes me feel truly successful. It’s a privilege to wake up excited about what I’m building and to choose how my day unfolds. I get to decide what I work on, where the business is headed, and when it’s time to close my laptop and spend time with my family. For me, real contentment lives in that balance.

Becoming a Mother and My Relationship with Fashion, Consumption and Business 

Before having my daughter, my career felt like a constant race toward an ever-moving finish line of “I made it.” What I didn’t realize was that I was the one pushing that line further away. Having Andie was a moment to reframe it all. Being burnt out and in that constant rush meant less time watching my daughter grow and develop before my eyes. To put revenue and profit over being actively present for her was an equation not even worth calculating. The goal should always boil down to be to enjoy life, the time I get to spend on this Earth, and focus on the connections that feel bigger than myself. 

This business has gifted me the opportunity to have that freedom. I get excited when I start my workday because I get that headspace to face that challenge I was trying to figure out and solve the day before with fresh eyes. Before starting my business I read the book Atomic Habits and the idea of aiming to improve 1% a day really stuck with me. I now tell myself I don’t need to have it all figured out, I just need to put in my 1% and it will compound and grow into something bigger. 

But finding purpose and making sure my work connects me with something bigger than myself has also become part of AALLYN’s foundation. One of the most meaningful parts of this journey has been getting to work every day with women I admire, respect, and love. Hiring my best friend and cousin Sharon has been a dream of mine since we were kids. Our dads are brothers and best friends to this day, and growing up watching them lift each other up shaped the bond we share now. Sharon has a daughter close in age to mine, and through AALLYN she has the flexibility to work from home and be present for her little one. It means a lot to know this work fits into her life in a way that gives her more time for the things that matter most.

Jordan, another close friend, handles customer service. I hired her right after she had her son, during a season when finding focused work time was hard. This role gave her the flexibility to work in short bursts between caring for her newborn, without feeling like she had to choose between work and motherhood. Bringing Jordan on was a reminder of why I built this business in the first place — to make space for real life to come first.

Tatiana is a model I work with regularly and is a big part of our brand image as she is consistent throughout our visual media. She is the first model I have ever worked with and we continue consistent projects in both modeling and content creation till this day. Like myself, Sharon, and Jordan, she is also a mother, and has been added to our family of creatives who are redefining what a work-life balance looks like for them. 

Then there’s Leela, who handles our digital marketing. She first reached out to me on LinkedIn, and right away I loved her energy. When we talked, it felt like she was chasing the same kind of life I was. At the time, she was living as a digital nomad, looking for a way to work and live with more freedom. We connected over the idea of building careers that don’t get in the way of actually enjoying life.

This group of women represents everything AALLYN stands for. We share a mindset, a way of approaching work with intention and purpose. Becoming a mom taught me something simple but big: a job is just a job. It matters, of course, but not more than living a life that feels full and meaningful.

Lessons About Work and Lifestyle I Hope to Pass Down to My Daughter 

I hope my daughter grows up seeing what it looks like to build a life around her own values, even if that means taking a less expected path. In our family, we talk a lot about what matters and what doesn’t, and I want her to care more about doing things well than about how it looks from the outside. I want her to know that real success isn’t about appearances. It’s about feeling proud of what you’re creating and who you’re becoming along the way.

When I started AALLYN, I did every single role that I now outsource myself. It wasn’t glamorous, but it taught me so much. It gave me a deep understanding of what it takes to run this business and a quiet confidence in my ability to figure things out. It also showed me that my skills aren’t fixed or limited to one box. They only stretch as far as the hours I have in a day.

I want Andie to work hard for the things she dreams of, but not just to keep busy or to meet someone else’s idea of success. I don’t need her to follow a certain path, whether that’s entrepreneurship or anything else. What matters to me is that she builds her skills, trusts herself, and finds purpose in what she chooses. Fulfillment comes from pairing hard work with meaning. These are lessons my husband and I live every day, and I hope she sees them not just in what we say, but in how we build our life together.

The Role Family Plays in Shaping the Values Behind AALLYN 

Don’t live for how it looks. Live for what matters.

Growing up, I watched both my parents live by their values, not by appearances. As immigrants finding their footing in America, they had little time or resources to focus on vacations, luxury, or what things looked like from the outside. Instead, their choices were grounded in what mattered most to them and their sustainable longevity as a family and that clarity helped shape me and taught me not to chase things for how they look, but to ask myself what it was all really for. Funny enough this realization didn’t hit me until my 30s, but when it did, it hit me hard. And I have been implementing that life lesson into my path ever since. 

My Relationship with Money and How It Has Evolved 

During my corporate career, money felt like the ultimate measure of success. Pay and title was the goal, and I thought it could buy me the life I wanted. I worked hard to get to what I thought was my dream role, being the business manager in a large tech organization, but around the same time I had just become a mother and something inside of me was shifting. 

I could feel the transformation happening even though it hadn’t fully run its course yet. 

My resources were stretched so thin and I remember breastfeeding at 3am knowing my 6am alarm for work was coming and asking myself “What am I doing with my life??”

I was hustling hard to put our daughter in day care, to pay for an expensive home, to work 50-70 hour weeks, and for what? All of a sudden the foundation of my reality and this maze of expectations that I had set up for myself, felt very shaky… All these reasons and justifications for my way of life didn't feel like enough anymore. 

I couldn’t ignore this question I had inside: What do I actually want? 

That was the turning point. I saw how easily I could get swept up by the momentum of chasing titles and paychecks and end up living a life that wasn’t really mine. I put my notice in abruptly, and that shocked a lot of people. ‘Wasn’t it your dream job? Your dream life?’ But I knew something was off. 

Stepping away helped me redefine my relationship with money. I no longer see it as an end goal. Now it’s a tool and a resource I can use to build a life that feels aligned, intentional, and true to me. 

Success now isn’t about accumulation. It’s about alignment and freedom. Freedom to make choices that align with your values, freedom to spend unhurried time with loved ones and to be present for both the big events and small moments. It gives the space for creativity, to solve problems, and to pursue work that makes you proud. This change gave me a chance to authentically set an example for my daughter. 

Money, to me, is no longer the prize. It’s what allows me to live a life I’ve chosen for myself.

Life Practices and Daily Habits that Align with my Intentional Living Practices 

Making space for presence with my family, whether in our daily ritual of unhurried morning cuddles or showing up for every single school event on the calendar has been one of the most important shifts in my life. I love my comforts as much as the next person, but keeping my home as minimal as possible has helped not only making more intentional purchases of new items, but also truly valuing the items I already know and love. I like open, uncluttered spaces. They give my mind room to breathe, spark new ideas, and keep me flexible when I’m problem-solving.

That same mindset carries into how we design our bags. I focus on what’s essential, stripping away anything unnecessary. The goal is always to create pieces that feel balanced; beautiful, comfortable, and versatile, without the extras that don’t add meaning.

Just like I prioritize presence in my life, at AALLYN we prioritize longevity. I want the bags to stay with someone through many seasons of their life, not just one passing trend.

AALLYN is built on that belief: to make products that support the life women actually live, not the one they feel pressured to live.

Practices and Principles that Help Me Consume with Intention 

A habit that helps me consume with more intention, especially when it comes to clothing, is to pause and ask myself a few questions.

Does what I am buying look comfortable that I’d know how to wear it? Is it something I’ll grab easily and understand how to style or use it? 

We all have those items we’ve bought that look nice but when brought home we have no idea how to actually incorporate it into our lives. So it just sits there, unused, because you don’t reach for it. So I ask myself if something truly adds value or makes me feel good before I bring it home.

When I started designing bags for AALLYN, I kept that feeling in mind. I wanted to create pieces people naturally reach for. Bags that feel good, look effortless, and fit into everyday life, while still giving a little extra spark.

How I Approach Thoughtful Ownership 

My philosophy on money has always been simple: own your things, don’t let them own you.

A long time ago I figured out the outfit formula that worked best for my style and body silhouettes that felt best on me. Once I figured that out, I realized I didn't need a huge closet. I just needed some pieces that fit the silhouettes I loved, across a few different occasions, that I could repeat over and over. 

Learning to rent clothes that I don’t wear often such as occasion wear has helped me reduce my cost per wear on items I would probably only reach for once or twice. Poshmark over the years has also become a useful tool that I use to let go of items I haven’t touched in a long time. I used to be a big seller there before AALLYN started where I used to buy new or preowned clothing. I’d then wear it, and if I found I didn’t reach for it enough, I’d resell it, often at the same price I paid. I told myself it was like “renting” my wardrobe until I figured out what I liked. It was a fun way to figure out my style without overspending. 

Now I'm usually in casual clothing. And I tend to focus on having good quality staples that are true workhorses that I can build my formula around. To elevate those everyday outfits, I invest in accessories that polish the look without being overdone like my AALLYN bags or jewelry on repeat. 

A core part of AALLYN’s ethos ties into this formula. They are versatile, easy to wear, and their purpose is to give that effortless look I want most days. 

Closing 

AALLYN is a reflection of how I live. It’s never made sense to build a brand that doesn’t reflect what I believe in. Everything I’ve poured into it comes from practices I’ve lived out over the years - thoughtful choices, intentional ownership, and a focus on what really adds value to everyday life.