Empowering E-Commerce: How a Beijing Expat Overcame Health Scares to Start an Activewear Business

Empowering E-Commerce: How a Beijing Expat Overcame Her Health Scare to Start an Activewear Business

Kyle Mullin | Jun 7, 2018 2:30 pm | Add a comment | 3463 reads

Burdensome depression. A tumor-like cyst. Anaphylaxis. That's only a few of the litany of health scares Stella Jiang was facing down last year. But now the Sweden-hailing Beijing expat is not only fighting fit but has also turned her newfound vim and vigor into a promising business idea, Bella Brawn, co-founded with her friend and Australian expat Hannah Ren. The brand looks to curate activewear for female patrons who want to get fit in comfortable, practical, and stylish threads.

Below, Jiang tells us more about the adversity she overcame to co-found this business with Ren.

TBJ: What kind of health issues did you face, and how does it feel now to overcome that with active living, and have that inspire a cool, new business idea?
Stella Jiang: I think the root of my health issues started around two years ago, and it started with an unhealthy mind. There had been a few tragic events in my family, as well as general, escalating unhappiness. All relatively common issues that most people experience from time to time. Of course, when you’re in the depths of that self-dug dark hole, you no longer have the mental strength to convince yourself otherwise. I felt paralyzingly powerless. I was consistently having anxiety attacks. To cope with this, I started training intensively – several hours at the gym per day. But I pushed myself too hard and I tore my meniscus, which led to about two months of minimal to no activity. This was the worst! With no outlet, the dark thoughts came rushing back, and that’s when the health issues started.

That sounds brutal. What kind of health issues did you have to deal with?
A lot of things happened in parallel here – first, I could only wear flat shoes, and I discovered how comfortable sneakers and leggings were as daily wear. Second, I realized how important exercising was for both mental and physical health, and that I wanted to study how to do it properly, so I enrolled in the US National Academy of Sports Medicine to become a fitness trainer (since I was largely immobile, it was good time to study).

Thirdly, my health was deteriorating – probably the physical manifestation of my unhealthy mind. With a weakened immune system, I got a bacterial infection, and it was a rare one cause by two different bacteria where if you treated one, the other would grow. Two weeks of treatment, then stomach issues, which I ignored, and the anxiety came back. I got a sharp pain in my lower abdomen and thought it was appendicitis, but an ultrasound revealed a lump. My doctor said it was a tumor that had to be cut out immediately. I went for a second opinion elsewhere and they said it was a cyst, but it should be removed because it’s as big as an egg. A couple of months of monitoring, I chose not to do surgery. My mind felt stronger at this point, because I was more invested in fitness, and felt more in control of myself. The cyst went away!

But when they were preparing me for surgery they did an x-ray and realized I had scoliosis. The stomach pain remained and they discovered a pelvic inflammation. I tried to get away for a holiday somewhere exotic and got my first anaphylactic allergic attack ever while driving on the highway. An endoscopy revealed a stomach infection. I came back with allergies and nose inflammation, and during the check-up, they also found out I had deviated septum which combined with scoliosis was to blame for my many years of poor sleep.

Despite all this, I know in my heart, that if I didn’t do something to pull myself out of that dark place, these health issues would have been much, much worse. My mind was shutting my body down. And forgive me for sounding cheesy, but fitness saved my life.

After that arduous period, were there any major takeaways?
It taught me one major thing: Get insured.

On top of that, I learned how powerful fitness is in strengthening one's mind and body. In a world where the only thing you can truly control is yourself, seeing the transformation of your body and health is an incredible thing. It can bring genuine joy. Despite all the hard work involved in starting a business, I feel healthier than ever – my mind is strong and so is my body. Hannah and I want to bring the joy of fitness to as many people as possible through the accessible world of activewear fashion. That’s the passion behind what we do.

What are some of the more practical things that inspired you and Hannah to found Bella Brawn? For instance: were you facing issues or frustrations with the activewear you had that gave you an entrepreneurial spark?
We’re a multi-brand curator, and we work with select niche designer brands from China and Korea. The biggest issue, we realized, wasn’t that there’s lack of great active apparel out there, but rather that the great active apparel is really hard to find! As a customer, you’re spending a lot of time sifting through seemingly infinite products, and as a niche brand, you don’t have a dedicated platform that helps you stick out from the rest. This is the key problem that we’re trying to solve with Bella Brawn.

When we select the products, as a certified personal trainer, there are certain aspects of athletic wear that we take into consideration. Some of the obvious ones are whether or not it’s quick-dry, moisture-wicking, breathable, and stretchy without compromising fabric density – i.e. your panties don’t show through when you squat! We test for these things when we curate our collections. Co-founder Hannah is a jewelry designer, she’s got an eye for all things beautiful! Between the two of us, we find what’s most stylish and functional. Of course, behind the business, there are strong passions and dreams. Hannah and I are both believers of "happy fitness."

What do you mean by "happy fitness?"
Stella Jiang: Well, many established brands make working out sound like you’re signing up for the Spartan Race or a bodybuilding competition. It’s like: “Welcome to a future where you can’t eat and drink what you love, unless you love steamed broccoli, chicken breast, and protein shakes, in which case, yay!” It also evokes strict work-out schedules that you can’t dare quit. It can be intimidating!

We don’t have the same messaging as the others. We love the joy of fitness. We know that any movement is better than no movement and that if you wear clothes conducive to exercise, you will be more motivated to be active. When your body becomes stronger and you feel like you have more control, your mind is likely to feel stronger and healthier too. There’s a lot of joy in that!

This is a women-only product line. Tell us more about the significance of that, and how you are working in a niche where demand has not been met?
Stella Jiang: Being two women, and going into an unfamiliar world (Hannah’s background is jewelry design and I left a job in investment to pursue this), we wanted to find areas as familiar to us as possible so we could add more value straight away – so women’s active apparel it was.

Active apparel is going into mainstream fashion. Today, leggings are competing with jeans. Gradually, as activewear designs become more fashionable, the lines begin to blur between activewear and casual wear. It’s the rapid growth of athleisure! After all, if you could pick between two clothing items that look and cost more or less the same, but one is sweat-wicking, breathable, and anti-bacterial, then why not pick the latter? The way we see it, the activewear industry will continue to grow as it starts to meet the demands not only for exercise but for all clothing demands even in the casual wear world.

On top of all that, it must be exciting to become an entrepreneur these days, what with all the e-commerce options and other innovations out there.
Yes, there are many low-cost tools out there today that can help entrepreneurs. The economic cost of failure is also lower since you can choose to not invest too much, which makes e-commerce entrepreneurship appear particularly welcoming. There are many sophisticated platforms and systems in place, such as Shopify and global distribution channels, so it is relatively easy to get something started with low risk and low overheads. You also don’t need to have as much experience to launch an e-commerce business. My little brother Kevin is in high school and he is starting his own custom sneakers e-shop called SY/RE.

Today, getting started is the easy part! It is growing your business and becoming a recognized brand that will be the ultimate test.

For more information on Bella Brawn, click here or scan the QR code below: