Behind-The-Scenes with Sandy Tiu

How to embrace your entrepreneurship journey with courage & and resilience.

Sandy is a true force of courage.

I met with her beginning of 2022 when I arrived in Bali.

Since then, I have been following her journey and I can say that it’s a true life example of what it means to be a force of courage & and resilience.

Sandy has been working in Marketing at big corporations for 10 years.

Living the dream life in Shanghai, she came to Bali for holidays in 2020.

She was supposed to go back but life decided otherwise.

Fast forward covid times, Sandy took a leap of faith and quit her dream marketing job.

Why?

She wanted to use marketing for the greater good.

Not just to sell products that no one really needed.

So she shifted to a life of purpose and dived into the start-up world.

She started by purchasing a sustainable swimwear brand that she fully rebranded.

That’s how Sandy got an interest in sustainable fabrics and decided to learn more.

The day she officially resigned from her job, she found herself at the Women Economic Forum.

That’s where she met incredible people who believed in her new mission.

These same people gave her inquiries on raw materials.

Two days later, Sandy had already created I am Sustainable Studio.

As a networking queen, she developed many strong relationships with local suppliers.

And a few months later, she launched the website of I am Sustainable Studio.

Initially, it was a one-stop-shop to help people launch their sustainable fabric brand, where the Studio would be the platform to do it all: storytelling, marketing, branding, and finding the right suppliers in Bali.

It was a start-up focused on start-ups.

Since then, she pivoted a lot as she faced many challenges along the way.

Now, I am Sustainable Studio is pioneering recycling textile waste into new fabrics for the hotel & and resort industry.

Basically turning old towels and bed sheets into new fabrics.

No waste, all circular. ♻️

Since then, the new venture got her into pitching in Singapore and arriving amongst the Top 8 of the TiE Women Regional Finals.

She also closed a deal with a first hotel that will pilot her new programme.

The journey is still going, but now Sandy has finally found an alignment with who she is.

During our conversation, I asked Sandy “How do you pivot?” and these are her suggestions:

1. You don’t have to know it all, you have to embrace the journey

2. Fall in love with the problem, not the solution

3. When your heart is open, you can make mistakes (which are necessary to keep on learning)

4. Learning kindness and seeking Mentors was a big help for her, as they taught her how to focus

Key learnings ✨

After speaking to Sandy for more than an hour, these are my key learnings from her:

1. the teacher comes when the student is ready and open to receive.

2. the overthinking brain will sabotage you

3. failure is not giving yourself a fair shot, so you need to show up for yourself and try harder

4. be 1% better every day

5. until you learn a lesson, things will come back to you. It’s important to take the time to reflect.

To finish this interview, this was my last question to Sandy:

“What would you say to Sandy who is on her first day as an Entrepreneur?”

Thank you Sandy Tiu for your honesty and open sharing during our interview. 💚

PS: The entire conversation was profound, open, and filled with key learnings. My only regret was not having recorded any of it (yes, I know, learning every day 😄).

👉 So my question to you: Would you be interested in having an audio version of my next interview?

(let me know in the comments)

More about Sandy

If you want to check out her work, you can do so at www.iamsustainablestudio.com

Feel free to reach out to her via LinkedIn, Sandy is always keen to connect with other change-makers.

Since you made it this far, here's a bonus photo of Sandy and me. 🫶