My Inspiration
Ladeña is inspired by my roots and upbringing in the Philippines.
I didn't have much growing up and it helped me to be creative and make gifts with love. I grew up making gifts for my friends and family every Christmas since I was a kid. I never made hand-sewn gifts but I remember making clothes for my Barbies and I was always interested in fabric, styles, and fashion.
Why Ladeña
I named my business after my name as a way of turning the dark side of my childhood to beauty and purpose.
My dad was alcoholic and he named my two siblings and I after alcohol. We had wonderful childhood and we knew that our dad loved us dearly.
But due to the influence of alcohol towards my dad, my family experienced traumatic verbal and physical abuse from him. Thankfully he has stopped drinking alcohol in my early 20s and things have been better since.
Teenage's dream
At 15, I knew that I wanted to be a business woman. I didn't know when and what type of business but I just enjoyed life each day.
I met my wonderful husband in the Philippines in 2010 while he was doing oversees mission work with our church for 2 weeks.
He went back to Hawaii after that trip and that was start of our 5 year friendship. I knew he was the one whom I meant to be with for the rest of my life. We built an amazing friendship and love for one another over 5000 miles away and we got married in 2015 when I moved here in Hawaii.ā
How sewing started
Along the process of adjusting to a new culture and life, I looked for new things for me to learn. One of our good friends
has invited me over her house probably the 2nd week of my move here.
I saw that she had a sewing machine, I instantly knew that I wanted to learn how to sew. I got so excited and the same day, I went to a local fabric store with her. Since then, I started getting more supplies and my very first sewing machine.ā
From hobby to full time business
āAfter I graduated in Philippines with Bachelors of Science in Information Technology, I worked at a US manufacturing company for almost 3 years. It opened my eyes to a bigger horizon and that’s where I’ve seen logistics and massive production process.
I continued to explore and I committed my life to serving God as a campus missionary for 2 years in the Philippines. I always have the heart to see people come to know God so I enjoyed serving at church since I was a kid. When I moved to Hawaii, I had the heart to help our church to get things going. I was always a planner but I was not good at details. Working as an admin assistant with our church for 7 years has definitely shaped and helped me in many ways.
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I believe that my career experiences has prepared me to run my own business in Hawaii. I started the business officially in 2018 while I was working part time as an admin assistant and I transitioned full time in the business in 2023. That was one of the biggest decisions I had to make
but I'm thankful that God has been guiding me since.
The difference you bring to my ohana
We've been blessed with wonderful kids, Sophia in 2020 and Jireh in 2024. I always wanted to be home and be hands on in raising my kids. I grew up being around my entrepreneur parents so I was heavily involved in our family businesses since I was a very young kid.
My parents had a convenient store at our house and my mom would make Filipino muffin for some restaurants in the Philippines. I remember during Christmas, our house was always filled with muffins. Everyone was involved in the whole 24 hour production before we sell them to the wet market.
I learned so much by their example on how it is to work hard and to care for people. They would let people in our community to borrow food from our store and pay them back when they’re able.
I’ve seen how they cared for people more than what they could make out of it. My family comes with us in most of our markets to help with set up and break down and I'm thankful that my kids get to experience all these at a very young age.
Why bags
āI believe that through the example of my parents, I have learned dedication and love in everything that I do. Even though I didn’t go to school for sewing, I spent years of learning on my own. I learned mostly from my mistakes and from persevering every step of the way.
There would be days that I wake up with new ideas on how I can improve my sewing. I spent the first year learning how to sew clothes and I eventually learned how to make pouches, bags, masks, planters and more.
Passion for travel
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My love and passion to travel the world has inspired me to focus on bags. I personally design and draft the patterns based on my everyday experiences. I love efficiency and I believe that if there's a place for everything, life will be easier not just when we travel but more so in our everyday life.ā
Our team
I’ve been so excited as I build this business, we continuously innovate and improve as the years go. I’m the main maker of our bags and I have a wonderful friend, Mariko who helps during big events. We also have about 10 amazing ladies that help run our pop up markets that happen about at least 3 times a month. I’m grateful for all the learnings and growth this past years, more so to be able to stay home with my kids, working with our amazing team and meeting wonderful people along the way.
Giving back
I don't know where I would be right now without people that have invested in my life along the way and I wanted to give back by giving a portion of my profit to some campus missionaries in the world and Real Life Foundation in the Philippines that helped my parents to send me to college.
Mahalo for your love and support over the years.
Your encouragements and kind words always inspire us to create more and spread aloha in the world!
Much Love and Aloha!
Ladeña