Iyia Liu first became known to us, when the media published a story on her business showcasing how a 23 year old New Zealander paid Kylie Jenner $200,000 to post a picture of her promoting Iyia’s waist trainers. Two years on and Iyia is a total girl boss, self made multi – millionaire with a few more business ventures under her Gucci belt.
Who is Iyia Liu?
24 year old girl from Auckland, North Shore! Loves dogs, fashion and food.
What made you want to be involved in the fashion/beauty world and want to create your own business within it?
I’ve always loved the idea of buying and selling online. From a young age I felt that this was a sort of passive income. You purchase something, re-brand it, market it, promote it, and it sells online, and you don’t have to do a lot or trade your time for money, so I’ve sold multiple products that I have an interest in myself.
What does confidence mean to you and how do you approach this in your everyday life?
Confidence is being able to be yourself, to be able to feel
What empowers you as a woman?
Knowledge. The more I learn, the more I feel empowered.
What knocks your confidence down and how do you deal with that?
Sometimes snarky comments for example on a news article, or even comparing myself to others. But I get over it pretty quickly, I just think about all the positive things in my life, and to the mean comments, I’m assuming that the people that write those comments must have a pretty dud life themselves, or they wouldn’t be spending their time, probably alone, writing nasty things about strangers online.
How has confidence helped you with starting up your waist training business and then going on to start Luxe Fitness?
There have been times where I had been embarrassed about starting my own business, in the very beginning – you know, when you’re not doing so well, and you think “people are probably making fun of me or laughing at my expense about it.”, but you sort of just need to overcome those thoughts and push on, waist trainer I was a little nervous, but Luxe Fitness I was much more confident because I knew what I was doing a little bit more.
Do you see being a successful entrepreneur helping empower other women? If so, how?
Yes – since my stories in the media, I’ve had hundreds of people, a lot of them women, contacting me that they started their own business because of my story, and that my story gave them that confidence. It’s amazing, but it’s true – if I can do it, you can do it too.
What advice would you give our customers about self confidence and believing in themselves, embracing themselves for who they really are?
When I was younger, I really did care about what people thought about me. I would change the way I acted towards different people, some times do things out of my character just to impress people. And over time, you just learn that theres no point. Focus on yourself, focus on improving yourself, improving your life, and you’ll find you live a much happier and fulfilled life this way.
What piece of clothing makes you feel confident to take on the world?
My favourite feature are my legs, so I like to wear shorts, or a dress or skirt and heels to elongate them!
Do you think your style and the way you dress has evolved as you have become more confident within yourself?
I can’t really remember what I used to wear compared to now, but I do love to wear unique and more out there stuff vs comfortable clothing, and I definitely think confidence does influencer your dress sense,
What women inspire you?
Mostly business women – Sophia Amouruso (Nastygal Founder), Kylie Jenner, Tammy Hembrow – women that are driven, strategic and smart.
What’s your favourite piece out of The Borrowed Collective and why?
Talulah Shadow Dance Crossover Minidress – I love the cut of it and the colour and frills are so pretty!
