We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dali Ma. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dali below.

Dali, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Being a business owner definitely changes the mentality of work and life, in a better way, at least for me. Gone are the days when you know exact when your next pay check will hit, and how much you will be hit, but you get something more, something exciting. It’s up to you how and how long you wanna work, and if done right, your effort will pay off based on how much you worked, how smart and talented you are.
I think if I had a chance to re-start after graduation, I’ll be an entrepreneur to start with.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m running three businesses simultaneously. A fashion photography one Dali Studio (www.dali.studio), a marketing agency Truly Yours Inc. (www.trulyyours.love), and a women’s clothing business Purmulti (www.purmulti.com). For my fashion photography business, being influenced by Mario Testino, I focus on the emotion and attitude of my shoots. I aim to tell a story, and set brands and models apart from “just another portrait”. Over the years I’ve collected many magazine publications including Vogue, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, L’Officiel, to name only a few.
For the marketing business, I’m catering to any small to medium-sized businesses that want to either bring their businesses online, or improve their established online landscape, to generate better results. My team are skilled at web design/development, SEO, conversion optimisation, lead nurturing campaigns, advertising, PR, etc..
Last but not least, the women’s clothing company I co-founded with my partner in China is a newer adventure for me to explore fashion design, brand development.
All three businesses run in parallel, but also collaborate with one another so they can utilise each other’s strong suits, and grow faster and better.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I graduated with a Physics and Philosophy background from Oxford University. It’s very numbers and analytics focused, and has little to do with marketing or fashion. But after graduation, I decided that it’s better to do something that I would truly enjoy, than stick to the same regulated and planned path. So I pivoted.
I started with marketing, using the analytical and number skills from my education, and then picked up the camera and discovered my then newly found skills in photography and fashion.
After so many years, I think this has probably been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing up, we were always taught to go to get a good education, and then get a good job. But little did we know that there’s something more than a job, it’s a career. We were trained to be a gear in a machine, instead of being the mastermind, the inventor behind it. Although there’s nothing wrong with being a gear and many people do like it and lead very happy lives doing it To me, it’s more about building something that I would be proud of.
So I unlearned things that taught me to be a follower, and learned how to be an entrepreneur, a leader.
It’s more about looking at the big picture, and purposefully ignoring things that might in the short term seem unreasonable or illogical, but provides a solid building block for the future.
It’s a mentality shift.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dali.studio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dali.photographer/
• Other: www.trulyyours.love