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

Hi Kira, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My good friend/partner and I recently started our brand ShoujoCheezy, as we wanted to revisit our initial passion of cute characters and trinkets. We wanted to draw and make things we were interested in but never got around to. We enjoy collecting stickers, keychains, washi tapes, and figurines so we figured we could learn how to make our own products! Although our main mission is to be happy, enjoy our freedom to create, and have control over a healthy work-life balance, we also wanted to share our successes with those that enjoy cute things as well. Customers are essential to us as they inspire us to expand our passion and drive us to create more!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up consuming a lot of East Asian media. This included music, dramas, cartoons/anime, manga/manhua, and games. Like many people, I loved to draw anime people since I was young- they were always etched onto my notebooks, homework, and even tests! My family struggled financially, and from a certain point my favorite “toy” was just pencil and paper. My worlds and stories and characters all came to life as I wanted them to be!

Then in middle school I discovered YouTube, where I watched gameplays which helped me connect with that part of the art industry and they entertained me when I did not have access to games. When my new neighbors moved in, I befriended their son who had a whole collection of Nintendo and Playstation games which he very kindly introduced me to. He will never know this, but I am forever thankful to him as this started my passion for games. I ended up getting a DS and a smartphone on which I played MANY games that had beautiful art and stories.

When I was old enough to understand that games have to power to connect and inspire people through their immersive/interactive visual and stroytelling experience, I decided to go to college for game and entertainment design. I just wanted to draw pretty anime characters for games. But of course, this career doesn’t work as simple as that.

Although at the time I felt that I had finished strongly, I immediately realized the burnout I had after graduation. I was luckily enough to get picked up by a studio and learned many things from my experienced and kind team.
But I didn’t feel 100% happy. I wanted to go back to drawing what I loved to draw- pretty and stylized characters, illustrations…eye candy. I went back to being a freelance artist when the industry got slow, it was(and still feels like) the hardest time I’ve ever gone through. Then my friend and I started thinking: is this not the best time to draw and make things that make us happy again? And ShoujoCheezy was born! We both love anime and cute things growing up, and wanted to bring life to our ideas with our own hands. Although we have released a limited amount of sticker products so far, we have lots of other merchandise we are experimenting with (like charms, tattoos, pins, bookmarks.)

Through our shop, we want to share the results of our happiness, frustration, successes, and failures with people who also enjoy anime and cute things. Maybe it will bring their childhood passion back as well. We are a small business, but we hope to grow our store and ourselves with the support of our friends, family, and customers.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It is my job and also my hobby. I am happy knowing I can earn a living doing what I love, even though it is hard to achieve and not a mindset many will believe in. While this also means I can easily feel burnt out because I can’t separate my hobby from my work, it’s just another compromise I make in life and will work around. I’ve also been finding new activities to try in my free time and visiting new spots. To stay in love with my passion for art, I’ve learned to take breaks from it and do/see things I would’ve never thought to make contact with. I also appreciate how tight-knitted and emotionally supportive my art community is. We bond over struggles only we can understand, enjoy looking at beautiful reference materials, and celebrate our different identities mirrored in our creations. I feel blessed to be in this career.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

While on the decline, there is an unfortunate sentiment among many people that going into the creative field seems risky and is not rewarding. It is unstable and unconventional- “you can’t make a living with art.” I wish non-creatives would understand the essential role we hold everywhere in the world. Without people creating art, music, and entertainment, there would be no fun in life! Almost everything essential in our life is designed with the intent to make one’s life easier and more enjoyable. While the career and industry do seem volatile (as we are constantly being exploited,) people will always make money so that they may enjoy their days off with a good movie, fund their figurine collection, play an exciting video game, and indulge in many other creatives-made products. We bring everyday joy to people, yet this happiness is deemed nonessential. It is this belief that fuels our struggles to be in stable demand, earn livable income, and not looked down upon.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoujoCheezy
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rwrabbit
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirachang
• Shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shoujocheezy