We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lang Tran a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lang, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
When I was a child (about the age of 8) I witnessed outside the window of my parents’ living room an Asian couple in an altercation. The man was driving a white Mercedes Benz, screaming at the woman sitting in the passenger seat of his car (I assumed at the time she was his wife/significant other). I recall vividly seeing her right leg hanging out of the car of the passenger side (door wide open) – both of them screaming at each other. I couldn’t make out what she was saying as she was speaking in Chinese, crying hysterically as she was trying to keep her limbs inside the moving vehicle. Her abuser was driving with one hand, and trying to push her body out of his car with his other hand. At one point, he stops the car, gets out of the driver’s seat, and attempts to pull the woman out of his car. She would not get out, so he slams the door on her right leg. She screams in pain, and manages to put her limbs back inside the car, for fear that he would slam the door on her leg again. He gets back into the car, and drives away.
At the time, I didn’t know what to do. I remember every detail to this day (over 30 years later), rushing into my mom’s bedroom alerting her to what I had seen, asking her if we should call 911. Shocked in disbelief she asked me to “mind my own business” and “we don’t get involved in other people’s personal matters.”
To this day, I regret not having called 911. Being the obedient Asian daughter that I was raised to be…I often wonder if the woman in that Mercedes Benz ever got away from her demonic abuser. I will never know for sure if she ever got help, but I often reflect about it, and about what I would have done differently if I had witnessed it all over again.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Lang and I am a “Lang-of-all-Trades.” First and foremost, I’m a first generation southeast Asian immigrant whose parents fled communism in Vietnam in the early 1980s [shortly after the war, when the VCs had taken over their country]. My parents decided to hop on a boat with 60+ other people from southern Vietnam, in search of a better life in America for my siblings and I. My mom was actually pregnant with me at the time they decided to hop on this boat, which got robbed by Thailand pirates about a week into our journey. During my family’s captivity was when I decided to enter the world, and be born. Fast forward, we became refugees at a camp in the Philippines for months, before a very kind couple (Bob & Claudia Mitchell) from Colorado decided to sponsor my family of 5 to America. The rest is history…
My parents did not speak English when they moved to the US. Our sponsors got my mom her very first sewing machine and that is how she earned a living to feed our family. We lived in poverty for most of my childhood. In fact, I learned to sew at a very young age to help my family, and is truly how I started my career in the fashion world. To this day, I have my parents to thank for my strong work ethic, street smarts, and entrepreneurial spirit; and I have my god-grandparents/sponsors to thank for my kind philanthropic nature.
I spent most of my adult career as an executive in the fashion industry (go figure), but since the start of 2020, I have switched gears and focused my attention to more purpose-driven “work.” I guess you can call me a serial micro-business entrepreneur. After about 2 years of operating my small business [with my partner] called Our Little Stand, I suddenly am now the owner and founder of not one but five micro-businesses.
My most recent project called Two Sisters’ Heirlooms is a culmination of all my talents, passions and past work experiences. It is a social enterprise where I offer p/re-loved fashions for resale. It’s my outlet to advocate for slow fashion, upcycling and recycling fashion in order to keep clothes ‘n things out of landfills; all while giving back a percentage of net sales to survivors of Domestic Violence and/or S*x & Human Trafficking. I also donate for the month of October to Breast Cancer awareness causes as my mother and eldest cousin both suffered from the disease and have since passed.
I sell at local pop-up markets as well as direct-to-consumer on Instagram, and plan to take this brand on the road with me next year. My mission is to build a community of women supporting women, encouraging the donation of second-hand clothing items to help Mother Earth as well as to support causes that have not only affected me personally, but those I hold near and dear to my heart.
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, working hard was necessary for survival. My best teacher of this lesson was (and still is) my mother. She was fierce, and the hardest working person I’ve ever known. She taught me how to earn a living, feed her family, and how to love through providing food and a roof for her family.
What I also learned from her when she passed from cancer in 2009 is that “hard work isn’t worth it, if you don’t have your health to enjoy the fruits of your labor.” After having witnessed my mother battle cancer for nearly 10 years, working all of her life and sacrificing everything for her children and family, a lightbulb turned on for me. What is the point, really, of working so darn hard, if you become too sick to enjoy your life?
Just earlier this year, my eldest cousin was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. She was also the bread winner of her family, raising 5 of her siblings [supporting her parents] at the age of 18; raised two daughters and helped put them through med school. Sacrifices upon sacrifices, only to have left this world too early (at the age of 59).
If there is one thing I can unlearn and re-learn (and it is thanks to my mom and cousin) is how important is is to enjoy life now, live presently, and never take life and time for granted. Live NOW.
How did you build your audience on social media?
There are so many tricks in the world of branding and marketing, but in all my years of professional work life, the best type of business growth is the authentic kind. I truly believe that if someone is meant to be a part of my community and business journey, they will find me. And our chance meeting will happen in the most organic and “meant-to-be” kinda way. Collaborations with other like-minded brands also helps!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twosistersheirlooms/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lang-tran-75104855/
Image Credits
Casey James Knight