Jessie Wong, founder of Yu Mei, takes us through her passionate beginnings, learned insights, and future goals, and what inspires her to keep driving her creative career

Jessie Wong and Yu Mei are not separate entities, explains Jessie. “They’re all one… I am my work”. 

 

Jessie Wong is the founder and creative director of Yu Mei, a luxury leather-goods label founded and designed in New Zealand. With a new flagship store recently opened in Auckland’s popular Commercial Bay precinct, Jessie has plans for growth, collaboration and digital initiatives, all in the near future.

 

Having initially hand-produced the bags, Jessie believes she has gained valuable insight by learning each step of the production process before hiring other people to take over. She explains that running a small business in New Zealand requires work across all areas - the supply chain, marketing, key relationships with creatives within the industry… ending up with a wide range of experience.

 

Women in leadership is a key theme in this episode, with Jessie acknowledging her scholarship for a year-long course of women in Leadership, her forward thinking great-grandma, and how grateful she is for her membership to regular online meetings with other female CEO’s in New Zealand. An additional theme is sustainability, with Yu Mei emphasising the origins of the materials used, the aim of reducing waste, and the sustainable life cycle of the bags which can be traded back for credit, refurbished, and sold on to the next person.

 

When she’s in her home environment, Jessie can be found in active-wear and a hoody, hosting a BBQ, entertaining guests at home, and enjoying sunshine in the garden. Jessie is incredibly relatable, she is a wonderful example of an entrepreneur, from New Zealand, who started with an idea and persevered to turn a dream into reality.