Meet Alisa Man | Your Self-Love Reminder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alisa Man and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alisa, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Definitely my dedication and effort I put into building my brand. Unlike a 9-5 job, I work on my arts and craftsmanship for hours. Sometimes these hours consist of me not only honing my art and craft but also researching endless topics such as: how to create better content, what fabrics are best, or inspirations to design. It becomes an endless cycle of me craving to expand my knowledge to build my brand into a big and meaningful one. However, it hasn’t only been my dedication and efforts that helped. Experiencing the negative aspects of running a business by myself helped my brand. I have gone through burnout due to the surge of information and will to constantly create. That was dangerous. I started to lose my brand because I was losing myself. My focus was all on creating, sewing, and learning which caused me to forget that I had a life outside of it. Therefore, I decided to take the focus away from my growing brand. Through this process, I lost the work, growth, and community I had worked for the past years. But what comes with the dark, there is always light.
It was the most significant shutdown of the year for me but also a vast awakening. If I had not gone through this at the time I did, my brand would not be what it is today. The break allowed me to oversee everything that I had overlooked. Instead of rushing to push out new products, I now design and create products that have alot of meaning and strength. Instead of pushing content, I now create quality content. Instead of trying to learn everything, I now research and do things one at a time. I currently use my time and effort to make quality instead of quantity. Since then, everything has been better for myself and my brand. I don’t fear change. I grow from it. Total win-win.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Beloved Love, Preyâmour. Preya is my middle name, meaning Beloved, and Amour means love. Preyâmour is not just any brand but a brand to help you with your confidence, empowerment, and self-love through quality and thought-out products and designs. The goal of Preyâmour is to remind customers, whom we call, Beloved Loves, that they must always put themselves first. And to do that, I prioritized placing words of affirmation and care questions throughout our website and product tags. Prioritizing this is to help our Beloved Loves remember that the love for themselves is a love they must choose to cherish, love, respect, nurture, and accept. One that they must fight for and empower. Realize that this is the love they must guard to protect so that it cannot be taken from them. And to establish this, I am excited to share a collection of designs I have been working on, “Self-Love and Empowerment Gals.”

For the past few months, I have been designing and creating this collection of gals to help empower women worldwide. As of right now, there are six different represented women. In the future, I will be expanding to represent other women with this design. This design has a woman with her head slightly angled towards the back, with her eyes gently closed and a soft smile of contentment. Her head, hair, and or hairpiece has a garden of eleven flowers scattered throughout. The amount of flowers is specific to the number eleven because eleven is a power number that helps you through hardships, darkness and finds inner peace and happiness. The flowers in this Garden I call the Garden of Self-Love and Empowerment all have a meaning related to the Garden’s name. The choices of flowers are inspired by the struggles and lessons of my mom, sister, and myself.

My mom inspired the first Self-Love and Empowerment Gal. A woman I had never witnessed struggling with herself and her identity. She told me her story, and I learned that she had struggled with self-acceptance. She struggled for some time until she realized the desire to feel and be loved like a woman should not come from anyone but herself. She must desire herself and give her the love she requires. It took her some time, but she did it. She learned how to empower, love, and accept herself. As for the rest of the gals in this collection, my older sister Brenda inspired me to expand it to represent other women. The way she speaks about self-love is very insightful and strong. She taught me the importance of putting myself first and the journey of keeping my head above water. With this journey, I must be open to understand and accept that within it, I must choose to improve and cherish everything that comes with it. To be strong and to benefit from the struggles, which is what I did.

2022 was one of the most challenging years for me because I underwent many changes. I felt like giving up countless times until, one day, in the lounge, I collected myself. I saw my brand in front of me, stagnant, and remembered how and why I made Preyâmour. I started empowering myself with everything around me, like my products, photos, interviews, and logos hung on the wall. Things began to make sense again. I sat in that room and thought about how things went downhill and how I could pick myself and Preyâmour back up. And that is when I started feeling everything—the pain and changes, including the messages and lessons that came with them. I began to recognize that I had never lost myself. I was just lost. And all I needed was a reminder.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have only lived in California and probably will for the rest of my life. There are so many potential and beautiful places to visit that I do not want to leave them behind. So if I had a friend that has never set foot in California, I definitely would like to take them on this itinerary of South to North! Day 1: We would spend the morning grabbing coffee and a nice breakfast at Blackbird Cafe. Afterward, we would cruise down PCH to Irvine, enjoying the view of expensive, beautiful beach homes and street views of Jamboree. Stop by Ocean Beach Pier in San Diego from this cruise, enjoy the nightlife, and walk around Gaslamp. Then drive late into the night back home.
Day 2: Take my friend to experience the windy road and greenery on a trip to Big Bear. We would stop by The Village at the heart of Big Bear and grab lunch at one of the diners. After that, head straight to Joshua Tree and stargaze in the back of my Pilot.
Day 3: After we rest and take our morning in, travel to Santa Monica for a walk on their pier and promenade. If time allows, go straight to Little Tokyo and cruise the shops there since I love Anime. Afterward, grab some yummy KBBQ and head directly to the Griffith Observatory to view the city lights, tour the observatory, and see how many 7-11s we could spot from there.

Days 4-7: This would be an arrangement to experience the Northern part of California. Drive straight to Malibu through PCH and stop to take photos along the coast. Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium and take pictures and shop around Cannery Row. Take a trip to San Francisco to visit our friends and grab drinks around Mission District. Take a stop by Pier 96 for some touristy attractions and sights. Take in the view of the infamous Golden Gate Bridge and see how long it will take our little legs to get to the other side.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Preyâmour is here because of my partner, Aron. Before the pandemic started, when the thought of opening a business left my mouth, people would respond with a scoff and say, “Be real. Just go to school.” As for Aron, his response was, “Ooh, that sounds like a fun and good idea. You can draw and make stickers.” But unfortunately, I had to abandon the idea of opening a business because I did not have time as a full-time student working part-time. It was until a few years later when the pandemic hit, that time was available for me.

I had to quit my job and immediately brought the idea of starting a business to Aron. He was quick to suggest different business start-ups. In these suggestions, there were a few that I couldn’t see myself confidently running, and even with my doubts, he reminded me that I have the potential to do anything. I can learn and excel in things I never thought I could. After much discussion, we decided on a sewing business but one that made hair accessories such as scrunchies. Aron quickly began his search for a sewing machine. Unfortunately, they were all sold out everywhere because of their demand. However, that didn’t stop him. He went onto OfferUp and saw that people were selling sewing machines twice their price and were fortunate enough to find one close by for sale. Aron drove to LA and returned home with a sewing machine and a box full of colored threads. His support has always been endless. Even after I launched my business, he continued to support my decision to expand my business to include stickers.

What did he do the day after I told him about expanding? He drives me to Best Buy and immediately buys me an iPad and an Apple Pencil. Since the beginning, this man has been the epitome of support and a believer. He has been the rock behind my business even to this day. Everything I ever suggested or needed, he has always been the first to help without complaints. Aron puts his projects on hold when he comes home to help my dream. Even after working a 9-5 during the weekdays, he comes to work at my pop-ups on the weekends. When my brand was in a shop hours away, he was happy to drive back and forth for me to re-stock. Aron works all the time overtime. Preyâmour would not have been here after the first few months of launch without him. Thank you, Aron. You’ve done more than I could thank you for. But aside from Aron, there are a few people I would also like to owe this thank you to.

My son Castiel, for being the biggest motivator in my life. Aron’s family, for everything they have done for my brand and I. From canopy for my pop-ups, modeling, space for photos, and more. My cousin Bong Ra, thank you for always believing in me and giving me motivation and ideas. Thank you for being my first huge order and for your heat press and mailers.Thank you to Bong Linna and Mak Oums for always loving and randomly buying my scrunchies. You guys are constantly giving me new product ideas. Thank you to my dad’s side for always promoting and helping me with connections. Thank you to Bong Sudevy and Bong Proctor for always randomly popping up at my pop-ups, making purchases from my brand, and staying behind to help me at pop-ups. Thank you to my friends Merielle Gonzaga, Jasmine Phann, and Jessica Carpenter, my number one supporters. You all help keep my brand alive. Thank you, TeamTry, Marilyn, for always supporting and motivating me. Proud of what you’re doing! Thank you to my friends that support my business and I!

But a huge thank you to my siblings and parents for not forcing me to follow the book to succeed by only going to school and working a 9-5. By believing and allowing me to do what I am happy doing. You guys are always there for every decision I make for my brand. Thank you for coming to my pop-ups and helping me prepare the night before with crappy scissors! Thank you, Bong Tyty, for always helping me make decisions whenever I am stuck. Thank you, Bong Jason, for always motivating and reminding me to do me, to do my brand. Thanks to Jonathan for being my business guide with so much insight and information. You have been such a massive help with my designs and crewneck sweatshirts. Thank you, Aaliyah, for being my guinea pig and model. You make a beautiful model. Thank you to my parents for their support and especially for being proud of everything I do, even if it is one sale. Thank you to my grandparents for always being so interested in what I do and reminding me that a sale is a sale. You have all been there since the very beginning. You remind me that I need to keep going because my brand will make it as long as I keep working and trying. I love everyone. Here is a big ol’ virtual hug. Much love and prosperity to you all. As my grandma says, good luck, good luck!

Website: https://preyamour.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/preyamour/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Preyamour/