Meet Jennifer Hwang | Ambitious Business Owner

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

Hi Jennifer, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Work life balance and how it has changed… I went from being as capricious as the wind to balancing bricks on round stones to finally trying to deep root a tree to grow strong and tall.

I am a mother, an unmarried wife, a daughter of 1st gen immigrants, and I am an entrepreneur. Balance is chaotic. Sometimes taking a breath is easily forgotten. I find having a support system, big or small, helps to make it feel easier, even though it isn’t. Balance, to me, doesn’t ENTIRELY mean having your shit together or being instagram model perfect.
Balance is when the bills are getting paid, the house isn’t falling apart, your child is getting a childhood and you’re being a health dose of involved, you keep in touch with family and friends at least once in a blue moon, you make time to have a conversation or two to catch up with your significant other, all of this while building your business and making it grow while staying afloat.

So… Yeah. Balance has changed a LOT over time and I find it to be a race with no end. It’s a hard to maintain, but it definitely is rewarding.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I first started, I was all over the place. I took what ever I knew how to do and tried to start there. I tried doing crafts with paper mache, I made quilts with baby clothes and cloth scraps, I did some ‘ghost sewing’, ghost writing; I tried it all. The biggest problem I had was myself. I had this terrible insecurity for perfection and needing approval and constant validation. All my life I would start something, get great at it, but then drop it the instant I felt I wasn’t good enough. A terrible cycle all through my life.

During the pandemic, everyone was having a hard time adjusting. I was a new mother, I had little to no friends who had children of their own who could relate. I didn’t have a job or much savings for myself. I was having cabin fever, falling deeper into depression and being stuck with my own thoughts. All while trying to keep it together for a child who had just turned 2 years old. At that time, I felt like I literally had nothing going for myself. My son was my motivation to keep on going. “What can I do to make this work?” “What am I good at?” “Where do I start?” So many questions I wrote down for myself on a piece of paper after a day of crying my eyes out and it helped tremendously to see my own answers written on down on paper. It showed me where my strengths were and where my weaknesses were and made things more clear.

I remember I was on a call with a group of my best friends from back in the day and we were just catching up. I brought up my idea to them and the name I came up with – FYMBAS (For, Your, Mind, Body, and Soul) and then immediately brushing it off. They basically told me to grow a pair and do it (in their own… loving way). If it wasn’t for that final little push, I honestly probably would’ve gone back to the drawing board and given up.

After thinking everything through and answering all of my own questions, I came down to teas. I loved tea. I enjoyed drinking tea, smelling tea. mixing tea, and I had a huge interest in herbs. I also love it when I see someone enjoy something I’ve made with my hands as well. I personally knew how hard it is to get personal portions of certain herbs and spices without being committed to a whole kilo. I also found it difficult to trust sources. With the little savings I had, I started with finding reliable connections to imported teas and herbs. After, I invested in an office printer and paper cutter to make labels, invested in products and packaging, and worked very hard in creating a brand. I also was a mess when I first started. I had a little bit of this, some of that, a lot of those. It took my first year of doing online sales and in person sales at markets to narrow it down.

And now, after 3 years, I found a product that I made with my two hands that I see the biggest potential for.

It took a lot of courage, learning, growth, willingness, acceptance, transformation, and trial and error. Not everything comes instantly and boy is the struggle real. But if you work hard enough and persevere while constantly working on self improvement and discipline, it really does pay off.

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 get that most of the time, they’d want to see the big city, the tourist spots, etc.. But I would take them to the Los Feliz Flea(when I’m not working) to show them all the cool small businesses and check out all the amazing vintage finds I would have them come with me to The Vegan Exchange in North Hollywood and try some amazing vegan food and shock them because they know I’m not even vegan. I would bring them to the San Fernando Mall and take a little walk and drink some coffee or eat some good mexican food.

And then I would bring them to where ever they wanted to go (Hollywood, DTLA, Universal, etc). I’m a working mom and a business owner, I don’t really go anywhere except for work, household, and kiddo. If they were coming to visit me, I’d show them the home I’ve made for myself.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My Son, Noah.

My life changed with his arrival. He simultaneously became my strength and my weakness; my motivation and my fear. Without him, my life could’ve taken a turn for the worst. Becoming a mother to a precious life created the woman I am today.

Website: https://www.fymbas.com

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

Other: Tiktok: @fymbasofficial