Andrea Morales, DLX is the Co-Founder of AME.M, a luxury line of leather products and accessories based in Brazil. Andrea is also a recent alumni of Future London Academy’s Design Leaders Programme, earning the post-nominal certification of an Exponential Design Leader (DLX).
AM: Strong, brave, and direct.
AM: I was a ballet dancer when I was a kid. I started when I was six years old, and this became my real passion for a long time. I was so dedicated to it. But I needed money to pay for the classes, the clothes, the costumes. So I started to work at 13 years old teaching ballet to the beginners so I could keep dancing. I did this until I was 18, when I decided I didn’t want to study dance anymore - I wanted to go and dance in a professional company.
There were only three dance companies in Brazil at the time, everything was so competitive. I wanted to dance, this was my passion, but I still needed to find a way to make money. So, when I was 19, I had this brilliant idea to open a small business with my aunt, who was a stylist and designer. We started a lingerie business, and the business grew and grew and grew. So much so that by the time I was 20, I secured a meeting with The Walt Disney Company to make lingerie with Mickey and Minnie Mouse prints. I couldn’t believe it - so many people around the world would take one look at me and say ‘no’ based on how young I was. But somehow, I managed to talk to the president of The Walt Disney Company in the lobby, who agreed to sign me on based on my passion and expertise.
I worked with The Walt Disney Company for five years. It was such a beautiful school for me. There is a quote from Walt Disney, which I’ll never abandon: ‘Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done, and done right.’ Because when we’re creative, we have lots of ideas all the time. But when you know the idea is good, you can’t abandon it. You can’t listen to the people who say that you’re so crazy, that idea doesn’t exist, you can never do it. You have to listen to your ideas, you have to be passionate, driven, and determined.
AM: I had my first business, which I launched when I was 19, and ran that for over ten years. Then, when I had my first daughter at 31, I decided to close the business. But that didn’t stop me from working; I was always thinking and creating, finding ways to provide for my family. I continued to work in lingerie and retail underwear, climbing my way to the top as the Product and Marketing Director for Loungerie S/A. I think my success working on projects with my team came because I started my life as an entrepreneur. I always acted like an owner, never an employer.
But being at the top is not easy. When you achieve a position at this level, the funnel is narrow. You have to fight for your position, it’s a daily battle. It’s always difficult as a woman working in a man’s world.
I loved my position. I loved the people, the salary, and the respect for myself and others. But you only have one life, you have to make it your own. So eventually I tell my husband, ‘I want to try again. I want to build another business with my ideas and my creative freedom. I don’t want to die before I try again.’
When you start a new business, you have the opportunity to do what you really believe in. So it’s just about building a brand, it’s about creating a new company with new concepts. I wanted to make something really different. The world is changing so fast, and I think there are very few companies who are willing to transform their business and care about their people and their process. We're not a boring luxury brand, we're an irreverent luxury brand.
AM: First of all, it’s all about the people. It’s a shame the ways we treat people in outdated processes. I believe in a different strategy for hiring, as well as for setting expectations for your employees and for the company as a whole. And the company needs to have one language which bridges the brand and the company together. I feel so sad when I see companies who advertise their support for diversity, female empowerment, LGBTQ rights, when they aren’t actively making diverse hiring practices. It’s a marketing tool and it’s disrespectful to the employees. I want to have a transparent relationship between my company and my employees.
The second point is about what we want to give to our consumers. Nowadays, there is a lot of buzz around self-love and natural beauty, which is so important. But a lot of times, I’m finding what the brands are really saying is, ‘Stop dreaming. You have to accept yourself.’ It feels forceful. We need to help people dream again. You know, I know who I am, I’m happy with who I am, with my gender, with my natural beauty. But what happened to dreaming? What happened to saying, ‘Oh, my god, I want to be this girl or this woman.’ To not only accept yourself but to show people the possibilities of who they can be. Life is so hard, I think it’s our responsibility to bring back the dream with fashion.
The third thing is that I have a vision for sustainability with my brand, even when it feels impossible. Working with leather means we chose a very polemic material to work with. So I’m working to find solutions in an industry which might not always have respect for sustainability. I value sustainability in my day-to-day business, not just for campaigns.
AM: When you wear a leather jacket or pants, you know this is a special occasion. These kind of clothes give you power. There’s this feeling, this knowing, that if you wear these kind of clothes, people really look out for you. It’s not just about beauty, it’s about the attitude. Leather is for the people who want to be a little bit rebellious. We’re not a boring luxury brand, we’re not an irreverent luxury brand.
AM: The plan is to have our products available in Brazil and hopefully in the United States for next year. We also have a possibility for a flagship store, which would be more than a store, it would be an experience. We want to showcase our strong brand personality.
We’re also planning to expand into more products. We’re working on adding more items, like perfume and accessories. And after that, we’re planning collaborations with other strong brands for shoes and bags. AME.M is an experience, and we want to grow that experience in stores and with other amazing products and partnerships around the world.
AM: You know, at the end of the programme, four or five of my friends came up to me and said, ‘Andrea, you totally changed from the first module to the last one. You are a different person.’ When I started the first module, I was not feeling like myself, because I was going through so much career change. There were so many thoughts about the brand and about my family swirling around in my head. I was scared to leave my position, my salary, to take a risk with AME.M.
But when I arrived for the first module, and started meeting instructors and having big conversations with my fellow delegates, I thought, ‘My God, I’m finally in the right place.’ I was in the right place to find my path and to improve from where I started to where I am now. With each module, I was learning and relearning concepts from different points of view, sharing ideas across different cultures and perspectives. You can feel your ideas and your beliefs open, and you feel safe to embrace the change. From the first module to the last one, I really changed so many aspects of my personal and professional life. And being in classes with these phenomenal instructors, it was an emotional experience. I used to be careful with calling something emotional, but by the end, I thought, ‘Come on, Andrea, how could you not see how important it is to deal with emotional things?’ My whole mindset changed – it was a really incredible experience for me.
AM: In leadership, you have to have so many skills and achievements to back your work. But there is one question to ask yourself that is more important than anything else: How can I inspire people?
You can know everything there is to know, but none of that matters if you don’t know how to inspire others. This is something that Future London Academy reignited in me, because I forgot it along the way. You can dive deep into your work day by day and focus on results, but you can’t forget that you exist to inspire others and get them to believe in you and in themselves.
The second lesson is that you need to know the box in order to think outside of the box. It’s so important to have intuition and to trust your instincts, but you have to make sure you know and understand your step-by-step business plan. The creative decision making can emerge from there.
The third thing, and this was something that was so important to me through the Design Leaders Programme, is networking. As a Design Leader, I could now network with people all around the world with different areas of expertise. This is such an important return on investment after the programme. Of course, the content is absolutely amazing, the instructors are unbelievably amazing, but the networking is giving me life. At any moment, I can call my friend in Singapore or Australia if I need advice, or if I want to do a business deal, or if I just want to have some fun with my friends. Networking with an incredible group of humans is just the most amazing opportunity I could have asked for.
AM: During the first module, I think we were all so excited, we were all acting like teenagers again. We were all mostly in our forties and fifties, but there was this feeling like we’re young again. The connection with everybody was so powerful, and being in London felt so freeing. It felt like we were at a summer camp!
AM: Absolutely! If anyone is interested in learning more about the brand, or would like to sponsor AME.M around the world, you can reach out at andrea@houseofamem.com.
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