Auravee

I'm Auravee Kantazama and I was born in 1963 in Northern Thailand. I moved to Chiang Mai to study marketing after earning a vocational certificate. I worked in a company but I felt it wasn't what I enjoyed, so I left that job and wanted to sell something on my own.

At that time, I had no idea what I wanted to sell so I went to a night bazaar to see what was popular with tourists. I bought a small desk and asked shops to give me handkerchiefs to sell.

"On my first day of my selling, I earned a 60 baht profit and I was so happy. On the second day, I earned 120 baht and after that, I earned more and more. I was so proud that I left the job to work on my own.

"Because of my hard work and because I could stay up very late at night, many local shop owners wanted to support me by giving me their clothing and silk to sell. When I sold them, I paid them back and invested my energy and patience instead of my money.

"A silk shop owner later rented me a small space to sell my clothes. It was very helpful on rainy days and I was able to sell more. "I did very well and shoppers placed orders with me. A wholesaler supplied me until the owner of silk store introduced me to a weaving and sewing workshop. I fell in love with creating apparel and was impressed with the skills of the tailors and seamstresses.

"With these opportunities, my silk shop grew. I had more space and gave work to the seamstresses who create the designs I offer.

"Because Thailand is now in a recession, stores have fewer customers and some of them were forced to go out of business. To adapt to the situation, I now offer traditional and working clothes, cushion covers and fabric for home décor. I hope you like them."