Who is Kamila?

 

   I am not Kamila.

   Kamila is actually a combination of my name (Hello, I am Mimi), my sister's and my mom's. These two are the people who helped me a lot when I was starting.

   4AM Art came from the fact that my parents trained me to wake up early to study since I was a kid. Don’t worry, I sleep early too! That became my routine for 10 years that even after graduating from college, I still wake up early. Since I do not want to waste my time, I started doing arts and craft to spend that leisure time. This is where Kamila was born.

   As mentioned in the earlier blog, for the first year of Kamila, I was operating with one goal only: share my art and get income enough that I can sustain doing it without using my own money. Well, art as a hobby can get expensive. I really do not have plans on where I want to bring it and how long I want to do it. In my mind, as long as I enjoy doing it, then I’ll continue.

   When my marketing officer came into the picture, I realized that I already have a vehicle to pursue greater causes… to pursue bigger things.

   For me, that bigger thing is to help people and change the world for the better as much as my capacity can. This is the reason why I decided to make a career out of politics; to serve as a government official. I know I am contributing a lot there. I admire my boss so much. I am lucky because I can help someone make a change; a very big change in the Philippines.

   But I felt like I wanna do more. I wanna be more.

   Hopefully, through using Kamila I get to do that. In the near future, we plan to shift Kamila into a social enterprise. Hopefully we can tap community to help us craft Kamila pieces for you. In the longer run, we aim to establish Kamila as a portfolio of passion projects that are local, ethical and eco-friendly.

   In the next few months, we will launch eco-friendly fashion line using fabrics made from PET bottles.

   The dream here is to revolutionize people’s consumption. I want to promote the need to know the story of the brand, to know where the items you are wearing and eating is coming from. I really think a lot of people are willing to spend a bit more if it means that the farmers who harvested their food are eating well too. Or that the people weaving their clothes have money to spend for their own clothes as well.

   Since buying things for us is inevitable, why not spend our money for something that can support the life of our fellow countrymen too. This can be done through supporting local business.

   On the other side of the spectrum, I also want to help small businesses and even individuals who wanted to establish one. I want us to be one of the channels for them to be known in the market. This way, access to eco-friendly and ethical products are easier and faster for people as well.

   I really think through this, we can make a change for the better. The economy is going to be more vibrant as income goes directly to the hands of the local hand workers. More importantly, with the scarce resources this Earth have, we can make sure that each and every item we get from the soil is used to produce more meaningful products.