Mar 01, 2016 #imprintpresents Sophia Chang at the Downtown Independent recap
It’s both weird and fun to see friends doing a Q&A in a public setting. You might already know a thing or two about the subject, but then there’s the digging around about personal professional stuff that you’ve always been too sheepish or polite to ask about. Imprint’s own Jeffrey Ng (a.k.a. jeffstaple) was the perfect person to do the digging on Thursday night at the Downtown Independent because of his familiarity with the sneaker and street style obsessed world that Sophia Chang’s star is shooting through.
Their conversation began by focusing on her immigrant upbringing and childhood in Queens, where she was exposed to everything but emerged with an unstoppable work ethic, cornrows, and Air Jordan 1s, not to mention a love for illustration and design. At Parsons, she not only took her required classes but surveyed everything that interested her. On top of that, she committed to internships, volunteer gigs, and anything else to get her foot in the door.
Because Sophia’s style appears so effortless, it is easy for casual fans to think that she drifts from one cool gig to another: gift boxes for the NBA, a complete line for PUMA, illustration for Complex magazine. But she is constantly thinking of where to go next, what else she can be doing, and how much is she supposed to get paid anyway? Jeff calls her a straight-up hustler.
Her non-hustling side is actually more interesting to me. I rather enjoyed her defining success as being able to hire friends, describing the Undo magazine she co-created in order to work with friends, and dreaming of one day creating a work space for like-minded artists, designers, and entrepreneurs to work side by side. Beneath the big-name brands that she works for, strategic social networking, and branding of herself, there is a big heart.
Afterward, a few members of the audience asked for practical advice on how to enter or ascend in the streetwear scene. But, in the end, her worth doesn’t come from software tricks or sizing up the competition. It’s her eye–and that includes being courageous and unflinching as well as perpetually critical.
My wife and I briefly chatted with Sophia shortly before the talk, and she admitted that there wasn’t too much planning. Jeff basically ambushed her. But that doesn’t mean that she wasn’t prepared. The talk wasn’t an overview of her young career as much as as a demonstration of her foundation, having just moved from New York to Los Angeles and hinting at where she might go next…
Meet Sophia at esymai.com and follow Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.