ABOUT

Drawing on over 20 years' of building brands, designing, sourcing, and leading projects while living across the globe, Malia has a breadth and depth of experience she adeptly applies as a creative consultant.

Malia is a reliable partner who runs projects from sourcing and specifying furniture, fabrics, finishes and accessories, to meeting with clients and guiding the project and process of a remodel or building a new home.

Her objective is to share her vision, design aesthetic, and deliver simply beautiful homes that create a space that suits the clients’ lifestyle perfectly.

No task is too large nor too small for Malia to roll up her sleeves and calmly lead the process, deliver the results and communicate along the way.

Where it all began
Returning to her childhood roots as the daughter of an architect father and fashion merchandiser mother, Malia enjoys her daily work with interios deign project that span the country. Her secret is to utilize her many tools developed and sharpened during her globe-trotting earlier career. There were many great opportunities to learn and experience new products, markets, sourcing, developing, specifying and designing, some of which were

building her eponymous & respected branding & graphics business in Hong Kong for 10 years

as lead designer in American fashion houses and home accessories brands, she sources and develops products best by rolling up her sleeves and working with suppliers and teams she swiflty pulls together. the successful (& funny) stories to tell are cred.

interested and willing to dive into a new venture while growing her skills, she’s had a career that never cease to amaze…

Running sales of furniture and lighting to interior designers, developers and architects, check.

Blue Jeans and T-shirt design lead for Levi’s, check.

Branded presentations, logo identity, graphics and gifts for Fortune 500 clients as a foreigner, check.

Serving her local community with project work, packing groceries at a local food pantry, having a blast as the high school swag committee chair (Covid couldn’t even slow us down with record setting sales) designing & selling hats, apparel and gear to families and supporters of Glenbard West High School, adaptive curiosity that developing brands through graphics, presentations, packaging,

, , In her current role as the right hand wingman to the Principal of a boutique interior design firm, she collaborates with clients, contractors, and manufacturers to deliver a customer focused experience. Organizing the minutiae and juggling balls in the air as project grow from concept to installation, she keeps her eye on the job and always delivers results.

while delivering on breath taking and handsome residences across the country.

across the country, to specifying fabrics, furniture, finishes and fabrics, manufacturers and

, Malia most enjoys design thinking, leading teams and partnering with clients, she adds value to businesses as a collaborative creative director, communications leader, graphic and product designer, and account executive. 

The 11 years spent in Hong Kong inspired founding Studio M, her boutique branding and design firm, serving Fortune 500 companies to budding entrepreneurs and non-profits establishing and growing their branding efforts.

Collaborative by nature, she passionately consults with her clients developing captivating stories, inspires design applications, and identifies strategic growth opportunities.

Her experience spans a variety of sectors from retail, fashion & textiles, sporting goods, food & beverage, home accessories, hospitality and interiors. Some of her posts include-

Levi Strauss & Co. as Senior Creative & Designer, market research, identifying graphic & print technique trends, art directing and leading a team of freelance designers to create the popular Levi’s Women’s and Girls’ t-shirt collections, while also creating the sales kits for Little Levi’s national sales team.

As Brand Manager and Designer at Eddie Bauer, Malia directed all on-product brand graphics, designed & developed accessories with domestic and international suppliers from concept to retail. And, she had the good fortune of designing the 2000 USA Olympic Canoe & Kayaking Team uniforms, too.

As Vice President of Sales and Program Management at Th.inc!, she opened and led the sales and business opportunity with Target Corporation’s private label home textile, tableware and furniture businesses; building strategic and trusted partnerships with Target’s management, merchants and sourcing teams.

Her talents lie in her ability to wear many hats, to look at projects from many angles, and to refine ideas into fresh products, services and experiences. Her ability and nature to roll up her sleeves and dive into projects makes Malia a nimble manager of creative teams and handles clients with aplomb, paying attention to detail, and keeping a sense of humor.

A native of Hawaii, Malia has lived her life across the globe. While currently based in Chicago, she works from virtually anywhere.

CLIENTS

Art Collectors
Asta Hotel
Cathay Pacific Airlines
Clara Williams Jewelry
Compass Realty
CrossFunction Flexible Workspace
The Economist
Financial Times
Florté Jardin des Thés
The Gettys Group
Ginsberg + Chan Wine Merchants
Hong Kong Maritime Museum 
Jean Coté Events
Jill Lewis Architecture & Design
Langham Place Hotel
Macquarie Bank
Microsoft
Miss Universe Japan
Nanda Travel
Non-Profits
Nordstrom
USA Olympic Canoe & Kayak Team
St Honore Bakery
Target

INDUSTRIES

Apparel / Accessories
Architecture / Interior Design
Banking
Consumer Packaging
Education
Fashion
Finance
Food & Beverage
Gifts
Health / Pharma
Hotel / Hospitality
International
Luxury
Museums
Publications
Real Estate
Retail
Sports
Stationery
Start Ups
Technology
Textiles
Travel / Tourism
Wine & Spirits