As founders of a demi-fine jewellery brand who aim to only deliver the most unique designs, Tan May Juin and Ooi Jun Wen make it a point to never repeat a collection—or ever mass produce
When Tan May Juin and Ooi Jun Wen of demi-fine jewellery brand MYJN (an acronym that stood for the couple’s names, May and Jun) moved from Penang to Kuala Lumpur in November 2019, they hadn’t accounted for a nationwide lockdown five months after they settled in.
While demi-fine jewellery brand MYJN may be young, the founders even found time to launch an all-natural, cruelty-free essential oil brand called HYĀNG in the first half of 2021. Although plans to expand their online business to physical stores have been put on hold for now, the couple were admittedly relieved to find that the pandemic hadn’t disrupted their current business model—which was an entrepreneurial journey that took most of their life’s savings, sleepless nights, as well as nearly two years to learn the basics of e-commerce.
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The first year was the hardest. From content creation and photography to product design and marketing, everything was done in-house, with Jun being responsible for marketing and business relations while May, with her background in photography, is its creative backbone. The couple recalls going door-to-door with their business plans in hand, in search of people willing to teach them the ropes on running an e-commerce store; they went so far as to meet a friend at 3am!
“It wasn’t sheer luck that got us through hard times,” Jun states firmly. “Nor was it some innate business acumen, honestly. It was the amount of work that we put into building the brand itself, as well as the relationships we made along the way, that allowed MYJN to thrive in the first place.
“Take HYĀNG for example. One of the major reasons why we decided to move to KL and branch out in an entirely new avenue was because of a business partner of ours who is also a long-time friend that stuck with us through thick and thin.”
