Mayrelyn Phan, a Junior at SLHS, turned a difficult time in her life into something remarkable: advocating the importance of having self-love to others as well as using it as a constant reminder for herself.

The bright, bold sweaters we’ve all seen around the school have a significant message that goes beyond its words. Mayrelyn says the true meaning behind Self-Love is: “Having love for yourself instead of giving all your love to others. A lot of people hate themselves and still give love to others. Self-love is a huge meaning to me because I’ve always done that in my life, I’ve never had the opportunity to love myself.”

Mayrelyn confessed, “Middle school was a difficult time where I didn’t have any self-love, that’s where I was at the lowest point in my life because I felt uncontent with myself. This resulted in struggling in a lot of my classes, and constantly bursting into tears.”

But, after being inspired by her parents and encouraged by her best friend, Mayrelyn at the beginning of March 2018 decided to make her idea reality.

Acquiring funds to launch the brand was a big struggle, Mayrelyn explained, “I’ve always wanted to begin a brand, but they were never successful so I thought of doing preorders, so I wouldn’t lose profit by overproducing.”

On the first drop of merchandise, 50 percent of the profits were donated to a Leukemia patient’s Go Fund Me page who needed funds to come to the U.S. to receive treatment. The remaining was utilized as saving for Mayrelyn’s future merchandise drops. Currently, Mayrelyn is helping her family with the profits she makes from self-love.

One of Mayrelyn’s goals is to reach out to more people who just need someone to talk to. Mayrelyn said, “If anyone has any problems and need someone to talk to, you can always contact me and I’ll always be willing to listen.”

Mayrelyn is hoping to spread awareness to others about the importance of loving themselves first, not to the point of being selfish, but also not giving love to people who are unappreciative of it. Having good mental health is really important, especially for your well-being. Therefore, it’s okay to put your well-being ahead of others, since you must take care of your health first.

The advice Mayrelyn would give to others who want to start their own brand is to always remember your roots, and do not forget what helped you get started.C