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#ad On this episode of For A Living, created in partnership with Chase Ink, Alice Kim takes us on her entrepreneurial journey, which began when she turned her biggest insecurity into a thriving fashion business: PerfectDD, an inclusive brand that caters to those with fuller busts.

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Transcript
00:01This whole experience of starting Perfected was therapeutic.
00:05Really wasn't my body that I disliked.
00:08It was how clothes fit my body that I was unhappy with.
00:12My name is Alice Kim, and I designed clothes for women with a fuller bust for a living.
00:18I was known as the Asian girl with a fuller bust.
00:22So it just became a part of my identity.
00:26I ran the New York City Half Marathon in 2019.
00:29And I had to wear three sports bras.
00:32At the end of it, I had blisters all over my chest.
00:35And I was like, there has to be a better solution.
00:38So I designed a high impact sports bra for myself.
00:41But I knew that there would be other women that would be interested in it.
00:45So I just started talking about it on social media, asking my friends.
00:50And I mean, there was a waitlist for it.
00:53I started Perfected in December of 2020.
00:57And it is a fuller bust inclusive clothing line.
01:01During COVID, everyone was wearing t-shirts and sweatshirts.
01:04So that's when I started designing a better fitting t-shirt and sweatshirt for fuller bust women.
01:10Where we don't look like a tent.
01:12And we're not subject to shirts pulling across our chest.
01:15This apartment quickly became my office, my photography studio, as well as my sleeping quarters.
01:27There's so much that I have to think about for my business.
01:29So having the chasing business cash card is almost like having an assistant.
01:33The cashback rewards gives me the freedom and takes the weight off of me of being so budget conscious to
01:39treat my team.
01:40I've used the cashback rewards to book flights and buy tickets for my team members to attend conferences with me.
01:49It's almost discretionary income that I'm able to give back to my business.
01:54I was born and raised in Queens, New York, but my parents are from Korea.
01:59I always loved fashion growing up.
02:02But what I was taught before, there was no money in fashion.
02:05So my parents said I have to be a doctor, a lawyer.
02:08The entrepreneurial journey has helped me find my self-confidence, helped me find my voice.
02:14And it's almost been therapy for myself.
02:17My niece, Logan, keeps me grounded.
02:21Oh my God, I love her. I'm going to cry.
02:23She started developing at eight years old.
02:25So I bought her her first sports bra, but she's very conscious of it.
02:29So I just said to her, regardless of whatever size you are, you're perfect and beautiful.
02:35Every day I remind myself this is who I'm working for and working towards to empower little girls like her.
02:42And even grandmothers who have never felt confident about their bodies because of their shape and how they're born.
02:47I want them to feel confident.
02:49I want everybody to love their body despite the size and the shape.
02:53So this is who I designed for and I work for it to be their voice and to represent them.
03:13And I work for her.
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