Meet Misa Chien of The Nesting Mommy in South Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Misa Chien.

Misa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Ever since I was a little girl, I knew that I wanted to do something in business. As I grew older, I veered more and more towards entrepreneurship. I come from a family of entrepreneurs, and it just felt like the right path. When I turned 18, I opened a business on eBay, reselling antique and vintage clothes I found at yard sales.

Later, I founded a Food Truck (Nom Nom Truck) and even had a stint in Silicon Valley, raising money and building a startup. Although all of these businesses seem very different, I learned to connect the dots over time and continue to build my entrepreneurial repertoire and experience in both marketing and sales.

It has not always been easy to follow this path– to be an entrepreneur you must face a lot of failure, hardship, and build a sense of grit that you will just keep moving forward, even if it means you will fall down a lot. However, in the end I’ve been so happy to follow this path.

I became a mom last year (in 2018) and during that time I especially learned to love the flexibility of working for myself and finding the work/life balance. I learned to love motherhood so much, in fact, that I decided to build a new company, The Nesting Mommy (https://www.thenestingmommy.com/) that is a resource to help moms successfully transition into motherhood, and realize their own path into becoming a new mom.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like any entrepreneurial story, it has been a very very bumpy road. I like to say that from the outside us entrepreneurs look like we’re crushing it all the time, but behind the scenes it is a very different story. For one of my previous businesses, Nom Nom Truck, it was just that. We received every single piece of press that you could imagine– Food Network, NY Times, Forbes– but behind that huge spotlight we were actually losing a lot of revenue, and having a difficult time building a sustainable business.

The Nesting Mommy – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Nesting Mommy is a resource for moms, giving them an honest look at motherhood. I am proud to be a mom, and it is great to connect with other moms and show them that motherhood is not always perfect as portrayed on social media. Instead it is your own, and you need to sometimes just embrace the craziness of it all. I had a difficult time recovering from my baby’s birth and found that there needed to be more honest conversation about how best to recover, and take care of yourself once you become a new mom. I hope that the Nesting Mommy will become that resource and support as many moms as possible through that difficult transition.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Have you ever had a dream, but been too afraid to pursue it, and put yourself out there? For me, that was going to Harvard. Ever since I was a teenager I wanted to attend Harvard, and follow in the footsteps of my great grandfather, grandfather, and father, but I was scared to apply, and that I would get rejected. I am dyslexic, and standardized tests are one of my biggest weaknesses, so I never felt confident enough that I could be accepted. I still remember receiving the application when I was 18, and even filling it out, but being too scared to mail it in when I was applying to colleges.

However, after becoming a mom, a new sense of confidence has taken hold of me, and I felt I was ready to take that jump, and just apply. Heck, if I could birth a human, what’s the worst that could happen in applying to my dream?

And, thanks to my many years of experience in entrepreneurship and as a leader, I was accepted. It made me realize that sometimes it is good to pursue your dreams, and put yourself out there, but it needs to be in your own terms, and in your own timeline. For me, this milestone feels right in my career and in my personal life, for where I am right now. If you had told me I was attending Harvard two years ago, I would not have believed you.

Contact Info:

• Website: thenestingmommy.com
• Email: thenestingmommy@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenestingmommy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenestingmommy

Image Credit:
Violeta Meyers

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.