Meet Emily Duong of Elite Skate Wear in Newport Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Duong.

Emily, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Before starting my figure skating dress brand Elite Skate Wear, I was a competitive elite-level figure skater and competed all the way through to the Senior level. During the years prior to starting my business, I fell in love with the artistic and musical aspects of the sport and parlayed this into designing and choosing my own custom dresses for my programs. At the age of 16, I decided to branch out and create designs and final costumes for other skaters in the sport and continued with building this business throughout college.

Today, at the age of 22, I have scaled Elite Skate Wear into a global brand and community, with International skaters wearing our costumes at the Junior Grand Prix and World level. In addition, I started my own personal brand and blog, Emily Elizabeth, at the age of 20 during my college career, where I became fascinated with content creation and branding on social media platforms. Today, I have expanded the blog to a niche mindset and lifestyle focused blog, while launching a personal development focused podcast with my creative partner Siena Mirabella, called Young & Ambitious Podcast.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Of course, it has not been a smooth road. My main struggles occurred throughout my late teenage years, as well as throughout college during a prominent growth period. These obstacles mainly involved mental toughness in dealing with the natural ups and downs of life and individuals we deal with.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Elite Skate Wear – what should we know?
My business Elite Skate Wear specializes in providing custom figure skating dresses and competition apparel for the competitive figure skating community. We have also expanded into becoming a prominent online community for figure skaters, providing and sharing valuable tips for those involved in the sport, and bringing a sense of community into the space.

Elite Skate Wear is distinguished from others with its sleek and modern design, as well as the brand and community aspect that no other dressmaker in the industry provides. We approach the business as a community and brand focused company, not solely a dressmaker providing a tangible product.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My mom deserves a big amount of credit, as she initially assisted me in the beginning of this business journey, being the original dress designer of my custom dresses herself. She helped build the foundation of the business, especially with suppliers and the basic process of handling the behind-the-scenes, such as emails, product listings, customers, and etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emilyelizabeth.blog
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/emilyeduong, www.instagram.com/eliteskatewear
• Other: www.eliteskatewear.com

Image Credit:
Photo by Teddie Hart

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