Life & Work with Maya Ru of Online Business

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maya Ru.

Hi Maya, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. LA in the 90s and early 2000s, felt like a haven for those with personal style. I was very aware of how people used their expression of fashion to inform the world of their identity: from luxury to beachy to alternative style. From an early age I had been obsessed with fashion. Though I didn’t always fit the clothes I desperately wanted to wear. My parents also kept a very firm hand on my fashion choices. Being from Belize, my parents had very traditional ideas of what was acceptable to wear.

At around 13, I moved with my family to Chicago, unsure if this new way of life would ever fit. But I ended up staying for a while. Turns out, Chicago had its own fashion scene it was just waiting for me to find. I finished my fine arts and fashion business degree at a Columbia College Chicago in 2017. The foundations of my business, RuPINK were getting started. I wanted to create something fun, subversive and identity-based. That same love of fashion that had blossomed in LA, had now turned into a serious business opportunity. I started selling resin-based jewelry with an edge via Etsy.

At the time, I chose to focus solely on accessories for my brand, in an effort to be more inclusive in sizing. I began doing fashion shows alongside other student designers, as well as dipping into styling for films and music videos. I also started producing fashion films under the RuPINK name. The world I was creating was exactly the world I remembered growing up around in LA: exciting, liberating, and unapologetic. The accessories were wild and daring, but always represented who I was and who I was growing into.

Once COVID hit, unsure of the future, I closed down RuPINK for the time being. I decided to go back to school for my graduate degree in Art Administration at the University of New Orleans. I hoped New Orleans would spark some inspiration I had lost during COVID, and could help with a new career direction. After I graduated in 2022, I began writing about my New Orleans experience. I managed to publish my first short story with Briar Press New York in their anthology series, These Dark Things. While I was gaining an audience with my writing, my love of fashion never stopped.

Soon I found myself thinking about RuPINK again. The love never went away. I thought about the ways I could expand the business into a clothing and lifestyle brand, as well as how to relaunch it. Eventually, in April 2026, I relaunch RuPINK as a clothing and lifestyle brand, with our inclusive sizing growing with every collection drop.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have definitely been struggles! In the early days, not a lot of people understood my vision and at the time, I didn’t really know how to articulate it beyond my creations. I think alot of archival RuPINK was about being shocking as much as it was about style. However, the values of my business always been based on expressing yourself and being fearless in that expression. As long as I hold fast to the values of RuPINK, despite the road, I will always get to the destination I want.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a multimedia designer bringing a curated eye to fashion, film, and print. My work is a celebration of the playful and subversive elements of life. In 2015, I created the online accessory store, RuPink. Over time, what was once a growing jewelry brand soon became a production house, creating fashion shows and short films. Currently, the brand is going through a relaunch, expanding to clothing with inclusive sizes. I’ve been exploring prints with the new logo, a pink upside-down demon emoji. The logo represents uninhibited fun and the freedom to be, reclaiming mischief and rejecting expectations.

I’m most proud of RuPink and all of the people who have contributed to its success over the years.

What sets me apart is my ability to transform. I’m able to experiment and take risks through different mediums like writing or film. My short story in These Dark Things, “The Bones of Ambrose Plantation,” was such a shift from anything I had done previously. It’s fiction, its gothic– which is definitely a 180 from the bold and very pink designs of RuPink. But it allows me to explore and my work to shift and progress through varying themes and styles. It’s always new and unexpected, which I think keeps me ahead of the curve.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I feel like this work has been talked about alot but it needs to be said, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear has been great at creating systems for my overall goal accomplishments.

Recently, I’ve been listening to the podcast from Emma Grede (co-founder of SKIMS), “Aspire,” which focuses on giving women in business advice from some of the top founders in the world.

Pricing:

• Mini Clear Backpack $48
• Green and Pink Smiley Shorts $55
• Alien 2-Piece Set $72
• Spiraling Mug $15
• Femme Crop Top $34

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rupinkbymayaru.etsy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rupinkstore/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RuPinkstore/
• Other: https://www.mayaruworks.com

Image Credits
@amandaasnacks
Naomi Stulman
Cas Jimenez