May 1, 2017

Meet Aya Sumika of Midori in Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aya Sumika.

Aya, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Midori was founded by my mother, Midori in 1989. My Husband and I purchased the business in 2010 taking on the challenge of infusing new creative energy into the business, building upon the established brand.

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?
There is nothing smooth about business! There are struggles daily to overcome, and mountains to climb throughout every year we have owned the business thus far and I’m sure forever will.

Business like life is never constant, there are unexpected challenges and changes thrown our way to overcome and learn from all the time.

Both my Husband and I’s backgrounds are in creative. We had no experience in business when we purchased the company, yet our inspiration came from the high-quality products, a strong vision for where we wanted to go with the company building upon the established brand, and what kind of leaders we wanted to be.

With that said, we decided to jump with very little hesitation, believing that everything would come together (overnight) through our passion, will, and work ethic. Well, not exactly….sitting here years later. What is true are those same qualities we still possess is what has kept us in the game to continue to rise after each time we are knocked down.

Operations, building a team and understanding how to establish a strong financial foundation were definitely some of our biggest challenges we overcame over the last 6 years. Without this understanding, creative has no place to live within a business, or it will sadly die very quickly not having the support of a strong operation.

Today is a different story, we now know, to even begin to achieve and continue to achieve our long-term vision for Midori, and holding onto the moral foundation and culture we have established, we must continue to face battle after battle, and more pain, struggle, failure, heartbreak, risk, vulnerability, and walking through our fears every day.

The invisible blessing through all the hardship that comes with business, is we now have earned a different kind of strength and wisdom to lead a team and navigate through success and failure guiding us where we are meant to be within our personal and professional lives, that for sure will be the one thing constant…

Please tell us about Midori.
Midori is a luxury Ribbon and Gift Wrap brand that was one of the pioneers in bringing high end ribbon to the United States imported from Japan back in 1989. Through the company’s early success, we have had the incredible gift of loyal customers that continue to have spread the word about Midori over the years.

We specialize in importing high quality ribbon from all over the world and design high end gift wrap, which is hand screen printed on 100% recycled cotton. We have several services including custom printing on ribbon that has been a favorite to many businesses and brides.

Our newest service is our gift wrapping service. We offer a full service, that is very unique and design focused. We hope to continue to see more of a following, especially within our own backyard in Los Angeles, giving us the opportunity to create long lasting impressions in moments of importance within people’s lives through the art of giving.

We sell to wholesalers as well as direct to consumers.

We support our customers in creative projects at hand, events, custom needs, weddings, packaging for their branding etc. and our products are carried throughout the United States in gift boutiques and department stores.

We are most proud of selling products that inspire creativity, and it is one of our number one priorities to make sure we uphold the quality off our products, differentiating ourselves from other ribbon companies, and providing wonderful customer care.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite memories from childhood would be exploring the jungle, beaches and waterfalls in Hana, on Maui, Hawaii. I spent countless hours within my imagination alone in nature and still have such profound memories of that independence in the wild at such a young age.

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