Jiabei Chen is the Co-Founder of Ampere, a luxury lingerie company focused on fit and sold exclusively online. Until last February, Jiabei was a corporate lawyer. “Quitting my job was not an easy decision,” says Jiabei, “I had spent three years and six figures getting a law degree but my dream was to be an entrepreneur.”
“My co-founder and I started Ampere because we believe in the power of lingerie to make a woman feel confident and beautiful. As we set about executing our vision for Ampere, we realized that the skills we acquired in our corporate jobs were enormously useful. My co-founder and I met during a banking internship, nearly 10 years ago. She stayed in finance while I pursued law. My legal skills allowed us to draft our own formation documents and review our own contracts. My co-founder’s finance knowledge helped us set business goals and keep our expenses in check. Other factors that were helpful are my Chinese based parents and my ability to speak Mandarin. There is very little lingerie production in America today so shortly after I quit my job as a lawyer, I hopped on a plane to China, my dad rented a car and my mom got on the phone with factories. We drove around rural Guangdong Province and dropped in on manufacturers until we found the right one.”
“It’s been nearly eight months since I left the comfort of a salaried job to pursue my dreams. As we head towards launch, there hasn’t been a moment I’ve regretted it.” Ampere is set to launch in Fall 2012. Until then, you can sign up for priority access on amperenyc.com.
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