By Pauline Songco
Young entrepreneur and fashion advocate Mika Cabrera went from being a newbie designer to founder and head stylist of her fashion firm.
AUMA, which began only as a clothing line in 2017, is now one of the country’s fastest rising companies passionate about helping Filipinos discover their inner fashionista.
“Auma is a combination of the names of two people who mean a lot to me. You can say that it came from love. It’s passion and my love both for style and fashion that will always sustain it,” Mika said.
Growing up with parents who are both entrepreneurs, she unsurprisingly developed a knack for running a business.
“My parents are both entrepreneurs so I picked it up from them naturally,” she tells Daily Tribune. “But soon I realized I liked styling better than designing or making clothes. The firm still has the same name when we switched to styling a few years later. In 2018 it was still a clothing line but it officially became a fashion firm a year later.”
She always felt her love for styling even during her early days as a designer at AUMA. “In designing, you produce clothes, sew it and sell it. But selling wasn’t my forte — it wasn’t what I wanted. I just wanted to be in the fashion industry, simply because it’s my passion. I studied designing shortly before studying styling, too. It was, in the end, I realized I liked styling better,” Mika admitted.
She interned under Metro Magazine’s creative director, Eldzs Mejia. After finishing fashion school, she delved straight into creating her brand, empowered and determined to make a difference in the world of fashion. AUMA has already styled big names in the industry, including Anne Curtis, Nadine Lustre and James Reid.
“People would think fashion is just an extra thing in the world. For me, it’s something that gives people confidence. It empowers people,” she mused.
Mika further hopes that AUMA will someday be everyone’s go-to choice for all of their styling needs. She said, “We’re all starting to learn. I see that Filipinos are interested in fashion, it’s just that some just don’t know how to express themselves. That’s what I want to do. More than that though, we strive to empower women and men alike with their fashion and style. We want to spread the message that the way we present ourselves to the world affects our well-being.”
AUMA Fashion Styling Firm continues its business of making fashion one less thing to worry about. Clients can opt for well-selected and curated looks without the hefty bill that often comes with it. As Cabrera said, guide, edit, punctuate — but never dictate.
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