How Divine Lee Grew A Baby Clothes Store To A Full-blown Apparel And Homeware Online Business
The fashionista-vlogger quickly bounced back after contracting COVID-19 in 2020.
Entrepreneur and model Divine Lee Go excitedly shared on her vlog recently that she and husband Blake are expecting their third child. The couple are already parents to two-year-old son Baz (Basquiat Delfin) and one-year-old daughter Blanca (Blanca Dietrich), both of whom were conceived via in vitro fertilization. Their third bun in the oven is an IVF baby, too.
In July last year, the mom of two tested positive for COVID-19. She recounted this experience with MomBiz co-host Pia Guanio in November, saying the 14 days of isolation were both scary and painful.
“It was hard for me. I was isolated in the house, in the same house! Pero hindi ko sila nakakasama. Tapos naririnig ko ‘yung anak ko pag umiiyak, naririnig ko sila pag tumatawa. Ang sakit noon bilang nanay.”
“Nasanay ako na bawat tawa, takbo. Bawat iyak, takbo. So this time, wala ka talagang choice but [to] really stick to the 14 days,” she added.
Divine maintained a positive attitude and kept her body and mind strong throughout her ordeal.
“Now we’re all healthy, the kids are healthy. They didn’t get [COVID] because I was able to protect the household,” she clarifies.
Starting an online fashion business
Among her many roles, Divine is best known as a fashionista. Coupled with her entrepreneurial nature, Divine found this “skill” very useful when Baz was still a baby.
“Noong baby si Baz, ang sarap bihisan, ‘di ba? So I would post it on IG [Instagram]. I would post it on social media. So every time pino-post ko, ang daming mommies nagtatanong, ‘Saan mo binili iyan?’
“So when I started getting to know more baby brands, I started talking to the distributors. Mayroon akong binigay na ten designs. The minute it launched, it crashed the site. So gumawa kami Part 2.”
That’s when Divine thought of putting up a website and turning something she enjoys doing into a business.
“Naisip ko, I’m raising a little person. And no matter how big this person becomes, kahit gaano siya katanda lumaki, [in] my eyes, little pa rin siya! Ok, I?m gonna name it Raising Little.”
“We now handle and distribute 6 Spanish brands, 4 UK brands, and then we have an incoming apat na American brand. We have a lot of small collabs, like recently, we decided to help the sewers of Taguig that were affected by the pandemic, so we have a Tatak Pinoy section.”
With a lot of time in her hands, Divine worked on creating an app and launching it during the pandemic.
“I decided to put up my own app! The minute we launched the app, we became part of the Top 100 sa Shopping ng iTunes, and then, nag-top din kami sa Google App Store. Those are the small wins, small victories ng isang mompreneur.”
Aside from Raising Little, she also launched another online clothing business made specifically for women, and named it Lounge Edit.
“Lounge Edit is technically an aspirational woman -- a woman who works, a woman who takes care of herself, and a woman who stays fit,” Divine explains.
There are clothes you can wear comfortably at home, even for your Zoom meetings.
Their gym wear is fashionable enough that they are called the ‘From the Mats to the Streets’ type of clothes.
They also have classy sleep wear for the most comfortable clothes you can wear to bed.
Divine shared with Pia how delighted they were with the warm reception even before they launched.
“Sobrang daming bumili, na paubos na iyong stocks namin bago pa kami mag-launch! After three days! So, yeah, now it’s doing well! We strengthened our departments on that. So ngayon, may HOME selection na rin ang Lounge Edit.”
The icing on top of Divine’s pandemic journey was that she was asked to join MomBiz as the TV show’s co-host in November 2020.
“I wear a lot of hats: si Divine host, si Divine mom, si Divine fashionista, you can say a lot of things about me and what I do. But if there are two things I’m most passionate about, it’s about business and it’s about being a mom, and it’s about being a Mom in Business! So, this is a show na perfect sa akin!,” she proudly says.
Catch MomBiz every Thursday, 8 pm on Colours. Available on Cignal TV Ch. 202 HD and Ch. 60 SD, and for FREE on Cignal Play.
