Ethiopian-born CEO and female football league owner Kanessa Muluneh was made strong through adversity from the very beginning. Her family fled the country after it was taken over by a hostile political party. She & her family found refuge and settled in the Netherlands. Although they found solace in a new country, she found herself feeling out of place & still missing her home. These challenging & humble beginnings helped build her character & she went from refuge to royalty creating the empire that she now has the pleasure to enjoy! She has put in the work & is paving the way for other women such as herself while being living proof that your past circumstances do not have to define your future.
As the brains and creator behind a popular plus-size fashion brand what made you get started & what makes it unique?
The idea started in 2017. I was a powerlifter seeking to become as strong as possible. My personal strength goal was to gain instead of lose weight. I was already wearing an XL back then & at the time that was the largest size most brands offered in Europe where I was living. After I became pregnant with my first child and could no longer work out, I began to research how to develop my clothing brand out of necessity. I told my husband about my plans although I had zero knowledge of the fashion business to which he responded, “That’s not something you would do”, his words challenged me & it was at that very moment I decided to give it a go. I made sketches and reached out to manufacturers & by the time I delivered my baby, I had also created my first pair of leggings in sizes 2 & 3 X and was wearing them to the gym. People took notice & started asking me where my clothes came from. I found a niche/target audience that had been completely neglected by society and saw an opportunity.
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