Inspiring change often begins with a single step—and for Shawna Hulse, founder of Rise Fashion, that step was a leap of faith into entrepreneurship. Driven by a lifelong passion for fashion and a desire to make a positive impact, Shawna transformed her vision into a brand committed to self-expression, creativity, and community empowerment. This journey wasn’t easy, marked by career pivots, cultural immersion, and the challenges of balancing a business with her teaching role in rural Japan. Yet, through perseverance and purpose, Rise Fashion was born to provide a platform for emerging artists and creators, amplify voices, and foster opportunities. As you read through this interview, you’ll see how Shawna’s love for art and fashion, combined with her commitment to helping others rise, has shaped the mission of Rise Fashion.

1. What inspired you to start Rise Fashion?

I have always had an interest in fashion and clothes. To me, fashion is art, fashion is self-expression, fashion is freedom. I am excited to be able to share products that can be part of such a community. As I am creating a business it serves as a platform and a voice. I would like to use my new voice to give other small creators/ designers/ artists a place to show off their talents. Long term, we would like to be apart of the community to help create something in the world. Rise Fashion would like to create positive change no matter how small. Currently, we are still a very new company that has not really hit the ground running just yet, so we need more time. However as the name implies, Rise Fashion wants to be a place where opportunities will Rise.

Selfishly, I am trying to create an opportunity for myself. But at the same time, want this to be about more than just myself. Rise Fashions company mission is unfortunately not set in stone just yet as we are still in the early stages, but we care about woman and education and hope to either work with organizations that dedicate themselves to these causes, or creating our own. However, the former will most likely be the cause as orginzations that already exist have resources we do not and can help more people than we can on our own.

2. Can you share a bit about your personal journey that led you to create this business?

I am originally from Alaska, as a child I wanted to be a chef, Starting culinary school once out of high school, But dropped out as I ran out of money for college. As well, after working in commercial kitchens I had decided I did not want to do this for the rest of my life.

At this same time, I made an online friend who was Japanese and she opened my eyes to a bigger world. She was basically going “look at my culture, my food, my language” I got really interested into Japan as a whole and started learning the language.

I continued working in commercials kitchens for several more years, but then got the opportunity to work as a contractor for the oil companies. Worked as a housekeeper for 3 years in several oil camps in the

Arctic Circle. It was sort of like working in a hotel, at the same time I went back to school and got my Bachelors in Communications through the University of Arizona Global Campus. During this time teaching is something I knew I wanted to do. I had grown to adore and research linguistics and wanted to pursue a linguistical career. Once I got my degree I began looking for jobs in Japan, It took almost a year to find a job as most of them stated you must be in the country to get a visa.

Getting to work in Japan and be immersed in the language has become a dream come true. I am able to experience the culture on a very personal level as living in rural Japan, foreigners are not common out here and I feel that English is much less available to travelers here than in the major cities where tourists are expected.

By the time I entered the country, I had been learning Japanese for 7 years and could communicate well, but my language skills have exploded since moving here.

The company I work for, had had us do skills tests so we fit the needs of our schools and I was sent to my current school. I absolutely adore my school and the children. But the pay is not great, so I want to improve my situation. My goal is to be able to continue teaching but I put a lot of serious thought into how I would be able to do so.

Creating Rise Fashion the way it is comes from an interest in Fashion I have had since I was a child, I loved watching media like Americas Next Top Model and Devil Wears Prada as a child and always thought it was so cool. As well as looking at magazines of all the beautiful women and men.

Creating this business also means creating a platform and I feel it would be a waste not to use it. I can use this platform to try and bring positive change into the world.

I think part of this thinking also comes from regret. Working for the oil companies I made great money, but the fact does not change that I was working for the oil industry. This seems like a chance to make things right after being part of something wrong.

3.  As an ESL teacher in rural Japan, what challenges did you face that motivated you to venture into entrepreneurship?

Very low pay, I love teaching and wish to continue teaching however I cannot afford to do it long term on the pay salary alone. Last year I made 1.8million yen for the year, which comes out to about 12,000USD. I am very grateful for this opportunity to get to teach and use my degree, but it is not sustainable long term. In Japan, cost of living is lower so I am able to get buy, however I have had to balance my savings for both getting into entrepreneurship and getting by. I needed help, so I decided to try and help myself, create a new opportunity for myself. I truly wish to continue teaching and making this a career, while at the same time, Rise Fashion is more than a side hustle for me. I am dedicating myself to it, to see it work knowing I can use it as a platform to help create a better world.

4.  You mentioned using your savings from previous work to start this business. Can you tell us more about that experience and how it influenced your decision?

Previously I worked as a housekeeper for the oil companies in the Arctic Circle, it was set up kind of like a hotel but you lived on site for weeks at a time. The job made great money, But honestly I was unhappy to be there, and will not go back even if I end up moving back home to Alaska.

I am very grateful for this, as I have applied for business grants but have been unsuccessful so far. As well, because of my situation of being a U.S based business but being physically based in Japan means loans have been complicated and unsuccessful, so I have taken a chance on myself and truly believe I can make this work if I give it enough time.

I am also very honored for this chance from Harness Magazine to be given a platform to speak about my experiences. It gives me confidence that I this can become a great thing.

5.  Collaborating with small artists is a unique aspect of Rise Fashion. What drove you to create these partnerships?

Working with smaller artists and designers is our goal as the business grows. Allow them for a chance to get some paid exposure and show off their skills, hopefully and opportunity with us can lead to other things, and then other things. Allowing the world to see their talents. As well, at Rise Fashion we value art of all kinds, fashion in itself is an art. Art is also a very broad term, it would be cool to commission traditional/ digital artists and ask them to draw a character in our products. Both the world and our imagination is full of art,with so many amazing people who can do so many amazing things.

6.  Transitioning from a different career path to entrepreneurship can be daunting. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in this transition?

Creating this balancing act of pursuing my personal goals while also continuing to meet with the educational goals of my students. My students are young enough, a large majority of their curriculum is verbal English, so lots of times, activities need to be planned ahead of time, You cant just ask them to study XYZ like traditional homework. As well, this job is not exactly what I imagined, my company informed me there would be a main teacher running the class, and I would parrot a lot. However, while I know that is traditional for an English teacher in Japan, this is not the case for me. I am the main language teacher during lessons and I have meetings with their main Japanese teacher explaining what we would be doing for the week. I love being a teacher, and take pride in the children’s education, though I just cannot afford to teach solely.

7. How do you balance running a business while still teaching as an ESL teacher?

I am at the point where I feel like there is always something I can be doing, but also trying not to burn myself out, the beginning of the day is dedicated to the school and making sure lesson plans are made for the following week. After work there always seems to be something I can do for Rise Fashion, changing what it is by the day, from product research, advertisement, replying to comments, etc. These lead to long days, but it is worth it to build something and say “I did this! I actually did this!” I am actually working less than I did at my previous job. Taking care of my mental health is a huge personal priority, as in my last job We would work 12 hour days, but then I was also going to school full time online for my Bachelors in

Communications through the University of Arizona Global Campus. Those would sometimes literally be 20 hour days juggling class and work as I had no off days during that time of my life.

At the time, I felt like I could not stop because of school deadlines, but with Rise Fashion most of the time, I do not have set deadlines so I feel that I can step away for a moment and tell myself it will be okay.

8.  What advice would you give to other women who are considering starting their own business, especially those who are also balancing other responsibilities?

Asking for help is okay. At first I tried doing everything on my own. Even though some things were outside of my skill set such as website building and marketing. But I have since realized I need help because I lack knowledge of some of these processes. Asking for help can be hard as we want to be self independent but sometimes it is necessary. As well, when thinking about balancing other responsibilities, sometimes you just need to take it one day at a time. Not everything may get done in a single day that we wish. However our health is also important and burning out from overworking ourselves can be bad for the longevity of our business and our health.

9.  You mentioned wanting to help other women financially and support them in reaching a better place. Can you share more about your vision for that aspect of Rise Fashion?

We are not yet in a place to help other women financially, as we are still trying to become an established brand. However, Rise Fashions mission is to be a place built on opportunities and make a positive change in the world. That can come from little things like funding someone when they need help to get them on their feet, but we would also like to work with woman as a platform to grow such as creators, artists and influencers. Our vision is for everyone to rise up together!

10.  What strategies or mindset shifts have helped you stay resilient during tough times in your business journey?

Knowing that it will all get better eventually. I admit, this has been an extremely difficult change,My business is still new, and I feel that the saying of the “first year is the hardest” includes myself. I think Rise Fashion needs more brand recognition to be trusted, so it will survive. I wish to make a positive change in the world, I want this to be more than a dream concept and that has been my mindset a lot. That if I just keep putting in the effort everyday, things will be greater than I ever imagined.

11. How has your experience working in different environments, such as the Arctic oil field camps, shaped your perspective on making a positive impact in the world?

Working in the Arctic oil camps drained me both mentally and physically. I worked at a housekeeper, it was very much a hotel environment. My schedule varied from working things like 3on-3off to 6on-2off, I do not mean hours, but weeks. 3 weeks working every day, 12 hour days. Then we are sent back to the city for 3 weeks off, The winter was always busier, So those tended to be 6weeks, 12 hour days, then 2 weeks off to do as I wish. The pay as great,but I missed a lot of family events.

As well, while I was only a housekeeper, I still played a part in ruining the environment, just by being there.

I feel regret, Now is my chance to try and bring positve change to the world, even if the “how” is not fully set in stone just yet.

12.  What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned since starting Rise Fashion that you wish you had known earlier in your entrepreneurial journey?

At the time of writing this, the business has only been open to the public for 4 months, So I am still very much in the learning stage, but on threads I follow a lot of other businesses and have slowly been building a community to talk to others and learn how to improve the business. It very much still feels like “Day 1” compared to businesses that have been open for years.

13.  In what ways do you see Rise Fashion evolving in the future, both in terms of business growth and impact on the community?

Right now, due to restraints we are only an e-commerce platform, however I feel having a brick and mortar location would be amazing. I would like to sponsor events of some kind, The impacts we will have our yet to be seen, and I am very excited for the future.

14.  How do you leverage social media platforms like Instagram to connect with your audience and promote your brand’s mission?

At the moment, we are still very small as our business is only a few months old at the time of writing this, and we have not made much of an impact yet. Though we wish to connect further with our audience.

Social Media is an amazing tool that can help us communicate and learn both about our community and the world.

Social Media allows new information to be shown at a larger scale than even 20 years ago. It allows us to showcase our products and connect with those who view our social media. And hopefully, can lead them to our website as well.

15.  Lastly, what message or encouragement would you like to share with other women who are pursuing their dreams or navigating challenges in their careers or personal lives?

Right now as you are getting started no matter what the goal is, a career goal, a personal goal, a family goal, a financial goal, While things may seem impossible now, if you never take that first step, you will never see how far you can go. And even if things dont have the perfect outcome, if life throws a curveball, you can still look back to see what you did. We cannot -just- wish for change, we have to be willing to push for change.

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