Founder of Orcé Cosmetics. 

What makes you undefinable?

Yu-Chen: On a daily basis, I'm proving people wrong by building my own business - despite being told my entire life that my greatest success would be finding a husband who can provide for me.

What inspired you to build your brand and what would you tell others that want to follow in your footsteps?

I was actually inspired to build my own makeup brand out of frustration - I was frustrated by the lack of foundation options suitable for my complexion as an Asian woman who cannot find the right match in any of the western makeup brands, and is not fair enough to use products by Korean beauty brands. Since I was a young girl, beauty and makeup artistry has been my passion. In fact, I've been giving makeovers from the age of 11! However, my extremely strict and traditional Asian parents would not entertain the idea of me pursuing a career in any field besides medicine, law, finance and business. So, my passion in beauty was only allowed to play the part of a hobby. In college, I majored in advertising and marketing, and started my career as a media planner at an advertising agency in Los Angeles. Coincidently, during this time, I was assigned to handle the advertising strategy of a global Asian beauty giant. For once in my life, I was finally able to unite my passion in beauty with my expertise as a marketer. With my newfound knowledge as a media planner specializing in diversity marketing, I began to see things in a different light: why is it that us Asian American women have been overlooked by the cosmetics industry for so long, despite the fact that we have one of the highest spending powers in the country? This was when I decided that I have to create the first American makeup brand specially tailored towards the skin tones and skin concerns of global modern Asian women.

To those who want to follow in my footsteps: My greatest advice is - don't let people who don't believe in you convince you that you are not capable of achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. If you have a brilliant idea, and people tell you that you're crazy or that it's not going to work - great! This means that your concept is unique enough to compete with existing businesses in the market. Believe in yourself, and don't give up the moment things get tough. Entrepreneurship is not an easy path, but building a brand from scratch is one of the most fulfilling things you can do.

Check out Yu-Chen's beautiful words on self-acceptance. 

For more on Yu-Chen, follow her at @yu.chen.shih and @orcecosmetics.