Today we’d like to introduce you to Melvin & Javee Medina
Hi Melvin & Javee, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2010, as a young couple with 2 young children, we were not sure of our future. Melvin spent 10 years working in a local hospital in the finance department. He decided in the same year to pursue his career in Computer Science. I, Javee, spent some time working part-time but decided to care for our children full-time. At this time in our lives we did not have much but we enjoyed having family & friends over to watch boxing fights that featured our native country’s beloved boxer, Manny Pacquiao. It was at this time we had decided we could make shirts that would have images of “The Pacman”. We did not know anything about the T-Shirt business but Melvin knew we wanted to make T-shirts. We had an iron and a laser printer. So we printed images of Manny Pacquiao and printed them on transfer paper and ironed them on shirts. When we wore the shirts as a family at Fight Night, it was a hit! Our family & friends asked if we could make some for them. We charged $10 per shirt just to cover the shirt/transfer paper costs. We had a blast making them. Years later we forgot about this little experience of ours and went about growing our family. We only remembered this recently when we contemplated on the whys and how of our business.
A decade later, Melvin still pursued his career in IT but now has contract work. Contract work has its pros and cons. The con being every year around December we would wonder if we would have a source of income in January. We were a family of 6 and relied solely on the income that Melvin brought in. He started contemplating on starting a small business but did not know exactly what area to go in. He thought of making T-Shirts. The pandemic brought about many different things after we all had a new way of life. Some took up a new hobby. Melvin decided to learn all there is to know about the T-shirt business. As we are in the information and influencers age, it was not hard to find information on how to start this business. We are grateful for the other Social Media Influencers that helped people like us start a small business in the T-shirt industry.
2021 Melvin bought a Cameo Silhouette. He pretended that it was a gift for me and would say that I was the “creative” one. Since the beginning of my life I never had the desire to be an entrepreneur or be in business. That was the one industry I strongly opposed. I did not entertain his queries or small comments about starting a business. I just thought it was a side gig he wanted to do and in time it would fade away. In the same year he also brought a heat press. This was when it was starting to get real for him. For testing purposes, he would ask me which color would go great on what shirt or which image would look great if he was giving it for his god-daughter. I ended up helping him make the shirts that would end up as Christmas gifts for our god-children, nephews and nieces. It think it must have been a trap. We had many frustrating discussions and I really fought him in joining the business. And the thing that must have gotten to me was this thing he said, “I started this for you.” I gave in so that he would stop doing the puppy dog face and dubbed myself #thereluctantentrepreneur.
2022 was the year I started to be more involved. I helped him organize the business administrative wise. Melvin applied for a business license. I fine-tuned our mission statement, vision, goals and created the name Wika Designs. We chose the name WIKA because fashion and creative design is a universal language. WIKA in Tagalog means language. Inspiring words is our product. We want to be able to create a brand that would encourage people. Although this year brought about the start of our business, nobody knew us.
2023 was the year we started attending market events and networking with organizations and small businesses. We joined the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Washington, DC in hopes of getting support from the Filipino Community. We have experienced tremendous support in 2023 and wanted to venture out of our comfort zone and serve the broader community moving forward. Today we hope to continue to grow as a small business and encourage others to pursue their vision & goals.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. As a small business, we sometimes get in our own way. We worry about the other big businesses and comparing ourselves if we’re good enough. The struggle that we sometimes encounter is lowering our prices. We need to remind ourselves that we are the ones behind the work, the design, and our resources to complete a project.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Both Melvin & Javee have a background in customer service. We met in a hospital performing administrative task. This in turn resulted in giving our clients at Wika Designs best customer service experience. We enjoy giving our customers their vision in apparels. What sets us apart is that we love a challenge. We don’t want to say we CAN’T. We have a saying that we’ve developed “WIKADOIT” for “we can do it”.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
We appreciate this platform in being able to tell our story. As we are continuing on in the business, we are proud to actively pass on to our children our knowledge as we are growing in this small business journey. Both of our sons join us in our business. We walk them through our process of making a shirt and also impart business lessons we have learned along the way. It is such a unique experience to be able to share this with them. Whether they continue on to our small business or choose another path, we are confident that they are learning real-world skills in business, social skills, networking, time and money management.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wikadesigns.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wika.designs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wikadesigns1624/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wika-designs-gaithersburg
