Last Week Meant More Than You Know

Because this was never just my story to begin with.

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May 12, 2026 3:45pm EDT

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Matte tone:

Last week, I stood on a stage at Tory Burch Foundation Founders Breakfast in New York City. Martha Stewart was there. Anna Wintour was there. (She didn’t call me Emily. IYKYK.)

The Foundation honored me with a Founders Award, given to women entrepreneurs from the Fellows Program who have built something meaningful and lasting.

I’ve been trying to process the moment ever since, mostly because it didn’t feel like just my moment.

MAIKA has never really been built by one person sitting alone with a sketchbook. It was built slowly, over many years, by a community of people who kept showing up. Every bag you carried. Every order you placed. Every time you told a friend about MAIKA or left a review or came back for another print. That’s what built this company.

I became a Tory Burch Fellow in 2020, one of the hardest years of my life. My daughter was recovering from a life-threatening illness. I was barely keeping things afloat. The program gave me tools and perspective and a community of women who understood what it meant to keep building something real while life was falling apart around you.

Over the years, this brand has quietly woven itself into people’s routines, travels, workdays, celebrations, and hard seasons too. There’s something very humbling about that.

So thank you. For being part of this story from wherever you joined it. It means more than I know how to say.

More good things are coming. I cannot wait to share them with you.

CARRY A LITTLE JOY

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Last Week Meant More Than You Know

Because this was never just my story to begin with.

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