top 0

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get our top stories delivered straight to your inbox.

Logo
Copyright © 2024 LOCALIIZ | All rights reserved

Five Minutes with: Founder of Nana Asia, Agnes Morin

By Nicole Hurip 27 May 2020

Women have come a long way in the last hundred years. The feminist movement has opened up countless avenues and conversations on how society and individuals can help women achieve new heights and raise the bar for future generations. In response to the gap in the market for a female-centric resource dedicated to empowering women, Nana Asia was born. We had a chat with Agnes Morin, the founder of Nana Asia, to find out more about the platform and her vision for its future.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

culture 2
1 4623629
with-m

What is Nana Asia?

Nana Asia is a platform that produces content for millennial women in Asia, covering lifestyle, beauty, fashion, and travel. Expect Q&As with international designers, the latest beauty obsessions, food crazes around Asia, and much more. We also have this very interesting section called Let’s Get Real, which showcases heartwarming stories about the challenges that women in Asia face. Our media team is made up of creative, curious, and original people who are on the lookout for women-related content likely to captivate, interest, and empower our readers.

That’s a quirky name. Why is it called Nana Asia?

I am half French, and Nana is an informal French noun that means woman or girl. It’s part of my roots, but it also works because Nana is a very easy word to remember even for people who don’t speak French. We also want to keep it open to interpretation in case we need to add new sections further down the road, as the magazine evolves.

What inspired you to start the platform?

I wanted to create a digital platform that is flexible, social, and adapted to our time. So we came up with this platform that is adapted to our taste, and hopefully others. In our day and age, I think it's very important to have a resource for women to explore deep issues and different topics that other media in Asia do not necessarily provide. I want Nana to become a meaningful voice for women here, to create a community. We have a lot of micro-companies, micro-media, micro-KOLs, but we don’t really have an authority that specifically caters to women lifestyle and empowerment in Asia.

What’s so special and different about Nana Asia?

For one, the team is all women. We all come from very different backgrounds with different life experiences. Our differences are our strength as a female collective. Our team relates to our audience and their concerns. We aim to help people grow through the power of information. The design of the website is also something we’re very proud of. We enlisted the help of an amazing design agency to make sure that the interface is as user-friendly as possible, geared towards millennials. There is a distinctive pop artsy feel to the site, which we feel works for our specific niche.

Furthermore, the trends featured in our fashion and beauty editorials are purchasable through our banners—just a click away for an instant shopping experience. We’re not just referencing services and products, we conduct an in-depth search on products and trends that would be of interest amongst millennial ladies. We do not want to have ads on the platform, just brand content. It is definitely more challenging but I’m convinced that readers will appreciate it.

What can we look forward to from Nana Asia?

Our number one goal is that people would vibe with our content, that they trust us as a voice for empowering women, and as a lifestyle voice as well. We are working hard towards delivering quality content that generates positive emotions. Right now, we have a lot going on in terms of social media and videos, with the vision of giving a voice to women from different backgrounds who can inspire our readers with meaningful stories.

What’s a good way for interested readers to connect?

We’re very active on our social media, on Facebook and Instagram. We’ll be coming out with our first newsletter starting May, so keep your eyes peeled and subscribe!

culture 2
0 4628644
with-m

Nicole Hurip

Travel editorial director

Never content with sitting still, Nicole has turned her passion into a career. Hong Kong is her home, but she’ll always have a soft spot for L.A. and London, where she spent her college years. She loves exploring hidden places, hunting for cool vintage pieces, and talking to interesting people. Her vices include consuming excessive amounts of wine and cheese, a debilitating weakness for sparkly things, and spending too much time on Instagram.

expand_less

Top