episode 033: Adele Tetangco

Adele Tetangco dances to the beat of her own drum - always has, always will. She’s been in the fashion industry for years, from writing and sales & marketing at clothing brand Dace to co-founder & VP of Merchandising at retail start up Garmentory. Now, Adele is the co-creator at contemporary womenswear label Et Tigre, co-founder of BIPOC market In Todo, and founder of Snack Size, a creative collective. 

She grew up in Coquitlam and has lived there for most of her life. The youngest of three daughters, her childhood was spent in Filipino neighbhourhoods that threw block parties and her family took regular trips to the Philippines. Her love for fashion came from her father, who worked in fashion at Fields—part of Hudson’s Bay at the time—starting in the warehouse, then working his way up to being a buyer. At 19, she had her first child, a daughter.   

In this conversation, we explore how she never felt the need to conform to cultures other than her own; being a young mother and often mistaken for her daughter’s nanny in the early days; what the next gen is wearing right now; the way she forged & pivoted her career by following her instinct without question; her psychic abilities & listening to your body; major lessons she learned as a co-founder of a venture-backed company; her late mentor & powerhouse fashion exec Ginny Hershey-Lambert and the impact she left on Adele; why its essential to allow space for creativity & therefore business success; and much more.