"Sometimes if a brick wall comes down, you can't punch your way through it. So you have to make peace with that wall and either find a route around it or take a different route."
"I feel like I carry three kind of cultures within me. I feel quite at peace of having this, I don't even call it fractured, this kind of mosaic identity."
"As you get older and older and older, it's so easy for your life to close in on itself, to be in this comfortable space where you're only seeing the few people that make you happy. You all agree about everything. Everything is fine. Don't do that."
"Make sure you save some of your energy for your friends and family and for all those people you haven't met yet."
Eileen Wada Willett, co-founder of award-winning sustainable label Cucumber Clothing and founder of the East Asian Girl Gang, joins Annie Wenmiao Yu to talk candidly about building, losing and rebuilding. She shares how Brexit, COVID and a collapsed retail deal forced her to close her business, what it taught her about working hard versus working smart, and how a 'mosaic' Japanese-Canadian-British identity shaped her life. The conversation explores diaspora identity, the invisibility of the East and Southeast Asian community in the UK, and why staying connected is the key to mental health.
What you'll learn
- Sometimes hard work alone isn't enough — when you hit a brick wall, the smart move is to find a route around it rather than punch through.
- As a founder, never take your eye off all the balls you're juggling for one big opportunity, because trust can be broken and small businesses get 'eaten up'.
- External forces like Brexit and COVID can devastate a physical-product business through cross-border trade barriers and lost wholesale revenue.
- The skills and experiences you build while creating something don't disappear when it ends — they carry forward into whatever you do next.
- A multicultural or 'mosaic' identity is a gift that offers a richer perspective on how to approach life.
- Mental health thrives on staying connected and curious — deliberately save energy to nurture relationships across all ages and viewpoints.
Key moments from the conversation
Hitting rock bottom as a founder
Eileen frames her story as a 'reverse arc', beginning at the lowest point — the collapse of Cucumber Clothing — and explaining how reaching the bottom meant there was only one way to go: up.
The deal that fell through
A major high street retailer offered a game-changing collaboration, so the team focused everything on it — only for the retailer to pull the contract the day it was due to be signed, while all the other 'balls' they'd stopped juggling dropped too.
The genesis of Cucumber Clothing
Eileen and her co-founder met at the school gate and bonded over exercise and living in workout kit, sparking the idea for soft, technical, sustainable everyday clothing for women, starting with sleepwear and built on a 'five mile radius' supply chain.
Founding the East Asian Girl Gang
Reconnecting with her heritage during the anti-Asian hate spike of COVID, Eileen called mentor Pinky Lilani with just a name and an idea — and within a day had two introductions and the beginnings of a thriving community.
A family's romantic, transnational story
Eileen shares how her Japanese father and second-generation Japanese-Canadian mother fell in love at a dance, and how their very different experiences of racism shaped how each handled adversity.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Cucumber Clothing close down?
A combination of external pressures and one broken deal. Brexit made cross-border trade and EU sales almost impossible, wiping out 20-30% of trade including wholesale; COVID hit the business hard; and a major high street retailer pulled out of a game-changing contract the day it was due to be signed, after the team had focused all their energy on it.
What is the East Asian Girl Gang?
It's a community resource for women of East Asian heritage, founded by Eileen Wada Willett during the COVID pandemic when anti-Asian hate crime spiked. It's not a registered charity but a place for friendship, connection and support, with members across tech, fashion, banking and more. Membership is £25 a year, waived for anyone who finds that difficult.
What does it mean to have a 'mosaic' or multicultural identity?
Eileen describes carrying three cultures within her — Japanese, Canadian and British. Rather than feeling fractured, she sees it as a gift that gives a different perspective on life and lets you draw the best lessons from each culture, like learning to be honest about feelings rather than internalising them.
Why is the East and Southeast Asian community often described as invisible in the UK?
Eileen explains the community is small — around a million people — and often fits the 'model minority' stereotype of being hardworking and not making trouble, so it isn't always recognised as an ethnic minority with its own specific challenges. Cultural norms can also make it harder to ask for help or speak out.
What is the best thing you can do for your mental health according to Eileen?
Stay connected and curious. Eileen advises deliberately saving energy to be social, reaching out to people older and younger than you and even those you disagree with, because humans are social creatures and maintaining those connections takes genuine practice and effort.
Who is Eileen?
Eileen
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