Eileen Wada Willett: Cucumber Clothing, East Asian Girl Gang & Mosaic Identity
"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."
"As the small fish with the big fish, you know, you can get eaten up and we did definitely, we were digested thoroughly."
"I feel quite at peace of having this, I don't even call it fractured, this kind of mosaic identity."
"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 a brand, hitting rock bottom after Brexit and COVID, and rebuilding through community. She reflects on her Japanese Canadian heritage, raising a family in the UK, and her trustee work with the Sesame Organization providing culturally competent mental health support for British East and Southeast Asian people. A rich conversation on entrepreneurship, resilience, identity and the power of staying connected.
What you'll learn
- Hard work alone cannot always break through external obstacles — sometimes you must accept the wall and find a route around it.
- Don't take your eye off the rest of your business while chasing one game-changing opportunity, because trust can be broken and deals can collapse overnight.
- Sustainability in business is more impactful when you double down on what you can genuinely deliver rather than trying to tick every box.
- The skills and experiences gained from a venture stay with you even after it closes, informing whatever you build next.
- Many people of East Asian heritage carry a 'double' or 'triple diasporic' identity, and finding community in that shared experience is powerful.
- Protecting your energy for social connection — across ages and viewpoints — is essential for long-term mental health.
Key moments from the conversation
The reverse arc of a founder
Eileen frames her story starting at rock bottom — the difficult final years of Cucumber Clothing — explaining that once you hit the bottom, the only way is up.
How Brexit and COVID broke the business
She details the external forces that crushed Cucumber Clothing, from losing 20-30% of trade after Brexit to a major retailer pulling a game-changing contract on signing day.
Founding the East Asian Girl Gang
During COVID and the spike in anti-Asian hate crime, Eileen realised she had no friends from the East Asian diaspora in the UK and built a thriving community after a single phone call with Pinky Lilani.
A mosaic identity across three cultures
Eileen reflects on being Japanese Canadian living in Britain, describing her sense of self as a mosaic and a gift rather than something fractured.
Her parents' fairy-tale migration story
She shares how her economic-migrant mother experienced everyday racism in Canada while her father, raised in an elite Japanese family, let it roll off him — shaping how each handled adversity.
Frequently asked questions
What is the East Asian Girl Gang?
The East Asian Girl Gang is a community founded by Eileen Wada Willett during COVID for women of East Asian heritage. It's not a registered charity but a community resource focused on friendship, connection and support, with members across sectors like tech, fashion, photography and banking. Membership is £25 a year, with fees waived for anyone who finds the cost difficult, and you can join via the website, LinkedIn or Instagram.
Why did Cucumber Clothing close?
Cucumber Clothing, launched in 2017, faced several external pressures. Brexit made cross-border trade with Europe almost impossible, costing roughly 20-30% of trade, while COVID severely hurt the business. The final blow came when a large high-street retailer pulled out of a major collaboration on the day the contract was due to be signed, after the team had shifted focus away from other parts of the business.
What is the difference between being East Asian in the UK versus North America?
Eileen observes that many British-born Chinese grew up isolated — often the only East Asian family in their town, sometimes as 'takeaway kids' whose families deliberately settled where there was no competition. By contrast, those raised in places like Los Angeles or New York often had a sizeable Asian community around them, shaping a stronger sense of belonging and a different relationship with their identity.
What is the Sesame Organization?
The Sesame Organization is a charity that provides culturally competent mental health support for British East and Southeast Asian people. It runs a befriending programme for foreign students who may feel isolated and delivers cultural competency training to groups such as the police force. Eileen Wada Willett serves as a trustee.
How can entrepreneurs cope when a business fails?
Eileen advises making peace with the fact that hard work doesn't always overcome every obstacle, leaning on co-founders, friends and family who understand the journey, and recognising that the skills and experiences gained never disappear. She also found it healing to channel her energy into a new, calmer project — in her case the East Asian Girl Gang.
Who is Eileen Wada Willett?
Eileen Wada Willett
Founder, Entrepreneur & Board Director — East Asian Girl Gang; Co-founder, Cucumber Clothing
Founder of the East Asian Girl Gang, Eileen was born in Vancouver to Japanese parents, trained in fashion in Paris and San Francisco and worked at Billboard in Tokyo before settling in London at Nicole Farhi, where she helped grow the menswear brand. In 2017 she launched the multi-award-winning Cucumber Clothing brand, making 'luxurious clothing for everyday' from ultra-soft technical fabrics. She formed the East Asian Girl Gang during the pandemic as a supportive space based on shared cultural heritage and to increase the community's visibility. Shortlisted for the 2020 Asian Woman of Achievement Awards, she is a regular speaker on female entrepreneurship and acts as Board Director for the charity Sesame Organisation.
Continue listening
