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Part-time MBA Student
Utilizes Smith's Entrepreneurship
Resources and Research Facilities to
Grow Luxury Handbag Business
As
an entrepreneur and part-time MBA
student
at the Robert H. Smith School of
Business, Cherry Kwunyeun is working to
combine the lessons of an MBA program
with her experience as a Fulbright
Scholar and apply it to the operation of
her own company, Blumpari. Featuring a
line of luxury handbags, Blumpari has
recently been expanding into new stores,
appearing in popular shopping areas of
New York City, Washington, D.C, and
Baltimore. As a scholar at the Dingman
Center for Entrepreneurship at the
University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith
School of Business, Kwunyeun has been
able to leverage the resources of the
Dingman Center to complement her
experience and help grow her company.
A Thai-American originally from
Maryland, Kwunyeun has a B.S. in
business and a B.A. in fine arts from
the University of Maryland. Before
starting her own firm and returning to
Smith to pursue her MBA, Kwunyeun worked
as a consultant for Deloitte in New York
City and also in interior design/decor
for Pierre Deux, a high-end French
textile/home furnishing maker. Kwunyeun
says that the name for her company,
Blumpari is pronounced “bloompari” and
comes from Kwunyeun’s Thai given name of
Parichad, meaning “eternal flower that
blooms in heaven.” She also adds a fun
fact about the origin of her nickname,
Cherry. Kwunyeun says, “My nickname is
‘Cherry’ because my mom had pregnant
food craving for cherries, and I have a
sister named Apple. I’m glad mom did not
have a craving for pickles or
anchovies!”
“I was always
inspired by the Queen of Thailand's
non-profit foundation that supported
handicraft and art development while
providing supplemental income for the
poor people who created them,” says Kwunyeun. She also gives credit to her
parents adding that, “My parents’
community work also inspired me. My
father, an executive member of the Thai
Physicians Association, organizes annual
medical missions and my mother would do
Thai art vegetable and fruit garnishing
demonstrations at the Smithsonian and
area universities to share art/culture.”
Kwunyeun, who was working in New York
City during the terrorist attacks of
9/11, was deeply impacted by the events
that occurred. “After the events of 9/11
(I was working right next to the World
Trade Center and evacuated right in
front of it as the events unfolded and
lived in lower Manhattan), I was
inspired by the strength of the human
spirit in the face of adversity and most
importantly, when formal structures fail
or do not exist to address the
problem-how individual citizens come
together and take action. Realizing that
it was no longer appropriate for me to
wait for retirement to fulfill that
which is important to me, I
reprioritized my life around my passion
for arts, my family, and my community,”
says Kwunyeun. It was at this point when
she decided to change careers, applied
to become a Fulbright Scholar, and
completed a Design Certificate Program
at Parsons, The New School for Design,
in New York City.
Kwunyeun says, “The goal of my hybrid
business is to link companies, with
microfinanced producers, designers, and
educational institutions to support
diversity and economic development in
different countries.” She credits the
Smith MBA program for helping her better
think on a strategic level in terms of
directing her firm. She also credits the
Dingman Center as a key partner in her
business’ development. Kwunyeun says,
“Dingman Scholars was crucial to my
business development. Melissa Carrier
[associate director of the Dingman
Center] and Asher Epstein [managing
director of the Dingman Center] truly
support my business goal of creating a
double-bottom line where my primary
objectives are both economic and
socially driven. The Dingman Process
forces you to implement not just
idealize. They also give me confidence
because they support the feasibility of
what I am implementing.”
The resources of the Smith School,
specifically those inside the Dingman
Center, have enabled d Kwunyeun to develop
her business in new and exciting ways.
In addition to providing access to
investors and community leaders, the
Dingman Center provides her with an
office and office support, biweekly
advising, and financial support.
Kwunyeun has also been able to tap into
the faculty and technology resources of
the Smith School. Dr. Michel Wedel,
Pepsico Professor of Consumer Science,
gave her access to the
Netcentric
Behavioral Lab at the school and she was
trained to use the state-of-the art
Tobii eye tracker, which allows
researchers to study consumer behavior
by analyzing head and eye movements.
“During the National Women's MBA
Association Conference hosted at Smith
this November, I used this technology to
track which handbag designs, page
layouts, and Web site templates people
preferred or fixated on,” said Kwunyeun.
“I will use this type of leading-edge
technology to forecast for inventory
production as well as how to layout
Web/print material.” Kwunyeun’s is the
first student-run experiment of this
nature at the school. She also adds that
“The Smith School was recently awarded a
$300,000 grant by the Thai government to
do exchange programs (the first at the
university), which I am working on with
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
Pat Cleveland. Programs that will
include: Think Tank development, supply
chain, entrepreneurship, marketing, and
more.”
Kwunyeun hopes that through a
combination of these resources and her
own ingenuity, Blumpari will continue to
be a great success story. She would like
to encourage other MBAs to get involved.
For more information or to get in touch
with her, e-mail
blumpari@blumpari.com.
▓ Adam
Weiner, MBA
Candidate 2009, Smith Media Group
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