I’ve always admired trail blazers and women succeeding in male dominated areas or in business. Of course the woman behind the MVintage brand is no exception and I was curiously drawn to find out more about the woman behind this totally local Maltese brand. Creating a brand like Mvintage from scratch is no easy feat and takes dedication, vision, determination and a strong business acumen.
Meeting Krystle Penza felt like meeting one of my idols, I was starry eyed with admiration.
Sitting in the Mvintage coffee shop at their flagship store in Iklin, I felt like I had met a local icon, but also a long lost friend. I was instantly drawn to her, and we quickly learnt a lot about each other and felt comfortable sharing our personal life experiences. We discussed how difficult it is for women to succeed without help or support, especially single mothers.
Krystle herself was brought up in a single parent household, I myself was a single mother for quite a number of years, so we had a lot to say about the issue.
We spoke about how we believe in female empowerment and the importance of strong female role models in society, or women supporting women and how important family is to us, but also equally important is having a career and keeping our minds occupied.
Although Krystle is the brains behind the brand Mvintage, this is a family business, her husband Gordon is Krystle’s biggest fan and runs the marketing side of the business, their daughter Francesca also shares an office with her Krystle and is usually found drawing or studying at her mother’s desk with their beautiful well-behaved pet dog – Honey – at her feet.
They now have four Mvintage shops around the island and over 60 staff – I can only imagine just how hard it must be to invest so much time, energy and money into such a large undertaking. I wanted to know what drives her and what traits she considers one must have to succeed. Krystle kindly accepted to share some of her precious time to help empower and inspire other young women.
Francesca: So tell us Krystle how did you start Mvintage and what was the driving vision that pushed you along to realise your dream?
First of all I would like to start off by saying how I admire YOU as a woman. I look up to you for having gone through hardship and very hard challenges in life. I admire how you always managed to remain strong for all your family and more than anything how now you are dedicating yourself to help others.
I hope you realise enough that what you are doing is something very admirable. You are working towards a very Nobel cause. You are the first woman in Malta who has brought us women all together, you contributed towards the understanding that we should work together, lift each other up because we should understand each other better, that we all go through our downs and so many women have shared their experience and lit a light towards the end of the tunnel for others through your platform; giving hope to so many women.
You have created a platform to help women emotionally, financially and more. You are my role model, a person I look up to, and that motivates me to stay strong everyday for my family, for the business and for our purpose.
Back to your question: for me it all started when I was pregnant with Francesca; I tend to believe that for the first time my brain had time to think of what I really wanted to achieve in life. Motherhood did not make it easier by far but was also my main driving force; I wanted to create a legacy for my daughter and most of all I really wanted my daughter to be proud of her mother.
Francesca: What or who inspired you, and who were your role models growing up?
Definitely my mother; she is the mastermind into creating two very strong women; my sister and myself. So you see I had big shoes to fill in for my daughter. My mother taught us survival, to roll up our sleeves and work hard for anything we wanted in life and most of all I’m lucky that she taught us love and respect.
Francesca: Does one need a lot of money to start off, or is hard work a good business plan and good idea enough?
Well I had 5k of savings and lost them on a wrong decision at the very start. I guess then I did what I was always taught to do: picking up the pieces together and stand back on my feet. Everyone thought I’m losing it Fran, but by time I had people believing in me and my ideas to acquire the funding required.
The phrase ‘Hard work’ is underestimated; it’s very very very hard work, determination and passion for what we do. Yes you need to know what you are doing and a good business plan is a must into giving you the confidence and long term vision.
Francesca : Were you a good student at school and did you excel academically or were you more of an artistic type?
Well due to the struggles in my private life I was one of the worst students academically and art was a line I could not take as my mother was adamant it won’t make any money. Today as a mother wanting to empower my daughter into being independent and strong I get what she meant. Back then it was different, opportunities were limited and she did not want to take her chances on failing in this! I took it on school of arts privately for a while and I’m lucky that today Mvintage allows me to express my creative side.
By time I started getting back on my feet and I was finally awarded best performance and achievement throughout the years in Uni. I finally graduated in management as a top student and this gave me so much confidence in understanding that I am good enough for achieving anything I set my mind on achieving no matter what.
Francesca: What would you advise other young women just starting out who might want to start a business but have no idea where to start from?
Business is a huge risk; no matter how hard you work it’s a gamble everyday; look at 2020! So I advise them to be smart, plan well and first get their numbers right to have themselves covered. If you are investing and taking this very seriously then work on something different to what others are proposing and always be loyal to who you are and to your customers.
I advise young girls to first build experience, learn from the masters in their business of interest and gain a real understanding of what it takes.
Francesca: I’m a big believer in self-care and self-preservation – and with Covid having put undue and unforeseen pressure on a lot of businesses, how do you deal with stress and what is your go-to stress reliever? In other words, how does Krystle look after Krystle?
I don’t have a lot of time for myself but when I do I love going for walks with my dog, it’s just me, my dog and my thoughts and nothing else.
Francesca: I started working from a very young age, I presume so did you, it was because I was “hungry” and my parents never spoilt me with material goods, I always had to earn my own money and buy my own stuff. However I must admit I still find it hard to buy myself a piece of jewellery….it’s like I feel guilty….and since it’s more of a luxury than an item of need I end up rarely buying stuff for myself. I seem to always buy jewellery as gifts for others and not for myself. How does one change this mindset? I’m sure there are other women like me who feel the same.
Oh Fran I understand you fully; I had my first job at the age of 14! I love some designers’ work like Chanel which i’d absolutely love to buy but they have no influence on my happiness. I can live with or without.
Having said that, it does not mean that I don’t deserve to reward myself and to buy something for myself to make me feel good. It took me years and this sounds ridiculous; actually is ridiculous!!! I know many would understand this because they relate but I always felt bad about spending money on myself because in my head there was always something else that was more important than myself.
It took me 35 years of my life to realise that this is wrong; we need to love ourselves and be the first in rewarding ourselves. We need to be the ones seeing our true worth, valuing ourselves and making ourselves happy; this makes us better people, better women, stronger women, empowered women.
Yes Krystle you are very right, there is nothing wrong in also spoiling ourselves and buying ourselves stuff once in a while, even if its just something small, and coming to think of it – women buying our own jewellery for ourselves is the ultimate symbol of empowerment …..hmm I think I really should buy myself that F initial I’ve been wanting…actually I think I’ll buy F,F and a C and splash out, Mvintage style – I think I deserve it😊
Check out Mvintage ’s latest Habbata collection here
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Francesca Fenech Conti is passionate about social issues and has a BA in Social Policy. She is the Founder and creator of the women only facebook group Women for Women (Malta) and the Women for Women Foundation that works hand in hand with other NGOs and businesses to empower and support women, especially single mothers.
Francesca recently also launched Wham.com.mt to provide a much needed space on the local media scene to promote women’s voices and to provide women with a source of information regarding their general wellbeing.
Click here to check out Francesca’s full bio as well as a list of all her Wham published articles
