Kikka Hanazawa (花沢 菊香 born October 26, 1970) is a social entrepreneur and cofounded a global fashion nonprofit humanitarian organization
Fashion Girls for Humanity
Fashion Girls for Humanity was founded after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami by Kikka Hanazawa, Julie Gilhart, Tomoko Ogura and Miki Higasa in New York. With the interest in raising funds and bringing awareness to the relief and rebuil ...
.
Early life and education
Born in Tokyo, Kikka Hanazawa is the daughter of Ikue Hanazawa and Kiyoshi Yokoyama. Her father was a business entrepreneur-turned-
Tendai
, also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...
Buddhist monk, and her mother Ikue Hanazawa owned an haute couture business. Her aunt was Tomiyo Hanazawa, who designed modern kimono for
Chiyo Uno and staged the first kimono fashion show in the US in 1957. Both Tomiyo and Ikue started their careers in fashion working for
Uno Chiyo, a feminist author in Japan,
who founded ''Sutairu'' ("Style"), Japan's first fashion magazine in 1936, along with the boutique in Ginza.
Following Chiyo Uno's advice to be an independent woman, Tomiyo and Ikue Hanazawa remained unmarried and became very involved in the fashion business with Chiyo Uno for much of their lives. While Hanazawa grew up around women working in fashion, she initially had no interest in fashion as a career.
In 2000, Hanazawa graduated ''
magna cum laude'' with a B.A. in art history & architecture theory from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. To fund her education at Columbia, she worked at
Itochu
is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo.
It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descend ...
and quickly became one of the youngest female managers in New York. She then received an M.B.A. from
Harvard Business School in 2002.
Career
Hanazawa was the CEO of
VPL,
a women's activewear brand,
which was acquired by Yabbey in 2022. Prior to VPL, Hanazawa was part of the senior leadership at
Theory
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
,
leading its IPO, M&A activities, and strategic development. She also worked at Cygne Designs,
where she led a management buyout of its international business, which she started and sold.
Philanthropy
Hanazawa served on the finance committee for the
Council of Fashion Designers of America
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessory d ...
(CFDA) and the CFDA Fashion Incubator program.
She currently serves on the board of visitors of the
Columbia University School of General Studies
The School of General Studies, Columbia University (GS) is a liberal arts college and one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights, New York City. GS is known primarily ...
.
and the Executive Director’s Advisory Council for the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
.
Awards
* 2007 Finalist, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)'s Vogue Fashion Fund
* 2011 Finalist, WGSN Global Fashion Award for Outstanding New Store
* 2012 Winner, CFDA Lexus Eco Challenge
* 2014 Recipient, Asia Society Game Changer Awards (2014)
* 2014 Forbes Asia 48 Heroes of Philanthropy (2014)
* 2020 Finalist, Rising Star Award by Harvard Business School Women’s Association of Greater New York
* 2021 Recipient, FLAIR Award from Harvard Alumni for Fashion, Luxury, and Retail
* 2021 Finalist, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas North America (2021)
(Fashion Girls for Humanity)
* 2022 Finalist, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas (2022)
(Yabbey)
References
External links
VPLFashion Girls for HumanityYabbey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanazawa, Kikka
1970 births
Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesswomen
21st-century Japanese businesspeople
American chief executives of fashion industry companies
American fashion businesspeople
American women fashion designers
American philanthropists
American women chief executives
Businesspeople from Tokyo
Columbia University School of General Studies alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Japanese chief executives
Japanese emigrants to the United States
Japanese women fashion designers
Japanese philanthropists
Japanese women chief executives
Women philanthropists