armita hutagalung

Switching Lane

Armita Hutagalung was born in a family of businessmen. Since an early age, her late father always taught her to be a tough woman. “My father always said to me and my siblings: ‘You have to be successful outside of the family business. Don’t be afraid, if you have value within yourself, wherever you are, you will always be golden,’” Armita recalls. Those words from her father were what encouraged Armita to switch lanes from law – which was what she majored in – to the fashion business. To that end, she started a fashion label called BY ARRA.

“Business runs in my blood, that’s why I chose to build a business that goes along with my passion, which is fashion,” Armita explains. “Fashion is something that keeps developing and never dies. Therefore, me and my sister, Karina, decided to start a business in fashion.”

Armita admits to love challenges. She also shares that in the beginning of running her business, many people underestimated her since she didn’t have any experience in design or even in fashion in general. But instead of letting it slow her down, Armita used this to motivate herself and work 10 times as hard. Indeed, she started from zero: She had to learn about design, sketching, finding the right human resources, managing production, sourcing the right materials, and so on. All of her hard work paid off, of course, and BY ARRA has become quite the reputable brand. Armita has even introduced several new lines, including BY ARRA Basic, BY ARRA Atelier, and BY ARRA Clubhouse. Sometimes, switching lanes brings you to the destination of your dreams.