We were throwing around all sorts of random ideas the last time I was in a room with Maya Nilsen. We agreed on everything about the digital content we wanted to make—it had to feature interesting personalities, feel less filtered, be more practical, and could use a whole lot more of diversity.
Fast-forward to a few months later, Maya had these same ideas put into practice as she moved back to Stockholm. Her newest stomping grounds? Women-led sustainable fashion brand DANG STHLM.
There was a time when Maya’s Instagram bio read “idk what I am.” It doesn’t anymore. While she wants to try a whole list of different things, she’s gotten some sense of clarity after she began to embrace the versatility required of the creative world. Currently Maya acts as a social media-savvy multimedia producer, aspiring stylist and digital content creator.
Her drive and curiosity have been set into a higher gear these days. This visual storyteller has made fashion as her primary medium of expression and she’s looking into expanding it beyond her personal style.
We recently gave Maya a ring to tell her how much we love her “Back To Life” styling series and catch up on her creative pursuits:
How’s Stockholm?
It’s good. We don’t have that much restrictions compared to Manila. People still go out to eat and go to bars. Personally, I don’t. I’m meeting the same group of people these days and we usually just end up hanging out at a friend’s place.
What’s the best thing about being based there?
I could still live my normal life and work. Here, I get to go to the office. When I leave, work ends there. I really didn’t enjoy the work from home situation at all.
Your work space and rest space are the same so it’s hard to set the boundaries. It’s hard to differentiate the two situations and I get why a lot of people get super overwhelmed. Everything’s also done online, making it harder to collaborate.
What have you been up to lately?
I’ve been doing a lot of shoots and other stuff for DANG STHLM. My official title there is Social Media Manager but what I do really goes beyond that. We’re only three people in the whole company and it’s been fun to work with my friends while trying out new things in the process.
Usually when you’re in a big company, there’s a lot of specialties and people are often assigned to fulfill a specific job. I like that DANG as a brand isn’t as established yet so I get to help in forming its image and direction. I help guide the way and feel like I have more responsibility. I like it this way because I get to learn more too.
What kind of brand do you want to help it become?
I think it’s really important for the brand to be relatable in all ways possible. Our styles are mostly genderless. Whenever we choose models, diversity is fundamental too—everyone has to feel included.
We’re trying our best to make everyone feel accommodated, like people can feel free to message us about anything. Whether it’s asking about the available sizes, to helping you out with styling. We can literally be like the friends you turn to to help you choose the best outfit for the day.
I also feel like a lot of brands are into doing high fashion editorial shoots—always clean and scared to go outside of what their image is. I like that we can experiment with a lot of different stuff and see what our followers and customers like from there.
DANG really does feel like a welcoming online community, like we’re all friends by association. How’s it like working with your best friends?
Honestly, everything feels surreal! Besides the three of us, a lot of our friends are in the creative business and we just love working together because that’s when we get the best ideas. It’s been fun how we’re all trying and helping out to make this thing take off. Plus it’s always nice to be part of a community-focused small business.
Among all the things you do at DANG STHLM, which one do you enjoy doing the most?
I love doing the shoots! Building the concept, looking for the right models, creating the sets, and of course, being able to style the pieces. All of that is really fun. I don’t think it’s something I’ve done a lot of before and I feel like I’m learning a lot on the technical side of things—the different types of lighting and its settings, post-processing photos, and all that.
I’ve learned a lot of photoshop lately too and I really want to get better at what I’m doing now. I want to be able to take shoots and edit its pictures without feeling inadequate, that I lack the knowledge. I want to feel more confident in the work that I do.
Speaking of shoots, can you tell us more about the portraits you produced for our Self Study series?
It has that business-ready working girl vibe. I was wearing a button down, white jeans, and I just brushed my hair back. I asked my friend Julia to take my photos and it didn’t even take 10 minutes. I wanted it to be an “in the moment” thing and I liked that it showcases my everyday environment.
I didn’t want to overthink it. It’s just me at the office. I wanted it to be really chill, laidback and just feel like me—something I would usually post online, giving an update on what I’m comfortable wearing that day.
Can you tell us more about that book you’re holding in your photos?
It’s called “Living On The Water.” That book is actually my parents’ old coffee table book. I remember when we were moving to Sweden, my parents gave my brother and I one box each to fill with whatever we wanted to bring.
I snatched that book and that was 15 years ago. What I would do then is I would fold the corners of the houses I would like to buy when I became rich. I always look through it even now cause I like those living-by-the-water beach houses. It’s always been my dream to have one in the Philippines so I always keep this book with me.
The Philippines is also home to me. I like the island lifestyle there and it’s something I want to bring with me my whole life. This book is one my sentimental things. It reminds me that this is something I’ve always wanted even when I was a kid, so it’s lived in my shelves since.
I know you’re not very comfortable with being labeled as an influencer, but for someone with a huge following, what’s your take on “online authenticity” that seems to be a buzzword these days?
With online stuff you can be 100 percent be yourself, but you don’t have to show 100 percent of yourself. There’s stuff that I keep private but I believe people can still get 100 percent of who I really am with the content I put out there on social media. I never want people to feel like they don’t know me—they should be able to look at my page and kind of like get how I really am in real life.
Let’s get serious for a bit. What do you want to be known as?
I just want people to see me as a creative person who does whatever she wants. I’ve never had my mind set on one specific job and I always push myself to try a bunch of different stuff. Just trying to learn from a little bit of everything is my way of growing and becoming more perceptive of the creativity of the world.
What’s one thing that will take time for people to discover about you?
That I’m very friends- and family-oriented. In Stockholm, it’s not like in the Philippines where families are always together. People tend to live their separate lives over here.
Growing up in the Philippines, I was accustomed to families being together—they always eat together, come up with all sorts of gatherings to be together, and all that. I think that’s something I brought with me. I make sure we always have dinners together, and that every creative process I have and go through, my friends are involved.
I always bring my projects and ideas up to my friends just so they can give me their input—it’s something that I really value. Their opinions are what matter the most to me compared to other people. Even when I’m working with brands and collabs, I really trust the intuition of my friends. Everything I do, I always have them on the back of my mind.
I stayed in the Philippines for a year and I just missed my friends from Stockholm that have always served as my creative support. I’ve known them for like a decade. I’ve had the same set of friends and we grew up together. They always make me feel I can do whatever I want.
What is it that do you want to do next, or want to do more of?
I’d like to get into more styling jobs. Styling other people for brands, music videos, editorials. I would love to do more of that since I’ve started assisting a bit. I’m super excited and I would love to learn more about it and I feel assisting is a great way to get me started on it—just to get into the business and see how everyone else gets it done.
My friend Paul Edwards (who’s a photographer and creative director), he’s doing this really big campaign for a Swedish brand and he asked me to help out. It’s gonna come out later this year!
I want to style and work with more music artists. I would love to work with some Filipino musicians and it’s always been my dream to style and conceptualize an image for a music video! Maybe next year when it’s safe to come back.
What keeps you inspired to keep trying new things?
I feel like it’s the curiosity that pushes me to do different things, and not being afraid of being bad at it. I really won’t know unless I try it. I also have this drive to be creatively independent—I feel like I have a lot of ideas but I can’t do it by myself just cause I don’t know the technicalities. I’m learning to become as versatile as I can be so I can be more confident in whatever it is I plan to do next.
Right now I’m just happy that I get to exercise these creative urges that I have. In the end it’s just gonna teach you more about how everything works.
✺ Photos courtesy of Maya Nilsen
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SELF STUDY IS SUBTEXT’S OWN SPIN ON PERSONALITY PROFILES WHERE OUR FRIENDS TAKE A STEP BACK AND ASK THEMSELVES WHAT DEFINES THEM AT THE MOMENT. IT’S AN INVITATION TO A SELF EVALUATION OF WHERE THEY ARE AND WHERE THEY PLAN TO BE HEADED. IT ALSO FEATURES SELF-PRODUCED PORTRAITS THAT SHOW EACH INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONALITY AND EYE FOR CREATIVITY.
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