Damia Je ‘27 is a junior at The Baldwin School, an artist, and, as of Sep. 2025, a businesswoman and CEO. Her charity hoodie business, Happy Hugs, aims to raise awareness about Tourette’s syndrome, a condition Je has lived with since she was a baby. 

Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary movements or sounds called tics. It typically develops in childhood, though symptoms can appear at any time. There is no known cause or cure, but tics can often be managed through treatment and reducing triggers.

“You can never predict what [tics] you’re going to have, or when it’s going to get worse or when it’s going to get better,” Je said. “You never know when it’s going to be gone.”

Profits from Happy Hugs go to the Tourette’s Association of America. The idea for Happy Hugs came about after a long search for a way to educate about Tourette’s.

“I thought, ‘How could I spread awareness with my talent?’” Je said. “I like to draw, and I also want to pursue business, so I wanted to do something I love while also spreading awareness for Tourette’s syndrome.”

Je began building her hoodie business in the summer of 2024. Both the name and logo – a tic tac toe board – carry symbolic meaning. 

“What I was thinking of when designing the logo is that Tourette’s is not understood, in the aspect that there’s no known cure or cause, and people don’t know a lot about it,” Je said. “Hugs are a universal language of love, and tic tac toe is a universally understood game. So that’s my hope for Tourette’s syndrome too, that it becomes a universally understood disorder.”

 It took Je about a year to prepare her first drop. Initially, she looked for a foreign producer before deciding on domestic production due to time constraints.

 “At first, I was really ambitious,” Je said. “But I realized it wasn’t realistic, because I was starting a business in high school. So I started smaller, looking at existing blanks for hoodies. I tried on a lot just to see what I liked. It was a lot of trial and error.”

A blank is an undesigned garment provided by a customization company that lets potential customers see what the fit, sizing, material, and general details of the clothes would be. While deciding on a hoodie blank, Je began designing. She planned initial designs using Procreate and refined them based on feedback. After modifications, she showed them to friends and family for final opinions.

“I actually asked a lot of people,” Je said. “I had a couple of design choices, and I would send them to two or three friends that I was working with, and ask ‘What’s good about it? What’s wrong with it? Do you even like the design? Do you think it’s gonna sell?’ Because you’ve got to be realistic, too.”

She repeated the design multiple times to ensure something that fit her vision. Balancing popularity with aesthetics was important to Je.

“I scrapped two or three designs,” Je said. “They had to be cute, but also reach a wider audience.”

When her first hoodie was ready, Je launched a presale on her social media for friends and family. The presale saw success: the ice cream hoodie sold out within days.

Je hadn’t planned to do the presale, but the hoodie took longer than expected to launch. 

“And my friends were all saying, ‘When can I buy the hoodie? I can’t wait,’” Je said. “I didn’t want to make them wait more, so I said, ‘If you’re interested in buying, DM me.’ And I thought – I literally told my friend – ‘I hope I sell at most five.’ And we sold out. It made me feel so grateful for all the support of my friends.”

The official Happy Hugs shop launched on Sep. 20, and the official stock of the ice cream hoodie sold out on Oct. 12, just under three weeks after the opening. Je opened presale through Instagram for the Rat-xi hoodie on Oct. 11th, with the official launch beginning October 25th. 

“I want to make that one more successful,” Je said. “And before this year ends, I want to make a winter hoodie, and hopefully we’ll raise enough money to make an impact.”

After a year of hard work and no plans to slow down, Je reflected on her future with Happy Hugs. With her friends and family helping her, Je has no plans to quit. In fact, she feels like she has only just started.