She was once neglected for being a girl in a rural Chinese family, which preferred sons over daughters. Decades ago, her parents first invisibilised her, and then eventually abandoned her.
Today, she has emerged stronger than ever from her difficult upbringing and runs a successful design business that brings in close to $36 million annually.
Huang Xuanni, 44, is the sixth of seven children born into a large agricultural family in Binzhou, Hunan province. She grew up feeling ostracised in a home where the only son was given most of the attention; she was rarely acknowledged by name and often left to eat by herself, The South China Morning Post reported.
Huang told the outlet that she had to travel for over three hours through the mountains to attend her secondary school, with only 1 yuan pocket money. Huang was reportedly abandoned on a mountain after she fell sick. She got lucky when a passing stranger rescued her and returned her home.
After graduation, Huang married her boyfriend, relocated to Shenzhen, and took up logistics jobs. However, her marriage did not last, and she fell into depression. She filed for divorce and sadly, lost custody of their daughter.
Huang quit her job in 2015 and staked everything on a clothing store on Taobao, one of the biggest online marketplaces in China, owned by Alibaba.
That year, China's e-commerce scene saw a dramatic change in focus from low prices to quality, which led to explosive growth.
Huang eventually saw a chance in China's expanding e-commerce industry after years of hardship and even unsuccessful business ventures.
She and a friend opened their internet store after purchasing a bunch of high-end, small-sized women's clothes from a Shenzhen market for just 50,000 yuan ($7,200). The store has now developed into a million-dollar business.
Sales surpassed 100,000 yuan in less than a month, but poor decisions eventually caused her to owe five million yuan by 2017.
To gain knowledge, Huang enrolled in several online courses and immersed herself in books about fashion design, business, and brand management.
Huang's business now brings in over $36 million a year. She eventually launched her own brand, Mix Selection, in 2020. The brand focuses on fine fabrics, sophisticated cuts, and designs made for petite women, in keeping with the expanding "neo-Chinese" fashion trend.
By 2023, sales of Mix Selection's neo-Chinese style gowns reached over 8.7 million yuan ($1.3 million). By 2025, the annual revenue had topped 250 million yuan ($36 million), with approximately 2 million followers worldwide.
Huang was later admitted to Peking University's Executive MBA program and became one of the first Chinese women retailers to use social media. Huang wants to use her tale as "light for more women" by authoring books and making films, rather than only concentrating on wealth.
"I want to encourage girls like myself who feel constrained by marriage and family to persevere. There is hope if you just hold on a little longer," she told the media. Huang now intends to start an online course on entrepreneurship for the apparel sector.
