Building an Iconic Brand: Abby Cheng on Creative Leadership & Business Growth

What Does It Mean to Build a Successful Business?

For Abby Cheng, CEO of Magenta, Inc., the answer has evolved beyond revenue targets and profitability goals. Today, her approach to leadership is rooted in intention, alignment, and creating a business that reflects the values of the people behind it.

Recently, Abby was invited to join the Choreograph Success podcast, hosted by Elle Ballard of Women of The World Network®, for a conversation about entrepreneurship, personal growth, and what it means to define success on your own terms. As a second-generation leader helping guide Magenta into its next chapter, Abby shared insights from her journey of honoring the company's legacy while shaping its future.

Building on a Legacy While Creating What's Next

Abby's journey into leadership began with inspiration close to home. Growing up, she watched her parents pour their time, energy, and entrepreneurial spirit into building their business. After gaining experience in different corporate environments, she felt ready to return to Magenta, initially motivated by a desire to give back to her family.

Over time, that sense of responsibility developed into a broader vision for the company's future.

Today, Abby works alongside her sister to honor the foundation their parents established while bringing their own perspectives and ambitions to the business. For her, the challenge of second-generation leadership is not simply preserving what already exists. It's finding ways to evolve, grow, and build on that legacy with a vision of their own.

At Magenta, this means continuing to develop the company's identity as a design-led ceramics and homeware studio, creating thoughtful products and collaborating with retailers, artists, and globally recognized brands, including Disney, Warner Bros., and Peanuts.

Redefining What Business Growth Looks Like

For many business leaders, success is measured by milestones: revenue targets, profitability, and the next stage of expansion. Abby knows that mindset well. When she first joined Magenta, she often tied her sense of accomplishment to reaching the next business goal.

But she began to recognize a familiar pattern. Every milestone achieved was followed by another one to chase.

That realization prompted a shift in how she thinks about success. Rather than focusing exclusively on outcomes, Abby now considers whether the business and her life reflect her values, whether she finds energy in the work, and whether she enjoys the person she is becoming along the way.

As she shared during the conversation:

“Success means very differently to me. What I think about is alignment, intention and aliveness.”

This perspective offers a different way to approach business growth. Ambition and financial goals still matter, but they don't have to come at the expense of personal fulfillment or a clear sense of purpose.

For Abby, sustainable success means building a business that continues to grow while remaining aligned with what matters most.

Leading With Intention

Abby's evolving leadership philosophy has also been shaped by her personal development. She spoke about the influence of The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, a book she discovered after becoming a mother. Its ideas resonated deeply, leading her to work with a conscious leadership coach, participate in coaching circles, and explore the patterns and limiting beliefs that influence how she shows up at home and at work.

That experience has strengthened her self-awareness and helped her become more intentional in her approach to leadership.

It's a perspective she is now bringing into Magenta, sharing the tools and lessons that have helped shape her with members of the team. For Abby, leadership is not just about setting a direction for the business. It's also about creating opportunities for people to reflect, grow, and develop their own awareness.

Her approach recognizes that the way a company operates is influenced by the people who lead it. When leaders understand their values and motivations, they can make more intentional decisions about the culture they create and the future they build.

The Value of Pausing

One of Abby's most practical insights from the conversation was the importance of making space to reflect, particularly when things feel urgent.

Between the demands of running a business, supporting a family, and responding to the expectations of others, it's easy to spend every day reacting rather than considering what we actually need or want.

Abby has learned that pausing, especially in moments when the instinct is to react immediately, can create room for greater clarity.

“Most of us should give ourselves permission to pause and reflect.”

Rather than requiring a dramatic change, this practice can begin with small adjustments: creating quiet time in the morning, developing a personal ritual, or taking a moment to consider whether a decision feels right before moving forward.

For Abby, the answers often emerge when there is enough space to listen. It's a reminder that meaningful progress doesn't always come from doing more. Sometimes, it starts with stepping back and gaining a clearer understanding of where you want to go.

Creating Space for a More Meaningful Kind of Success

When asked what advice she would share with other women navigating their own paths, Abby returned to the importance of trusting yourself.

Her message was simple: make space for your own voice, give yourself permission to pause, and resist the urge to let others define what success should look like.

“Trust yourself. Invitation to create that space for yourself so that your own voice can come through and yeah, don't outsource that permission.”

It's a philosophy that extends beyond business leadership. Whether navigating a career, growing a company, or moving through a new chapter of life, the ability to recognize your own values can help guide decisions with greater confidence and intention.

As Magenta continues to evolve, Abby's approach reflects an understanding that building an iconic brand is about more than the products it creates or the milestones it achieves. It's also about the vision behind the business, the people who bring it to life, and the values that guide its growth.

Her conversation with Women of The World Network® offered a glimpse into the thinking behind that approach: honor the past, stay open to growth, and build a future that feels as meaningful as it is ambitious.

Watch the full conversation: Explore Abby's discussion on leadership, personal growth, and defining success on the Choreograph Success podcast from Women of The World Network® on YouTube.