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THE 130 MOST INSPIRING ASIAN AMERICANS
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Josie Natori
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osefina Almeda Cruz was born in 1947 in Manila to a wealthy Filipino family. Her father had made his own fortune from scratch in the construction business. A driven child, Josie gave her first major piano recital accompanied by a full orchestra at the age of nine. After graduating from a Catholic all-girls high school run by the Maryknoll sisters, Natori went to New York.

     She was torn between becoming a concert pianist and going into business. Deciding that she really didn't have the temperatment and discipline to practice music, she chose business. She attended Manhattanville College in Purchase from which she graduated in 1968 with honors in economics.

     She went right to work in the corporate finance department of Bache Securities. Six months later she was transferred to a branch office in Manila where she served as the company's sole broker. Two years later the Philippines government shut down the office and Josie returned to Wall Street where she joined Merrill Lynch in 1971. Five years later, still in her 20s, Natori was the first woman to become vice president of the company's investment banking division. She was already earning six figures.

     But the enterprising Natori yearned for a business of her own. So did her Japanese American husband Ken Natori whose name she took after they married in 1976. Josie tried marketing various products from the Philippines before trying embroidered blouses. From her involvement with blouses Natori evolved the lingerie concept with Ken's help. She quit her Wall Street job when she lingerie business started taking off and hasn't missed the Street for a second since then.

     In 1985 Ken Natori left his position as a senior vice president of Shearson Lehman/American Express to become chairman and CEO of the company that bears his name. The Natoris had side-by-side desks, happily working together in a unique situation that, according to Josie Natori, wouldn't work with just any couple.

     Natori starts her day at 6:30 a.m. when a trainer comes three times a week to help her exercise. By eight she's in the office. She gets home at the same time at night unless she and Ken are out socializing with the staff which is like an extended family. They liked to have dinner with their son Kenneth Junior but that often meant dinner at nine. In 2007 Kenneth married Annika Proskurowski, a fellow Stanford student and the sister of his best friend. Kenneth now works with his parents at the House of Natori.

     During those early years the Natoris honed the production process down to an efficient system. Based on Josie's concepts designs are formulated at the Natori design center in New York's garment district, a block from the showroom. Josie approves each design before it is given to seamstresses to be cut and sewn into samples. The samples are used by Natori in her showroom to negotiate with buyers for orders. Orders are passed on to the factory financed by Josie's parents and two brothers who live in Manila. (Three sisters live in New York.) Natori finds the craftsmanship, quality and handling superior in the Philippines.

     "It is a combination of design and quality that you can't get done elsewhere at those prices." She also attributes the Filipino craftsmanship to a native aesthetic sensibility and understanding. Five or six months after the initial design, the finished product are delivered to the warehouse in New Jersey where a 20-person staff carefully inspects each piece before shipping to the stores.

     In 1988 the Philippine government recognized the Natori company with the Philippine Galleon Award for its initiative and success in promoting exports into world markets. In 2007 Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo personally presented Josie Natori with the Order of Lakandula, that nation's highest civilian award. The Natori concept, after all, is a stylized translation of the traditional Filipino way of dressing, comfortable and colorful. And as we speak with her, it becomes clear that much of Natori's satisfaction comes from her success in promoting the culture and handiwork of her native Philippines to an appreciative world.

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Soft femininity is a Natori trademark.

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