From Systems Engineer to Fashion Entrepreneur: Founder Steffy Simms on Designing Guava & Co.

Steffy Simms, Founder
Guava & Co.

Steffy Simms is a systems engineer and the founder of Guava & Co, a sustainable, Hawaiʻi-based resort wear brand she built out of late-night doodles during maternity leave. Also an Oʻahu physics teacher and robotics coordinator, Steffy has spent her career moving between disciplines that don’t usually intersect — managing engineering projects, teaching high school physics, and now running a fashion brand rooted in Pacific culture and environmental stewardship.

In this episode, Steffy joins us to talk about what it actually looks like to pivot from a systems engineering career into entrepreneurship — and why that engineering background, not a design degree, is what let her build Guava & Co’s production and fulfillment processes from scratch. She also talks candidly about how her son’s eczema shaped the brand’s non-toxic, sustainable materials, why growing up as a fifth-generation Hawaiʻi resident (kamaʻāina) drives every fabric and print choice she makes, and how she thinks about protecting the land and water of Oʻahu as part of running a business there.

The conversation also covers the real, unglamorous side of founding a small apparel brand from the islands including the cost of shipping product to the mainland, the founder-to-CEO transition and learning to delegate, and how AI is already reshaping the supply-chain and engineering careers Steffy trained in.

In this episode:

✦  How a systems engineering career translates directly into running a sustainable fashion brand
✦  Why AI is changing supply chain and engineering careers and what that means for people in those fields today
✦  Building a non-toxic, size-inclusive resort wear line rooted in Hawaiian and Polynesian design traditions
✦ The real cost of running a business from Hawai’i, from shipping logistics to pricing
✦  Balancing motherhood, teaching, and founder life while making the shift from solo operator to CEO

MBTI vibe: ENFJ / INTJ / ENFP
Systems thinking • Comfort with ambiguity • Values-driven decision-making • Resourceful problem-solving • High risk tolerance • Visionary storytelling • Willingness to wear multiple hats

Listen to the full episode

Need to Know Facts*

About Steffy Simms
Steffy Simms is the founder of Guava & Co, a Hawaiʻi based sustainable resort wear brand redefining island fashion through an authentic Pacifica perspective. Designed in the islands, for island living, Guava & Co creates elevated resort wear that celebrates the people, culture, and lifestyle of those who call the Pacific home.

A fifth generation kamaʻāina (resident of Hawai‘i), Steffy is also a high school physics teacher, engineer, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of two young boys. Her unconventional career has taken her from managing multimillion dollar engineering projects to the classroom, where she teaches physics and leads a globally recognized robotics initiative that designs culturally significant STEM programs alongside Indigenous communities. Through this work, she has helped expand access to engineering education while demonstrating how culture and innovation can thrive together.

Through Guava & Co, Steffy is on a mission to prove that businesses can be both beautiful and purposeful, creating thoughtfully designed clothing while championing sustainability, authentic cultural representation, and opportunities for Pacifica designers. She believes entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful tools we have to create meaningful change in our communities.

When she’s not teaching, designing her next collection, or mentoring young innovators, you’ll find her chasing her boys around Oʻahu, sharing meals with loved ones, or dreaming up the next big idea.