It’s never too late to change careers or chase a dream. The world is full of opportunities for creativity—if you have a vision, go after it. That’s exactly what fashion designer, entrepreneur, founder of Utopia, and expert upcycler Peder Cho did. He’s living proof that you can rewrite your story at any time.
After graduating from college, Cho became an accountant, thinking it was the path he needed to take to achieve success. He had plenty of passions, including a love for basketball, but pursuing a degree and landing a stable job seemed like the way to pay the bills and live the life he’d always envisioned. “Where I grew up in Milwaukee, it’s like creativity is not even a thing,” Cho says. “You’re going to be an artist? Okay, have fun with that.”
But he soon found he didn’t have the passion or drive to remain an accountant. Each year felt the same. The path didn’t excite him. “It’s year two, year three, year four, and you’re realizing that when climbing the ladder in this world, it’s like, okay, the ladder is very marginal,” he says.
It wasn’t until Cho started tailoring his own suits—a skill he learned at his father’s shop—that he began to see a new possibility for himself. What started as a practical effort to save time and money quickly blossomed into something much more interesting.
“Sewing became my creative outlet, and I realized I could turn it into something bigger,” he recalls. “So, I downsized my life and went all in. It wasn’t easy, but I loved the freedom. I wanted to be my own boss.”
In order to achieve that, Cho realized he’d need to make a big change. So, he took a risk and quit his accounting job to move to Los Angeles. There, he transformed his entire apartment into a creative studio and founded his fashion brand, Utopia in 2018. It was the right move. “Ever since I moved out to LA, the creativity’s been flowing,” Cho says.
Fast-forward a few years, and he’s thriving there, with over 500,000 followers on TikTok and brand partnerships he could have only dreamed of as an accountant.
But it was challenging to build up that massive following. Creating and executing a digital marketing strategy is daunting, especially for a hands-on craftsperson like Cho. “When you’re starting out or not in the art world, people might look at social media content and think it’s easy. It’s not,” he says.
With his focus on snipping, sewing, repurposing materials, and running a business—recording, editing, producing for social media, and marketing his brand proved time consuming for Cho. Luckily he found that the right tool could help make the transition to a full-time business owner and content creator smoother—Adobe Express.
“What I like most about Adobe Express is its ease of use and intuitive layout. Other programs can feel so daunting and make you feel like you need to be a professional to use them,” he says. “Adobe Express is different—it’s straightforward and almost explains itself.”
Adobe Express is the create-anything app that gives solopreneuers and small business owners of all skill levels the ability to quickly and easily produce creative marketing assets—both digital and IRL. Whether it’s designing a professional-looking website, putting together your first brand kit, or creating eye-catching social content to publish across multiple platforms, Adobe Express simplifies the creation process so you can focus on making an impact while saving time and money.
That’s especially helpful for someone like Cho who needs to promote both his personal brand and business without a design or marketing background. “Adobe Express lets me create high-quality artwork without needing to outsource. I can do it all myself, on my terms, and with ease,” he explains.
While Adobe Express is easy to use—it’s also powered by the best of Adobe’s pro apps, like Photoshop and Illustrator, and includes thousands of professionally designed templates (no cookie cutters here!) and millions of pro assets—from fonts and photos to music and video clips. Adobe Express powered by Adobe Firefly generative AI is designed to be commercially safe, so you can create and publish content anywhere with confidence—something that’s critical for every business and brand. Recently, Cho has been utilizing the moodboards available in Adobe Express to curate inspirational images and visualize unique concepts for his designs and social media accounts leveraging the Generate Text and Generate Image features.
“Adobe Express actually makes it like, Oh, I can create something elite that I can actually use,” he says. “I don’t have to outsource and I can do it myself, my way, my taste, and with ease. It’s user friendly.”
For Cho, most of that content is destined for his TikTok account. Though he says, “I never pictured myself doing TikTok videos and becoming an influencer at the same time as a designer,” his huge following on the platform laps up his clothing creation clips and is his main form of marketing for himself and his business.
The Image and Video Editors in Adobe Express help streamline the editing process with one-click editing tools to cut, crop, and remove backgrounds, or add animations and attention-grabbing graphics and text to elevate any post.
“With social media, the biggest drive is visuals,” he explains. “So if you have things moving and texts jumping up and down, or visuals going different ways or in multiple layers—this can help catch people’s attention.”
According to Cho, the Adobe Express TikTok Symphony Assistant helps with his creative process for upcoming posts too. It’s an AI-powered virtual assistant, available as an add-on directly in Adobe Express, designed to collaborate through the TikTok creative landscape—helping you to brainstorm ideas, implement best practices, identify trends, and find inspiration. A small business owner’s best friend when looking for creative inspiration while juggling running a business.
It’s easy to see how Cho’s journey is a testament to the powers of passion, drive, and finding the right tools to help along the way. “When you find your passion, you’ll know because it consumes you,” he says. “You’ll stay up until 3 or 4 AM working on it, even if you have to wake up early for your job. That’s your sign—it’s time to go for it.”
Ready to go for it? Download Adobe Express and start creating now.
Need some help taking the leap to follow your passions? Learn more about Adobe’s Digital Academy, a new global initiative created to help 30M next-generation learners develop AI literacy, content creation, and digital marketing skills to help them thrive in the coming work world of 2030. Adobe Digital Academy also offers career switchers the education and experience they need to launch successful careers in user experience (UX) design, data science, software engineering and digital marketing.
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