Our Story
OUR STORY
Every story begins somewhere.
Thirty-Seventh Street isn't just the place where I grew up. It's the place that taught me that even in our hardest seasons, love has the power to build something beautiful.
For me, it began on Thirty-Seventh Street.
It wasn't the biggest home. It wasn't the nicest neighborhood. But it became the place that shaped my heart, my values, and ultimately, the reason this brand exists.
When my family came to America, we moved to Thirty-Seventh Street with one purpose: to rebuild our lives. My parents were raising six children in a small two-bedroom apartment while learning how to navigate a new country, a new language, and a future they could only hope would be brighter than the one they had left behind.
Like many families starting over, they were still learning how to be parents while carrying the weight of survival.
Looking back now, I realize they weren't just raising six children.
They were rebuilding themselves.
A Home Full of Love
Our home was full of contradictions.
There were nights filled with laughter and nights filled with tears.
Moments of celebration alongside moments of uncertainty.
As children, we witnessed both.
Yet somehow, love always found its way into our home.
My mother taught me what tenderness looked like.
She had a way of making love feel tangible, even when there was almost nothing to give. I still remember watching her gather loose change from around the house just to buy a bag of Hot Cheetos for all six of us to share over rice. To someone else, it might have looked like an ordinary meal. To us, it was her quiet way of saying, "I'm trying. I love you."
My father taught me something different.
He taught me generosity.
He believed deeply in people. He gave his time freely, opened our doors to others, and welcomed everyone with kindness. Our apartment became a place where cousins, lifelong family friends, and neighbors gathered to laugh, celebrate, share meals, and, if only for a little while, forget the hardships waiting outside our front door.
People came.
Families moved away.
Life continued.
But somehow, everyone always found their way back to Thirty-Seventh Street.
Not because of the apartment.
But because of the people.
Because of the love that lived there.
Growing Up Together
Living in such a small apartment meant we grew up quickly.
My siblings became my closest friends.
My cousins became brothers and sisters.
The children who filled our tiny courtyard became lifelong family.
That little courtyard was our world.
It was where we played until the sun went down, where adults gathered to talk for hours, where meals were shared, where celebrations were held, and where laughter somehow made such a small place feel so much bigger.
So many families.
So many dreams.
So much love.
Even after families moved away, they always seemed to find their way back.
Not because of the apartment.
Not because of the neighborhood.
But because Thirty-Seventh Street had become home.
As children, we learned to lean on one another because, in many ways, we were growing up alongside our parents.
We experienced love.
But we also experienced loneliness.
My mother poured everything she had into our family.
My father poured so much of himself into serving others.
Both loved deeply.
Both sacrificed in different ways.
And both taught me something I'll carry for the rest of my life:
The people who give the most are often carrying burdens no one else can see.
I don't look back with resentment.
I look back with understanding.
Because although we didn't have much, my parents gave us things money could never buy.
Resilience.
Compassion.
Generosity.
Community.
Hope.
Those gifts became the foundation of who I am.
Why Thirty-Seventh Street?
For many years, I thought Thirty-Seventh Street represented hardship.
Today, I see something completely different.
I see resilience.
I see community.
I see families rebuilding their lives together.
I see cousins who became siblings.
I see lifelong friends who became family.
I see parents carrying unimaginable burdens while still finding ways to give love.
Thirty-Seventh Street isn't simply where I grew up.
It represents every family who called that place home.
The parents who sacrificed quietly so their children could dream a little bigger.
The children who laughed together in that little courtyard while carrying dreams much bigger than the place we called home.
The cousins and family friends who stood beside one another through every season of life.
This brand is a tribute to all of them.
To the families who rebuilt after unimaginable hardship.
To the parents who gave everything they had—even when what they had wasn't much.
To the children who learned resilience long before they understood its meaning.
To the community that reminded us that home isn't defined by walls.
Home is built by the people who choose to love one another.
Thirty-Seventh Street was never just an address. It was a community that taught us that even when we had very little, we always had each other.
Why Beauty?
For much of my life, I found purpose in taking care of everyone else.
My family.
My friends.
My community.
My work.
Giving became second nature because it was what I had watched my parents do every day.
Eventually, I realized something I wish someone had taught me much sooner.
You cannot continue pouring into others if you've forgotten how to pour into yourself.
That realization changed everything.
I stopped seeing skincare as vanity.
I stopped seeing makeup as something meant to hide imperfections.
Instead, they became quiet rituals.
Moments to slow down.
To breathe.
To reconnect.
To remind myself that I deserve the same care I so freely give to everyone else.
That's why Thirty-Seventh Street exists.
Not simply to create skincare and beauty products.
But to create moments.
Moments where someone can pause, even if only for five minutes, and remember that caring for themselves isn't selfish.
It's necessary.
Coming Full Circle
Years later, on Thirty-Seventh Street,
It was there that my husband and I celebrated our traditional wedding.
Standing in the very place where so many of my childhood memories were made, I realized something beautiful.
The street that once held memories of struggle had become a place filled with joy, family, tradition, and hope.
My beginning had become the backdrop for one of the happiest days of my life.
That's when I understood something I'll never forget.
Our beginnings don't define our endings.
For years, I thought Thirty-Seventh Street represented hardship. Today, I realize it represented something much greater. It represented resilience. It represented community. It represented people who had very little, yet somehow found endless ways to give love.
Our Promise
Today, Thirty-Seventh Street is more than the name of a beauty brand.
It is a tribute to my parents, whose sacrifices made my dreams possible.
To my siblings, who taught me the strength of standing together.
To the cousins, lifelong family friends, and every family who called Thirty-Seventh Street home—people who walked through difficult seasons together and transformed a small apartment and tiny courtyard into a place overflowing with love, laughter, and belonging.
And to every person who has spent so much time taking care of everyone else that they've forgotten they deserve care, too.
Every product we create is thoughtfully crafted with one hope:
That it becomes more than part of your daily routine.
That it becomes part of your story.
A reminder to pause.
To breathe.
To heal.
To begin again.
Because the world asks a lot of you.
Come back to yourself.
With gratitude,
Gaosheng Moua
Founder, Thirty-Seventh Street