WORKING MOMS
See a Need, Fill a Need:
Kim Lim’s Story
K
im Lim wears many hats: minority
businesswoman, serial entrepre-
neur, engineer, student, clothing
designer, single-mom, volunteer
teacher, diversity advocate, sister,
daughter and friend. Although theses
hats are various styles and colors, she
displays each one as if it was custom-
made and manages to schedule them
appropriately. Kim is a woman who
does it all.
As a professional Chinese-American
woman, Kim owns and operates two
businesses - Global Goodie, an educa-
tional children’s clothing line that fea-
tures diverse cultural cuisines, and Ulti- multi-departmental teams, developing parent she always wanted to be. Three
mate Labs, an environmental monitor- medical and pharmaceutical equip- months following the separation, she
ing and microbiological testing firm. ment, but wanted more. returned to the workforce and secured a
Prior to opening the door to Ultimate Kim saw a need to help little ones consulting job where, luckily, she was
Labs, Inc. in late 2007, Kim spent over embrace new cultures. As a single- able to work from home for a while.
ten years working as a bioengineer and mother of two multi-cultural boys, one Being a single parent and working
validation consultant. of which is adopted, she is a firm believ- mother didn’t stop Kim from having the
With a B.S. in Bioengi- er in cultural awareness, education and family she always wanted. A few years
neering from the Uni- diversity. In 2006, she created Global after her first son was born, Kim filed
versity of Pennsylva- Goodie, a children’s clothing line adoption papers for her second child.
nia School of Engi- designed to help her children and others She continued to have a successful
neering and Applied learn about new cultures through food. career in quality assurance and valida-
Science, her love of Her line of cuisine-inspired onesies, t- tion and later, founded the two compa-
learning inspired her shirts and bibs include everything from nies, utilizing her skills and expertise
to return to school Caterpillar Rolls, Escargot and Sweet ‘n’ and feeding her passion for helping oth-
and she is currently Sour Chicken, to Paella, Gyros Pita and ers.
studying for two Mas- Lechon. Kim’s clothing line is one of a Kim’s motto, “see a need, fill a need,”
ters degrees, one from kind, created for families who are excit- explains her success as a minority busi-
Columbia University ed to teach their children cultural nesswoman, engineer, designer, and
in Operations Man- awareness while having some fun. single mom. When she’s not busy at
agement and the second, in Education Surprisingly enough, this savvy busi- work or shuttling her boys to swim-
and Teaching, from University of nesswoman initially planned to be a ming, soccer, kung fu and Mandarin
Phoenix. stay-at-home mom. However, after sep- classes, she’s volunteering as a high
Kim, a minority woman, stepped arating from her firstborn’s father, she school physics and math teacher. Her
into the male-dominated world of engi- remembers standing there holding a advice to other single parents is “to
neering and surpassed all expectations. newborn baby with no job and feeling always surround yourself with friends
Through her extensive career in biotech- completely devastated. Instead of and family because their encourage-
nology, Kim provided excellent valida- allowing the shock and grief over- ment is a reminder that you can do it.”
tion services to a myriad of clients in whelm her, Kim labeled the event as an For more information about Global
support of clinical and product manu- influential life change and figured out Goodie and Ultimate Labs, Inc., visit
facturing. She also has extensive experi- how she was going to be a successful
www.globalgoodie.com and www.ultimate-
ence managing drafting, directing businesswoman, while still being the
lab.com. PWM
32 PROFESSIONAL WOMAN’S MAGAZINE
www.professionalwomanmag.com
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