OUR STORY
Hi! I’m Marika, the founder of Twerk Empire. I grew up as a happy, creative kid who loved the arts and storytelling.
As a teenager everything changed. I was becoming a woman and my body was changing. It was a hard pill to swallow. In high school, I lost myself to a severe eating disorder. I spent years in hospitals and met specialists after specialists, but nothing seemed to help.
I reached a point where I had only two options left: try one more time again or let my tired body give up the fight. I chose the first option. Healing was not easy, and I struggled with my body image a lot.
Until I found twerking. Twerking was the first thing that made me see my body worthy, capable and beautiful.
It made me feel free. It made me enjoy movement again. It helped me build my confidence back up after all those years of beating myself.
When I started twerking in 2015, it was a very new thing in Finland. In fact, In fact, I was one of the first ever to start twerking in Finland. At that time, twerking was widely misunderstood, and it stirred up a lot of emotions. It was seen as inappropriate and attention-seeking, but for me, that was one of the main reasons I fell in love with the sport. I found it empowering to shake off the 'good girl' image I had carried my whole life. I had been trying to fit into society’s narrow box of womanhood, always pleasing others and forgetting myself on the way. Twerking was my way of giving the middle finger to a male-ruled world full of unwritten rules about what I should be as a girl, how I should behave, and how I should look. It was me taking my power back, and I enjoyed every second of it.
Starting twerking has been one of the biggest turning points in my life. It changed my life for good. Not only did it help me find my strength again, it also brought me a whole new twerk family, gave me unforgettable experiences, and ultimately became my career.
I was one of the original members of Finland’s first competitive twerk crew, called Tinze Twerkers. For years, we toured around Finland, performing in clubs, festivals, and contests. After we reached the finals of Finland’s Got Talent in 2021, the most of us started creating our own individual careers. Many of us ended up teaching and coaching twerk.
I ended up solving problems in twerk wear. The idea of Twerk Empire was born out of the frustration of trying to find clothing for twerking. When I started twerking, we would go to a local mall and search through every store to find something somewhat suitable for twerking. The biggest problem was that the materials in chain store shorts were too tight and squeezing, making it impossible to twerk. On the other hand, underwear departments were offering teeny-weeny-string-bikinis, but they were way too teeny-weeny everywhere (girls, you know what I mean...).
I decided to design the perfect twerk shorts myself. After drawing some rough sketches, I contacted a local company that specialized in sewing sportswear. Together, we made so many prototypes that I lost count. I tested each prototype in twerk classes, and when people started coming to me asking where my shorts were from, I knew I was on the right track. After tweaking the shorts for over a year, The Perfect Twerk Shorts™ were finally ready for launch. It was a nerve-wracking moment for me, but soon after the release, it became clear that I had nothing to worry about. Twerkers went crazy for the shorts, and they quickly became a phenomenon.
Over the years, the shorts have reached almost iconic status in the Finnish twerk scene. My design set the standard for twerk wear and earned the reputation of being "the basic twerk shorts." Believe it or not, creating something that's called "basic" is my biggest achievement as a designer. Since then, other twerk wear brands have adopted the design, but I'm proud to have been the one to lead the way.
Over the years, the Empire has grown, but one thing remains the same: the passion for twerking. Every product is designed in collaboration with twerk dancers to ensure it’s the best you can find for twerking.
Thank you, Queens, for being a part of this journey, supporting my small business, and building the Empire together with me.
xo, Marika
founder of Twerk Empire