The Passion of the “Borderless Nomad”

STORY By Erin Holton

When you’re 11, the world is small, and changes can seem so far away. All you really have to worry about is going into middle school. Now imagine, at 11 years old, leaving everything and everyone you know behind and moving to the other side of the world. For Malik Sy ‘24, that was a reality.

Sy was born in Rockville, Maryland, and at that evolving point in his life, he moved to Thailand. His mother, who worked for the United Nations, was given a field position abroad, and the family had to relocate.

“Honestly, at first, I was very scared. I remember my mom came home and randomly was like, ‘Hey, guys, we're moving to Asia,’” Sy said. 

Understandably, Sy was nervous about moving and leaving his friends and everything he knew behind. However, when he got to Asia, it “opened his eyes,” and there was definitely a culture shock. 

“It was like a whole new world; I felt like I was in a video game or something. At first, it was sad leaving friends, but going on a new journey at such a young age and traveling and visiting the world was exciting.”

Sy went to school in Thailand from sixth to ninth grade, and then during ninth grade, he moved to Vietnam and finished high school there.

While in high school, he became passionate about international affairs, business, humanitarian work and social work. Economics and international business became his majors when he came to Marist College, but the college process was much more unique for Sy compared to domestically based students. 

“It was different compared to the traditional student. As an international student, I didn't have the luxury of coming to America and having a campus tour or talking to people [who went to the school]. However, I had a counselor who recommended a lot of schools in the upstate area of New York. Thanks to having friends and my counselor as well, who was familiar with the area, it made it pretty easy,” Sy said.

While the story of Sy’s travel-filled childhood is certainly unique, another thing about him stands out among your average student: he has his own clothing brand.

Illustration by Izzy Nuzzo

While in high school in Vietnam, Sy met Mattias, who became an incredibly close friend and, later, his business partner. When they were 17, Mattias shared with him his dream of having his own brand, and together, they worked to make that dream a reality, resulting in the creation of Foreign Resource. 

“The way it started, at first, was to cater towards the international kids, so Foreign Resource, when people ask about the brand, is the embodiment of the borderless nomad, so people who are Third Culture kids who lived all around the world,” Sy said.

Foreign Resource started making clothes in January 2021, when Sy was just 19. Sy credits his high school environment for giving him the passion and drive to create a brand while he was young, as he was surrounded by a lot of high-achieving and passionate young people. 

“I would very much give homage to [my high school environment]; just being around like-minded people who just want better for themselves and have high career goals just influenced our decision,” Sy said. 

Since 2021, the brand has grown and caters heavily to the international market while also having roots here in the U.S. In 2022, Foreign Resource had a popup in Amsterdam, which Sy credits as one of the brand’s biggest successes. 

Sy said, “It was kind of a surreal moment because you see all the work and dedication being put together, and then having everyone come to the event showed that, if you really just stick to what you want, you can kind of change people's lives through the work that you do.”

In addition to the popup in Amsterdam, Foreign Resource has had popups in Boston, as well as here on Marist’s campus. They have partnered with the Ethical Fashion Initiative in the past, as well as the general fashion community on campus.

Looking forward after graduation, Sy plans to shift focus and move the business back to Vietnam for a while to market the brand out of Southeast Asia. 

When asked where Sy would see himself in five to 10 years, he said he would love to be a guest speaker at Marist. 

“I see myself hopefully coming back here to Marist having a nice talk to the fashion community and young people like me that were in my position five years ago who were like, either on the forefront of pushing with their dreams or just having a mental cloud of ‘okay, what should I do?’, just providing reassurance, hopefully being an inspiration, through my success in life, life journeys and being able to inspire people,” he said. 

The biggest thing that Sy has learned in his eventful life? He says that it’s all day by day.

“Day by day. Just those few words, day by day. You can’t bring yesterday today; you can’t bring tomorrow right now. That's the mindset that my parents taught me, and my friends helped me with as well. It's just being patient and really appreciating the journey,” he said.

Photography by Christopher C. Smith

Video by Max Hochberg and Christopher C. Smith