Small Business Spotlight: Fin Pin Shop

It’s March and Nowruz is almost here! I’m getting a bit of a late start but I wanted to share a few fellow Persian makers/creators with you this month. First up, is my dear friend Yasmin and her two women team you might have seen me share about on Instagram: Fin Pin Shop!

I met Yas through instagram and we instantly bonded as many do who share the small business joys and woes. We then further connected through our Persian heritage and love of animals. Yasmin is someone I can always count on to talk about our shops and she always finds the best cute animal videos to share with me! I admire her dedication and advocacy to the ocean and all the critters inside it. I’m so honored to feature her on my blog!

Check out more about Fin Pin Shop below!
Can you introduce yourself and Fin Pin Shop?

Absolutely! Fin Pin Shop is run by two women, Jaclyn & Yasmin, who advocate for marine life through ocean-inspired products. We are biologists who love ocean puns and promote an eco-friendly lifestyle. Our products donate to research and ocean conservation while tapping into important messaging, like respecting our oceans!

Diving deeper into who we are individually, Jaclyn is an avid ocean advocate with a Bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in Marine Biology and a Master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in Environmental Education. She has worked as an aquarist, marine science educator, water quality technician, classroom teacher, expeditions manager, SCUBA instructor, and even a mermaid! She is a volunteer supervisor with her local sea turtle patrol and lives in Florida with her husband, son, and rescue animals.
When it comes to myself (Yasmin), I believe art plays a powerful role in fostering environmental awareness and I create our designs with that goal. I obtained my Master's degree in Environmental Science from Drexel University, and recently my Master of Business Administration, focusing on Data Analytics, from Florida International University. There's three things you learn about me pretty quickly: I love manta rays, cats, and turning everything into puns.

Jaclyn is on the left and Yasmin is on the right!

What first sparked your interest in animals and the ocean?

Oh gosh, well Jaclyn was pretty much a water baby from the start, always drawn to the ocean, even though she grew up in Ohio. Funnily enough we were both born in Ohio! We were destined to meet, for shore. The ocean has shaped a lot of Jaclyn's life, she spent years volunteering for aquariums and zoos, educating and caring for ocean animals.

While I have always loved animals, I felt my need to save ocean life brought on by a specific encounter in my early 20's. One day on a vacation in Hawai'i I found myself swimming next to a reef manta ray, the first one I had ever met! Unfortunately this sweet ray had a large, rusted, commercial fishing hook attached to her cephalic fin (these are head fins they use to scoop food into their mouth). Her fin was more than half gone and the hook looked so heavy. That was the moment that truly set me on this path.

What is your favorite cephalopod :D

Oh I love flamboyant cuttlefish! They are just so fun and fascinating with their color changes and I love when they lift their little arms inquisitively in aquariums!

How do you feel your Persian and Turkish backgrounds influence your art?

I think the perfect example of this influence is in our "lucky eye" designs! This is when I completely unleashed my culture into our designs. We have both a sticker sheet and an enamel pin with the lucky eye, called nazar bonçuk in Turkish. This blue eye symbol is regarded as a protection against envy and jealousy, to bring good luck and repel the bad. In Turkish culture, it’s worn as beads, jewelry, displayed as wall ornaments, and even found in mosaics outside of shops. I believe this is also prevalent in Persian culture as I've seen these blue lucky eyes on display in both my Turkish and Persian family member's houses growing up. I have had a lucky eye on my wrist or worn it as a necklace since I was a baby so this was something I was extremely excited to bring to Fin Pin!

https://finpinshop.com/products/lucky-eyes-sticker-sheet-sharks-rays-octopus-fish

https://finpinshop.com/products/lucky-eye-fish-enamel-pin

Where is your favorite place to find inspiration?

I am so inspired by what I sea in aquariums and out in the ocean! With Instagram being such a big part of my business, I also find inspiration from others around the world on that platform. I consistently stumble across the most FINcredible footage of ocean species which make me want to pick up my Apple pencil (wish I was sponsored, lol) and start drawing!

What do you have currently in the shop that you're most excited about?

We just released a huge set of 7 sea turtle pins which donate 20% back to sea turtle conservation and research with Inwater Research Group! Each purchase of these pins support research and education programs critical to the continued survival of sea turtles today and for future generations!

https://finpinshop.com/collections/new-in-store-1

Do you have any upcoming products or projects that you want to share?

Oh gosh we are working hard on a new character, Munch, who is a Mola mola. This cute little fin (friend - I know we go hard on the puns! lol) has a little chunk missing, which honestly feels relatable to us in 2022. We went through so much the past couple years but still, we persevered. We are currently developing scrunchies and other fun products with this little fin we created, and we are so excited!

Here's our first Munch product! Soon to be on our website :)

Small Business Spotlight: Volition Tea

I’m spotlighting another Chicago business! Introducing Volition Tea! I recently purchased the raw jade, white jade and white peony. The two jade teas are in pillow format which are so lovely. I’ve always had a soft spot for compressed tea. There is something about the ease of it being pre-measured. I can just plop it into my brewing vessel and sip, sip, sip for hours! I love them both but as I write this I am re-tasting the raw Jade.

The dry pillow leaf aroma fills my nostrils with the memories of lavashak - a persian fruit leather type snack. While Lavashak comes in many flavors this aroma reminded me of the lavashak that was made with stone fruit like apricots or plums. Once the water hits the leaves the aroma stays fruity but also almost instantly adds a layer of cocoa which is such an interesting an lovely marriage of scents. The lid of my easy gaiwan changed fruits to a more pear type aroma. Light and refreshing. I usually brew my first steep a little light to taste it but even so the fruity notes with a hint of cocoa really come through well. As I drink these flavors deepen. Truly a spectacular tea!

Volition Tea Co also has several more teas and teaware to brew with as well!

You can check out all their offerings on their site!

Learn more about Annie and Volition Tea!

1) Can you give us a little introduction about you/Volition Tea Co? ​

This is Annie, a proud first-generation Chinese American and founder of Volition Tea Co. I am a huge fan of the food & beverage industry, particularly here in Chicago. I used to have a customized Google Map of all the incredible restaurants and speakeasies in Chicago for my friends and families to try. Volition Tea is a tea company focusing on sharing single-origin, sustainably grown loose leaf teas from China, and celebrating tea farmers who grew and made them. We also let our farmers dedicate pricing so they can ensure their fiscal wellbeing.

2) When did you start drinking tea? ​

I grew up in Xinjiang, the northwest corner of China. The earliest memory of tea drinking I have is with my family sitting in a yurt sipping black brick tea with yak butter. The brick tea is often boiled in a large teapot over bonfire, then yak butter is added in so it tastes like salted milk tea. I can't find yak butter here in Chicago, but my mom and I would still make this tea with butter sometimes and it immediately takes me back home.

3) What inspired you to start Volition Tea Co?

In my prior life I was a tax manager at one of the big four accounting firms. Though I was working on very challenging issues, I found myself craving for deeper connections with others. As hate crimes against my community continue on the rise, I developed a burning desire to do my part to reconnect the world. I chose tea because although it's a household staple, farmers who created teas were hidden behind the curtains from tea brands' marketing. Very much like the fate of Chinese food, much of the western society believes that tea should be and need to be cheap. That expectation forces tea farmers into a vicious circle of heavy fertilizer and pesticide usage to guarantee high yield, in exchange for ever narrowing profit margin that's not fiscally sustainable. Volition Tea is here to break the chain, celebrating our farmers and their perseverance for regenerative farming. Through storytelling, We've been able to form so many deep connections with farmers and tea drinkers around the world. It's been truly a dream come true.

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like? ​

My mornings are always hectic, getting my son and myself ready, and then sending him to school. I usually come home around 9am, that's when I get to start my morning tea ritual. If I've got places to go, I usually steep tea western style. If I am fortunate enough to have some time to myself, then I pick a tea and do it gongfu style, sharing it with my mom and my partner. All of VT teas can offer multiple steeping, so I would drink that tea throughout the day.

5) Do you have a current favorite tea that you offer? ​

My current favorite tea has been the Lu'an Melon Peel. I'm convinced it's my ultimate living-in-the-present challenge. Its flavors are so nuanced and subtle. Drinking this tea forces me to quiet down and focus. If I can be really present, then it always surprises me with a discovery of a new flavor/aroma note. Living in this fast-moving world, I am especially appreciative of this tea that gets me to slow down.

6) How did you curate the selection of teas that you currently offer on the site? ​

The original plan is to procure 2 different teas for each of the six types of tea to give tea drinkers a full range of single-origin tea experience. I worked with my exporter to meet and vet farmers who are in the sustainable farming community, which is fairly small to begin with. We cupped approximately 50 different teas and finally decided on these 7, because the teas are incredibly delicious, they have passed the pesticide residue test, and the relationship we have built with their respective tea farmer is genuine and candid.

7) What are your hopes for the future of Volition Tea Co?

​I have a bold vision that Volition Tea will form a community where tea drinkers around the world demand for high-quality, farmer-focused teas and are ready to support this cause, so that the tea farmers have the market confidence and fiscal security to continue striving for sustainable farming.

Small Business Spotlight: The Silk Tea Co

I’m so excited to share the incredible MJ of The Silk Tea Co with you! I’m currently sipping on the Zen & Tonic herbal blend as I write this. I first found MJ on Instagram and while I’m not usually a blended tea fan, I decided to give The Silk Tea Co a try because I heard so many raving reviews and also MJ is just a lovely person. Not only is she blending up tea, she’s supporting causes she cares about as well!

Check out this reel I made showing off her beautiful packaging!

1) A short intro about yourself/ The Silk Tea Co

Thank you for inviting me to this interview. So honored to have this opportunity to share a bit of my journey with you, Nazanin, I’m very grateful for all you do for our tea community. 

I’m MJ Pham and I’m committed to leading a business for social good. I identify with being a maker — a maker of beauty, unforgettable moments, and transportive experiences. My current medium is tea. I founded The Silk Tea Co in the midst of the uncertainty and fear that came with the COVID-19 lockdown in New York City in April 2020. I want to empower all of our tea drinkers to travel the world with just a sip, while giving back to communities in need.

I create powerful and luxurious teas found nowhere else. Each blend is inspired by desire and ancient cultures. I’m so fortunate to have the joy of dreaming up all of our luxurious tea blends and the excitement of running a very small business. As a former U.S. diplomat and news reporter who’s won two national U.S. journalism awards, I’ve worked at the intersection of identity, culture, narrative, and history my entire life. As a first-generation Asian American, I’m honored to own this business as a woman of color. 

2) When did you start drinking tea? 

The role of tea in my life is ancestral. I grew up with tins of loose leaf tea from the local Asian grocery stores in Springfield, Massachusetts. My mom is a refugee from the Vietnam War and I was fortunate enough to be born in the US, thanks to the kindness of the Skruches, strangers who became family to us when they sponsored my mother to this country. 
Tea brought my mom the comforts of her native Saigon. As a child, it was something that connected me to my mother tongue and one of my cultures. Today, it still connects the both of us to our roots. Growing up, trà sen, or lotus tea, as well as trà lài (jasmine tea), were always available in our kitchen. I witnessed how these teas marked the passage of time and solemnized important Vietnamese rituals, including weddings, the lunar new year, and paying respect to our ancestors. 

Yet, it wasn’t until I was studying abroad and learning Mandarin at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China that my tea journey took a more serious turn. I discovered the beauty of the famous 龙井茶 (Longjing cha or dragon well tea) straight from local farms thanks to the community of professors and friends I encountered there. Every day I would bike around West Lake and go past a number of gorgeous tea fields, marveling at the beauty of it all. My classmates and I visited the tea museum and learned more about China’s incredible tea history. I fell in love. It was just before I turned 20 and I could finally appreciate the wonderful experience of steeping tea — the boiling of fresh water, the fragrant steam, the ritual itself. And I was able to finally taste a rich range of flavors that unfurled — a lovely floral bouquet in the tea, a certain grassiness, a slight astringency, and a sweetness I’d never before appreciated. 

While I’ve inherited a respect for tea with my own culture as a Vietnamese-American, it was in China that I first took a deep-dive into tea. 

3) What inspired you to start The Silk Tea Co?

My love of travel and desire to make others feel their best, wherever they are. Tea has made me feel so welcomed and seen in so many countries. Saudi Arabia comes to mind, especially. That’s where the inspiration for my Desert Rose blend comes from, and there’s a greater story behind it (two incredible women!). 

I began The Silk Tea Co because I was craving teas that I couldn’t find online. I thought to myself, Well, if I’m going to make my own teas, I should find a way to share them. It’s been such an adventure since, and I’ve been so humbled and touched by the outpouring of love and support in our community. This is truly the greatest reward I’ve gained since starting this business — the warmth of new friendships, the incredible stories people have shared about our teas helping them and their loved ones through difficult times, surgeries, cancers, and more. There’s no greater honor than gaining the trust of each Silk Tea collector.

While I work in tech full time today, my passion is always centered around the table — and how we can come together. I’ve always been interested in food and I’ve spent a few years discussing gastrodiplomacy before. How are we connected? What do we have in common? What nourishes us? Tea connects each one of us; it’s rooted in the survival of humanity and civilizations. With The Silk Tea Co, it’s such a joy and honor for me to craft exquisite, luxurious blends that bring the ancient magic of tea alive with a modern twist. 

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like? 

There’s something freeing in the flow of tea, the pouring out of one’s self, the filling up of a cup, to replenish your own or to nourish another. I’m very experimental in how I brew. While I don’t adhere to any particularly strict brewing practice, I care deeply about the quality of the tea leaves and the blended ingredients — if I’m drinking a blended tea — and of course the temperature of the water. I like to say, once that’s all accounted for, brew however suits your life and flow. And I’m always experimenting with blends at home, too. 

5) Do you have a current favorite tea?

Can I share a secret with you? Lately, I've been savoring a delicious, highly-prized aged oolong that I will share with everyone in the coming months as part of an upcoming product launch (!!). Every tea drinker has a certain palate, and mine loves highly oxidized teas.... 

Also, as the season changes, I've been drinking a lot of our own On the Rocks tea blend — made with sliced whole vanilla beans from Madagascar, a Rwandan black tea as well as two oolongs, one a dark pearl oolong from Taiwan and the other a jinxuan oolong cultivated in Thailand. I love how versatile it is, it's lovely hot, iced, and as a latte. Kenny Wu from @mr.yumtums just made scones with his On the Rocks tea blend, and I'm excited to craft more blends with food and culinary delights in mind.  

6) Where do you find inspiration for your blends? 

It all comes down to the feelings I feel in the places I go and have been. Sometimes these blends are inspired by a certain nostalgia, and sometimes they’re inspired by a certain idea I have about a place, an interplay of fragrance and flavor, and sometimes, even by a person. I’m inspired by so many places where I’ve lived and visited — Cambodia, Vietnam, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Morocco, and Italy to name a few. These have truly shaped the arc of my tea drinking practice and my tea making journey. With each blend, my aim is to curate a sense of wellbeing for our Silk Tea collectors, and to empower them to travel the world with just a sip while making a social impact with their purchase.

7) What are your hopes for the future of The Silk Tea Co?

To keep making teas with a positive social impact. Since our founding, we have donated 5% of profits to the UN Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence Against Women. As a survivor of domestic violence and abuse in my former marriage, this is something that’s so close to my heart. It’s my personal mission to empower women everywhere. And most recently, in August 2021 after the crisis in Afghanistan and Haiti, The Silk Tea Co made a two-week call to fundraise for Save the Children and Mozaic DMV, a non-profit in the Washington, DC area resettling 2,500 Afghan refugees. We managed to raise $4,712 thanks to the generosity of our community as well as to our donors, including a third-party donor who helped us make this impact. I’m so grateful and inspired by everyone in our tea family.

8) One more thing to add…

Just as often as I'm drinking the teas I make, I'm always enjoying and in awe of the work of other teamakers and purveyors. There are so many I appreciate. I love offerings from Kiani Tea, TWG Tea, Chiki Tea and Naoki Matcha. I put in a massive order for White2tea recently and can't wait. And I hope to discover more brands to cheer on this year. We’re all in this together!

Small Business Spotlight: Priya’s Teas

Introducing Priya’s Teas! What’s your sign? Well, you can find a tea that matches your sign at Priya’s Teas! I’m born in January so I’m a Capricorn and as luck would have it, I love the Capricorn blend! It’s black tea with rose and cardamom! Check out the questions below where you can learn a little more about Priya’s Teas!

1) Introduce yourself/ Priya’s Teas

Here at Priya’s Teas, we’re all about balance. For us, this means embracing our duality, both astral and terrestrial – inviting the earth into our homes through the ritual steeping of leaf teas, while opening ourselves up to the wisdom that the stars offer us.

Priya’s teas draw on the power of plants and spices. She uses the age-old practice of astrology to uncover which herbs enhance your personality, and which spices help balance you out. When you prepare a tea crafted for your zodiac sign, you create a ritual and deepen your relationship with yourself.

2) When did you start drinking tea?

Hmmm maybe when I was 7 or 8! I remember sipping some from my mom’s or dad’s cup. Later when I was in college I would drink teas regularly.

3) What inspired you to start Priya’s Teas?

Tea and Astrology have been part of Indian culture for a long time and through our zodiac teas I have tried to tie these beautiful experiences together!

The teas draw on the power of plants and spices( based on Ayurveda meaning knowledge of life). Growing up in a multi-generational family in India,I learned about the different styles of tea-making from my mom and grandmother. They would hand-craft different tea blends of the sweet, savory, and nutty spices for each occasion.

When I came to US my friends loved the teas I made. It was over one of these chai conversations that we decided to start Priya’s Teas and during the pandemic lock down,I used all my energies to find the right blends for each zodiac sign!

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like?

Rituals ground us and stabilize us, making it easier for us to feel intentional. My morning starts with the ritual of chai. This process involves being mindful and present during preparation of tea ,drinking the tea and being aware of the effects of tea on your body and mind! This is the reason why I carefully chose the spices for each blend keeping in mind that these tea blends will nurture you from the inside out!

5) Do you have a current favorite tea?

It’s hard to choose but I think I am enjoying our cinnamon blend (gemini) these days as it is perfect for this fall season, cozy and warm!

6) What is your sign and what inspired each blend for the matching sign?

My sun sign is Leo and I chose the saffron blend for those born to this sign. The exquisite and the most expensive spice is known for its enticing flavor and rich color.

Leos shine bright everywhere they go, for they are the life of a party! They are bold, fiercely optimistic, and enigmatic leaders. Fire is their element and Sun is their ruling planet. Leos deserve a tea blend to match their royalty! I chose the most expensive of all spices, Saffron, for me and for every Leo tea-lover out there! Like our personality, Saffron is fragrant and rich in color. Above all, it has a luxurious feel – perfectly suitable for royals!

This was my first blend and when I shared the story and idea with my friends/family about this tea, they loved it. They also were curious to know what blend would suit their personality and so I got inspired to come up with different blends!

7) What are your hopes for the future of Priya’s Teas ?

There are challenges and advantages of starting a small business.

The advantage small businesses have is their ability to provide niche and differentiating product to customer. The challenges we face in a small business are many but during pandemic, the biggest challenge is to prepare for the unpredictable future.

We have taken our first steps and I would love to see our business grow and connect with more and more customers with time. It needs a lot of patience, perseverance and nurturing and I am ready to take this opportunity to share my story with people through our teas!