Sashee Chandran
Founder & CEO
Tea Drops
Los Angeles, CA USA
“When you actually face the worst case scenario and realize that it’s actually not that bad, that frees you up to pursue what you want to.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationSashee Chandran
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, to a Chinese mother and Sri Lankan father—influenced by her heritage, she grew up loving tea and tea culture.
Attended the University of California, Irvine, where she received her bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in management.
Her first job out of college was working at a market research company where she got valuable experience in how businesses understand their customers.
During the economic recession of 2008, she ended up losing her job—decided to start freelancing as a market research analyst for small businesses and agencies.
Got recruited to work for eBay as a manager of consumer insights and later joined their marketing rotation program, where she worked for six months in each marketing department.
She started to realize that her love of loose leaf tea was inconvenient for her working lifestyle and that this was a problem she was poised to fix.
She experimented for two years and discovered that she could grind tea leaves very fine and compress them with sugar—this combined the convenience of tea bags with the flavor of loose leaf tea.
In 2015, she launched Tea Drops, which is now an award-winning brand known for its organic products and eco-friendly design.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Founder & CEO
I am the founder of an innovative tea company manufacturing organic, loose leaf, dissolvable teas.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Food
Helping People
Day to Day
No day is ever the same. I check in with my team / partners. Get on lots of phone conferences and interviews. I wear multiple hats throughout the day!
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
Get internships or work in the field that you think you're interested in. Nothing beats hands-on experience.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"This isn't a going to be a successful business."
Challenges I Overcame
Job Loss
First-Generation Immigrant
Interviewed By
UCI Roadtrip
University of California, Irvine students and alumni
