Sashee Chandran
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."
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Sashee's work combines: Business, Food, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
I think a lot of people doubted the ability for Tea Drops to be a "big idea" -- I think many thought it was just a "cute little tea company" I was starting. You couldn't blame them though - how were they to have the vision I had? The only thing that matters is persistence. Getting up day after day, and trying. Each day brings a new fresh slate to continue working on your ideas. Learn from the no's and simply do not give up!
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Economics, General
University of California-Irvine
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Marketing Managers:
High School
Bachelor's Degree: Business/Commerce, General
Graduate Degree: Business Administration and Management, General
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
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.
2.
Attended the University of California, Irvine, where she received her bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in management.
3.
Her first job out of college was working at a market research company where she got valuable experience in how businesses understand their customers.
4.
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.
5.
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.
6.
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.
7.
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.
8.
In 2015, she launched Tea Drops, which is now an award-winning brand known for its organic products and eco-friendly design.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
This isn't a going to be a successful business.
How I responded:
I think a lot of people doubted the ability for Tea Drops to be a "big idea" -- I think many thought it was just a "cute little tea company" I was starting. You couldn't blame them though - how were they to have the vision I had? The only thing that matters is persistence. Getting up day after day, and trying. Each day brings a new fresh slate to continue working on your ideas. Learn from the no's and simply do not give up!
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I lost my job during the recession and had just signed a lease on an apartment, so money was tight.
My mom is Chinese & my dad is Sri Lankan. I dealt with all of the typical challenges of growing up in an immigrant household. There is this "scarcity mindset" in immigrant families that we need to do better than them so that we don't live like them.