Sashee Chandran is the Founder & CEO of California based company, Tea Drops. After initially starting the brand as a passion project and side gig, she has raised $3.5 million and garnered mainstream attention from the likes of Chrissy Teigen and Tory Burch. She joins Ara to discuss growing up on a tea estate and learning to sell from a young age, how one tweet changed her entire life, and the power of both learning to let go and celery juice.

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Timestamps:

00:15 - Introducing Sashee Chandran

01:23 - Growing up on a tea estate with entrepreneurial parents

04:35 - Learning to sell from a young age

05:24 - Starting Tea Drops while working a full-time job at eBay in Silicon Valley

06:46 - How Sashee knew it was time to quit her job and go all-in on Tea Drops

10:57 - The process of patenting Tea Drops

13:39 - The impact of being tweeted about by Chrissy Teigen

15:58 - Transitioning from bootstrapping to raising funds

18:31 - Maintaining open to feedback while having conviction in what you’re building

22:48 - Raising $3.5 million to date and embarking on a $5 million series A round

24:39 - Receiving support from her family, friends, and mentors

27:18 - Meeting people she would have never expected

28:06 - Following her father’s “Horizon Theory”

30:05 - Expanding beyond tea to incorporate and emphasize self-care

34:59 - Wanting to separate work from her personal life, and investing in other founders

41:20 - What Sashee would be doing if Tea Drops wasn’t a thing

46:24 - Why Sashee moved into a 250-sqft home and got rid of 75% of her belongings

49:47 - Sashee’s view on social media

51:40 - Sashee’s interests outside of work (spending time with family and travelling)

54:04 - How the book “Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer helped Sashee learn to let go

56:12 - The power of celery juice

57:20 - Wanting to make other people feel like they are the priority

58:40 - The influence of Tamil culture on Sashee

01:00:17 - Admiration for Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

01:01:37 - Sashee’s advice to other Tamil creators

01:02:38 - Would You Rather

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