Published on: Aug 31, 2020

In this episode, we talk to Kenny Chew and Yshel Lok, co-founders of Fabula Tea. We heard how Fabula Tea came into being and how they’re creating an intentional space for diverse and inclusive community building during this pandemic. We also talked about microaggressions and how they’re showing up for Asians and Asian Americans right now and what people could do about it. If you’re looking for a space for healing, reconnecting back to the self and community, being present in this difficult time, we really recommend you check them out. Hope you enjoy the podcast!

Fabula Tea Website
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Yshel’s Instagram

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Transcript

Linet  00:00

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the fourth episode in the Unconscious Bias Project podcast. My name is Linet Mera. I'm the Executive Director of the unconscious bias project and I am your host today and we're so excited to have the two fabulous people behind fabulous tea as our guests today. The first is Yshel Lok, is a life artist extraordinaire and co-founder of Fabula Tea. She spins aromatic threads of brews and weaves these yarns of ancient tea fables into the living  tapestry of sensorial, mindfulness for modern connoisseurs. She's also a magical guide for those who wish to journey to the wondrous sanctuary within and next to us is also Kenny Chew. Kenny is my friend from a long time ago and he is a maverick tea enthusiast who brings connoisseur level tea experience to the contemporary audience. He is a fount of expert knowledge on all things tea. He has been under the teachings of numerous Asian Tea Masters for over a decade, and he is very passionate about bringing people together through mindfully curated teas and time honored wisdoms on tea appreciation. As a co-founder of Fabula Tea. He specializes in crafting experiences that help participants rejuvenate by slowing down and reconnecting with themselves. Hi, welcome to the two of you.

Kenny  01:28

Thank you for having us. Linet.

Yshel  01:30

Thank you very much Linet, glad to be here.

Linet  01:32

We're so happy to have you both here, as my good friends and also in this time. So tell me a little bit about Fabula Tea. What's the story behind starting it? How did you two meet because when I met Kenny, we were doing our PhDs together, so a little different from tea, but maybe similar. So I want to hear a little bit about that story.

Kenny  01:52

So like Linet said, we met at UCSF when we're doing our PhD, and I graduated without a PhD because I wanted to do something that I really am passionate about instead of pursuing my PhD and being very unhappy. So one of the things that I really like to do when I was not happy, I always like to brew tea. So when I was transitioning from the PhD war to my next phase of life, I was trying to figure out what I can do and one of the first things that come into mind is tea because it has been my passion for this time. And it really helps me to feel more relaxed after stress day. And it's also a good way for me to really quiet down and calm myself. So that's how the idea started brewing. And at that time Yshel was one of my close friends. And she was also going through a little bit of a transition. But it's just that we will always hang out and have tea together. We'll always talk about what we should do to transition into our next phase and how we can contribute to the world. And from all those conversations, we'll have tea together, we'll talk eventually, we decided that we should found a company together so that we can share our passion about tea and how it can be used as a tool to help people. Before the company was officially founder. We actually did a few tea gatherings together. We hosted a few friends. Slowly, we decided that this is a good thing. I think we can do it. And then that's how we all got started.

Linet  03:31

Wow. That's really powerful. I am so floored by the guts it took Yshel! What about you? What's your perspective on how Fabula Tea got started?

Yshel  03:42

So, I'm met Kenny, while he's still a PhD student, I called on a restaurant at a time in Lafayette where I had two other partner, it's about time to sell our business to a new transition. And we learned that both of us are tea lovers. So when we are feeling stressed or at a crossroads of our journey in our life, tea is always an instrument that helps us relax, stay center, or gain clarity. So while we are doing all the discussion and sharing what's next path for our next project, we noticed that there are many talented artists around us so many great story inspire us and touched our life. And we thought we gotta do something and let your story and let the beautiful art to be seen and hear and we think T is a great vehicle and bring people together and let people have a chance to share and be here and seen. So we find out that we want to be able to find a tea ritual or approach that is not tied to a specific lineage or spirituality and carry a little touch of whimsy and magic. So we're sitting on the floor. We said, "Okay, how about we just create our own and just bring the people around us and share their story and share their arts." Fabula is Latin word of fable of storytelling. That's how we started.

Linet  05:14

That's a really beautiful story. So you are an entrepreneur already before you met Kenny? Yes,

Yshel  05:20

Yes, I started a restaurant business after I graduate, I was studying business in the past. And then I do intern after I graduate and now working on project with people training. And I met someone interested to start a new business, Singapore-Malaysian restaurants, so they asked me to join them. So I started my first venture.

Linet  05:22

That's amazing, that you thought of the art as well and making it whimsical and fun and different. It sounds like a very intentional vision and mission that you've put together. So how long has Fabula Tea been running and what makes Fabula Tea different?

Kenny  06:01

As you have heard earlier, Fabula, we chose that word intentionally and after a very very long process, because it took us a really long time to decide what kind of direction we want to do with Fabula Tea. And we don't want to just sell tea. So that's the first thing that came into mind. And then we want to highlight tea as a way to help people relax, and also to heal themselves and then have them gain more clarity. And another direction is we want to be able to collaborate with other artists like Yshel said, because there are so many talented artists with amazing stories behind them. We want the company as a company that can really work well and flourish together with other artists in a local Bay Area to start with. So in that way, after a few years, realize that we specialize in creating tea experience that blend tea and our story and people together. We try to still keep some traditional things like the teas themselves are all very traditional. And they're all very unique, with very amazing stories behind them. And then a lot of them are not really known by the people here, not even among the tea drinking people, because a lot of teas that we chose are very unique and very small batch. And then also then, we create events that showcase different artists and we will have artwork from different artists and then use them on our labels so that we create our teas in canisters that have artwork and then we'll tell them who this art is done by and what kind of tea is in it. And then on top of that we have a very small booklet inside the canister that tells the story about the tea, the artists, and the message behind the artwork as well.

Linet  07:50

And it's beautiful. So for those folks listening in, you have to check out their website, www dot fabulatea dot com. That's www.fabulatea.com. And we are recording this during the Coronavirus Pandemic, which has forced everybody inside their homes. There's a lot of stress going around, a lot of anxiety, as I'm sure you've seen or heard folks that are Asian or Asian-American have been experiencing a lot of racism, xenophobia, and shunning because of people associating the virus with China and with Asian people. And it's really unfortunate. And to make matters worse, of course, the pandemic itself that health outcomes are affecting certain communities more than others. Some of those are people of color, and definitely LGBTQ communities. And that's not just health, but also economically. So have either of you had to experience any of that? Or have you had anyone close to you experience any of that?

Yshel  09:00

We definitely came across people, especially at a sensitive time that tried to avoid on interact directly with us, face to face. I think the thing is not taking too personally to myself, because I can feel that is their own fears, but unconsciously they project that to any Asian people. It doesn't matter where they came from. And we can feel that directly or indirectly, but we are very fortunate. We don't have any more harsh and word or any strong emotional reaction directly to us, but we didn't notice that when walk on the street, even just for an hour, people don't tend to be that friendly as he used to be even in the same neighborhood when they see you.

Linet  09:44

I'm so sorry. It is such a hard time like grocery stores. It's like a high tense situation, for going for a walk on the street should not be such a high tense situation and people try to give each other distance, but being unfriendly is the microaggression. And so what we've been asking folks to do is just to be aware, if they're doing anything like that and try to learn about their own unconscious biases. One of the problems is we're getting all these negative stereotypes of Asians and Asian-Americans, when even news articles that show an Asian person with a mask, even if it has nothing to do with that specific person, you are continuing this association. And then negative stereotypes that get put out there in conjunction with these images still affect us, even if we don't ourselves feel that we are biased towards that certain group, even if you do belong to that group, you might start accumulating some of those biases. So we asked people to become aware of it and then start to take steps to reduce their own personal biases, some of which I've talked in previous podcasts and on our videos and on our website. So say if I'm one of your neighbors, and I see one of your other neighbors not say hello, I can see you and just say, "Oh, hi!" Do you can just wave from a distance and say hello beneath a mask? So would that be helpful for you? If a neighbor just said hello? Or would you want something else in those situations?

Yshel  11:06

I think hello is very good for now. Yeah. So far neighbor around me where I live, immediate neighbor is very friendly. Yeah, we nearly shot it for a long time. So people will say hi, how about you,

Kenny  11:19

I didn't experience anything directly or personally, but I've definitely heard, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, people are definitely not going to Chinese restaurants, for example. That's one way that I see how the community is affected, partially because of the lack of information, but then there's also this thing where everybody is not getting reliable news in the past few years because, a lot of people rely on social media, then they'll get bits and bits and pieces of news and stories, some of them are not even reliable or authentic. So they'll just get the fact that very easily and assume things very quickly. So that's how things got out of hand so quickly I feel.

Linet  12:03

Yeah, absolutely. In our previous podcast, with Jessica Ayden Li,  who runs Health Equity United. She was noticing that her friends in businesses, so restaurants and other Asian-owned businesses, were feeling the economic downturn even earlier since January, before the shelter in place. They were already starting to notice that customers were coming in last. This is a good reminder for listeners, if you have a favorite restaurant, favorite artist, favorite business owner, who's Asian, Asian-American, go ahead and reach out and see if you can help either with buying takeout. You can buy some teas from Fabula Teas. If you don't have the resources because a lot of folks are feeling the economic crunch, you can always reach out and say, "Hey, I really want to support you, I don't have the funds. What can I do?" And oftentimes, there's things that you can do. So what about bands of Fabula Tea? What should they do right now?

Kenny  13:00

There are different things that you can do. You can follow us on social media, and then leave some supportive messages, follow us and connect with us and ask us questions. You can DM us as well on social media. And also, I'm just happy to see if you are supporting other small and micro-businesses as well, as well as other Asian-owned businesses. So these are things that will make me happy. And then also makes me feel like my community is not affected as much and spread the word about what we do. Also, maybe you have friends who have the resources to support more of the Asian-owned businesses. So spread the word. Let them know what the community is dealing with and what are the ways that you can do to support.

Linet  13:42

Yes, to spread the word the social media handle is @FabulaTea, all one word, and they're on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, they're just about everywhere. And also Yshel has her own Instagram that's @free_your_imagination_with_tea. Underscores on each one. That's @free_your_imagination_with_tea on Instagram. They have really gorgeous pictures and it's a really great way to support a business. If you don't have any funds. Yshel, what do you think what are ways that people could support Asians, Asian-Americans and Asian-owned businesses?

Yshel  14:18

Right now, we also host a free virtual tea experience. We did twice for the last two weeks, so people can participate and connect with us. So there's one way that definitely people can join us. It's a free service in order to support everybody because it's a hard time, even if you work from home or with kids and play for 30 minutes, people can have a little space for themselves. We welcome everyone who is interested and we plan to do it at least probably once a week to stay connect to the community and people who are supporting us.

Linet  14:52

Definitely check out their website to find out when their next virtual tea meditation? Or ceremony? Or is it kind of both?

Yshel  15:01

It is and both. We will do guided meditation and tea ritual, and also sometimes some story, it depends on the theme. So we always post it on our social media. So if you follow us, then you will find out when is the next one, and what theme that we are going to focus on using tea as a tool to help you regain your clarity and reground yourself.

Linet  15:26

That's really beautiful. Yeah, we really need that.

Kenny  15:29

 I'm just going to say, if you don't use social media, you can still follow us by signing up on our email list. And you can do so by going to our website, go to our about page to sign up on our email list at the bottom of the page.

Linet  15:45

I think that's really great. Mindfulness, just being aware, it's an important tool in bias reductions, one that we teach. And definitely for folks, on the other end, it can be a really important part of restorative process and a way to actually process things that have happened to you or even to ground yourself before you go into a space where you might encounter those microaggressions. So do you have to have a full on fancy tea setup in order to do this? Because I'm not sure I have all of those things.

Kenny  16:15

Good question. You don't have to, if you just have a regular coffee, or tea mug, or a glass and some tea, that's all you need, and we will have during the virtual tea retreat. A tea ritual is just part of the demonstration and part of the mindfulness practice. So you can go along, and we will explain how you can do almost the same thing without fancy setup, because the fancy setup is another thing to invest in. If you have the means and you have the time, that's great if you want to do so, but if you don't, we want to encourage people to not think that they have to have all this fancy setup to do something that we're trying to ask people to do. You can do all this mindfulness practice with just a regular cup and any regular tea that works just as well.

Linet  17:03

Well, great. I'm looking forward to joining you this weekend. Kind of quietly, kind of loudly, very intentional about being inclusive in your events that you do these Alice in Wonderland type tea events. And I've seen people of all different ethnicities, different gender identities, all different colors and sizes come to your events, and that you're very intentional about the artists that you partner with or the artwork on your teas and who you're working with as a business. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Kenny  17:36

Yes, we are pretty intentional about being inclusive. And the first thing that you can see is from artwork that is showcased on the labels of our tea canisters. So first of all, you see different styles, you'll see very traditional Chinese brush painting, you'll see colored pencils, you'll see some that are more elaborate and more figurative, and all this different styles. And also the artists themselves, are all from different walks of life, different gender, gender identity, and age group. So we have LGBT community artists, we have artists that are really young, including three years old. We have women artists, we have many artists, we have black artists, we have Asian artists, we have white artists, we also have artists that are disabled. And then recently, we also work with our first international artists, those are very diverse. So we will really love that.

Yshel  18:34

Yeah, we like to create an experience that can help people to remind them who they are and who they are not. And we also always create different themes, not just regular, very typical afternoon tea, but a standard that not just limited to the age or certain gender, so as long as you have imagination, as long as you're curious, you're curious to learn about more about life about yourself, you are welcome to join. We are open and that is the thing that we intend, we like to bring in people especially curious about themselves and what's beyond the daily life.

Kenny  19:14

and the place that we do it at is called Gregangelo Museum and this is an amazing house. Some people call it a, "Wonderland." That's how we come up with the event series called, "Tea in Wonderland." The person who came up with this place and value his name is Gregangelo. He himself is a very talented and inclusive artist. He is out of the LGBT community and that's how I got to know him because we were networking at LGBT based networking session and we got to know him by actually paying him a visit at his place for a very casual lunch. Slowly, you got to know more about him and know how he is very supportive in different types of artists. So that is very similar to what we're trying to achieve. So we are very inspired by what he does. And every time during our "Tea in Wonderland" events. We also have artists that Greg himself chose to perform as well. And to tell the stories.

Linet  20:18

That sounds really beautiful.

Yshel  20:19

We will actually have one coming up on toward the end of the May on the 31st. We will turn our virtual experience so, we work together with Gregangelo at the museum thing, so to turn our team Wonderland to virtual online and is free open. People can buy donation or tips if they feel this event inspire them. So absolutely everybody are welcome to come to join us because all you have a performance is amazing performance by Gregangelo for his "Whirling Dervish" dance. And also weave meditation and weave tea ceremony with storytelling and a little exploration of the museum space. So you can have the whole experience online.

Linet  21:06

That sounds really beautiful.

Kenny  21:08

It is going to happen on May 31st, so make sure you follow us!

Linet  21:12

That sounds really beautiful, sounds like you have a few projects in the works. Do you have any other projects in the works? And how can we UBP and our listeners support you with them?

Yshel  21:21

We are also taking this opportunity right now to learn how to put together all the meditation skill, the tea knowledge and artwork from people around us. And we want to combine together online course to help people in a very convenience way and affordable way to help them in chaos and in stressful time to find a space within themselves to stay relaxed, center, and gain a new perspective.

Linet  21:50

That sounds like a really perfect thing to have right now. Not just right now, but in the future. Do you have any shoutouts? Folks that you want to thank for their support? Or people that you want our listeners to check out?

Kenny  22:03

Once again, I want to thank you first for doing this. And for trying different ways to address the issues of unconscious bias. That's very inspiring. Thanks for inviting us. But I do want to give a shout out to all the artists and all the makers and all the micro-business owners, who are really affected by this Pandemic and shelter in place order because most of the time, they rely on being in person and attaining or their selling crafts or being in festivals who to make their business work. So if you have the means, please support them too.

Linet  22:41

How about you Yshel?

Yshel  22:43

Definitely support the artists that we work together with the Gregangelo Museum. They have a big group of live and performing artists. So this did a huge impact on all their events and live-performing. They're very talented, inspiring, and the whole thing is always to encourage us to be yourself. And also, I like to encourage people to take opportunity to look at any type of Asian art, read an Asian story, or listen to Asian music, anything that you feel uh, resonate with you. So you learn more about something different about Asian and see the beauty of it. Where probably people can have a new perspective when they look at any Asian or Asian community again.

Linet  23:31

That's a great point to end this podcast. One of the things that we like to teach people that's really fun to reduce your own biases is to look for media that represent people in non-stereotypical ways. Thank you for that Yshel. Thank you both so much for making the time to chat with us today.

Kenny  23:48

Thank you so much Linet.

Yshel  23:50

 Thank you.