Lisa Li Transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to The Future of Food Is You, a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Abena Anim-Somuah, and each week I talk to emerging talents in the food world and they share what they're up to as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. As for me, I'm the founder of The Eden Place, a community that's all about gathering people intentionally around food. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their ways in the world of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Lisa Li, founder of The Qi. The Qi is a wellness brand known for their signature flower teas and the belief in empowering people to feel more joy and inner calm. I recently tried one of the cheese teas and it was a wonderful way to start my morning and set intentions for the day. Lisa and I chatted about the trip that inspired her to start drinking her flowers, how she finds moments of joy as a busy founder and the ways that she incorporates her fashion experience into the brand's aesthetic.
Thank you to Kerrygold and Walmart for supporting today's show. Kerrygold is delicious, all natural butter and cheese made with milk from Irish grass-fed cows based on small family-run Irish dairy farms. Kerrygold's farming families pass their craft and knowledge from generation to generation. This traditional approach is the reason for the rich taste of Kerrygold. You can enjoy delicious sliced or shredded Kerrygold cheddar cheese, available in mild or savory flavors. The shredded cheddar is perfect for those who love making mac and cheese, and now the grilling season is here, the cheddar slices will take any burger or veggie burger up a notch. There's also Kerrygold's classic salted butter in the gold foil. It's perfect for slathering on corn on the cob, always a summer fave, and the unsalted butter in the silver foil is an absolute must if you're turning sweet summer strawberries into strawberry shortcake. Visit kerrygoldusa.com to find the Kerrygold retailer nearest to you and lots of great recipes.
Some of you might have seen this on my Instagram, but I have some big news. I was at the James Beard Foundation Media Awards this past weekend in Chicago and was presented with the emerging voice and broadcast media award. I was shocked when I found out to say the least. I've only been in the food world for a few years and it's a huge honor to be recognized in this way. I thank the following folks on stage, but I just want to thank them again once more. The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network team, everyone at Kerrygold and Walmart for supporting the show, the Beard Foundation, my family and dearest friends, and especially my guests and all of you who listen to the show. This podcast means so much to me and it's an honor to spotlight the next generation of change makers in this industry. This award is for all of us, truly. So here's to the future.
Now let's check in with today's guest. Lisa, thanks for joining us on The Future of Food is You podcast.
Lisa Li:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amazing. So I always like to start off by asking everyone where did you grow up and how did food show up in your life?
Lisa Li:
Absolutely. I feel like I grew up in a few different places, but mainly it's a northeastern coastal city called Dalian, which is about eight hours northeast of Beijing, but it's very close to Korea and it's the small coastal city where I had access to a ton of amazing seafood. I think I've always loved food and I've always been very picky in terms of what I want to eat. I remember when I was little and my grandma, I love her to death, she wasn't the most flavor wise, sophisticated cook. I just remember I refused to eat basically if it wasn't like my favorite dish or things like that when I was little. So comes from a long way of just loving food.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What were some of the dishes that were irresistible to that you always had to be eating?
Lisa Li:
Oh, I love this question. Lots of Chinese food I feel here in America are more southern or even Shanghai where dim sum is very popular. So where I'm from, it's like dōngběi, which means northeast. It's much more rustic and we're no noodle, doughy things. Noodle is huge. Some of my favorites are noodle soups and they're chunky udon takes basically. So that's always my favorite. We also are very huge on dumplings. One classic mix filling is chives, shrimp and pork, and they call it, it's three umami. It's like the combination, it's incredible. Dumplings and noodles are my favorites. Any kind, so that just expands outside of what I grew up with.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there restaurants in New York City right now that you could go to to remember those feelings or feel a nostalgia when you're eating those dishes?
Lisa Li:
I wish there are more northern Chinese food here in the city, but I know there are a lot of good ones in Flushing. If I have to pick one, there is one called Auntie Guan’s. It's on 14th Street and 6th Avenue, and they have some northern dishes if anyone ever wants to try it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Perfect. Before you started your company, The Qi, you had another life in another aesthetically pleasing industry. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Lisa Li:
Totally. I started out my career in fashion actually, and I worked in fashion for well over 10 years. I started in marketing, then I went into sales and then I was like, "I actually have always wanted to do design." So by way of Parsons, that's how I moved to New York. And then after Parsons, I had two knitwear accessories brand because I was really obsessed with sustainable fashion at the time, and after that I was just burned out. I was very burned out and I didn't want to do fashion anymore. And of course growing up in Asia, tea was just very much part of my childhood and I just have these incredibly fond memories of having it with my grandma. I also grew up as a single mom, so tea time with my grandma was really special for me.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so beautiful. Most tea is consumed by drinking leaves.
Lisa Li:
Yep.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Why did you want to start a company where you drink flowers for tea?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, it was definitely a happy accident because I didn't exactly set out to start a single origin, whole flower teas per se. So when I was burned out from fashion, I thought maybe I can create a really high quality pu'er tea brand. So I took a trip to Yunnan, which is the home to pu'er. It's like champagne. True champagne can come from Champagne, so pu'er can only come from Yunnan, which is these ancient trees that are big leaf teas. The first day I was there I met a lady and they have these, they call them tea villages, and truly they're just like-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Everyone's working in tea.
Lisa Li:
Yeah. Everybody, so many people. This one little shop, it was May, so it was actually just rose harvest season and she had rose teas and she made me a pot. She brewed a pot. It was just like the most beautiful experience I've ever had, and that was the first time I've ever tried anything like it in terms of flowers. And I still did this whole trip of almost two weeks that I planned, visiting all these different mountains. In Yunnan they have these, what they call it, legacy mountains, which are the mountains that produce teas that used to be produced for the royal family, and they command a very handsome price for tea. I always compare to wine because I think in particular houses or Chateaus, you have these really beautiful wine that they call for a different price point compared to things that come from maybe other places that you don't know where it comes from.
Anyway, so I did my whole tour still, and then when I came back to New York, I just couldn't stop thinking about this rose tea I had there. So the rest is history. I was like, I probably wanted-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's started a brand.
Lisa Li:
Yeah, let me try this thing because I think at the time I was starting to see more single version tea brands, but I didn't know anybody who's highlighting flowers.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are flowers something that have just been a part of ancient traditions for a while and are you one of the first brands that's really putting that on the scene or have there been other flower based tea brands that have been out there?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, that's a great question. Flowers have been around for-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Ever.
Lisa Li:
Ever. We don't take credit, we don't claim we invented flowers or anything like that, but I think it's fascinating because in traditional Chinese medicine or TCM, one of the flowers we offer is a royal chrysanthemum. It's a super herb. So it's used in TCM for thousands of years. It's also originated from China, chrysanthemum, but other flowers like for example rose, roses I think you can find in many different countries and many different regions, but different regions have different varietals of roses and some slight in terms of aroma or tasting notes and just like coffee. Coffee has different varieties, depending on where you get it from, the flavors and all those things are different. Your other question was who else, do I know anybody? I think there are tea brands that offer petals in their blend, but as far as I know, we're the only brand here in the U.S. that's specializing only whole flowers. We don't offer green teas, we don't offer black teas or anything like that, but I know they're more popular brands that they just have lots of different blends.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's like these dried flowers or petals or...
Lisa Li:
Yeah, petals which is much more popular or bits of petals, herbal blend that I've seen more commonly available.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Your brand is so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. It's very soothing even if you're not a tea drinker. I mean, I am. I feel like my family grew up with the British influence of tea, so I feel like tea at night, tea in the morning, we're more a tea family than a coffee family. But I want to ask, when you were designing the brand, how did your fashion experience and design come into play to help create the aesthetic for the brand?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, no, thank you so much. That is so kind. Yeah, it definitely benefited a lot from my fashion background, I think, because also there are flowers, they're just so beautiful. So what I tried to do was just highlighting the ingredients, like the flowers themselves, and I try to take other things out of it and really just figuring out, okay, how do I just honor what's in the product? What's the actual product but on the packaging itself, which to be honest has been a journey. If you've been following us for a while, you might know we changed our packaging so many times.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, why was that?
Lisa Li:
Oh, a few different reasons, but mainly because we had a hard time figuring out what to even call it. So there's a French name called tisane, which means botanical infusion, which is a more accurate description of the flowers because technically speaking, flowers are not true teas, right? True teas are only from this-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The leaves.
Lisa Li:
Exactly. The leaves of a plant called Camellia Sinensis, those are true teas and those are green teas, your black teas, your red teas, your white teas. Flowers are herbs. I think in America it's more popular term for herbal, herbal tea. So we are like, "Oh, we want to call it tisane." But then no one knew what that was. If you see it on the shelf, people didn't know what it was, which was a issue if they don't know what's in the box, and then we're like, "Okay, maybe we should call it herbal tea because everyone understand that", but then it doesn't justify the flowers because they're so beautiful. All of our flowers are not only single origin, they're a hundred percent handpicked. They're whole, they're not like petals that mix with other things, which are more traditionally herbal teas is what people call them. That's why we change packagings because the names and also design elements.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Today's show is presented by Walmart, the world's largest retailer. So many people in this country depend on Walmart for its groceries and trust Walmart to have high quality food at affordable prices. That sounds like the future to me and the present. Walmart is always listening to its customers and values the feedback received about new products and flavors. To help meet and exceed customer expectations, Walmart employs a range of experts like classically trained chefs in vital roles within the company. I love knowing that. Another thing I love about Walmart is how many interesting new food brands can be found there, female and black-owned brands in particular, such as Partake Foods, vegan and gluten-free cookies, baking mixes and snack packs, founded by Denise Woodard and Iya Foods, which has gluten-free baking mixes, spice mixes and whole food powders, and were started by Toyin Kolawole. If you're a founder of a CPG brand and would like to work with Walmart, you need to know about Walmart's Open Call. 2023 will be the 10th anniversary of Walmart's Open Call event. It's an exciting and unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet face-to-face with Walmart merchants at the largest sourcing event in the United States. This year's Open Call will be in Bentonville, Arkansas on October 24th and 25th. Registration starts this July. If you are a future retail star, stay tuned for more details. And now back to our guest.
So you mentioned earlier that you have incorporated some methods of traditional Chinese medicine. Why was that important in developing the brand and developing the mission behind The Qi company?
Lisa Li:
At the time when I was really burned out from fashion, I started practicing Qigong taking Qigong classes. So Qi in Qigong, Qi means life energy. It's the same spelling as C-H-I, which I think it's more of American spelling, but it means the same thing, Q-I or C-H-I. It means life energy or life force, and it encompasses of all the entire living entity in the universe. So if you can imagine how big the representation of such a small word is, and in Eastern philosophy also along with that is that when plants bloom, the flower is actually the fruit of this peak energy Qi. Isn't it beautiful?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I have chills. Yeah.
Lisa Li:
So when I learned that, I was like, "I might want to start a company called The Qi and specialize in flowers, flowering that are super herbs that you can drink and eat", and it just felt like a whole circle moment. But also most people don't know what that word means, so we do a lot of education or sharing information about it, but I think it's such a beautiful concept, especially nowadays I think more and more people are aware and into holistic wellness and taking care of ourselves, and food is medicine.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Food is healing.
Lisa Li:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's love. It's a universal language of care, for sure.
Lisa Li:
Absolutely.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I really love how you were able to educate your customers on supply chain practices and really going behind the scenes on what you're doing. I feel like especially North America, we are so used to just going on the shelves and seeing something, but it's nice to know what's going on behind the scenes. Why did you think it was important to educate your customers, not just on this new trend, but also how you're able to keep this trend going and how you're able to keep this trend sustainable?
Lisa Li:
It was very intentional. I wanted to honor and pay homage where the flowers come from and wanted to share the people behind the product also, who actually grows them. So if you have seen our website, we have a supply chain sourcing map, so we tell you exactly where they come from. So I think a lot of times, just as a consumer myself, I think it's really nice. I want to know where my stuff comes from. More importantly, who are the people behind it? Who am I supporting by buying this cup. Being a immigrant, a person of color and female, I want to support more people who might not have access to more resources or things like that. So I thought it was just important to showcase who we are, what we care about, which so much of it is community. Not only the people that we get the flowers from, which are small family farms all across Asia, but also local New York people. We do a ton of donation in kind or monetary or events.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What organizations are you supporting?
Lisa Li:
A few that I can think of right off the top of my head is one is Cava and Heart of Dinner is another big one.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes. Yeah. That's a great organization.
Lisa Li:
You have heard of... There is also Apex, which we're also donating. It's like-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's Apex For Youth, right?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I think also it's been definitely really tough to see a lot of xenophobic hatred towards Asian American communities, especially in New York. So I think it's really awesome that you're using your brand as a vessel to be able to share hope and share support and knowing that people are buying The Qi then they're supporting one, an Asian owned business, but also that money's going further to supporting and uplifting those communities. So that's really admirable.
Lisa Li:
And because the flowers themselves, I think flowers in general represent love and hope, right?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Absolutely.
Lisa Li:
So I feel like we have to do it. It's our job because we sell this product that inherently that's what it represents, and we want to honor the product itself.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I think that's so beautiful. Just going back to supply chains for a second, it's so fascinating to me when people start companies just out of ideas, but then have to get down to the nitty-gritty of you are shipping tea across the world to get into our cups and into our hearts. How do you think about the process of finding manufacturers that want to like to meet the rigorous food standards, but also like to still have your vision for creating an experience that people can love?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, it was definitely not easy. It took me, I think, almost two years visiting the farms. On my first trip I met the lady who has the rose farm. I have gone back twice. They do it differently. I think when you really care about where you're growing, things taste different.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Totally.
Lisa Li:
There's love inside and we work with a small co-packer that gets it from the farm and they pack them and then we get it and that's it. We don't work with middle man. I feel very lucky because I speak the language a lot of times. Otherwise, it would be even more challenging because the farmers don't speak English.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mandarin?
Lisa Li:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Okay, awesome. That's really cool. Now let's talk about the nitty-gritty of the business. So you bootstrapped this company, which is really impressive. What made you decide to go in that direction?
Lisa Li:
To be honest, I think for a long time I just had this narrative that didn't really serve me, quite frankly. It was a narrative of I am not a Ivy League, white male, where I'm like, "Who's going to give me money?" I also grew up as a single mom, so I felt like my only way to do it was bootstrapping and that's what I did and it's fine, but honestly, that was the narrative, I was telling myself. But now looking back, I think just like anything, there are pros and cons to everything in life and things happen for a reason, and I'm really glad I did that because it really allowed me to be really resourceful and scrappy and creative. Now looking back, seeing how many companies that didn't work out just because they raised so much money, so I feel like things are always working out in one way or another.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The plus side to being bootstrapped is you have more control of your company, you have more decisions that you're able to make, so-
Lisa Li:
Absolutely.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Even though it's definitely hard to get consistent flowing capital, you still have the control to make decisions, and I think that's the tough part being a founder of... Everything always comes with them, some semblance of an opportunity.
Lisa Li:
Yeah, exactly. And I think that the other side of the same coin is basically I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. I didn't want to take on money and having people tell me only the bottom line or grow at all costs was the end of all mission. That's not why I started. I didn't want to turn the company into something like that. I wanted to do creative things. I wanted to do collaborations. Sometimes it's okay if I didn't make money on things because I really care about this cause and I don't know how they would feel about things like that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, absolutely. I was reading this article that you did in The Cut and you said something awesome about how you almost see this as a hobby because you've poured so much love into it. That's really fascinating 'cause I think especially in our society, in North American society, it's like if you're starting a company, you're giving it your all. You're working hard, you're hustling, but it's beautiful that you're really thinking about how to create joy and still get your work done, but not feel that that drive to feel like you're going overboard. Also, considering you're running a wellness company, you have to be able to feel good to sell what you're selling, right?
Lisa Li:
No, thank you for bringing that up. I feel like that's such a huge topic, especially here in New York. I think so much of what success means or from traditional media has been about hustling or once you hit whatever X amount of sales or hit fill in the blank, whatever that is, and then you can be successful and then you can be happy and then you can do all these things. Something I've been doing my best to practice is really just like I can be happy now. I don't need to be a billion-dollar company to be happy. I can still be happy when I get there someday, but I don't need to be there in a year or five years. I will get there when I get there and I can be happy and do everything I want to do today.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. That's so powerful. Who do you consider to be the ideal customer for The Qi?
Lisa Li:
I think it's just a person who wants more joy and nourishment and inner peace in life, basically, and I think everyone can use a little bit of that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. How do you hope that people can incorporate The Qi and the flower teas into their routines?
Lisa Li:
So the flowers are very simple as a tea. You pour boiling hot water over a flower in a vessel, let it step for about three to five minutes, and that's a very beautiful ritual you can do on a daily basis and just having a moment for yourself, take a deep breath in and feel more grounded. That's one way that's also very joyful. And flowers can also be more about celebration. So sometimes I think of cocktails or wine where people always associate celebration or relaxation and wine after a long day, flower teas can do the same thing for you. You can have it hot, you can have it chilled. On top of that because they're edible, you can use it in culinary.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And edible flowers are the rage these days.
Lisa Li:
These days, right? They're everywhere.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And they're so hard to find. So I guess this is a good substitute for anyone, any bakers or food people that love their flowers listening.
Lisa Li:
Take the petals off the flowers or use our petite flowers. You can use it in cookies, in cakes, in all your culinary endeavors.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I love that. Obviously tea drinking is something you're definitely an expert at. What are one or two hacks that you think people can start doing to make their tea experiences much more joyful and also make their tea taste better? Because it's not just about how you pour the water, how long you let it steep. There's all these different parts that make tea taste so much better than just dumping water in a cup.
Lisa Li:
Yeah, I think the first thing is giving yourself time. I think one thing we all feel like we want more of is more time, but I think we all can have 10 minutes in a day. It's not that much. You can have 10 minutes to yourself. That's not that much to ask and really just give yourself that 10 minutes, take your time, boil the hot water, pour it at the right temperature over a flower, wait for it to steep for three to five minutes and then enjoy it. Just having that full 10 minutes to yourself will make the world of difference versus rushing it. Get a cup, you're like, "Got to go, got to go, got to go", and then you're not really fully enjoying the moment, and that could be anything really.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there three gadgets or items that you would consider if you really want to get into tea, these are the things that would make the most out of that experience?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, that's a good question. So I think having a kettle that has temperature setting can be very, very helpful. So if you're just getting into tea or tea connoisseur, you know depending on the type of tea, they like different temperatures. So for example, the flowers are a little bit more forgiving because they're herbs. You can cook with them, eat the pedals. They don't get bitter over time if you over steep, but I think having a kettle that has different temperature is really helpful. The other thing is having some kind of vessel, ideally glass, so you can see whether it's like loose-leaf tea or flowers or other things, know what you're drinking, like something transparent you can see. You really tell the quality of your liquid, your liquid color, how cloudy it is, how clear it is, all these things which allows you to really appreciate what you're having. So some kind of vessel. So you want a vessel allow everything to bloom or expand.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you can just put the petals right in the water. You don't have to put it through a little strainer or any of that type of stuff?
Lisa Li:
Well, with our flower, because it's whole-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You just put them in.
Lisa Li:
You can. Yeah. I know there are vessels that has a little filter thing, so you can put it in the filter. So it still has lots of room for it to span.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Not only you're D2C brand, but you're also in stores. I feel like something that's so interesting for CPG companies is I'm always curious to hear when it came to pitching stores or marketplaces to sell The Qi, what were some of the unique tactics that you're using to get them to buy orders because that's super important to your growth.
Lisa Li:
Absolutely. I think understanding who you're talking to is probably the most important thing. Just knowing who your audience are and craft your story around that pitch in terms of what you think would benefit them, because buyers are busy and they care about, "Okay, what are you bringing to the table? How is this going to benefit our customers or us?" Just knowing who you're talking to.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there any dream stores or places that you would love to see The Qi in in the next few years?
Lisa Li:
Yeah, definitely.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We love to manifest on a podcast, so.
Lisa Li:
Absolutely. That's a good question. Honestly, I think about this quite a bit. I would love to do hospitality-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Like at a hotel.
Lisa Li:
Like hotels.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh yeah.
Lisa Li:
Yeah. Do collaborations, do something completely custom for hotels, like The One Hotel, Aman-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I was just thinking Aman, I feel like the Amangiri just fits your aesthetic.
Lisa Li:
Hey, Aman, if you're listening, please hit me up.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
If anyone from Aman's out there, we've got some tea for you.
Lisa Li:
Yeah, so I think anywhere that really cares about having a beautiful experience like sensory, whether it's like things you're seeing, things you're tasting, things you are touching, like sensory experience, which is what we really care about deeply being in the moment and what does that really mean. It's fully experience of all of your senses.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you have your blog, Flower Tea 101, where you share the intricacies of the history of flower teas and all that, but you also have flower person interview where you interview creatives and people just about their stories and their experiences with flowers and their relationship to wellness. Do you also have any dream people for the blog or dream people that you would love to see try your tea?
Lisa Li:
Joanna Gaines.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh my gosh. Well, she was just that-
Lisa Li:
I know, she was just-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. She was just at the Jubilee conference.
Lisa Li:
Yep.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So yeah. That's so awesome. You also do a lot of partnership, so I feel like you've just done a partnership with Sunday School, which is one of my favorite brands.
Lisa Li:
Oh, cool.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What's your philosophy behind partnerships as a way to leverage growth for the company?
Lisa Li:
I love partnerships so much. Being a small business and bootstrapping, I feel like doing partnerships that make sense is such a joyful way to grow, tapping into each other's audiences and creating something completely new and different and having that special something. It's really, really fun.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there any bucket list partnerships or any exciting ones that you can tell us about?
Lisa Li:
Oh, I love all these questions.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Good. Yeah.
Lisa Li:
I definitely want to do some kind of edible flower, confetti edible flower with a pastry chef. So if anybody out there who wants to collab on an edible flower product, let me know. I would love to collaborate with a pastry chef.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm really curious to hear how you think about The Qi in the conversation of wellness and where you hope it's adding to the conversation. Because I feel like in the last few years we have seen another resurgence in wellness. We're more mindful with our meditation. We're more into yoga if anything, but there's also a lot of speculation and claims that are shrouded in a lot of toxicity, but are still presented as wellness tactics.
Lisa Li:
Yeah, totally. I think one thing I can think of is just the dieting culture. I don't know if you would consider that as part of the wellness culture, but I do see lots of things or people talking about, I don't know, maybe these are old now. Maybe people don't do these anymore, like Paleo, like all of these things that maybe used to be popular, but just personally, my philosophy has always been just being mindful of what you're eating. I think it's important understanding what food items you're having, but I think it's really simple. It doesn't have to be so complicated. I just do this myself sometimes. If I want a cookie or I want ice cream, I don't feel guilty about it. I let myself enjoy it. I don't have it every single day, but when I do have it, I let myself enjoy it, and I think it's okay to appreciate sweets, which brings me back to TCM.
In traditional Chinese medicine, each taste is actually correlated to a particular organ, a particular season.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, wow.
Lisa Li:
Yeah. It's like-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The five elements. The five organs.
Lisa Li:
Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's beautiful.
Lisa Li:
Five elements, five frame... They call it five element framework. So for example, sour is actually the taste of spring and it's correlated to green. It's all connected, so if you're craving for sweets, it means one of your organs that's correlated to that taste is asking for support, and the emotion I think with sweet is stress, and you're like, "That makes so much sense." People are always so stressed out and we're gravitating for sugary things or sweet things-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
To heal ourselves.
Lisa Li:
To heal. Exactly. It's like your internal organ is literally asking for, "Help me, support me in different ways", but sweets doesn't have to be from sugary things. It can be a piece of fruit like pineapple that's super sweet. That's good for you-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And it's nature. It's healthy.
Lisa Li:
Exactly. Anything that's from nature, it's not made in a lab, I say go for it. Enjoy it. Things that are whole and from nature.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
If you were to have this conversation again in five years, where do you hope to see The Qi in going?
Lisa Li:
Five years from now I just hope we're bigger. I hope we get to tell our stories louder, where more people are aware of this flower as a alternative or as an option where you can enjoy on a daily basis to whatever you're enjoying. Just knowing that this exists and it's an option that can bring you joy and nourishment and giving it a try is very much our mission. We want the world to be drinking flowers and eating flowers. Five years I would love to be in more distribution places where people can access it and having our own maybe tasting cafes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, so cool.
Lisa Li:
Floral blooming cafes where we show you how to have it, have more access to events, which was something you were saying earlier, which struck a core for me as well. It's about connection, connecting with yourself when you're having that moment by yourself and connecting with other people like communal things and classes. We're doing a non-alcoholic mixology class, or things like that. People can come together to gather, to learn, to connect in a safe and beautiful space where you can be seen and just feel really alive with people that care about the same things is ultimately our mission, and of course, more flowers, the merrier.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, I think that's beautiful. Just to touch on the non-alcoholic mixer, which sounds exciting, I also think we are thinking much more critically about how our events and our gatherings are not alcohol forward, but really allow people to harness and understand community. So obviously you want something refreshing to drink. The lemonade that you had at the Cherry Bombe Jubilee was tasty and amazing, and it's like how cool it would be to just gather over a nice punch bowl of lemonade instead of a drink or a cocktail or something like that. While those are great, people are looking for more non-alcoholic options, this is definitely a refreshing take as well. How do you find moments of joy as a founder who's dealing with all the stress, and what advice do you have for someone who's currently feeling that burnout and wanting to make a change or a transition in their lives?
Lisa Li:
It's important to know that you have the power to take control of your own life. I know sometimes when you're deep in a rabbit hole, you feel things are just so out of your control, but if you take a step back, you actually can make a lot of choices in what you decide to do. So number one is knowing that you have choices, and number two is take naps.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Natural power.
Lisa Li:
I'm like huge, huge, huge person with naps because the naps are gifts from the universe. You take a 15-minute nap, you just feel so much better. Instead of running out, grabbing an espresso, double shot, give yourself a break. Just take a 15, 20 minute nap. Trust me, your body's going to thank you later. If you down something that's like an energy drink, you are already tired. You're overworking your insides trying to wake up, but why not give yourself the permission to actually take a break and rest and it's okay to rest. I think we're all constantly in this culture of productivity, but I think if you take a break, it actually allows you to see things differently. Your creativity, your intuition can come through versus you're just like plowing away in action, but none of that can come through when you're so deep inside doing something.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's really beautiful. Yeah. Well, Lisa, we're about to do our fun Future of Food is You tradition called Our Future Flash Five.
Lisa Li:
Got it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are you ready?
Lisa Li:
Got it. Let's do it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Okay. Amazing. The future of tea?
Lisa Li:
Flowers.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of meditation?
Lisa Li:
Rest.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of wellness?
Lisa Li:
Flowers.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of female founders?
Lisa Li:
Me.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And finally, the future of traditional Chinese medicine?
Lisa Li:
We're all connected.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's beautiful. Lisa, if we want to continue to support you and follow your journey, where are the best places to find you?
Lisa Li:
You can find me personally on Instagram, thebetterlisa or drinktheqi.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amazing. Thanks so much for joining us on the podcast.
Lisa Li:
Thank you so much for having me.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail at the Future of Food Mailbox, just talking to themselves 10 years from now. You have reached The Future of Food is You Mailbox. Please leave your message after the beep.
Lisa Li:
Hey, girl, how are you today in the year of 2033? I hope you're living somewhere warm and sunny with a stunning garden. I hope you're surrounded by people that are creative, funny, uplifting, kind, and loving. I hope you're still having the time of your life, doing all the things that make you feel alive, will bring that big flower energy. I hope you continue to nap every day. I hope you have traveled to more far away places and have made many more new friends there. I hope you're still creating new worlds and building empires. I hope you're doing it at all with ease and joy. I hope you still look at the world in wonder, think that everything is just pure magic. I hope you're still foolish and still hungry. My friend, I love you with all of my heart, always and forever.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. Do you know someone who you think is the future of food? Tell us about them. Nominate them at the link in our show notes, or leave us a rating and review and tell me about them in the review. I can't wait to read more about them. Thanks to Kerrygold and Walmart for supporting the show. The Future of Food Is You is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to the team at CityVox Studios, executive producers Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker and associate producer, Jenna Sadhu. Catch you on the future flip.