Cold Tea Collective hosts gathering of Asian Canadian brands and e-commerce businesses in Vancouver

Who are your favourite Asian Canadian brands? This is the question that (not surprisingly) stumped dozens of Asian Canadians—even those in the business space.

This past year, Cold Tea Collective has been connecting with dozens of Asian American-owned businesses who, directly and indirectly, celebrate their Asian heritage with the products they sell or in telling their founders’ stories.

The stark difference between Asian American and Canadian-owned businesses and leaders we discovered is that Canadians are too shy in celebrating our heritage and our own personal stories as business leaders.

This modesty needs to change to elevate us all and create a future where there’s more support for Asian Canadian brands to thrive. All while being able to celebrate our rich and diverse cultural backgrounds.

Cold Tea Collective hosted an intimate event in Vancouver with 50 guests in the e-commerce space or those servicing entrepreneurs. See event photos below to add some new Asian Canadian-owned businesses to follow.

Thank you also to our event partners ecomsquare, Asian Hustle Network, Asian Founded, and our photographer, Brandon Lin, for supporting our event.

Celebrating Asian Canadian brands

Asian Canadian brands you should follow

The first time we did an extensive series celebrating Asian Canadian brands was in 2019 through “The Entrepreneur Series.” The stories of these brands resonated with the community so much that we gathered over 125 people at an event in Downtown Vancouver, including returning guests and local business leader, Vivian McCormick, co-founder of Wilet (formerly known as Flax Sleep).

Recognizing that the pandemic brought both opportunities and challenges to businesses, we start the next phase of exploration in how we can support the growth of Asian Canadian businesses with a more grassroots approach: We want to help the community by creating community.

With no agenda and simply an opportunity to connect, these are some of the brands and leaders who attended our Happy Hour event for Asian Canadian e-commerce brands that you should follow and support.

Olive & Piper: Learn more about founder Tania Yan’s story here. Having just celebrated its 11th anniversary, we’ve dressed ourselves up in O&P for several special occasions, including the Golden Globe Awards, where we interviewed Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Henry Golding and more.

*Cold Tea Collective readers get 15% off their next Olive & Piper order with the code COLDTEA until 11/30/23. Some exceptions apply.

Rove Concepts: Founded and led by CEO Art Lee, the luxury furniture brand for technology-focused individuals has collaborated with brands to create experiences such as “The Rove Showroom Experience,” partnering with The Oppenheim Group, Selena Gomez and Serena Williams, as noted in an interview with BC Business magazine.

Wilet: Also in the home goods industry, Wilet was founded by three women including, Vivian McCormick, a lawyer turned advisor and entrepreneur. When we first interviewed her in 2019, the brand operated under the name Flax Sleep and has since grown from e-commerce only to have its own showroom in East Vancouver. In this space, the company also hosts events for the wider business community, notably supporting BIPOC and women of colour entrepreneurs.

Asian Canadian Woman Executives and leaders from Rove Concepts, Wilet, Olive & Piper and Cold Tea Collective. Photo by Lei Yi. — Executives and leaders from Rove Concepts, Wilet, Olive & Piper and Cold Tea Collective. Photo by Lei Yi.

MotionGrey: Started by two university friends with team members across North America, MotionGrey’s business growth in less than a decade has doubled just about every year since its inception. We also love their current and on-point social content that accurately reflects the intersection of quality and utility in home and office environments.

Fresh Prep: Founded and led by high school friends Dhruv Sood, Husein Rahemtulla, and Becky Brauer, the meal delivery company started as a brick-and-mortar store and quickly pivoted to online-only. With transparency, I may be biased because I used to work there before leaving to work at Cold Tea Collective full-time. Regardless, I stand by the fact that Fresh Prep is the leader in the best Asian or Asian-inspired meal kit recipes to prepare at home easily. They’re also a leader in more sustainable operations than its competitors with its zero-waste and recyclable packaging. Fresh Prep also gets bonus points also for being a Certified B-Corporation.

Storytelling and media as a strategic partner for Asian Canadian brands

In order to make space and more opportunities for Asian Canadian businesses to thrive, leaning into storytelling and community are critical. It’s all a part of actively working to challenge systems that make it difficult to start businesses and to dismantle narratives around what a founder or leader looks like. It’s also how we empower the next generation of the Asian diaspora, rather than shying away from our culture and the power of embracing it in life and in business.

Cold Tea Collective’s approach to storytelling is to focus on human-centred stories that foster empathy, understanding and empowerment of folks who identify as Asian. We’ve seen these stories resonate the most when our interviewees or storytellers aren’t afraid to show pride in their heritage.

See some of our previous stories and projects related to celebrating Asian-owned businesses below.

We have seen first-hand the impact of sharing our stories and as a business, we are also a creative partner for brands to connect directly to Asian audiences in North America through our editorial, video and podcast content. We also offer community events and unique experiences in addition to our extended network . Some of our clients include U.S. Bank, Dove, American Express, Boeing, Penguin Random House, and more.

For more information on how Cold Tea Collective works with businesses to celebrate, amplify and elevate their brands or to sponsor future events and content, contact us at info[at]coldteacollective[dot]com.

Natasha Jung

Natasha is a multi-disciplinary creative, community builder, and public speaker. She has a background in marketing, broadcast television, live event production and education. In 2021, she was named a finalist in BC Business Magazine’s Women of the Year Awards as a finalist in the Community Builder category. She has also been recognized by Deloitte Canada, Chinese Womens’ Association of Canada and the City of Richmond as a Top 30 Under 30. In 2019, Natasha delivered a TEDx talk about navigating cultural expectations in a cup of tea and why she started Cold Tea Collective.