Meet Christine Young | Herbalist & Tea Enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christine Young and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind my success and the success of my brand was making sure that it embodied my ethics, values, and connected with my community. That it was an extension of my own beliefs, culture, and story that was reworked into a creative career to share with others who felt a connection to the story as well.

I actually branded the name of my business well before I created my brick and mortar. Hearth reminds me of heart of the house, where everything creative gets fired up, ideas, where my mom cooked and had us tasting her creations, where we put in everything to serve those around us, keep the house warm, keep the light going. It’s the warmth that warms the soul. Seoul in place of “Soul” was my journey back to my heritage, the traditions and culture I was starting to lose once my mother moved back to Korea. I had to figure out what it meant to me, how I was going to present it to my community from my own perspective.

My brand shares the love and warmth I put into my products, workshops, classes, and serves it with the intent to share my heritage and traditions with the community. And to continue to learn about those in my community as well. I am offering something newer into this part of the world that many aren’t familiar with, but something that has a lot of history and tradition surrounding the creations. I put together my experience as an herbalist and tea enthusiast with culture and create something for the community to learn and experience.

It’s so important to connect with your brand, to know it in a way that sharing it with others makes them excited to try what you have to offer, or even curious. Curiosity goes a long way. As a small business, connecting with my community has made a huge impact on the success of my business and brand.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m just a few months off from the end of my first year in business, so while there is so much to learn, a lot of pivots to make, I think the best thing I did for myself was jump all in. I quit my full time job within 3 months because I wasn’t able to focus on what my branding was, who I was in this industry, and where I was going to stand out.

I’m super proud of myself for moving into a new space, and setting up everything within 6 weeks, including creating products, branding, and signing up for markets because I knew I needed to get myself out there. If I had played around, dipped my toes in, and started slow, I don’t think I would have made the jump. In my first year I’ve made so many connections and have done some really amazing collaborations. One of my favorites has been working with the MCA Denver (Museum of Contemporary Art) and creating a tea blend for their Korean exhibit that opens in February. Combining art and tea, within the Korean culture and sharing that with my community? Amazing.

I’m refining who I am, what I stand for, what my products stand for, how my workshops can be meaningful to the community and growing from there. I’m just always open to the evolution of whatever this becomes. My branding and I grow together. Is this easy? Absolutely not. I’ve had plenty of days of struggle asking myself if I can keep going, most of my funding coming from out of pocket, but it’s starting to pick up traction. I just need to give myself some days of personal peace and then begin again.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh, wow. I’m an introverted workaholic with a toddler, what would I do?! I love nature first and foremost. We would definitely be visiting at least one of the hot springs in Colorado, taking what I call slow hikes, where we can stop and eat a snack against a tree, look at the new growth of the season, and enjoy the company. I’m definitely going to eat at Silla, one of my favorite Korean restaurants that feels pretty traditional. I also love Nana’s Dumplings, that’s a new favorite of mine. We’re probably going to the Denver Botanic Gardens, grabbing lunch there, and maybe hopping over to the Denver Salt Caves for a relaxing end to the day. At some point I’m going to grab a red bean bun from the mom and pop bakery inside of Hmart. Take a trip to the MCA Denver, look at some art. Go to a movie, I love movies. I don’t remember celebrity names or lines to movies, but I remember the feeling I had while watching it. A show at Red Rocks. Gosh there’s way more to do than I realized!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
To start I want to thank my mother and grandmother for their resilience, for loving their children fiercely, for feeding us with complete love no matter if there was only scraps for us to eat from and they had to get creative. They made mountains out of nothing. It showed me how to stay resilient, to create something from nothing and that if you had something to love, there was unending strength to draw from. To my dad who refuses to let me give him anything for free, and supports the shop non stop. To my best friends and my family for always encouraging me when I decide to start something. Always telling me that if anyone can do it, I can, and to believe them even when I had my doubts. They step in when I’m sick, they are honest with me, practical, and encouraging. They make sure I’m not alone in this. To my community, who saw something in what I was doing and continue to support me, week after week by sharing my story, my website, sharing on social media. It’s a little ripple, but every single person is helping to move it along so that the dream keeps going.

Website: https://www.hearthandseoul.com

Instagram: @hearthandseoulshop

Image Credits
All images are my own.