We were lucky to catch up with Eva Peterson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Eva, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
I was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Chinese culture. Family is a big part of our lives. We care about our families a lot. At the same time, Chinese people really like to make friends and treat our friends as family.
I like to make other people happy and see the joy on their faces. It definitely gives me a great sense of fulfillment. I like to share my happiness in every opportunity given to me. If I have a gift that can bring comfort and joy to another, I feel very rewarded in passing it along. I truly care about the needs of others and show my concern and care for their wellbeing.
This may be because I am the type of person who is sensitive about other people’s feelings. I am quick to feel what other people feel. No one wants to have negative experiences and feelings, right? Unfortunately, I didn’t have a very good childhood experience. I grew up with discrimination because my brother is disabled. As the oldest kid in the family, I have tried my best to protect my brother and create a safe and enjoyable life for him ever since I was very young. I wanted to shelter him from any hard feelings or discrimination that I could. This has ingrained a great care for the welfare of others into my core self and has influenced many aspects of my life. This is why I sought a career in social work of serving others and continuing my efforts to spread as much good will as possible.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
If someone said to me ten years ago “Eva, you will leave your professional social work career and start a business in the US., my answer definitely would be “no way, it won’t happen to me. I will only work in the social work field for my whole life.” But the truth is that it definitely did happen. That’s why I am so grateful to have this opportunity to share my story here.
Learning is an endless process in my life. I treasure different chances to learn more and improve myself. After being a social work department head in different organizations in Hong Kong, I thought that it was time to learn different social work systems and services from other countries. So, in 2013, I spent a year as a volunteer in different charity organizations in Asheville. Why Asheville? My 92 year old grandmother who lived in the US for over 30 years lived with my Uncle and Aunt in Asheville at that moment, so I came to Asheville and I could spend time with her. The bonus of that year was not just learning, but also improving myself, having more wonderful time with my Grandmother, and also meeting my husband, Chris, and his friends Ashley and Greg. It brought us the chance to be friends and furthermore become business partners of Pop Bubble Tea beginning last year.
Greg and Ashley have been the owners of The Hop Ice cream since 2008. They asked me about opening a bubble tea store in one of the locations to share the space and bring authentic Taiwanese style bubble tea to town.
So currently, I am the co-founder of Pop Bubble Tea where Ashley and I have created our own recipes from scratch that we feel give us the opportunity to spread love through delicious, authentic bubble tea. Pop provides such a fun way to combine my cultural knowledge and travel experience with Ashley’s culinary background.
We learned from a Taiwanese bubble tea master in Taiwan, and did extensive research, site visits, and testing to recreate the same bubble tea experience here in the US that I had growing up in and traveling around Asia.
Pop also provides a unique opportunity for us to honor Asian culture as well as link customers to more Asian businesses and groups in our community. This is one of our core values. We use our customer and follower base to promote local AAPI residents that are doing amazing work that deserves a brighter spotlight. Through this love, care, and mutual respect, we can build a beautiful community together.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Firstly, in my specific situation, a deep cultural understanding of the heritage of the region that birthed bubble tea was a hugely beneficial piece of my journey. Growing up in Hong Kong and traveling about Asia extensively, I’ve had the great privilege to learn and understand more from the people in these places and gain perspective on what their lives and journeys are like. I truly believe that food and culinary experiences can provide a very insightful gateway into what makes people happy and what they’re proud of, and open the door to more understanding, conversation, and empathy.
I can’t emphasize enough how important this has been for me and how much I strongly recommend that anyone put themselves into similar situations outside of their own environments, whether they are taking a similar journey to mine or not. This broadened exposure is invaluable in understanding others, customers or otherwise, as well as your product in some cases. I have been able to leverage these cultural immersions to further honor Asian heritage through its culinary offerings.
Secondly, a large driving force in my personality is a drive for excellence in most everything that I do. This was certainly the case in my social work career and has followed me along this bubble tea journey as well. Through this, I feel that we have created a truly high standard regarding the quality of our products/drinks. We’ve sourced high quality, authentic ingredients from the regions which they originated. We’ve created our own spin on these through unique recipes specific to certain Asian areas and cultures. I greatly respect these drinks and the people that created the craft and want what I offer to be a respectful representation of that tradition.
Lastly, perhaps the largest motivation for me in my life in general is the desire to uplift and care for others. This is what drove me to social work and what drives me continually toward humanitarian efforts. Pop Bubble Tea is no exception in that regard. No matter what I pursue professionally, my foremost desire is that it does the greatest good for people that is possible. Through Pop’s efforts of bettering the community as well as creating a safe space and environment for all to feel welcome, I truly feel that I am continuing to achieve this goal. This has also been one of the keys to the success of the business as people see and appreciate all of these efforts. To me, Pop is not just a business, it’s a cultural exchange platform and an opportunity to bring people together centered around love and care.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My father is a very hard working and humble person. He showed me the value of a strong work ethic from a young age. He is also very independent and strong. Due to political issues, he left his family when he was 11 years old. He has had to take care of himself, study hard, work hard, and eventually support our family. He has done all of this with almost no complaint. It’s this approach to adversity and how his reactions to it have impacted his relationships with others that I have adapted into my life as well. I strive to honor his example with my professional endeavors as well as personal on a daily basis.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.popbubbleteanc.com/
- Instagram: popbubbleteanc
- Facebook: popbubbleteanc
Image Credits
all images are from Pop Bubble Tea
