Meet Larry Yu

We recently connected with Larry Yu and have shared our conversation below.

Larry, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

My journey to self-confidence roots back to when I was in high school, when I first “came out” to my friends the summer before senior year. Aside from the expected changes in my life that came from this, one of the biggest promises I made to myself was to always stay true to myself from this day forth, no matter my surroundings.

Now this was a promise I made to myself about my sexuality after 17 years of being “closeted”, but it rapidly applied to all aspects of my life. Whether it was being upfront and honest with my own emotions, or making sure I was a good and honest friend to my peers, it grew to become my “golden rule”. With this, came my confidence. To know myself was to feel confident in who I was, what I stood for, and what aspects I could constantly work towards improving.

Staying true to myself also meant holding myself accountable. In regards to work, this meant doing my due diligence, keeping myself focused, and always being proactive; it was important to always find what I was interested in, and discover how that intersected with what I excelled at. This led to my pursuit in film through NYU’s Tisch program, and eventually to my current passion in entrepreneurship. After years of being a student full time, going on film sets, doing internships and traveling the world, my active lifestyle crossed with my love for matcha & its benefits led to the creation of Sage Matcha: my upcoming e-commerce brand offering organic, clean matcha latte powder in single serving packets.

I’m confident in myself because I know I do as much as I can in the things that matter to me. No matter if the specific task is a success or not, I can always tell myself that I tried my best, and knowing that gives me the self-esteem to keep moving on.

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?

For the last year, I’ve been working tirelessly on preparing and launching my new company, Sage Matcha! It’s an e-commerce brand offering single-serving, organic, plant-based matcha latte packets targeted towards the active go-getters like myself.

This brand means so much to me as it’s the culmination of all of my interests. Growing up, my favorite show to watch was Shark Tank, and I always had an interest in entrepreneurship. Though that focus shifted towards film during my high school and university years, there was always still a part of me that liked working for myself. Whether it manifested through working as a freelance videographer/photography throughout high school, or becoming a student producer at NYU, I’ve always preferred taking the road less travelled (or at least the road I could lead myself down!).

Since I was young, I’ve always loved coffee, and may even have developed a not-so-healthy dependency on caffeine. During my senior year of high school and going into university, I started to get into matcha as an alternative to my daily coffee. Not only did it have comparable amounts of caffeine, it has L-Theanine, which helps you feel calm and focused. I loved the taste of it, and quickly, made the switch over to this delicious green goodness.

After developing a habit of starting every day with a morning matcha latte, I started running into the same issue; whenever I had to go on a film set, or was traveling, or was working early hours during an internship, I couldn’t make my morning matcha! Most local coffee shops would upcharge for a matcha vs your typical espresso/coffee order, and bringing the traditional whisk & milks wouldn’t do. This is where Sage Matcha was born, out of a need for a modern solution to a fan-favorite drink rich in caffeine and health benefits.

After months of testing and flying to Japan to learn more about matcha, I finally found the perfect ingredients I wanted to use for our product. A combination of a super ceremonial-grade matcha straight from Japan and a velvety-smooth oat milk powder creates the perfect base for our lattes; with just two ingredients to start, Sage Matcha is here to show that simple, high quality ingredients can make all the difference in your morning latte!

I’m so excited to announce that we’re so close to launching next month in November, and I cannot wait to share what I’ve created with the world. We’ll be promoting Sage Matcha through social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, and content focused on healthy living and maximizing productivity, and we’ve already seen a positive response through our Instagram and Tik Tok platforms.

Sage Matcha will be available in two main SKUs – our FOCUS original blend and ELEVATE blend with adaptogens and spirulina – and both SKUs will also come in an unsweetened variety. All the pouches, with each fitting 12 sticks, will be available on our website – www.sagematcha.com – and the FOCUS blends will be available on Amazon Prime!

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?

1. Being organized – ever since I started the process of learning how to start a business, keeping an active calendar and to-do list have helped me immensely with staying on top of all the tasks at hand. Being an entrepreneur is not easy, and it’s nearly impossible to compartmentalize your mind into every little aspect that goes into it, unless you prep & plan yourself accordingly. This also translates into keeping a very organized and active google drive folder system, tabs folder system, and any sort of folder/breakdown system you can get!

2. Perseverance and passion – this goes without saying, but rarely do things come easy in life, so make sure you really want something before you pour your time and energy into it! Though I wasn’t expecting it to be a smooth path by any means, starting Sage Matcha has had a steeper learning curve than I’d anticipated. Nevertheless, I wake up every day excited to tackle on the next challenge because I feel passionately about my brand and am so beyond excited to share it!

3. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help – I think when I first started reaching out to different people, I was hesitant to ask for feedback or help from these random suppliers/manufacturers/etc. or even admit that I was new to the industry. After some time, I recognized that a lot of that came from my own ego, and not the industry’s lack of willingness to help out – everyone starts from somewhere, and more often than not, these industry leaders are interested in teaching you what you need to succeed! At the end of the day, your success is their success (especially if you end up working together).

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes! Though at this moment we’re far from a position where we’d be able to employ someone full time, I truly believe that the small business world is an extremely collaborative industry. Whether it’s a mentor, artistic collaborator, or anything in between, I am always looking and open for people to offer their opinions on whatever aspect of my business lies within their area of expertise.

To me, as a small business owner, the biggest thing I look for in a collaborator is communication and mutual respect – I’d always prefer to work or learn from someone who is honest about what they know, what they don’t know, and what they think.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sagematcha.com
• Instagram: @sagematchaco
• Other: Tik Tok: @sagematchaco

  (also note – website will be live shortly prior to launch)