Meet Michael Graney

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Graney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Isn’t “how do you find/know your purpose” always one of the nagging questions in life? Through Teawaves and the work that we do, I find I am much closer to answering this question as long as I keep asking myself everyday.

I founded Teawaves with the mission to share calm in this crazy world. I came up with this ideal when I was living in China from 2015-2019 in my mid-late 20s. At this time, I felt a lot of turmoil around me and within me. Life and the world seemed to be getting only crazier until I found solace in the teahouses. The rituals, the community and, of course, the tea itself helped bring me to a healthier, happier, and calmer state–one that I’m not sure would not only benefit me.

Experiencing tea and tea culture was just the tool I needed to center myself in a much healthier state and environment. Bringing this tea and tea culture back to my home country in the United States gives me a great sense of purpose. To continue finding this purpose, I ask myself daily how am I continuing to use Teawaves as a tool to share community, high quality tea and tisanes, and well being. Using Teawaves mission as a guiding light has been a great way to continue finding purpose daily.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I founded Teawaves in 2022. with the mission to share calm in this crazy world through tea. I wasn’t exactly sure how that was going to work, but I knew I wasn’t the only person in my circle who struggled to find places locally to buy or drink tea.

I founded the company around the same time I graduated from business school at Pepperdine. When exploring different avenues to share, sell, promote our product and concept, I saw just how many small food startups and established companies found success in the farmers markets.

They are a place where communities come together, we can sample and share our product with the people who come through and people know they are getting better and more unique quality products at the farmers markets than they would at other food outlets.

Through these markets, we will continue to grow and expand in ways that can share our concept and product with more people and communities–not only through more markets, but also special events hosted by other organizers as well as ourselves and whatever else may come.

In this new year, we’d like to expand our product line beyond China to some other types of tea that can provide the same ritual and community experience.

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?

Values –

When I created Teawaves, I wanted to be sure the brand was consistence with what I would drink rather than source cheaper teas for higher margins because the public wouldn’t know or care. With this value in mind, one thing I have found to be true is that even if the public doesn’t fully understand tea, they still understand quality and even if they can’t pinpoint why they know, they still know. We might get asked questions, “why does this taste so much better than the tea I’ve had before?” While someone running a company with different values might be inconvenienced by that realization, I am delighted.

Consistency –

When running a business, you run the business all year through different seasons, both good and bad. One important thing to remind myself especially when I find myself stressed or anxious is to be consistent and keep showing up and doing my best. On bad days, the results might not be the same as on a good day, but as long as I know I am staying consistent and doing the best, I know that they are capable of being as good as they are on the best day.

It’s always tough to tell when bad will shift to back to good, but I want to be ready when it does. Sometimes, the worst days are when you meet the most loyal customers and you want to make sure you put your best foot forward even on these days. Teawaves very rarely misses days in the markets and will always do our best to get online orders out promptly and answer any questions to the best of our abilities.

Adaptability –

While Teawaves maintains strong values with the quality and delivery of our product, we also realize that not everyone who needs our product come from the same starting point we do. Therefore, we must be adaptable to meet the needs of our customers. When I discovered tea in China, I found it in quiet backrooms on the other side of bustling markets. For Teawaves, most of the time at the bustling market, we don’t get our own backroom. Yet, we can still. create the space for people passing by to stop and enjoy the tea and learn how they may incorporate the ritual in their lives.

We continue to innovate ways for people who are interested in creating this space for their health and well being to enjoy Teawaves on their own terms. In the past, Teawaves has looked to only China for inspiration to share because that’s where I went to school, but in this new year, we will find inspiration from other tea cultures as well.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

I’ll take this question as an opportunity to thank the Teawaves team. All of our reps at the farmers markets and other special events work very hard at representing the values, quality of product and tea education important for Teawaves to succeed. They join us because they take interest in what we do and allow me/us to be in multiple places around the region at once, which is crucial to Teawaves success in spreading the joy, sharing calm in this crazy world.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Not applicable. Either someone on my team, a nearby vendor/bystander or I took all of these photos.

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Tactics & Strategies for Keeping Your Creativity Strong

With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity

Productivity
From Burnout to Balance: The Role of Self-Care

Burning out is one of the primary risks you face as you work towards your