We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Mui recently and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
Interestingly enough, I think about death a lot. When I consider how quickly each year passes me by, I reflect on how exciting it is to be alive, experiencing new things, connecting with great people, and feeling fortunate to work towards something. I view my life as a bucket list; I never want to look back and have regrets. I believe having regrets is scarier than anything.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m Samantha Mui, founder of Thirsty Dumpling. Thirsty Dumpling offers a DIY Dumpling experience kit that can be delivered to your doorstep, allowing you to host a dumpling-making party using our cake-mix approach to dumpling-making.
Prior to starting this dumpling experience company, I launched a cookbook called Melting Pot and began teaching online cooking classes to corporate companies during the pandemic. I’ve always loved food; growing up Cantonese American, it was at the center of every family activity. I had a tough time being interested in school, and I thought I just wasn’t smart. After a quick stint in community college, I attended culinary school, which was my ah-ha moment. I realized that moving forward, I just needed to embrace my hands-on learning approach, and eventually went back to college.
Currently, we are a D2C company, offering private dumpling-making classes throughout Chicago using our kits. However, we’ve received a lot of feedback from our clients expressing their desire for us to eventually sell our dumplings at establishments. We are working on it, so stay tuned and follow us on our socials to see where we land.
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?
I think at the root of it, I was just such a curious kid. I remember when I was barely 3, I saw my grandma cooking in the kitchen, and I kept asking her questions. Honestly, she was so annoyed with me; she yelled at me to stop asking so many questions and basically told me that I didn’t need to know the “why” all the time and to just shut up.
But inherently, that is something I am always thinking about: the “why.” Why does someone care so much? Why are organizations structured in certain ways? Why do cultures shape people’s worldviews? I deeply ponder a lot of things, and over the years, I have observed and connected dots from various industries, people, and things.
To develop curiosity, you should pay attention when something somewhat confuses you or causes you a visceral reaction. Instead of taking it at face value, think it through. I think of my curiosity now as kind of a hobby as well. I devote time to doing things that ignite that curiosity, whether it’s listening to podcasts about the subject matter, testing out your own hypotheses on a small scale, and continuing to make hypotheses until you think you’ve found the “ah-ha” moment. Then, decide what you want to do with that “ah-ha.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
Interestingly enough, if you had asked me this many years ago, I would have said investing in learning everything, but I definitely am now leaning into doubling down on my strengths. One thing I’ve always noticed while working in a 9-5 is that it was always clear to me, my peers, and my bosses where my weaknesses and strengths lay. When I was not good at something, it would be very obvious, and I had to work incredibly hard to just be mediocre at something that could be so easy for someone else. For example, I wasn’t always the most detail-oriented person, and I have a hard time organizing my thoughts at times, which often reflected poorly on me and my ability to have a better scope on things. On the other hand, when I was good at something, it was like my secret sauce. I think my intuitive nature, coupled with my can-do attitude of tackling any task, gave me insights into finding creative solutions, something I didn’t know would serve me so well in years to come.
Early on when I started Thirsty Dumpling, I knew as a solo founder I could not learn everything, or else we would never launch. I really took a hard look at what would slow me down and where I needed to ask for help to get me there faster. I gave myself deadlines of when to launch and worked backwards. I also think it can be a mental thing. If you think you are missing something, you can’t do it. So now I’ve changed my mindset to “I could do this, but who is an A player at this?” and ask them to help. You just get farther in everything when you recognize you can’t be good at everything
Contact Info:
- Website: thirstydumpling.com
- Instagram: thirstydumpling
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthamui/
Image Credits
Garrett Sweet
