MICHELLE TEW OF HOMIAH

“Long story short, it is these factors of growing up and then fitting that retroactively of "what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" that led me to decide to turn a personal passion into my profession.” — Michelle Tew

Michelle Tew is the founder and CEO of Homiah, a Southeast Asian pantry brand that offers flavorful spice and sauce kits. Having grown up in Malaysia, Michelle brings her personal experience around local Southeast cultures and complex cuisine to Homiah. Before starting her own business, she has worked at major advertising and consulting firms. Michelle is also a graduate of Columbia University and University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Can you talk about what inspired you to found Homiah? 

I have always had a deep passion for food, especially for the cuisine of Southeast Asia which is where I came from. In fact I come from a unique hybrid culture known as Nyonya, a colorful culture originating from the first wave of Chinese immigrants to the Malay Archipelago. My grandmother Nonie was a famous Nyonya cook from Penang, Malaysia. Nyonya cuisine is famous in Southeast Asia, and incredibly laborious involving the grinding of spices into utterly delicious dishes like laksa, rendang and countless other curries and delicacies. When I came to Columbia, I brought some of these spices from home and would make the foods I grew up eating from recipes passed down by granny Nonie. In fact, I would make friends by cooking and throwing dinner parties in my dorm room. I took this hobby very seriously -- I spent my sophomore summer apprenticing a laksa chef from Penang, Malaysia, for example, in a quest to perfect my cooking. I didn't know at the time but it makes sense now that I'd eventually pursue this passion as a career.

After I had gone out in the professional world to experience a corporate career in advertising, consulting, and gone to business school, I realized the idea of cooking as reserved for the housewife, especially traditionally in Asia, versus a professional career for the modern woman, was too binary. People who are busy and want to try new flavors still deserve to have the chance to sit around a table and enjoy home-cooked foods. That’s when I realized that I could put the skills from my business experience and still be familiar with my culture and cuisine. That’s the inception point of Homiah!

Back in Columbia during undergrad, you majored in Mathematics and Philosophy and later you worked in consulting—what have the transitions to business and to entrepreneurship been like? Did you find your academic background or professional experience helpful in your entrepreneurship journey?

I think there's two things here that are different from each other: knowledge versus knowing how to learn. In terms of knowledge and the hard skills related to business, my experience in advertising has been very helpful. I managed launches for large clients, including consumer good brands. Even though it's quite different working with a big team and a big budget, the experience helped me know where to start and what it might look like on a small-scale and a small budget. 

On the other hand, there’s just the way that you think and hustle, which aren't taught in your accounting classes. Being a student at Columbia does help with that, where you learn a good work ethic, a lot of hustle, how to think through problems and be creative about them. If I could give advice about choosing a college major: obviously if you have your heart set on recruiting for something really specific immediately after college, then something like business and finance and economics might be useful. However, I think it’s more important to choose classes and subjects that actually are hard. Don't cruise, because the more that you grow earlier on, the less painful growth is later down the line. Starting a business is very hard, both mentally and the skills required, so the ability to adapt and not be afraid of difficult things is the key.

In another interview, you mentioned that your love of cooking and caring for others “clicked” with your professional studies and corporate experience. What, if anything, helped you realize how to merge these passions, and how did you navigate pursuing this professional shift?

Honestly, for any ivy league student, it's actually pretty drastic to go into entrepreneurship. You probably noticed that a large number of those from our parents' generation, especially those from an Asian and lower income background, end up going into business—whether it's running their own store or a small business of some sort. Often, it’s because they don't have the luxury of entering a high-paying job, especially if they don't have the educational qualifications. On the reverse side,  going to a school like Columbia makes people really risk-averse. Your “BATNA,” or best alternative, is a high-paying job in consulting or whatever. It's really hard to turn that down because the best alternative is really high.

It was a big risk to jump into entrepreneurship: foregoing a steady income and, at the start, all income altogether, throwing oneself into months of work with nothing to show for it except a belief in oneself and the mission... What makes someone like me do this? I think, really, it is about how you envision your future and how fiercely you pursue that vision. There are a number of great jobs to take on when you first graduate. They're great because they teach you essential career skills, but I realized that in the long term, say 20 years out, I wanted to do more than make powerpoint decks or work in a large corporate structure. I wanted to have started, lived and breathed something of my own, and given myself to a cause I was truly passionate about.

While there have no doubt been advancements over the years, speaking to many women in corporate, most expressed their struggles to balance a family with corporate advancement against their male counterparts. Don't get me wrong, being an entrepreneur also involves similar trade offs, and is just as if not more taxing; but owning your own company also means more flexibility and control over the career journey. I decided that now was the best time to take risks and to build something that I would be passionate enough about and also have ownership over, so that it could become part of my lifestyle, part of my future. Long story short, it is these factors of growing up and then fitting that retroactively of "what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" that led me to decide to turn a personal passion into my profession.

Creating Homiah is part of your personal experience and passion, but do you ever find moments where the work feels draining?  How do you maintain a balance between passion and work?

It's definitely draining. A large number of my friends are now founders, and many of them are from Columbia. All of us believe this is the hardest experience we've ever had from a career perspective. Working for someone else can be hard with the long hours, but you never feel the same kind of pressure and the constant feeling of never being able to just stop. You can’t just like stop and take a month off. It’s an endurance test, it’s consistency, and it’s persistence. Many jobs will need you to be hard working, but a lot of jobs will not require you to be wise. Being wise involves things like  how to approach people, how to have relationships with them, how to navigate something that you don't have immediate knowledge of. 

For example,  no one gives you a manual on how to find a supplier or import a product. You kind of have to figure that out yourself. In terms of balancing everything, I think you have to be consistent with both your career and your personal life. So if your work requires you to develop really strong relationships and treat people really well, that should stem from the way that you already are. You should value others and value having relationships with them. You don't want to have a dual personality syndrome. In terms of  the pressures, you learn not to take yourself  too seriously. You know no one else is really counting your sales every month except yourself,  so just having that wider perspective is important.

Quick Take One: If you were any dish, what would you be?

So we have a dish in Asia called Kuih Lapis. It’s layered and it’s got the texture of boba.  It’s a tiny cake, colorful, with many layers. I would definitely like to be that because I want to be small and sweet and multi-layered.

Quick Take Two: What’s one dish that you hope to try?

Bluefin tuna, freshly caught.

Quick Take Three: What is one book or podcast that you would recommend?

I think everyone should read The Little Prince again once in a while, because it reminds you about perspective, and how to navigate ambitions with your heart and not just your brain.