Inspiration comes to us in many ways. Some of us read a line that sets our minds on fire. Others meet someone special who serves as a mentor or offers encouragement or important tools. And sometimes, as was the case of Zhena Muzyka, there was no small amount of desperation in the decision to launch a business.

Muzyka was twenty-four years old when she found herself in a frightening situation. She was already struggling to get by, behind in her bills and begging to keep her gas line open even though she was months behind in her payments. She was nine months pregnant with no job prospects ahead and her baby’s father was not in the picture. Her parents weren’t able to help and then, her baby son was born with severe medical problems. The situation was beyond bleak.

She took a risk, creating a business plan to open a tea shop near her Ojai, California home. She pitched it to someone looking to sell his cafe business and he was swept away by her passion and business savvy. He hired her as a consultant to transform his cafe. This led to opening her own tea cart and, eventually, creating Zhena’s Gypsy Teas.

Muzyka is now releasing her first book about her life and her business, “Life by the Cup: Ingredients for a Purpose-Filled Life of Bottomless Happiness and Limitless Success.” The book’s chapters are designed to be short enough to consume with a cup of tea. She tells stories of her life as a mom and a business owner. She intersperses these with meditations and exercises to encourage readers to think about their own lives and aspirations. This book is part of a three-part deal with Simon & Schuster. In addition, she has signed a development deal with Mark Wahlberg and Leverage Management to transform the book into a movie or television series. The book was released June 17.

Tea Biz had the chance to talk with Zhena about her new book. Here are some excerpts from our interview.

Tea Biz: Tell us about the structure of your book — with the short chapters and the exercises. What inspired the format?

Zhena: I didn’t want to just write a memoir. I wanted it to be instructive. I spend time helping other women in business and I’m focused on making sure my lessons help people. It shouldn’t just be me reiterating old stories. I was talking to my girlfriends and they said you should be able to drink a cup of tea while you read each chapter. I looked at my chapters and the word count was much higher. I really had to cut them down. It’s compassionate for a busy schedule.

Tea Biz: What was your inspiration for your tea work?

Zhena: I loved throwing events so when I had to make money out of nothing I came to the conclusion that tea was in two categories – English high tea and the Asian side of things. No one was doing it gypsy style.

Tea Biz: What is gypsy style?

Zhena: It has more of a bohemian flair. It is more mystic. In the Asian style, mindfulness, grace, relaxation, focus and clarity come first. It’s like a martial art. Gypsy style is more of a celebration, more colorful, more bohemian circus-like.

Tea Biz: In those early days you were facing a terrifying time with your son when some would have just wanted to give up. Where did you find the strength to try to start something new at that point?

Zhena: I’m not different from any other mother that is faced with something frightening. My options were very limited. My parents were not in a healthy position physically or financially. Sage’s dad was not in the picture. I didn’t have a Plan B and I didn’t have a rich aunt. I really always thought that would happen. Maybe I watched too much Disney as a kid growing up. I thought that something would happen and I’d be saved.

Then I realized that there is no saving. We have to do the work ourselves. The more I got into the work, the more I had the chance to actually fulfill my own potential. That was so much fun for me. I hadn’t found anything other than writing that really made me feel that way. Blending teas, making teas, selling teas, becoming a fair trade and organic activist were what I needed to do. I believe we’re put on earth to fulfill our potential. I found strength through seeing it work because I had no other options.

What kept me going was realizing that no one could save me. This was more fun in the long run.

Tea Biz: You went and pitched a business plan to take over a cafe with no money in your pocket. Was that one of the scarier things you’ve done in your career?

Zhena: I didn’t have the money, but I was starving for an opportunity. I almost turned around but there was a voice in my head that told me to just show up. I still get that to this day, that loud voice. It happened a few months ago. I was tired and didn’t want to go to a conference. I wanted to hang out with my kids. I just kept hearing this voice telling me to show up and it was life changing. I met my designer who designed ZHENA TV and a friend who is a Hay House author. The scarier something is and the more resistance I feel, that is when good things happen.

I had nothing to lose. Writing the business plan made my confidence grow. If you don’t know how to do something, it’s in the learning how to do it that you gain confidence and mastery. When I showed up with no money and was hired as a consultant it was the scariest but I was then empowered to take control of my life.

Tea Biz: You left the consultant job eventually to start a tea cart. That was a bold move.

Zhena: The tea cart was me jumping in with both feet. Definitely ready, shoot, aim. I decided that I had to do my own thing and I didn’t want to do it for someone else anymore.

Tea Biz: You had the chance to visit Sri Lanka, to see where tea is grown. What was most striking about that experience?

Zhena: I met the queen of the gypsies and a mentor at the time told me I should study meditation. He told me I was a blender without a top. Visiting Sri Lanka I saw true suffering which really put what I thought was suffering in perspective. When things were at the hardest for me, Sage and I at least had a social safety net that caught us. We could get the operation and save his life. They don’t have that. Even in poverty I was actually one of the most fortunate people in the world. It was eye opening and I was energized to do something.

Tea Biz: This is the first of three books. Tell me about your next books.

Zhena: The next book, Business by the Cup, is a spiritual business book for women, focusing on exceptions, not rules. They are the lessons I learned like working for the sake of work, not for outcome. It is a handbook for a woman who wants to grow a business and make a mark in the world. The third book, Love by the Cup, is about my Ukranian grandparents. When Sage was born I had a draft of a book called “A Modern Gypsy’s Guide to Life.” My grandfather was a freedom fighter, wanting his freedom and an independent country. I spent forty hours interviewing my grandfather about stories of World War II and surviving five years in a concentration camp. My grandmother kept it a secret that she was a gypsy. Gypsies are still treated like third class citizens and no one is telling the actual stories and beauty of gypsy culture.

Tea Biz: And you also secured a development deal for TV?

Zhena: The guys who created Boardwalk Empire, Entourage, In Treatment, etc., Mark Wahlberg and Leverage Management optioned it for a movie or television series. That was completely unexpected. I didn’t even know what movie rights were. I’m learning this industry as fast as I can!

Specialty tea pioneer John Haney died Tuesday. He was 83.

The founder of Harney & Sons in 1983, his contribution to the development of America’s specialty tea industry can hardly be overstated. He entered tea retail late in his life following a successful career that made his encore all the more spectacular.

Harney was known for his gentility and impeccable taste in tea. A master blender, his teas drew praise from the palaces of England and raised the profile of the entire industry.

“No man ever graced his profession more than John Harney has done for ours,” author and friend James Norwood Pratt told the audience in 2011 on the occasion of Harney’s acceptance of the Cha Jing Award for Lifetime Achievement in tea.

Thirty years ago Harney began spreading the culture of tea, he said, because in doing so “we’re spreading the business of tea.” With his sons Paul and Michael and grandson Emeric, Harney embraced and mastered all aspects of the business. His blends are best sellers in grocery and fine food stores and exported and sold worldwide including Buckingham Palace and the Grand Dorchester Hotel. His ready-to-drink line is served in fine restaurants and his loose leaf draws a steady crowd to the retail venture in SoHo managed by Emeric. Recently he produced a line of tea in capsules for Keurig brewing machines.

Innovation was a hallmark yet the brand reflects the tradition and manners of traditional tea. In 1960 he managed the historic White Heart Inn, in Salisbury, Conn., mastering the art of hospitality. It was then he fell for tea serving loose leaf supplied by Sarum Tea to guests in the 1960s. In 1970 he joined Stanley Mason, owner of Sarum, working there until Mason’s death in 1980. Three years later at 53, he launched his namesake company.

The business has since grown to 170 people and occupies 90,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space in Millerton, NY. A new bottling facility is under construction.

The business will continue under the direction of sons Michael, 58, and Paul, daughter-in-law Brigitte and grandsons Emeric and Alexander.

Harney served in the U.S. Marine Corps. and graduated from the Cornell School of Hotel Management. He is survived by wife Elyse and five children John Jr., Michael, Keith, Elyse and Paul, and 10 grandchildren.

The funeral was June 20 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Burial was in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Lakeville, Conn.

Source: Litchfield County Times

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — John Smith, vice president at Henry P. Thomson tea importers, was recently named Chair of the Tea Association of the USA during the 4th Annual North American Tea Conference.

Smith has been with New Jersey-based Thomson since May 1997. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese holds an MBA in Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduated with a degree in languages from Georgetown University in 1989.

The family-owned company, founded in 1912, has been active in the association since its founding. One of the firm’s principals is “to share our knowledge of tea with others and to stay at the forefront of the marketplace.”

On taking the gavel from outgoing Chair B.W. Cooper, Smith sat with Tea Biz to outline his views and vision of the association.

TEABIZ: The Tea Association of the USA was founded to protect the interests and promote growth of the U.S. tea industry. For several decades its mission was to serve as a “creative catalyst and vigorous voice of the industry in the pursuit of these goals.” The mandate includes a list of tasks that are continually evolving. As incoming chair will you share with readers two tasks that you view as the most pressing. Why?

SMITH: Earlier this year, incoming President Peter Goggi assembled a diverse group of association members running the gamut from major packers to specialty tea consultants to revise and update the mission statement.

The new statement reads as follows:

“I think the new formulation, while very close to what we had before, accurately reflects what we need to do as an organization. That said, there are two priorities that I think should guide all of our efforts going forward.”

• We need to expand our membership.

Our current members import and pack more than 90% of the tea consumed in the U.S., calculated either on a total weight or a dollar volume basis. Not a bad penetration rate! To achieve this, our efforts have traditionally been geared toward the larger, commercial entities that dominate the market place. We represent those interests very well.

“However, much of the passion for our product, the drive for new tea experiences and a deeper understanding of the product we enjoy so much can now be found within the individuals and businesses that fall outside our traditional membership. We need to foster an environment where these other voices are recognized and their issues and concerns represented.

“While differences in opinion will always exist, ours is the only organization that provides a venue in which these differences not only co-exist, but serve to bring the tea industry to a better place. As a not-for-profit, our only agenda is what you find contained in the Mission, Values and Vision above.

• We need to gather and maintain as complete a database as possible of all current and pending laws, regulations and standards that apply to our product.

“While a very tall order, it is imperative that we fully understand current regulations and their impact on our members.

TEABIZ: The Specialty Tea Institute offers the most comprehensive professional training program in the United States, teaching the art of tasting which is fundamental to operating a tea business. Will you share your vision of STI in the year ahead.

SMITH: STI does a great job training people on the basics of tea. We do not attempt to offer professional or business guidance and I do not see us pushing that agenda for some time to come. I would like to see STI become a bridge toward membership in the Tea Association. This requires adding value for members. I will be working to develop ideas in this area.

“That said, we are the premier organization representing tea in the United States. There are other groups and organizations that work with tea, but none serve as an impartial, non-commercial voice that defends the industry from both outside influences and well intentioned, but misguided industry members. My vision is to have an organization in place that needs no coercion to join. Whenever a tea professional asks “should I join STI?” the only realistic response should be “of course”!

TEABIZ: The Tea Association is known as a champion of tea’s health benefits. What initiatives will you undertake to enhance/maintain this role?

SMITH: The “Tea and Health” message is as powerful as it is because the industry stays out of the way of professional researchers. We disseminate scientifically sound information as it comes forward. Through the Tea Council’s sponsorship of the International Scientific Symposia on Tea & Human Health, we are able to facilitate the availability of peer-reviewed, solid research to the public. In order to continue the Symposia, we will once again start setting aside the necessary funds to cover the next event – likely scheduled between 2016 – 2018.

“This is another area where members should stop and examine the benefits provided by the U.S. Tea Association. The resources to organize a successful scientific symposium that has the full support of the appropriate scientific and governmental entities are substantial. It may not seem that a $250 annual membership in STI does much toward this, but every bit helps! If your tea shop, your consulting business, your speaking engagements benefit from the Tea and Health message, you might want to consider staying involved in its evolution and continued propagation by maintaining your STI membership and contributing toward the Association in that arena. Inertia will not keep this process going. Left untended, the bush will continue to grow, but the harvest will be greatly reduced.

TEABIZ: Members of the Association also belong to the Tea Council of the USA, whose mission is to promote tea in the U.S. In the past the Tea Council spent between $300,000 and $550,000 to promote tea, including specialty, mass-marketed, and RTD teas. Discuss programs and current level of funding for Tea Council programs designed to promote tea.

SMITH: Let me clarify that statement. Since the Bermuda accord, back in 1991, the Tea Council has spent its funds entirely on either the Scientific Symposia or on the Public Relations efforts that follow publication of the papers. Our PR efforts are fully supportive of the Tea & Health message. Clearly, this effort has paid off, as tea continues to be viewed as one of the healthiest, good for you foods that you can consume…

TEABIZ: Annually the Tea Association jointly hosts a conference with the Tea Association of Canada that provides an opportunity to foster open exchange with exporting countries. Discuss your view of the relationship between the U.S. and major tea exporters.

SMITH: The relationship between the U.S. Tea Industry and its major producing partners has always been strong. The tea industry as a whole is very collegial. There is a mutual respect between most of the participants and a noticeable lack of the cut-throat, anything-for-an-extra-cent competition frequently encountered with other commodities.

“That said, the recent increase in regulations governing U.S. Trade and the multitude of interpretations regarding those regulations have caused issues. I do not advocate a laissez-faire approach. Some rules are necessary. However, when I read phrases in legislation like “scientific and risked based principles,” I would like to see some indication these words have been taken into account. In many instances, that does not seem to be the case.

“In our excessively risk-averse modern culture, any form of disclaimer is immediately discounted. Most responses to proposed regulations exhibit a knee jerk quality that disregards principles based on a solid grasp of statistics, cost benefit or risk assessment.

“I digress. As the Association improves its database, listing specific regulations accompanied by any specific enforcement details we can provide, this area of tension should certainly decline.”