I graduated from Wesleyan University with Honors in Economics in 2003. From 2003 to 2005, I was at Harvard Business School comparing the economic developments of China and Vietnam and learning about labor rights and its role in economic development and trade agreements.

In 2003, I also became involved with VietHope, a nonprofit organization that creates educational opportunities for poor children in rural Vietnam. To date we have raised money to fund over 500 students attending primary and secondary schools. You can learn more about VietHope by visiting www.viethope.org.

Later on, my tastebuds for good artisan tea and my interest in social enterprises led me to start Nala Tea. My friend and I started Nala Tea with two purposes: 1. To bring high quality artisan teas from small artisan tea farmers to tea lovers in the U.S. at reasonable prices. 2. Work with small tea artisans and use our revenue to help them hire more apprentices so that their art of making authentic, rare artisan teas are preserved.

In creating Nala with the above mission, we also created the Nala Environment and Health Fund. Through this fund, 6 percent of Nala's revenue is donated to a cancer research-oriented or environmental organization. Such a fund fit in nicely with our "social enterprise" endeavor.

You can learn more about our teas and our fund at www.nalatea.com.

Overall, building VietHope and Nala is just a small step that I took to realize my dream of one day being part of an organization that effectively uses business methods and resources to advance society's livelihood and solve challegning problems related to the environment, healthcare, education, economic development, and etc.

Thank you for helping me learn through this network and I will do my best to share my knowledge with you!

Best,

Alan