Vicky Tsai
Vicky Tsai is an American businesswoman who is a co-founder of Tatcha, a skincare company based on Japanese beauty rituals.
Early life and education
As a young infant, Tsai's parents moved to the United States from Taiwan, settling in Houston, Texas. In school, Tsai one of the only Asian students. She struggled with her identity as a result of feeling underrepresented and isolated as a minority in the early '90s in Texas.Tsai studied at Wellesley College, where she received a B.A. in economics, and Harvard Business School, where she received an M.B.A. and later led research on the state of AAPI women in business. She found her first corporate job working for Starbucks in Shanghai, which focused on its expansion into the China market. Her team pitched and executed a strategy to launch consumer products in China in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which housed the bottled Starbucks Frappuccino. Tsai worked in corporate America as a financier for a decade and spent her twenties traveling globally for work.
Tatcha
Tsai traveled to Kyoto, Japan, in 2008. There, she met with a modern geisha who introduced her to time-tested ingredients based on a Japanese diet. She not only discovered cultural remedies for her skin, but also felt the experience begin to heal her spirit. When she returned to San Francisco, she created Tatcha, an entrepreneurial endeavor she described as a "necessity".In 2009, Tsai approached retail partners for the business, but was told Tatcha was "too niche" and "too exotic" for the Western woman. After struggling to secure funding, Tsai sold her engagement ring, car, and furniture, then worked from her mother's garage. She spent 9 years without a salary. In 2017, she received funding from private equity firm Castanea Partners.