5 Ways We Champion Empowerment + How You Can, Too!
Author Aly Dort / Category Lifestyle / Published: September 2019
You’ve heard us talk a lot about empowerment, but what does it mean to empower? Tease Tea is about so much more than an ethical tea company, and we want to break it down and highlight the ways in which we not only built empowerment into our brand, but actively strive for it each and every day. You can think of this as a virtual tour through our headquarters, where you can learn what empowerment really means for us.
Instead of giving you some technical definition from an online dictionary, I want to start by explaining the power of empowerment and how you how far reaching this value impacts our community and world:
To empower is to instil confidence. It means giving people the information, resources and opportunity to thrive. It means giving freedom of choice. It means showing people that they are both worthy and deserving, strong and resilient. It means supporting individuals in claiming authority and actively making decisions to embody all of these things.
So, how does an ethical tea company embody and exemplify empowerment?
#1. We Empower You With Tea Blends To Support The Many Seasons Of Life
Our goal is to create un-altered, quality blends that compliment your lifestyle goals and wellness needs. Whether you’re sick with the flu, need extra comfort, more energy or better sleep, we want for you to feel empowered in improving those areas of your life while enjoying your cup of tea. Your tea should taste incredible, but it should also make you feel incredible and help you better your mind, body and soul.
Tea has been used for thousands of years and the incredible benefits of tea has been documented extensively, but all of that means little if you don’t have natural, quality, ethical tea blends to choose from, and education or research to accompany them.
#2. We Empower Each Link Supporting Our Supply Chain
Our tea is sourced from the top 10% grade of tea gardens around the globe, and are dedicated to sustainability and are a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership (or ETP). The Ethical Tea Partnership is a non-profit organization that works tirelessly to create a “fairer, more sustainable and ethical tea industry for farmers and their families, as well as the environment.”
What does that mean, exactly?
It means improving the incomes for tea farmers, fighting for women’s rights and quality of life, combatting poverty and tackling climate change.
By supporting only a tea industry that is fair, safe and sustainable, we are demanding improvement, progress and change throughout the entire industry.
#3. We Empower You To Make Environmentally Conscious Decisions
Our new pyramid tea bags are made to have an impact not only on the quality of your tea experience, but on the environment as well.
They’re made from un-bleached, biodegradable materials, and the pyramid shape provides more space for your tea leaves to expand and unfold in order to release the full flavour profile of your tea.
Additionally, our tea packaging is made from recycled materials and uses 75% less waste than conventional manufacturing.
We work hard to reduce our carbon footprint by hiring local businesses to support our co-packing, blending and product manufacturing needs, putting those funds directly back into our community.
Eco-Anxiety is running rampant, and we understand that the option to support brands that are dedicated to sustainability is an important one.
#4. We Empower Women Through Our Chari-Tea Program
From shelters to startups, a portion of our proceeds support other programs dedicated to empowerment so that our impact is even farther reaching. Our Chari-Tea program is built upon three pillars, representing our values:
- Empowering young girls through education
- Empowering gender balance and equality
- Empowering Entrepreneurship
Each of these pillars is an important catalyst for change, and represent issues that we are passionate about.
To date, we’ve contributed over 40k in product and financial support, and still growing! As our CEO and founder, Sheena Brady, says: it’s never too early to give back.
You can read all about our Chari-Tea programs here!
#5. We Empower Our Team To Embrace The Future Of Work, Today
Our team is highly supported throughout our own personal side hustles and intrapreneurial pursuits, from retreats to attending both professional and personal development events or workshops. Our team members enable and support one another in creating our own working hours and contributing to an empowering environment that compliments our lifestyles and work-life balance.
It’s important that our team feels valued, supported and free to grow and explore. Empowered women empower women, and this is a true testament to that belief.
It’s easy to feel disempowered in the age of social media, but we’re here to assure you that you do have the ability to make a difference and, however “little” that difference may be, no effort is without impact. We all have the power to inspire change.
Aly Dort is a freelance illustrator and stationery designer living in Halifax, N.S. She is passionate about mental health, social sustainability and empowering those around her.
