Catherine Clark: We’re really thrilled to have the chance to talk to you, and we’d love for you to take us back to the beginning. What was happening in your life when the idea for Olive & Piper came into your head? What hole were you trying to fill in the market – or in your life?
Tania Yan: Oh, that’s a perfect question. It was definitely a hole in my life. I would say I was working at a marketing job at the time at a retail store, and I always liked having a lot of different side hustles just to keep me stimulated – learning, challenged – but also, you know, if it makes a little extra income on the side, why not?
So I was kind of at a crossroads and feeling quite creatively unfulfilled. Because I was working in a kind of e-commerce space, I was thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to try to have my own little store online? Just something on the side, for fun, that I can sell things here and there – make it really scrappy, like a very small business from my bedroom – and let’s see how it goes from there.
And I ended up landing on jewellry because I’ve always loved fashion and I love accessorizing. I think that having a piece of jewellry can really just change your outfit and give you that little boost that makes you feel a bit more confident going into your day. I worked at ALDO Accessories before, and I literally ended up spending my entire paycheck back there. So yeah, just kind of bridging those two things together – it sounded like a fun idea.
Jennifer Stewart: I want to go back to your journey because, Tania, you have guts of steel. You quit your job, you didn’t tell your parents, you had just taken on a new mortgage, and you had $2,000 in the bank. Did you just have an unwavering sense of confidence in yourself? Where did that come from?
Tania Yan: It’s really interesting to hear it from an outsider’s perspective because I would never look at myself as a confident person. And I think today, too – and maybe it’s imposter syndrome – I still have moments where I’m just like, I don’t know what I’m doing.
So I think it was a bit of the circumstance I was in. I would say that it was a little bit impulsive and maybe not the most responsible thing. But at that time, I was a bit younger, I didn’t have dependents, and at the end of the day I was just thinking, you know, if this doesn’t work out, I guess I could just get a job, right?
So I really ended up, out of frustration with what I was doing, wanting to get out and do something. I don’t know – I just got to that point, that threshold where you’re like, okay, this is enough. And I just made that decision to leave.
And to be honest, I didn’t quit my job because I was like, okay, all in – Olive & Piper is going to be my thing, I’m going to do this full-time. I was actually looking for other jobs, and I just couldn’t find anything. No one wanted to hire me – I guess that’s a blessing in disguise. But in the meantime, I had nothing to do, so I was just working on Olive & Piper.
And with that, I really enjoyed what I was doing, and I started seeing it grow slowly, little by little.
Catherine Clark: What was scarier – taking the leap and quitting your job, or eventually telling your parents?
Tania Yan: I think quitting my job. I had the company for about a year while I was still working, but quitting my job – like you said – I didn’t really have much of a plan, a savings plan, or anything. I didn’t have another job lined up, and just not having that security was really scary.
Also, I had no business background. I come from a background in science, and I’m literally jumping into this whole other thing that I have no experience in – no idea what to do or how to do it, and not even mentors or people in my family who had been in business that I could talk to.
So it was just completely – I don’t know, looking back, it was pretty irresponsible – but it ended up being something that was so fulfilling. I felt passionate about it, and to be fair, I was scared the entire time.
Jennifer Stewart: Do you get addicted to that feeling of being scared? Is it like, okay, what’s going to challenge me next – or does it genuinely scare you?
Tania Yan: No, it genuinely scares me.
It’s funny because a lot of people talk about entrepreneurs having all these different characteristics – this is how you tell you’re an entrepreneur. And sometimes I read those things and I’m like, I don’t know if that’s me.
I think it was a circumstance, and everything was in the right place at the right time, and how I felt really pushed me to do it. But sometimes I think back and I’m like, oh my gosh, I must have been insane. I don’t know if I would do that again, looking back, because there were so many risks involved.
I mean, it probably is the most courageous thing I’ve ever done.
Catherine Clark: Don’t you think that’s one of the most powerful parts of it – that you decided to take a risk? Maybe there’s something about being young and feeling like there’s endless runway and possibility, but we’re seeing a lot of women now say, “This isn’t what I want,” and try something new. That feels pretty powerful.
Tania Yan: Yeah, no, you’re totally right. And I love seeing other women lean into what they’re really interested in – what they truly want to do.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and it happens to teach you something. So for people who want to start a business or are thinking of taking risks, I kind of think about the opposite: do you want to be 85 years old and be like, “I wish I did this,” or “What if I did this?”
At the end of the day, I think there’s so much to be learned from something, and regardless of whether it succeeds the way you expected it to or not, it’s going to help grow you as a person and give you so much experience. So I think – I love that about it.
Jennifer Stewart: If you could go back to the start of the Olive & Piper journey and tell your younger self one piece of advice to help you get through all the hurdles, challenges, and trials you’d face, what would it be?
Tania Yan: Oh, there’s so many things I would tell myself. That you don’t have to do everything yourself, and you don’t have to figure it all out yourself.
I am an only child, so I grew up kind of having to do that. I didn’t have siblings or people to really bounce ideas off of or ask questions to, and my parents were so busy working, making sure that we had everything we needed as a family.
So I would really want you to figure out: what are you good at? What do you like to do? It’s great to learn all the different aspects of a business, but at the end of the day, you shouldn’t feel the pressure of it all falling on you.
If I had only reached out to people more and talked about it a bit more – and to be fair, I was scared. I didn’t want to tell people I was starting a business. I was kind of embarrassed. I was like, what if it fails? What if they laugh at me? All these things you tell yourself that block you from really reaching what you want to do.
I just really think that reaching out to people, asking for help, and getting people to come in and be a part of it was really helpful later on – and I wish that I saw that sooner.
Catherine Clark: You’ve built this into a really successful – and beautiful – company. How do you design your collections? Is it driven by your personal style, or do you look outward at trends and what people are wearing? What inspires you?
Tania Yan: Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s a little bit of both, to be honest.
When I started out, it was for fun, right? So I was just curating a lot of pieces – I didn’t even start designing anything yet. I was curating pieces based on my personal style and what made me excited.
Over time, that shifted to us designing all of our pieces from scratch. But that comes from having data from what we’ve done before – looking at the products our customers gravitate toward, what they like, what’s popular – but also seeing what’s in the market, what’s upcoming, what’s trendy, for example, and then injecting your own personal style and taste into it.
Jennifer Stewart: What does a typical day look like for you? People always want a peek behind the curtain – what is it like to run a jewellry company?
Tania Yan: It feels kind of like a whirlwind. Sometimes I feel like I don’t do anything – do you know what I mean? Because you’re doing so many things that you just get caught up in the day-to-day.
My focus has shifted over time. In the beginning, I was doing everything – it was very scrappy. I was replying to customers, designing pieces, shipping products, doing graphic design, social media – you name it.
Today, my focus is more on the overall brand vision and business development – where we want to go, where we see ourselves – and also the marketing side. I would say I’m a bit more on the creative side. I love being involved with product and working with our jewellry designer.
But there are also things you just have to do – admin, paperwork, business filings, financials. It’s all part of the job. But I do get to lean more into what I enjoy, which is nice – and at the same time, I’m still learning exactly what it is that I love.
Catherine Clark: Do you have a daily habit or routine that you swear by – something that keeps you sane, especially on busy days?
Tania Yan: Yeah, I think it’s really important to start your day with a calm mind. Whether that means not looking at your phone – and sometimes that’s really hard – not looking at your phone first thing in the morning, or doing the Five Minute Journal.
Just sitting down and thinking about the things you’re grateful for today, what would make today a great day, and kind of putting that energy into the world and calming your mind. If you can meditate too – even five minutes is such a powerful thing to keep yourself grounded and centered.
Jennifer Stewart: For women listening who have an idea but are really scared to start, what’s the most important piece of advice you wish someone had given you early on?
Tania Yan: I think the biggest thing is to start.
Like I said earlier, I wouldn’t want you to go through your life looking back at the things you wish you did. So regardless of what it is, you should start. It doesn’t need to be perfect.
I think a lot of people feel like, “Oh, I have to have this business plan, I need to know exactly what the website looks like, the marketing has to be perfect.” You don’t. You don’t.
Once you start moving, you’ll learn a lot of these things. That’s how I figured it out – it was a lot of trial and error building this business, and a lot of “what the hells,” like, I don’t know what I’m doing. And sometimes I still feel that way.
But you’ve got to cross that line and just get started. You’ll learn so much about yourself, you’ll enjoy it, and whether you figure out this is what you love to do or maybe it’s not – that’s still a really great answer to have, so you’re not left wondering.
Catherine Clark: We have to ask – the boiled cabbage question. But first, why Olive & Piper? Where did the name come from?
Tania Yan: Olive is kind of a wordplay on “I love.” It was like – the things I love. I want to create a business, whatever it is, with things I love.
And Piper is that kind of carefree, playful, a bit whimsical side. So together, I felt like they really encompassed what I wanted to create as a brand. And, you know, if it sounds good together, it’s an extra plus.
Jennifer Stewart: And finally – we’ve read a lot of articles about your journey, and cabbage came up a lot. Can you tell us the story?
Tania Yan: Yeah – well, as we said, I quit my job and didn’t have any savings or a backup plan, so I was really strapped for cash, especially since I had just moved out and had a mortgage.
Olive & Piper was extremely small – we weren’t making very much money at all. So I did lean on cabbage. I was eating boiled cabbage with salt for dinner a lot of nights, just to make sure I was saving money.
Jennifer Stewart: I think it’s really remarkable to actually talk about that. You know, cabbage is symbolic of that entrepreneurial lifestyle at the start, where you need to hustle. It might look glamorous from the outside in, but you know, you’re working to save money, or there’s impacts on your lifestyle to grow something really beautiful that you love. So thanks for sharing that!
