A Business Worth Steeping
Posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2014
A number of our Business students are on the cusp of graduating and it’s Business alumni like Lisa Banville, co-owner of Tealee who inspire these soon-to-be grads to follow their dreams.
After graduating over two years ago, Lisa found she had the basic skills she needed to turn her passion into a business called Tealee.
As a result, the 24 year-old marked her tea business’s one-year anniversary in October. Tealee began when her boyfriend and now partner, Sami Devine, suggested that he could build a website for her own business. That was all Banville needed to run with her idea – tea. She now has created eight original tea blends that are sold at grocery stores around Ottawa.
Both Banville and Devine are continuing their studies with Algonquin College by working towards their Canadian Tea Sommeliers certification. The added certification should help to ease the pressures associated with importing teas from all over the world. Banville and Devine plan to venture into tea plantations and purchase directly from the growers.
Tealee has a lot of plans moving forward, including turning this part-time hobby into a full-time venture. They hope to open up a storefront in the Ottawa area in the next five to ten years.
It is success stories like Tealee that continue to foster and encourage innovation here at our Waterfront Campus.
Do you have an alumni success story? We want to hear about it!
Posted by: Jodi Bucholtz, Here 2 Help
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