Denver’s First Vietnamese Coffee Shop Celebrates Their Second Anniversary
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July 26, 2023
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Tí: Cafe Ta, the first-ever Vietnamese coffee shop in Denver, celebrated its second anniversary with joy and pride. Founded by three sisters, Sashaline, Shominic, and Shasitie Nguyen, the café has become a warm and welcoming space for people to connect over coffee and culture.
The idea for the café came from the sisters’ love for their Vietnamese heritage. They wanted to share the joy of Vietnamese coffee with Denver’s residents and visitors. Opening during the pandemic was a leap of faith, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
The café offers a unique blend of flavors by using robusta beans and sweet condensed milk in their coffee. They take pride in slow-dripping the coffee through traditional filters, keeping the essence of Vietnamese coffee culture alive.
Beyond coffee, Tí serves up a variety of drinks like Vietnamese egg coffee, sodas with lychee whipped cream, and matcha drinks. They also host themed weeks, like Anime Week, where they serve beverages inspired by popular anime shows.
Despite opening amid the challenges of the pandemic, Tí: Cafe Ta has experienced overwhelming support from Denver residents. They have been embraced as a place where people can gather, share cultural experiences, and engage in conversation.
Looking ahead, the Nguyen sisters aspire to expand their brand while staying true to their roots. The goal is to continue curating new menu items, hosting more events, and fostering an even stronger sense of community within Denver and beyond.
Their vision for the next two decades includes opening new stores in different states, all while maintaining a commitment to delivering authentic Vietnamese coffee culture and providing a warm, inviting space for coffee enthusiasts and curious visitors alike.
Anise Health is on a mission to improve mental healthcare for Asian Americans.
Recognizing the lack of health equity in the existing mental healthcare system, especially for people of color, Anise Health aims to create a positive change by offering culturally-responsive care.
Anise Health wants to make mental health care accessible and affordable for everyone. They work with different health plans and offer affordable plans for those who pay themselves. They have big plans to reach more people of color and support them in their mental health journey.
Anise Health believes that everyone deserves the care and support they need to live a happier and healthier life. Read through the inspiring insights from Anise Health in an interview with Asian Hustle Network.
Alice and Nisha, founders of Anise Health
ADDRESSING THE UNIQUE MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF THE ASIAN COMMUNITY
Anise Health is building the gold standard of mental healthcare for Asian Americans because there is an urgent need to advance health equity.
People of color are extremely underserved by the existing mental health care system, with 50% dropping out of therapy after just the first session. Specifically, 41% of Asian Americans experience current symptoms of depression and anxiety, yet only 30% report feeling supported today. The sharp increase in anti-Asian hate crimes compounded with the model minority myth means that the Asian community often suffers in silence, leading to devastating consequences such as Asian young adults being the only ethnic group with suicide as the leading cause of death.
Anise is on a mission to change these trends by creating a culturally-responsive digital mental health platform built by and for the Asian community. We’re humbled by the incredible results our clients achieve on our platform, including:
97% completion rate of the first 4 weekly sessions, which far exceeds the industry benchmark of outsized dropouts after the first session
95% of our clients report feeling heard or understood by their provider, demonstrating a strong therapeutic alliance between providers and clients
Net promoter score of 84 (46 points above the industry average), indicating unparalleled satisfaction with our provider curation and training
SPECIFIC CHALLENGES THAT INDIVIDUALS FACE WHEN SEEKING MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT
Asian Americans experience unique stressors such as collectivistic family dynamics, bicultural tension living as a minority in a majority culture, pressure to achieve and perfectionism from reinforced narratives of self-sacrifice, intergenerational trauma from unhealed historical wounds, excessive shame and guilt leading to internalized self-criticism, rigid gender norms and relationship expectations, to name a few.
Our clinical advisory board comprises pioneering experts in the field who are leading evidence-based research to address these stressors and empower the well-being of the Asian community. We infuse their expertise into our care models and translate this information into digestible educational formats which are curated in our digital resource library.
DESTIGMATIZING MENTAL HEALTH
Anise normalizes mental health by delivering psychoeducational webinars and interactive workshops tailored to Asian Americans. Our clinicians lead these group services across a diverse range of topics for a variety of enterprise partners and schools, including Netflix, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and many more. We also host free community engagement programming with a large network of over two dozen nonprofit partners, as well as speaking at multicultural conferences and celebratory events.
For individuals seeking 1-on-1 services, Anise has developed care models that are clinically validated and culturally tailored, which research shows to be ~5x more effective than one-size-fits-all offerings. We are the only platform providing a holistic suite of services that integrate individual teletherapy, behavioral coaching, peer support groups, alternative medicine, and a curated library of self-service digital resources. Furthermore, our approach enables the accurate assessment of cultural stressors and personalization of care using machine learning technology. Anise’s proprietary clinical care model incorporates cultural adaptation along every step of the client’s journey from intake to blended treatment plans.
THE CULTURALLY-RESPONSIVE CARE MODEL
At Anise, culturally-responsive care means seeing a client as more than just a set of symptoms and diagnoses. Clients are seen as unique individuals whose racial and cultural contexts shape how they experience the world and how their needs are not being met.
Our providers are recruited for their deep expertise in culturally-responsive care and extensive experience supporting Asian clients. Once hired, providers are trained in our proprietary curriculum to explore clients’ intersecting identities and empowered in monthly consultation sessions, which offer providers their own space for connection and continued learning. In fact, our providers are diverse and maintain a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, language capabilities, and therapy approaches.
Therapists and coaches work together as a dedicated team for clients, where the therapist helps the client navigate through psychological history and set concrete therapy goals, while the coach works with the client to achieve these goals. This empowers Asian clients to achieve lasting outcomes.
TESTIMONIALS
Anise Client – “Therapy had not worked for me before, but after meeting my Anise clinician I have regained confidence in the process and am excited to continue working with my therapist.”
Anise Clinician – “I found Anise’s clinical model to be such a culturally effective way to provide mental health services for clients and clinicians. Especially the way it incorporated coaching with therapy.”
Enterprise Partner – “I had never thought about burnout through the lens of cultural identity and how that may impact me. This session helped me understand deeper elements of what I was dealing with.”
ACCESSIBILITY AND AFFORDABILITY
Anise is in-network with Managed Health Network and Optum, and is in the process of contracting with several large health plans, in addition to accepting HSA and FSA benefits. For self-pay clients, Anise is affordable with subscription plans averaging $200 per month, nearly 1/4 the cost of average private practice rates in New York and California. For clients who want to supplement their holistic health, Anise offers clinician-led peer support circles along a variety of diverse themes at only $25 per week.
LOOKING IN THE FUTURE
We have ambitious growth plans to support the Asian community and people of color more broadly, which include expanding to more states, partnering with universities to support students, and offering our services as covered employee benefits for businesses. We are open to feedback and love piloting solutions with our community. Contact Anise Health’s Head of Growth, Angel Wang, for ideas at angel@anisehealth.co
Melange is a multi-label South Asian fashion platform that shares fashionable items from South Asia.
Samia Khan, who lives in Singapore but comes from Mumbai, started Melange in 2015. She wanted to bring attention to modern Indian designs for clothes, jewelry, and other accessories. She loves fashion that’s versatile, meaning you can wear it in different situations. She doesn’t think it’s just for Indian people – anyone can enjoy it.
During a virtual chat with The Peak, she talked about a special event she went to in Mumbai, India. It displayed how famous fashion companies like Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Dior have used Indian fabrics for a long time. Samia was really impressed by this exhibition, and is excited about the growing interest in Indian fashion.
Because of the pandemic, Samia had to move Melange’s business online. This turned out to be good because more people from different countries like the US, UK, and Australia can now enjoy Indian fashion through her website.
Samia wants to keep sharing South Asian fashion and hopes to have a permanent showroom someday. “I want South Asian fashion to be accessible to many more people. I hope to be able to contribute to my heritage in this way,” Samia shares with The Peak.
Ghazal Alagh is the co-founder of MamaEarth, a company worth $1.2 billion. She’s not a graduate from fancy colleges like IIT or IIM, but her story is remarkable and full of inspiration.
Ghazal’s journey began in Gurgaon, Haryana, where she grew up in a middle-class family. After finishing her studies in computer application from Punjab University in 2010, she explored her creative side by learning about design and art at the New York Academy of Art. These experiences laid the foundation for her entrepreneurial path.
In 2016, Ghazal and her husband, Varun Alagh, started MamaEarth because they wanted safe and natural products for their soon-to-arrive baby. They cared deeply about the environment, so they made sure their products were organic and packed in materials that could be recycled.
Like many business ventures, their journey wasn’t easy, but eventually, MamaEarth became Asia’s first brand to earn the MadeSafe label, showing that their products were free from harmful stuff. They started selling online but soon expanded to physical stores. They have their own place to create and test products, which helped them achieve big success.
Now, MamaEarth isn’t just about baby stuff; they offer all kinds of personal care items. Over 5 million people use their products in 500 cities. Last year, they made a profit of Rs 14 crores and became a unicorn, now worth $1.2 billion.
Diganta Das’ journey to becoming a successful food entrepreneur in Assam from a humble beginning as a daily wage worker despite facing numerous hardships is a testament to the power of determination and perseverance.
Originally from Gohpur town in Assam, Diganta had different jobs to support his family. He worked as a cook, security guard, and even in a coal mine. But he didn’t give up on his dreams.
One of Diganta’s friends started a paratha business in Andhra Pradesh, and Diganta joined him to handle the marketing. Through hard work and dedication, he not only succeeded in the marketing venture but also helped expand the business.
Eventually, with his love for travel and cooking, he was able to start his own paratha business. He created DFF (Daily Fresh Food), offering tasty parathas that people can enjoy on the go. Today, DFF is well-known for its delicious ready-to-eat parathas.
It was not an easy journey for Diganta. He faced financial struggles and at one point, even got partially paralyzed in an accident. But he didn’t lose hope and he kept going.
Diganta’s journey shows that with enough determination and courage, anyone can overcome challenges and achieve their dreams.
