I’m always so in awe and feel so honored to work with such fearless and creative female entrepreneurs. Each one of my clients infuses their work with soul, with passion, and with meaning. Their dedication to their craft is so inspiring, and I can’t wait to share their stories with you. 

Today, I’d like to introduce you to  Sarah Scarborough of Tea Huntress. 

Sarah’s journey with tea began when she was a child, picking wildflowers and foraging healing plants with her grandmother. She always had a passion for agriculture, sustainability, travel and wellness. All of these passions led her to become a tea buyer, taster, and formulator for brands across the globe. 

With this expertise, Sarah created the magical world of Tea Huntress. Tea Huntress offers bespoke tea and custom formulation for your company, brand, event, or daily wellness practice. 

Read more below on Sarah’s entrepreneurial journey with Tea Huntress, how it all began, what she’s learned from working with Nomad, and what advice she would give her younger self. 

Q: If someone asked you, what is Tea Huntress? What would you say?

So most people have an understanding of tea as a beverage. And that’s because I think most of us have been introduced to tea from British culture, the British perspective. But I like to kind of wind the clock back, and show people the ancient roots of tea when it was used as a meditation, a medicine, and a practice. 

For millennia, tea has been used as a self-cultivation tool. And it’s just so simple, it’s watering leaves. And so it’s really hard to put words around because it is so simple. I think people have a hard time understanding tea, as a practice, and as a self-cultivation too – like a yoga practice, or any kind of martial art or meditation practice. 

But that’s exactly what it is and what it has been for humanity for so long. So I’m trying just to peel back the layers of that, and show people how to use tea, to understand the energetics of plants and the ability that we have to connect back to Mother Nature. 

It’s really easy to get stuck in our minds, to have these wheels in our minds that are constantly turning. When we stop, and whether we’re going to meditate or do some yoga, or just practice breathwork or make a cup of tea, it brings you back down into the body and it brings you back down into presence. 

You come HOME to YOURSELF, the tensions melt away, the ANXIETY goes away, the CLARITY comes in. And it’s quite ALCHEMIC and MAGICAL.

But that’s exactly what it is and what it has been for humanity for so long. So I’m trying just to peel back the layers of that, and show people how to use tea, to understand the energetics of plants and the ability that we have to connect back to Mother Nature. 

It’s really easy to get stuck in our minds, to have these wheels in our minds that are constantly turning. When we stop, and whether we’re going to meditate or do some yoga, or just practice breathwork or make a cup of tea, it brings you back down into the body and it brings you back down into presence

For those of you who want to listen to the interview, click here below.

Q. If you had to summarize, what is it that makes Tea Huntress so unique?

I’m sharing tea as a ritual, as an art. Sharing tea as in not just looking at the physical benefits, which is what every other tea company in the world does. But I look at the energetic benefits as well –  looking at the way that tea affects our moods, things like that.

I also think it’s my ability to do the bespoke blending and my knowledge. I’ve worked my whole life with plants, understanding how they work, how they work together, where they come from, which plants like each other, and which plants don’t. And then I do have an intuitive gift as well. It helps me figure out which plants, and which blends might work for people or for businesses. It’s a fun process when people go “oh, I love that plant!” And I’m like – “I know!” 

Q. What led you to start Tea Huntress? 

I was sitting in the car and the name Tea Huntress dropped into my mind. It landed, and so then I got my computer, my phone out, and got Tea Huntress on Instagram. I was already leading yoga retreats, I was already pouring tea ceremonies, I was already teaching rituals, and things like that. It really just evolved. I mean, people would say, “we love your ceremonies, we want to buy these kinds of teas. Why don’t you do a subscription?” 

Now the membership is growing internationally. We have people in Italy, people in France, Macedonia, Canada, and, of course, the US.

Q. So it was more of something that had started with a passion?

I feel like it’s a Dharma path. Yes, it’s a passion. Yes, it’s my life. When I met tea, almost 30 years ago, it always felt like tea said to me, “You are coming with me”,  because I didn’t ever mean to start any of these tea businesses. They just happened. I didn’t even mean to get involved with tea. I was really just into agriculture. And I was into traveling and living around the world, and learning about cultures and agriculture, and it’s like – when you fall in love with the right person and get married. You have nothing to do with it. You just need to get out of the way and say yes.

So it’s been a 30-year process of “okay, okay, what’s next? Where are we headed?” And Tea Huntress was the latest iteration of that. I launched the website almost a year ago. On the full Huntress moon in 2020, and on my little boy’s birthday – so that was a big day. 

It feels like it COMES through me, feels like an OFFERING that the WORLD needs.

In this world where everybody suffers from anxiety, stress, sleeplessness and all the things – I really believe that sitting down for quite a cup of tea is the answer I get. But I think that’s what makes me the vessel for this business –  because I’m not a monk on a mountaintop. I get in that anxious headspace, and I understand. I run a business, I have children, I have a household. I get stressed out, too – and I need this practice as much as anybody else.

Q. Before you started working with Nomad Atelier, what was your challenge? And what was the transformation?

I didn’t know what my offerings were, and how to integrate them under one umbrella. The idea of having to put focus behind it, and intention behind it felt daunting. There’s a lot of confusion to work through. So it was really great to have a guide, and an external perspective to be able to say, like you did, “Why don’t you do bespoke blending?”

Once I shifted my perspective, and realized that these bespoke blends are a way of bringing meditation, and the healing benefits of tea into so many more lives, it all clicked into place.

I love being in flow with life, and dancing, and showing up for what opportunities are in front of me at the moment. But I also think that the challenge at that time was to put intention behind what I was doing, and to set my own goals, and to meet the universe halfway and say – “This is what I would like to do.”

For seven years before that, I was just working and having babies, and in that mode of doing what’s right in front of you. So it was just sort of stopping and getting a bigger perspective. And also being in my early 40s, at that time, I looked out above the horizon and wanted to ask – what’s my legacy? What am I doing here? And how do I want to make an impact?

It’s so nice to have gained the tools, and to be able to have clarity around what I even have done wrong in the past, and how I want to change it in the future. And transmuting those limiting beliefs into stories of empowerment. 

This business is so much more than a business, it’s really my own personal evolution. 

Q. What advice would you give to your younger self?

We live in this world where you’re meant to be the sun, the sun is bright, and it’s aggressive, and it shines and it’s –  it’s young and it’s striving. And my true nature is yen. I’m more like the moon, and I’ve always been very perceptive and a little bit shy and quiet. Even though a lot of people would never believe that because, you know, we adapt. But I’m really happy by myself, with a cup of tea and an intimate conversation. And I think that in the world, being an entrepreneur from a very young age, and working with a lot of powerful, dominant men – I had a really hard time holding my own and trusting that my way was right. 

If I had to give advice to the younger me – I would say – you are so powerful. Just because you’re not like the sun, but look at what the moon does. The moon pulls the tides, you don’t need to be shiny and bright. You’re allowed to be held, and you’re supported. This vision of yours is important. It matters. I would just try to infuse more confidence into that girl. 

Katherine – Thank you Sarah for sharing so openly and reminding us to embrace our authentic selves, trust our unique visions, and recognize that is ever-unfolding. Your words resonate deeply and personally. The journey of entrepreneurship is not a destination but a continuous, evolving path.

RESOURCES:

▸ Learn more: nomadatelier.com
▸ Instagram: @nomad_atelier
▸ Book a Discovery Call

LINKS:
▸ Sarah’s Nomad Muse Story
▸ See Sarah’s worlds Tea Huntress