Living in New York City for seven years, Emily was constantly in awe of the sophisticated, chaotic aesthetic of her buzzing city. From store displays to food presentation to fashion itself, Emily knew from her first days at Barnard College of Columbia University that she too wanted to bring something beautiful into the world to share. At the same time, her sensitivity to the fragility of our planet convinced her to abandon many of her ideas, envisioning mountains of goods - albeit beautiful goods - collecting in landfills as trend after trend passed us by.
As she left her job as a marketing professional and started her own graphic design business in 2006, she continued to search for inspiration.
Nearly a year later, she found it halfway around the globe in Mridul Tiwari.
Instantly taken by Mridul's spirit, tenacity, and sparkling attitude towards life, it was obvious to Emily that she had met her match. Within months, Emily and Mridul brought Kamelia:Luxe's flagship line of teas to the United States. Their stripteas are beautiful inside and out: Emily takes deep pride in the quality of their teas and are thrilled that stripteas' aluminum foil packaging is one of the most widely recycled materials available.
True to their word, Kamelia:Luxe products celebrate and support not only the dreams of two women from opposite sides of the planet, but those of women in the United States, India, and around the world who are starting their own businesses, furthering their education, and creating their own unique paths in life. From day one, Emily has donated a portion of Kamelia:Luxe's profits to organizations that help women achieve these goals.
Originally from a suburb of Boston, Emily currently lives in Hollywood with her fiance.
Mridul Tiwari, living and working in Jaipur, India, has been immersed in the tea industry since before she learned how to walk. Her family settled in Darjeeling among the beautiful green hills over 100 years ago and have been leaders in the tea industry ever since.
Having trained with world-renowned tea tasters in India, Mridul became one of very few women employed by the Indian Tea Board in its history to taste tea, directly contributing her skills to setting the standards for some of the the highest quality teas out there. Too, she was one of only two female tea auctioneers in the history of the world-famous Indian tea auctions. She left the Tea Board in 2004 and established her own business supplying private label tea throughout India.
A perennial innovator, Mridul personally creates and perfects the blends for all of Kamelia:Luxe's teas. Her team lovingly hand-blends and packages the teas with utmost care, delivering consistently excellent teas not found anywhere else in the world. In fact, some of the blends are very rare outside of India, such as Sweet Khus and Kashmiri Kahwa, and Kamelia:Luxe is proud to set the standards in the Western market.
In addition to her partnership with Kamelia:Luxe, Mridul blends teas for India's most discerning hospitality clients, including world class hotels and spas such the luxurious Palace on Wheels, the five-star Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, the exclusive Trident Hilton, and the ITC Welcom Sheraton chain, as well as the 400 Caffe Coffee Day locations throughout India and in Vienna, Austria. Mridul has received wide coverage by some of the leading publications in India, including Femina magazine, The Hindustan Times, & Food & Beverage.
