A Story of Hope & Tea

My name is Monaqui Porter Young. I’m a creative entrepreneur: co-owner of an organic farm in Sri Lanka and President & CEO of MPGlobal Connect Inc. My company imports and distributes the specialty brand organic tea called Srina® tea.

I grew up in Middle America in the rubber-producing town of Akron, Ohio. My goal since childhood has been to build a social enterprise that would be financially successful to revitalize my failing community. I worked with children living in abject poverty. I tutored illiterate women while attending college. I have visited the children in the favellas of Curitiba, Brazil, and the women in the slums of Thailand. I discovered through my travels and work in the USA and abroad that people are alike in their basic aspiration for a decent livelihood and dignified existence, despite the different cultures or countries they live in.

In 2002 I was invited to Southeast Asia to lecture on the commonalities of women for International Women’s Day at the United Nations in Bangkok, Thailand. Afterwards, I was invited to visit Paradise Farm in Sri Lanka. My first encounter was with a group of twelve small-scale farmers (mostly women) who would eventually inspire me to help them change their lives using the natural resources grown on Paradise farm. Through an interpreter, one of the farmers said to me, "We are from the same fraternity." I thought about that and agreed that as women of color-- they living in a war-conflicted country and I growing up in humble beginnings in America--somehow our journeys came together. We set out to build a social business venture built on the triple bottom line principles of People, Planet, and Product. Our product would be manifested into Srina® organic tea handpicked, packaged and produced at Paradise Farm in Sri Lanka--after eight years of tremendous challenges.

Lee Mun Wah and I met at the Social Venture Network in Portland, Oregon this past spring. I attended one of his life-changing seminars on diversity. The film Color of Fear along with his presentation left the entire room speechless and full of a wide variety of emotions. Lee Mun Wah called me out of the audience and asked if between the three of us on stage at the time - me, an Asian male, white male - who the audience thought would be the CEO and co-owner of a farm in Sri Lanka and tea company? Many admitted their first choice would be the Asian male [they are known to be honest hard working entrepreneurs], second choice would be the white male [hard workers and often leaders], and the third and final choice was myself. After speaking at length with Lee Mun Wah I realized the power in being a black woman business owner AND I proudly welcome the opportunity to challenge false perceptions. http://www.mpglobalconnect.com  

The UNtraining: Untraining White Liberal Racism
The mission of The UNtraining is to provide resources and tools for white people who are motivated to investigate their white cultural conditioning.  
http://www.untraining.org/