* Hi. Welcome to the APAN podcast. I'm Collynn Dang.


0:11


* We hope you enjoy a conversation with Jenna Chai. She got her Bachelor's at USF in Business Administration in 2022.


0:15


* She is a product designer an entrepreneur and a TikTok influencer.


0:24


* Wow. How does she do it all?


0:28


* We had such a good time talking about food, building an audience on social media, and starting a company from her own bedroom in the eighth grade.


0:30


* You can find her on TikTok @PeanutButterMochi, and you can find Dishcovery on the App Store.


0:38


* We're so excited to have Jenna here. Thank you so much for joining us on our podcast for this opportunity.


0:50


* Yeah. So we would love to hear more about where Jenna's from and your upbringing.


0:57


* So you could tell us more about that. Okay. Yeah.


1:03


* So I was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii.


1:07


* I'm half Japanese, half Chinese. And I guess I'm fifth generation, so my entire family is in Hawaii.


1:11


* No one really speaks the language, but something that really brought us together was food.


1:23


* And so my mom, she was like the main cook of the house.


1:28


* So she made a lot of Japanese food. But a lot of the food that she made was also inspired by Hawaii.


1:32


* So the local Hawaii food is influenced by like the plantation days in Hawaii.


1:40


* So in the 1800s, when Japanese,


1:47


* Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Hawaiian,


1:50


* Portuguese people...they came to work on the sugar and pineapple plantations.


1:55


* When they would eat, they would come together and just share all of their foods.


2:01


* So yeah, a lot of the Hawaii foods that I grew up eating is inspired by a mixture of ethnicities.


2:05


* Wow. Yes. Yes. A huge melting pot, it sounds like.


2:12


* Well, that's so amazing. Food being such a big part of your story and your success.


2:16


* Could you tell us more? So what did you eat growing up?


2:22


* What foods make you think of home? A lot of the foods that make me think of home


2:25


* Are Hawaiian and Japanese foods. So poké bowls.


2:32


* kalua Pig. Laulau. All those are a lot of the Hawaiian foods that I grew up eating,


2:38


* but also a lot of the foods that remind me of home is what my mom cooked and recipes that were passed down to her from her mom and her grandma.


2:43


* So one of my favorites is called Fried


2:53


* Saimin, and it's inspired by both, I believe, Chinese from the noodles being like a chow mein, but also Japanese influence from


2:55


* Also the noodles being like curly and chewy and sautéed with a lot of vegetables.


3:10


* So something that I think is really unique to Hawaii is that every family has, like, their own version of fried.


3:15


* saimin. So my mom's has like spam, cabbage, kamaboko, which is a fish cake, but a lot of other families also have maybe like egg or pork in it.


3:22


* So, yeah, that's what I love is like every family has their different version of it.


3:38


* Yum. I think noodles are just so universal.


3:43


* I crave noodles. I grew up too on different dishes of noodles.


3:46


* But that sounds delicious. Have you...has Mom, shared her secret recipe with you?


3:49


* And have you been able to recreate it here? Yeah, she has actually made a TikTok of it too recently, which did pretty well.


3:54


* And I think it's because it catered to more of like the Hawaii audience who love that dish, but also people that have never heard about it.


4:02


* So, yeah, it drew a lot of attention and my mom was really proud of being able to share her culture.


4:12


* Awesome shout out to mom. Are there are there favorite things about home that you want to share?


4:18


* Growing up in Hawaii like everyone knew each other. And I guess that's something that I really miss about being at home,


4:27


* is you go to the grocery store and you see like an auntie or an uncle, and then you go to the mall and you see a friend.


4:36


* So that's something that I really appreciate about Hawaii and how everyone is just so friendly and welcoming.


4:42


* You mentioned that you're fifth generation, is that right?


4:49


* So, yeah, how how do you feel food has incorporated that in your life today?


4:53


* Growing up, Asian American in Hawaii, food has been very important,


4:58


* And,


5:03


* Something that has been a core memory throughout my entire childhood was being able to go to dinners and potlucks with both sides of my family.


5:05


* So I remember during Christmas time we would go to my dad's house and we would have Chinese food and going to my mom's side,


5:16


* we would have a lot of the aunties and uncles cooking and making musubi and Japanese food.


5:25


* And yeah, I just remember going to their houses for New Year's as well and celebrating like Japanese New Year's,


5:31


* which was something that was really important to my mom to be able to pass down through the family.


5:40


* There is something called sekihan, which is a Japanese rice and it's made with azuki beans.


5:48


* It's just three ingredients, technically. It's azuki beans, sweet rice and salt, and then water.


5:56


* But that's something that I grew up loving and my mom would always make it for me for my birthday.


6:04


* It was like a special dish for special occasions.


6:10


* So yeah, for my birthday and then for New Year's because it symbolizes good luck.


6:14


* And how about your Chinese side? For my Chinese side,


6:20


* My dad doesn't really cook.


6:24


* And so we usually just either go to, like, a dim sum restaurant or when we have dinners at my grandma's house, she likes to cook like kalua pig.


6:27


* So that was something that she learned from her parents and her grandparents because they actually had a pig farm that she had to work on.


6:43


* Let's talk more about your time at the University of San Francisco.


6:51


* So why USF and what really brought you here?


6:56


* It's interesting because USF was my only West Coast school that I applied to.


7:01


* So in college or sorry, in high school, I was really debating where I wanted to go and I knew that I wanted to be in a colder climate and in a city.


7:07


* And so that immediately... I immediately thought of being in New York or, you know, somewhere on the East Coast.


7:17


* So I applied to some all schools that I applied to were in New York or like Boston, except for USF.


7:26


* And my mom really encouraged me to go to USF because she loves San Francisco.


7:35


* She would visit when she was in college because her sister lived here.


7:41


* So yeah, we visited once as a family and then I really loved the city and the culture here.


7:46


* So that's why I chose USF and I love the location.


7:53


* And my mom was really happy that it's closer to home than New York.


7:57


* Yeah. And familiar too. Oh, that's great.


8:02


* That's so interesting that you coming from Hawaii, were looking for something more with colder climate.


8:05


* Is there a reason why? I just wanted a change.


8:11


* And yeah, I've always loved being like in the colder climate.


8:15


* I've never really experienced snow, but that's something that I just wanted.


8:21


* Yeah. Change. So. Yeah, yeah. Have you gotten to see snow yet since living here?


8:27


* No, not since living here. Yeah. Well, still time for that.


8:32


* What are some favorite memories of USF and what really brings some nostalgic either


8:37


* in your locations or food or spaces that that you really enjoyed being here?


8:44


* I really loved USF because of its location.


8:49


* It's right in the heart of the city. There's parks near us and then you can also go a mile or two and experience the actual city.


8:53


* And in between buildings and Chinatown and Japantown, everything's just so compact and nearby.


9:05


* So that's what I really loved. And a place that brings a lot of nostalgia is Divisadero Street and Baker Street,


9:12


* because that's where I lived pretty much my sophomore and senior year of college.


9:23


* Okay. So I spent a lot of time in that area going to cafes, eating at restaurants, walking around.


9:30


* Yeah. Any particular restaurants or spots that you love?


9:37


* Yeah, I love Bob's Donuts. Oh, my goodness.


9:41


* I lived one block from Bob's. And I would have to resist going there every day because it was so good.


9:45


* Was there a specific donut that you like there? I love their vegan apple fritter.


9:53


* And then any old fashioned donut that they make.


9:57


* Oh, yeah. So good. So good. Are there particular


10:01


* organizations or things that you were part of outside of classes in your major while being here as a student?


10:05


* I wasn't really a part of any organization, but I really appreciated the School of Management and the professors there.


10:14


* I thought that they really wanted to help their students succeed, whether it was in business or something else.


10:25


* That's something that I really appreciated and has helped me be where I am today.


10:32


* I took a class called Creativity, Innovation and Design for my Entrepreneurship Major, and that was taught by Professor Jonathan Cromwell.


10:39


* And I had a project in that class where I had to create some kind of product and we had to bring that product to life and pitch it.


10:47


* So that was a group project that I was a partner with my now boyfriend, Chris. Chris Boccignone shout out.


11:00


* He was also a graduate of 2022, so same year.


11:09


* But yeah, we were in his class.


11:14


* We had to create a product and we decided to create a food application and we pitched it at the end of the class for our final.


11:16


* And Professor Cromwell, he loved the idea and said that he was actually working on something similar at the time.


11:27


* And so at the end of the semester, this was May 2021,


11:36


* He told us that he was working on a similar project and he asked us to be a part of his team.


11:41


* And so that's now Dishcovery. What we're all working on. Your project,


11:49


* what was the food application?


11:55


* I would say it was like TikTok, but for food.


11:58


* So you kind of scroll through, like if you're scrolling through TikTok, but you would only see videos of food.


12:02


* So that was our idea. And it kind of relates to Dishcovery now because we like to say it's like Tinder for food.


12:09


* So you can swipe left and right and find the dish that you're currently craving and that you


12:17


* want to eat and have an algorithm that kind of learns your preferences while you're swiping.


12:23


* And eventually you'll find something that you want to order or a restaurant that you want to visit based on the dish that you saw.


12:31


* Has there been a surprising discovery from Dishcovery for you?


12:37


* Well. I was in Napa recently and we used Dishcovery to find a restaurant because that was my first time in Napa.


12:43


* So we thought, Oh, this is a perfect time to use Dishcovery.


12:53


* And we found a Mexican restaurant that had this gigantic wet burrito and it was perfect because my boyfriend Chris is vegan and they had a vegan option.


12:57


* So yeah, it was huge. It had red sauce on it and then it had a soy patty in it, I believe.


13:10


* So that was yeah, that was an interesting Dishcovery.


13:18


* Yeah, that sounds really good.


13:22


* I'm wondering if you found trends through Dishcovery and what users are really enjoying or where the app has navigated towards.


13:24


* I think users are really enjoying the variety of dishes that we offer.


13:37


* And what we love is that people might swipe through dishes on Dishcovery and they might not order things,


13:43


* but they're being exposed to a lot of food that they maybe wouldn't have ordered if they just walked past the restaurant on the street.


13:52


* So, yeah, they're learning about new dishes that San Francisco has and then also sharing it with their friends.


14:00


* And that's something that we really want, is like a community that uses Dishcovery.


14:07


* Mm hmm. I want to talk more about your journey as an entrepreneur,


14:12


* and if you can tell us more about what are some best moments and challenges that you've really gone through.


14:18


* So starting with I guess my first business, it was a small business that I had in eighth grade and it was a swimsuit company.


14:26


* I designed and sewed swimsuits from my bedroom in Hawaii.


14:36


* And I at the time, well, I was only in eighth grade, so I only knew how to use Instagram.


14:41


* So I would take orders through direct message on Instagram,


14:47


* and then I would meet up with people that ordered some suits, either in like a parking lot or at the mall.


14:51


* My mom would drive me and I would just hand them the swimsuit and would get $20 cash.


14:59


* So that was like the start of my, I guess, like entrepreneurial


15:06


* Stage in life. So yeah, that was my first business.


15:14


* And then after eighth grade,


15:17


* I expanded to having had I made a website and then I started doing pop ups and that was my job all throughout high school.


15:19


* After high school, I well, I attended USF so I couldn't really continue that business because I didn't have a sewing machine.


15:30


* I didn't have the resources and the materials.


15:39


* So I, yeah, I was at USF and then in 2020 COVID hit.


15:42


* So I had to go back home to Hawaii to continue school.


15:49


* And I did school remotely and I was also baking a lot as like everyone else in the world was.


15:53


* So yeah, I was baking, I didn't have a job, but I wanted to make some sort of income.


16:01


* So I started selling my baked goods to friends and family and other friends of friends on the island.


16:09


* And I thought that I should start a business.


16:16


* So from that I created Pineapple Town Market,


16:20


* which is a Hawaii inspired brand that makes snacks like party mix or okoshi bites which is a Japanese puffed


16:23


* rice and I started selling that and then eventually I created a website and then someone from the Honolulu Advertiser.


16:31


* Which is Hawaii's newspaper. They reached out to me, and they wanted to feature me in the food section of the newspaper.


16:42


* Oh. So they featured me.


16:48


* And then overnight, I got, like, 500 orders.


16:52


* Oh, my goodness. And yeah, I wasn't expecting that I had...


16:56


* Yeah, I wasn't prepared at all. Yeah. So that became like a almost a full time business while I was still doing school.


17:02


* And I would just be cooking in my kitchen. I was certified.


17:10


* I had a certified cottage food license. Yeah. So I was just baking in my kitchen doing orders while taking classes online.


17:14


* And I eventually scaled the business to a commercial kitchen where I would work with my mom and then


17:22


* my brother and sister and we would ship out orders and we had a few stores that we would wholesale to.


17:29


* Oh, awesome! Wow. I mean, that blew up so quickly and that's amazing.


17:36


* Yeah. What are some lessons and values that you were able to take away from USF and either to bring home with you or even where you are today


17:43


* Professionally? I learned that it's so important to make connections while at USF and to keep those connections strong even after graduation.


17:54


* And that's something that I didn't realize was so important until after I graduated.


18:05


* Because being able to see what other students are up too


18:09


* Right now is so cool and being able to connect with other professors and keep that relationship.


18:15


* That's something that I really value. Yeah.


18:22


* I mean, and it's attested to with just your project that you were working on and now through your


18:25


* Professor. And then now you're working together on Dishcovery.


18:33


* That's awesome. What are some things that you really enjoy outside of work?


18:36


* I consider this a hobby, but it's TikTok because I love to make TikTok videos and create content for brands,


18:42


* and it's something that I started in the summer just because I was bored and


18:49


* I got a new apartment in a different area of San Francisco and I wanted to explore.


18:56


* So I just started documenting my activities and what I would do on the weekends and posting it on TikTok.


19:01


* And I also started posting videos of my boyfriend cooking for me.


19:07


* So Chris, he's vegan and he's half Vietnamese, so he really appreciates his mom's cooking and has learned recipes from her.


19:11


* So he likes to make them vegan. And I would just take videos of him and edit it in a certain way and put a trending sound over it.


19:23


* And yeah, I gained a lot of attention. Our niche became like Asian-American people living in San Francisco.


19:33


* And so I saw that people were attracted to what we were posting and the Asian food that we were cooking.


19:42


* So that's what people loved and that's why they stayed.


19:50


* And after that, I kind of just posted some vlogs of me, videos of me in Hawaii when I would visit home and the food that I would eat.


19:55


* And so food And Asian inspired snacks and recipes is something that I think my followers really love.


20:04


* And so I try to make that a constant in all of my videos.


20:14


* Oh, awesome. Awesome. Was that a goal of yours as a target audience before it just happened?


20:18


* Naturally. Just it just happened naturally.


20:23


* And I'm glad it happened that way because it's something that I'm I'm passionate about food and my culture.


20:25


* So that's something that I'm just really. Yeah, I'm glad it happened naturally.


20:31


* Where are you hoping that your TikTok platform and realm will go towards?


20:36


* I, I hope that it goes more toward lifestyle.


20:43


* And I like that it's still cooking and baking because that's something that I like to bake too.


20:47


* Yeah. So, um, yeah, I just want to really focus in on, like, the lifestyle and cooking.


20:53


* Have you found a community through TikTok


21:01


* And how is that for you?


21:04


* I love my TikTok followers and my community, and I've had the pleasure of being able to meet people on the streets and they would recognize us.


21:07


* They recognize me or my puppy, and then they would come up to us and say hi.


21:18


* And sometimes they take a picture, which I'm still getting used to.


21:23


* But I think it's just so interesting that people say hi to us and that they recognize us.


21:27


* So yeah, that's something that I really appreciate.


21:34


* And I've also been able to meet other TikTok creators based in San Francisco as well,


21:37


* either at events or sometimes we would just message each other on TikTok and then meet up for a lunch.


21:43


* So yeah, a lot of TikTok friends.


21:50


* Oh, that's awesome. I feel like TikTok too, I've been using as sort of a new Google.


21:54


* Sometimes I just want to know or find what's going on in favorite places in San Francisco.


21:58


* And I look it up and there's so much content and amazing information out there too.


22:05


* Yeah, there's a few accounts that I follow and they post maybe every once or Thursday any events that are happening on the weekend.


22:12


* And I make sure to always interact because that's what I want to see.


22:21


* I want to be able to see the events that are going on. Can I shout out my TikTok?


22:26


* Yes, please. My TikTok account is @peanutbuttermochi.


22:31


* Yes. Peanutbuttermochi. Please follow!


22:36


* How often do you post? I try to post two or three times a day.


22:41


* Oh, wow. I try to be super consistent. Yeah.


22:46


* So that has been working for, like, the past six months.


22:49


* Yeah. Yeah. And is that. Do you have time to edit or...


22:53


* It depends. So for like the longer videos that are maybe like a minute to 2 minutes, those are vlog style videos.


22:59


* So I usually just added that before I go to sleep and then I post it like the next morning.


23:09


* Yeah. Yeah. Have you... you've now want to geared towards more social media and marketing.


23:14


* What have you learned just from doing this through TikTok and also Dishcovery


23:22


* I'm sure, too? I've learned that brands... a lot of brands want to be more relatable now.


23:27


* And there's something called UGC, which is user generated content that brands are looking at to do,


23:35


* Instead of working with influencers, they want just regular people to use their products and make a video about it.


23:42


* And then that's kind of the way that the brand can market their product is by having their customers film themselves or maybe do a review.


23:50


* So yeah, that's something that I learned is that UGC is very important.


23:59


* Has that affected how you're going about your content?


24:06


* Yeah, I've learned to be more casual with my content, not so salesy.


24:10


* So whenever I'm working with a brand,


24:17


* I don't want to feel like I'm pitching it to my audience and I want to be able to use the product in my daily life.


24:19


* So maybe it's like a


24:27


* ...maybe it's like a make up product and I do my make up every day so I can just feel myself using it, doing my makeup, and then post up video.


24:31


* For your TikTok "for you" page what usually comes up for you?


24:40


* A lot of food content. Mm hmm. Restaurant reviews, cooking, baking, and then lifestyle.


24:47


* So vlogs. I see a lot of vloggers in San Francisco posting about what they do in the city and.


24:56


* Maybe shops to go to. So, yeah.


25:05


* How did you come up with the name Peanut Butter Mochi for your TikTok?


25:09


* I chose the name Peanut Butter Mochi because it is one of my favorite foods.


25:14


* I love mochi and I love all kinds of mochi.


25:19


* I love it filled with fruit or azuki beans, peanut butter.


25:24


* So I just went with the name peanut butter mochi. And it's stuck.


25:31


* And it's funny because people, whenever they say hi to me, then they, they ask, Oh, are you Peanut Butter Mochi


25:35


* I'm like, Yes. Nice to meet you.


25:42


* Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any stories of of fans meeting you out and about?


25:47


* Yeah. Well, this happened like two days ago.


25:53


* We were walking, um, we were walking my puppy at the park, and then we were crossing the street.


25:56


* And then there was actually a couple who was walking their dog and I


26:04


* guess their dog got off its leash because it was being chased by another dog.


26:11


* And so Chris caught the leash, thankfully, and it didn't run onto the street.


26:15


* And so the couple ran after their dog and gave them their dog back and then they were like, Oh, wait, are you Peanut Butter Mochi?


26:20


* I watch you. TikTok. Oh, yeah. And we're like in the middle of the intersection, like waiting to cross the street.


26:29


* So, yeah, that was just a funny recent encounter. Yeah.


26:36


* Oh, wow. Well, glad your dog's okay. Everyone's dog is okay, but that's


26:40


* That's funny. Yeah. Just like in the moment.


26:44


* Yeah. How it is like at the farmer's market, like someone taps me on the shoulder and.


26:48


* Yeah, yeah. Through telling your story through the, the APAN Podcast, what are you hoping it to evolve to?


26:53


* I'm hoping that it inspires other AAPI people.


27:03


* And entrepreneurs and.


27:09


* Other students that maybe want to start their own business.


27:14


* I hope that they feel encouraged and that they feel motivated and comfortable enough to be able to.


27:18


* To start a business that they're passionate about. And that's something that I learned throughout starting my small businesses is that you need to be


27:28


* passionate about what you're doing and it doesn't really feel like work and you won't get tired of it.


27:37


* So that's one thing. And then another thing is to really utilize your connections and whether that's with other AAPI people or your network.


27:44


* I think that it's really important to feel free to reach out to people that you know and.


27:56


* Do not be afraid to reach out or ask questions because the worst that they can say is no.


28:05


* Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Jenna, for being here.


28:12


* It was so great getting to hear more about your love for food and all of your experiences and also your journey at the University of San Francisco.


28:15


* We really appreciate it and thank you so much. Thank you.


28:24


* Thank you again to our guest, Jenna Chai. Wow, that was such a great conversation.


28:34


* Learning more about Jenna's love for food and her journey as an entrepreneur.


28:39


* Thank you to Kristine Alarcon, Michael Robison, Matilda Tavares and Chadwick Woodard for producing.


28:43


* Thanks to Miranda Morris for letting us record here at KUSF.


28:49


* Thank you to Ken Yoshioka for editing. And of course, thank you for listening to the APAN Podcast.


28:53


* We'll see you next time. Go Dons!


28:59