Staff Profiles
Richard Rosenfeld, founder and CEO
Richard is the kind of guy who talks quickly and starts speaking in the middle of a sentence, so when he says he prefers the mellow caffeine buzz from tea to a coffee jolt, you believe him. As an entrepreneur he created 10 Strawberry Street before founding Aspen International Trading — designing and importing homewares.
He first experienced the world of tea while sourcing homewares internationally. “Especially in South Asia, where tea is grown, you can’t do business without meeting people in the tea industry,” he says. Around 2002 when tea sachets were coming onto the market as an alternative to tea bags, Richard realized it would be a great way to serve high-quality tea. It was time to start his own tea company.
“I started with great tasting teas,” he says. “We started working with gardens directly to grow a better, quality organic tea.”
Although he’s our in-office tea guru, Richard says he’d never have the chutzpah to describe himself as a tea expert. “Part of my goal was to make tea accessible,” he says.
Richard wears socks with flip flops when the weather turns cold, and rides his bike to work everyday, even in the snow. He’s also very fond of making pie.
Tea habit: A cup of Organic Assam tea every morning, black. In the afternoon, a cup of Jasmine or Darjeeling.
Gigi Durand, comptroller
Gigi has been working for Richard Rosenfeld for nine years, starting out doing the bookkeeping for Aspen International Trading, Inc. While Richard is a big picture guy, she’s the sort of person who taps him on the shoulder to say, “Hey — how are you going to pay for all this?”
Gigi keeps the business running by making sure bills are paid, and money is coming in. She found out about the creation of two leaves and a bud tea co. one day when Richard started talking about it. “I’ve learned not to be cynical — I just sit and watch how he does it.”
She never drank tea before the tea company was created — a fact that embarrasses her because tea drinking just became office culture, and she doesn’t consider herself a conformist. Her ringtone is “Tequila.”
Tea habit: Two cups of white tea a day, preferably Organic White Peony
Bess Hammer, business development manager
Bess grew up drinking tea — as a kid she and her dad (a school teacher) would come home from school and fix themselves “some cheap black tea” with milk and honey. At their home in Connecticut they’d sometimes take the sweet sap from maple trees and steep tea in it.
Although Bess has had a hand in many tasks around the office, she primarily manages the website and e-mail blasts. She lives in a remote area up the Fryingpan River Valley, a 30-minute drive from the two leaves and a bud office, during which she regularly sees bald eagles, bighorn sheep, bears and deer. She says it’s easy to stay passionate about two leaves and a bud tea, and she loves the comfortable atmosphere in the office.
Everyone in the office agrees that Bess is the office caretaker, and the business may not survive without regular doses of her home cooking.
Tea habit: Organic Assam tea with milk and honey first thing in the morning, and then one black at work.
Jen Okeson, customer service manager
Jen came to the tea business from the food service industry. While living in the Roaring Fork Valley, she had heard of two leaves and a bud, but didn’t realize the company had national distribution until she found the tea at the Biltmore Inn in North Carolina. Soon after, she answered an ad for customer service, thinking the job might be slow-paced.
“I was wrong. I didn’t think I’d get to talk to as many people as I do every day,” she says. “It was a welcome surprise.”
Jen now sells tea from New Jersey, where she moved after getting married in 2009. She regularly speaks to 80-some distributors and is always looking for the next café or grocery store that could be selling two leaves and a bud. “I think it’s such a good product, it’s hard to think of someone that wouldn’t be a good customer,” she says.
Jen is known for being a workaholic — she received three degrees during her four years at Iowa State — but also a people person.
Tea Habit: Assam all morning — black.
Lindsay Winkler, graphics and customer service
Lindsay moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 2007 after graduating from the Art Institute in Denver.
Lindsay walked in the front door looking for a job on a whim, and the tea company happened to be looking for a designer, a skill that Lindsay has in spades (which explains her superior wardrobe). But Lindsay also excels at being a customer service representative. “We’re real people here — you can really talk to us when you call us,” she says. “I believe in that.”
Since she’s not exactly outdoorsy, Lindsay catches flack around the office for driving to work everyday when she lives about a block away, and was once forced to ride a borrowed bike in her platform heels to a meeting in town. She occasionally brings her excitable dog Chachi into the office for an entertaining hour or two.
Tea habit: One mug of Organic Jasmine Petal that she drinks out of all day, even when it’s gone completely cold.
Naomi Havlen, communications manager
When Naomi feels overwhelmed by the six different things to do on her plate, she tends to go check her Facebook page. That’s why it’s a good thing Naomi was hired to handle social marketing for two leaves and a bud, including Facebook and the company blog.
Naomi has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Indiana University, and worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area and then Aspen, Colo., before finding her way to two leaves in September of 2009.
Besides social marketing, Naomi handles traditional marketing through press releases and e-newsletters. She admits she wasn’t much of a tea drinker before getting this job, but as a typical journalist at heart she loves free stuff, and free tea is one of many job perks at two leaves.
Tea habit: Chai (black), when she wants to fill her office with the scent of warm spices, or loose Gen Mai Matcha when she can get her hands on it. And whatever else Richard is encouraging her to try at the moment.
Kelly Hayes, customer service representative
Kelly grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley, and came to two leaves and a bud in September of 2009. As a customer service representative, Kelly greets everyone who walks in the front door, answers the phone and takes tea orders.
It’s a good job for someone who loves two leaves and a bud as much as she does — for its healthy benefits; that tea prompts social gatherings; and that most of our tea is organic. But don’t let the gushing fool you — Kelly says she always feels comfortable speaking her mind. Recently she ate at a local restaurant that wasn’t serving two leaves. “Don’t tell me you’re not going to sell a local tea,” she said. “I’m local, I do local … why doesn’t everyone else?”
Eventually Kelly would like to own a bakery, and the office encourages her to bring in the results of her own test kitchen.
Tea habit: A mug of Darjeeling with a tiny bit of sugar in the morning, and then a switch to either Jasmine or White Peony in the afternoon.
