Tea with Tae Founder Selected for National Program Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

Big things are brewing for Taelor O'Dorisio, founder of Golden-based Tea with Tae, which held down one of the ill-fated popups on the 16th Street Mall back in 2022. She was recently selected as one of fifty female entrepreneurs across the U.S. representing this year’s Tory Burch Foundation fellowship; she's the only 2025 fellow from Colorado and surrounding states.

The iconic fashion designer’s eponymous nonprofit has a goal of generating one billion dollars in economic impact by 2030 entirely through women-led businesses. Reserved only for top applicants, its twelve-month program provides access to digital workshops, coaching sessions, a $5,000 business education
grant and zero percent interest loans.

“We keep expanding, adding more machines and more square feet to our production facility. Access to capital is always really important and not always easy to secure. Having help with that is a huge benefit that we're looking to take advantage of,” says O'Dorisio, adding that growth has been constant since her tea company’s launch in 2020.
Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, O'Dorisio long had an interest in business ownership. Her lightbulb moment arrived while attempting to buy a gift-ready tea sampler. “I just found cardboard boxes of tea, which are great. But it wasn't a beautifully packaged, luxurious gift I was looking to give,” she explains.

This inspired the brand’s flagship product, the Tea Bento Box. Priced at $50, this accessible luxury includes six tea varieties, with five sachets of each compartmentalized into colorful tubes. Shoppers can select from its set of bestsellers, caffeine-free options or build their own collection from fourteen blends including jasmine green tea, lavender Earl Grey and O'Dorisio’s personal favorite, lemon ginger.

To source its global ingredients, Tea with Tae works with several suppliers, including The Chai Box in Marietta, Georgia. That company's founder, Monica Sunny, was named a Tory Burch Foundation fellow in 2022. “She told me about the fellowship and suggested that I apply,” recalls O'Dorisio, adding that Sunny has been “an amazing support.”

She hopes to further leverage the program’s national network and connect with entrepreneurs who have navigated major retailer partnerships.

Last year, Tea with Tae successfully debuted in 200 Home Goods locations; this coming holiday season, its products will appear in every Anthropologie across the country — a total of more than 200 additional storefronts. “That's a big deal for us, one that we've been working on for a few years,” she affirms.
Spanning 5,000 square feet, the company’s in-house production facility also supplies over a thousand other retailers nationwide. They include many in the metro area, from small boutiques to local coffee shops like Blue Sparrow and Copper Door. Though she own cafe didn't last, the brand’s online shop and original subscription model remains. But O'Dorisio has found the most success with wholesale clients, which supply more than a thousand retailers across the country.

“When you're an entrepreneur, a lot of times you're deep in it and figuring everything out,” she says. “It's so nice to have a community to reach out to, to ask questions and get help.”

Tea with Tae is at the South Pearl Farmers' Market, 1527 South Pearl Street, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays through November 9; its products can be purchased online at teawithtae.com.