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COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY CLASS NOTES
91
Linda Appel Lipsius ’93 Redefines Sustainable Business
While many businesses
have been
revising practices
during the last
several years to become more
green and sustainable, Linda
Appel Lipsius ’93 has helped
to launch a business that was
sustainable from the start.
Teatulia (teatulia.com) not only
sells black, green, white and
herbal infusion teas grown in
a single garden and shipped
directly to the store, but also
aims to protect the environment
with everything from organic
production to eco-friendly
packaging.
As co-founder and CEO of
the international tea company,
Lipsius believes in the company’s
organic tea as well as all
aspects of Teatulia’s sustainable
approach to business. Teatulia’s
teas are grown in a single
garden in Northern Bangladesh,
the only tea garden in Bangladesh
to be USDA certified
organic, according the company’s
website. The garden was
started in 2000 by Lipsius’ business
partner, Teatulia founder
and president K. Anis Ahmed.
“We wanted to create jobs in
this remote and impoverished
rural area,” Ahmed says. “But
we also wanted to do it in a
socially responsible manner,
hence organic tea.”
Ahmed, a friend of Lipsius’
husband, Adam, was discussing
a possible move into the U.S.
tea market with Lipsius during
a visit to the United States in
2006. Lipsius had a background
in marketing and had been G.M.
of Orange Glo Europe, v.p. of
international sales and manager
of Western U.S. sales at Orange
Glo International (OGI), where
she launched products such as
Margie Kim
1923 White Oak Clearing
Southlake, TX 76092
margiekimkim@
hotmail.com
Hello, all! I recently returned from
New York to help celebrate Julie
Levy’s older daughter’s bat mitzvah.
Elise Scheck; Annie Giarratano
OxiClean, Kaboom and Orange
Glo. Since OGI was about to
be sold, and she was interested
in the mission of Teatulia
(named for Tetulia, the region
in Bangladesh where the tea is
grown), she offered to analyze
the potential U.S. tea market.
Though she quickly discovered
the most formidable challenge
— the average American
doesn’t know a lot about tea —
Lipsius realized the company’s
unique focus on organic tea
and corporate social responsibility
had potential.
A partnership was born, and
now Lipsius works from Teatulia’s
office in Denver, managing
sales and operational issues.
In April, she visited the garden
in Bangladesh to see firsthand
the expanded operations. In
addition to providing workers
with a living wage, the Teatulia
Cooperative also offers education,
health and cattle-lending
programs for the garden’s
workers and neighbors.
“Linda has been absolutely
crucial to the growth of Teatulia
in the U.S.,” Ahmed says. “From
ideas to the patient day-to-day
nitty-gritties, she’s given her
heart and soul and all her expertise
to it.” Teatulia began selling
to Whole Foods Rocky Mountain
Region in 2009. Since then sales
have increased 1,700 percent,
and Teatulia products now are
sold at specialty and health food
stores in five regions in addition
to through the company’s
website and at its home store in
Denver.
Although happy to be living
in her hometown again, Lipsius
appreciates her years spent in
New York while attending the
College. After being impressed
by a Columbia recruiter and
Della Pietra and her husband, Chris
Della Pietra ’89; and Rema Serafi ’91
Barnard also were in attendance.
We’ll all be in Miami in a couple of
months to celebrate Elise’s son’s bar
mitzvah. It’s hard to believe that
we’re old enough to have children
celebrating bar/bat mitzvahs!
Cory Flashner sent in this update:
“I was married this past July
B y la u r a Butchy ’04 a r t s
WINTER 2011–12
85
Linda Appel Lipsius ’93 in April in the Teatulia organic tea garden in
Northern Bangladesh.
Days on Campus, Lipsius decided
to attend the College and
majored in political science.
She also kept busy helping
with Columbiafest as well as
being an RA in Schapiro and a
campus tour guide. She spent
her junior year in Ireland.
After a few years in the
nonprofit world, Lipsius worked
for Roche Laboratories directing
marketing campaigns. She then
earned an M.B.A. at NYU in 2001
and joined OGI, her family’s business,
in 2000. While at OGI, she
spent a few years setting up the
European business in London,
where she drank her fair share
of tea. However, it was her first
taste of Teatulia tea at home
one day that really sold her on
marking tea in the U.S.
“Now I am a pretty serious
tea drinker,” Lipsius says. “I love
trying different teas prepared
and packaged in different ways.
And I find good tea refreshing
— something that wouldn’t
have occurred to me.”
In addition to working
to my girlfriend of several years,
Chrissie Hines. There were several
CC ’91 grads in attendance including
Jim Burtson, Ken Shubin
Stein, and Cece and Mike Murray.
Additionally, and much less significantly,
I recently left my job as
a state prosecutor and became an
assistant United States attorney in
the District of Massachusetts.
with Tea tulia, Lipsius recently
produced her first independent
film, 16-Love, the story of a junior
tennis champion who has to adjust
to normal teenage life after
injuring her ankle. Released this
year, the film was a partnership
with her husband, a longtime
filmmaker. Lipsius also is kept
busy by their 4-year-old daughter
and 2-year-old son, and she is
involved in the local alumni club.
Leaving the day-to-day operations
of the movie business
to her husband, Lipsius continues
to focus on expanding
Teatulia’s presence in the U.S.
“The product is exceptional,”
she says, “and the mission is
spot-on and directly relevant
to the Tetulia community. I
hope that what we are doing
at the garden will be able to
positively impact how other
companies run their business.”
Laura Butchy ’04 Arts is a
writer, dramaturg and professor
of English and theatre
based in Brooklyn.
Paul Kuharsky and his wife,
Teresa, live in Nashville, with their
son, Simon (2). Mom and Dad are
working hard with the boy to avoid
a Southern accent. Paul’s in his
fourth year as an NFL blogger for
ESPN.com and is a regular radio
presence on Nashville’s top-rated
sports talk show. Paul recently met
up with some CC ’91 friends at the