50% of the Profits will go Directly to Families Impacted by the Colorado Marshall Fire — Interview with the Founder

This time around we are talking to Taelor O'Dorisio — CEO & Founder of Tea with Tae.

 

 

Taelor: I wanted to create an NFT-backed Tea Bento Box for two main reasons: (i) to raise money for families who lost their homes in the Colorado Marshall Fire and (ii) to raise awareness for female-founded businesses exploring the NFT space.

First and foremost, we are allocating 50% of the profits raised from this project to the victims of the Colorado Marshall Fire that destroyed 1,000+ homes in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is right up the street from our tea warehouse in Denver, and I personally know several people who were affected by the fire, so this tragedy really hits home for me. Rather than raising money through traditional means, I decided to use NFT-backed Tea Bento Boxes because the donor receives a tangible good in exchange for their donation and because of the transparent nature of the Ethereum blockchain (i.e., you can clearly see how much each NFT was sold for and how much profit was made). 

Secondly, the crypto community is made up of mostly men, and not many female founders have launched NFT projects. I want that to change, and I hope that this project can be a source of inspiration for other female founders. Frankly, I don't have a technical background and have never written a line of code in my life and I'm running a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) tea company. Nevertheless, I see the value in utilizing NFTs for my brand, and I think other non-technical founders, especially female founders, should not be intimidated by this exciting space. I encourage them to just dive in and launch a project. You will learn so much by just doing. For those female founders who want to get involved in this space, I highly recommend looking into Women Rise and also Club CPG (this one especially if you're running a CPG company). Even though it's small right now, you can also join our Discord server, and I'll be there to answer questions and chat.

 

 

Taelor: The main reason we only released 10 NFTs is because this was our first project, so we wanted to keep this project focused to ensure that we could successfully create the 10 NFTs, configure each one to be redeemable by using the unlockable content features in OpenSea. By keeping the NFTs limited and focus, we also ensured that we could create the unique tea blends that will make up the 10 limited edition Tea Bento Boxes that are currently not sold on our online store -- i.e., truly limited edition Tea Bento Boxes that can't be bought online. We do have plans for future NFT drops that will be redeemable for other limited edition 1/1 TWT products, so stay tuned!

 

 

Taelor: The opening price of each NFT is only .005 ETH (~16.00 today), but we are hoping that each Tea Bento Box is sold for at least .05 ETH or more, which will cover our hard costs (.012 ETH) plus the gas fees, which will allow us to have proceeds leftover to donate to families from the Colorado Marshall Fire. 

Right now, the holder of the TWT Tea Bento Box NFT will have access to the unlockable content of that NFT, which provides unique instructions for redeeming the NFT for the underlying 1/1 physical TWT Tea Bento Box. The owner of the NFT has the option of redeeming the NFT, or the owner could resell the Tea Bento Box NFT on the secondary market. A secondary market buyer could check our NFTeaWithTae page to view the redemption status of each Tea Bento Box NFT, so the secondary buyer would not be buying an already-redeemed NFT. 

In the future, holders of the NFTeaWithTae NFTs may receive special privileges (e.g., membership, exclusive deals, access to IRL experiences, voting rights, etc.), but these plans are currently in the works and will be announced in due time.

 

 

 

Taelor: Each NFT includes unlockable content that details exactly how to redeem the NFT. Each Tea Bento Box NFT may only be redeemed once. Once the NFT is redeemed, the holder will still be able to hold onto the NFTeaWithTae NFT for sentimental/collectible value, and as mentioned earlier, these NFTs may have future value via membership rights, access to exclusive deals and IRL experiences, etc. On our end, we will show which NFTs have been redeemed and which have not been redeemed on this webpage. 

 

 

Taelor: Whoever is the highest bidder in the auction receives the Tea Bento Box NFT. 50% of the profits raised from the auction proceeds will go directly to families impacted by the Colorado Marshall Fire. Profits are calculated by subtracting the hard costs of each Tea Bento Box (0.012 ETH) and the gas fees on each transaction. 

 

 

Taelor: For now, each owner of a TWT NFT will have bragging rights as a holder of one of the first 10 NFTeaWithTae NFTs. But as mentioned earlier, the owner could elect not to redeem the NFT and resell the NFT on the secondary market. Also, in the future, each of these NFTs may hold special value via membership privileges and exclusive deals. Those plans are still in the works and will be announced soon.

 

 

Taelor: Our collection is live on OpenSea. Our NFT info page is here. You can bid on the Tea Bento Box NFTs on the OpenSea platform. If you are the highest bidder when the auction concludes on January 22nd at 11:59pm, then you will be permitted to purchase the NFT with Ether.

 

 

Taelor: Of course. 50% of the profits from the auction proceeds will go directly to the Colorado Marshall Fire victims. Profits are calculated very transparently: the auction proceeds minus .012ETH (hard costs for each Tea Bento Box) and minus gas fees. So, when the auction is over, each investor will be able to see exactly how much money should be distributed to the victims of the Colorado Marshall Fire. When the auction is over, we will make each donation public -- each dollar we donate will be publicly posted on nfteawithtae, so you can track exactly how much money is ultimately donated from TWT and to which family the money is going.