Good morning,
For the first eight years of Celine Tien’s life, her family moved around in Asia--Singapore, Taiwan, Shanghai.
When her family moved to San Diego and she started public school at age 9, she got a harsh and fast introduction to the idea that she was different. Kids made comments about her eyes, and asked her questions like, “Did you grow up poor eating rice in your village?” As Tien got older, the racism became more covert--but no less present, she says. It followed her through a career as a child actor, and into her current life as an entrepreneur.
Tien is the co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Flowly, an app that uses virtual reality experiences and biofeedback, such as heart rate, to help people better regulate chronic pain and anxiety. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a startup focused on pain management that launched during a pandemic is gaining traction: Flowly has raised $2.5 million to date, including a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Yet White male investors still make small, dismissive comments. Sometimes, she says, they specifically want to meet her at ramen places. Multiple times, they’ve turned to her co-founder, a White man, and asked if Flowly was his brainchild. “I'm a confrontational person, but the power dynamics are very complex in these situations,” Tien says. “How do you manage that without tarnishing your reputation?”
Read our story to learn how one Chinese-American founder responds to racism and bias in the startup world, especially during the pandemic. |
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