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That’s the voice of Mona, the co-founder of The Tea Tapes recollecting her life in Iran, after spending nearly three decades in the country. She’s speaking on Episode Zero in our long-overdue podcast and namesake, The Tea Tapes (a.k.a. Wrongheaded Radio), where we shift focus away from product and onto geopolitics, culture, business, and the road ahead.
In this inaugural episode, shared on the two-year anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s death in Iran, Mona talks about what it’s like living in the Islamic Republic as an oppressed minority, the morality police, and the dreams and aspirations of Iranian women, or lack thereof.
She expresses disdain for human rights campaigners in the West that encourage people to stand up for their rights in the face of a dictatorial, authoritarian power while they (themselves) face zero danger in the countries of their residence.
“I was in Iran when the Green Movement happened, when all these people that were sitting in the US… were saying, ‘get out, go to the street,’ and things like that,” Mona said.
“When I was there, I felt like they were fooling us… they were lying to us… and making us hopeful for something that we don’t even know when it’s going to come,” she stated, referring to the idea of “freedom.”
“I personally really dislike when they say, ‘be hopeful, be this, be that.’ Meanwhile, they are sitting in the US… pursuing their dream… doing tons of other things that other people, women specifically, in Iran, don’t even have access to. They can’t even think about it, they don’t even know what it is!” she exclaimed, adding, “What if I stayed there? What would happen to me? Who would I be?”
The episode’s up now on YouTube and our website. Click here to watch.
I uploaded an ultimatum to myself and to you, dear reader, one month ago…
I said, “I’ve taken on a challenge and I’m not sure I’m going to make the deadline.”
Well, LOL, I didn’t make the deadline. 😂
It was a 30-day challenge to launch our matcha product and get it into your hands as quickly as possible.
However, we’re still finishing up the final touches with regards to compliance, certifications, insurance, and packaging.
So, what can I say?
I’ll get it out there ASAP.
Wish us luck! 🍀
P.S. If you want to learn more about our intrepid founder, Mona, check out this documentary by Maziar Bahari: To Light a Candle.
It highlights the struggles experienced by followers of the Baha’i Faith in Iran and the creation of an underground university, The Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), which Mona attended.
Maziar Bahari is the Newsweek reporter Jon Stewart made a movie about in 2014.
His immediate follow up documentary featured Mona in New York City after she had escaped Iran, and includes other students from BIHE, Hollywood actors like Mark Ruffalo, and is about a global graffiti campaign that took place in 2015 to expose Iran’s treatment of Baha’is.
Check it out here.
