What’s in a Name?

By Nitya Kari

February 17, 2021

A name is a powerful thing; it becomes part of our identity, weaving itself into the fabric of our memories, our life, and our being. And so, when SuetMui and I sat down to figure out the name of this organization, we knew we were faced with a daunting task. As we browsed the internet looking at already established organizations and nonprofits, we noticed that the most successful names were those that were succinct and unique. As such, we knew our name should have some kind of reference to the mission of this organization but should be short enough that people remember it.

Soon enough, we settled down on the idea of our name being an acronym because we wanted our name to accurately represent our organization while also being somewhat catchy. As we dabbled around with various words that we deemed interesting, we came to the word “Tea”. Normally, of course, tea refers to a hot aromatic drink made through the infusions of flavors from boiling dried leaves. (Did you think I would say gossip?) Now, this analogy I am about to make may seem far-fetched but please bear with me. Just as water becomes more flavorful through the dried leaves, people become more empowered/confident/well-versed through their experiences. In short, water = people, flavorful = empowered/confident/well-versed, and dried leaves = experiences. We are proposing that you utilize the experiences, opportunities, and support we are offering to empower yourself. Ultimately, we are an organization for the community and for you. We want to be as beneficial to you as we can possibly be.

Now, we have the structure for our name—The TEA Proposal. Going back to the aforementioned acronym we wanted in our name, we now had to figure out how to break down our mission statement into 3 phrases that work together to form the word “TEA”. After some discussion and going back and forth on a couple of options, we came up with our final product—

TEA: Tackle social disparities, Enhance with opportunities, Achieve your dreams.