ALUMNI FEATURE STORIES

Opportunity Knocks

In March 2020, Taiwan was already dealing with the COVID-19 situation. Still, the pandemic was about to begin in earnest in the United States.

"My mom sent me this box of masks because she was worried about us. My dad had worked on mask filter technology at 3M, and the scientist he was working with had just retired and began working on these masks," says Melinda.

"When we received the box, I didn't realize how special it was. At that time, you couldn't buy any masks on the market. We had thirty, so we gave some to friends, and they loved it and asked if my mom could send more for their own family and friends. It has this special parrot beak shape because it sits away from your face and nose, making it very noticeable." Melinda put a Google Sheet on a Facebook group for her daughter's Grade 1 class. When she checked again three days later, they had over 100 orders for over 1,000 masks, which surprised everyone.

Happy Masks are unique washable masks with an inner filter. Inside a colorful design is a sewn-in, waferthin nanofiber membrane filter that blocks airborne particles but allows airflow. When hand-washed, these masks work efficiently for up to two months.

"When I brought a mask to a factory in Los Angeles, they cut it open, examined it, and said it wouldn't be possible to replicate them because of the unique way the filters were folded and stitched inside," says Melinda. "That made me more confident that we were onto something extraordinary, so we went full steam ahead with the business and launched in May 2020."

Meanwhile, Ed was still working at his day job, but Melinda needed extra help. "In the middle of the day, I would stop and help pack masks for two hours. Then, at night, the two of us would be packing and printing labels from 10 PM to midnight," laughs Edward. So, about four or five months after Melinda started the company, Edward joined to scale operations and grow Happy Masks.

Learning to Fail

"We have had many problems and near-death experiences," Ed jokes. "There have been many points where the business could easily have not been here anymore."

"The biggest thing that helped us was that we have failed before, and I wish we'd failed even earlier. In school, you're trained to be perfect and not make mistakes. Because you're worried – how will you make it to college otherwise? But, counterintuitively, in the business world, the more you fail, the more you learn, whether it's trying a career that's not the right fit or a business that doesn't work out."

One thing Happy Masks had difficulty with was scaling up. "Melinda's dad's scientist friend who made these masks never had a huge commercial operation going, so we had to help push and help him scale simultaneously. At the same time, Melinda’s mom also found a new supplier to produce a similar but different product line,” said Ed. The success of Happy Masks was due to Edward and Melinda's collaboration on the US side with her mother and her team on the Taiwan side, making the cross-ocean start-up possible.

"It was tough because we worked with them in the US the entire time. We were never able to come back with our kids and go through quarantine," remembers Ed.

Future Directions

Though the pandemic is subsiding in many parts of the world, Edward and Melinda see a lot of promise in Happy Masks in the long term.

"Masking behavior has changed throughout the pandemic, but we are still building for the long term," says Ed. "There is a large population of immunocompromised people in the US, like those with cancer. Even though the average person in the US has moved on with their lives, many more people still can't get vaccinated or have cancer and can't afford to get sick. So that's our long-term customer base."

At the same time, Edward and Melinda want to explore other similar examples of Taiwanese innovation.

"Part of the reason we decided to come back was that growing up here, we had always recognized that Taiwan is a hub of technology and creativity that has flourished in the last few decades," Ed notes. "Having spent the last 23 years in the US, we recognized that Taiwan is great at innovation and technology. But they've had trouble connecting those things with actual consumer problems and demand in the US. We've really grown to understand that after developing careers in the US. So a big focus for us is to build a network of people innovating in Taiwan and working with them to launch and go to market in the US."

Returning to TAS and Taiwan as Parents and Entrepreneurs

In the fall of 2022, Edward and Melinda stepped on the TAS campus again as new TAS parents.

"We moved back in July, so we're recent transplants," admits Edward. "We hadn't visited TAS since graduating, so it was surreal to be back on campus. We simultaneously felt like we were seventeen-yearolds again but also adults!"

As the parents of three lower school students, both see how the school has changed to focus on the whole child and socio-emotional well-being.

"I had a really great time at TAS," says Edward. "I always compare TAS to the alternative like a local Taiwanese school. It opened my eyes to the possibilities in the US of going to college there and developing a life and a career there. In terms of preparation, I think TAS prepares you very well academically. But I felt underprepared knowing how to be effective in America. Growing up at TAS, one of the challenges is growing up in a little bubble where you're focused on academics. You're not out there in the real world engaged with how to live and survive, so you're a bit underdeveloped as a person."

"I know that TAS has been shifting to not being just academically focused, and I think it's great that the school is constantly trying to improve based on feedback from parents and alumni," says Melinda. "Returning to campus, we noticed the Tech Cube and the library. Our kids are in Lower School, and we see the difference in what they're experiencing."

Working as small business entrepreneurs in Taiwan has also given Melinda and Edward some rare flexibility as parents. At the same time, they have purposefully woven their personal lives and careers together in hopes of becoming better role models for their children.

"Our parents never explained to us what they did for a job. Instead, they really abstracted their working life from their role as caretakers," explains Ed. "But we share everything. Our children always see our work, and we learn in front of them on purpose. So when we don't know something, we say we don't know, we have no idea, but that we'll dive in headfirst and learn along the way because sometimes the best way to learn is to take action and get going."

"They pick up on things because they hear us talking about new products and user feedback," agrees Melinda. "Our oldest wants to run for student government in Grade 4, and she's applying stuff from our business, saying, 'I need to go ask my classmates what problems they have with the school and come back with ideas on how I would solve them!' It's been a positive influence, and I wish we had a front-row seat to someone running their small business when we were young.”