Vicky Tsai

As a young infant, Tsai's parents moved to the United States from Taiwan, settling in Houston, Texas. In school, Tsai one of the only Asian students.^[4] She struggled with her identity as a result of feeling underrepresented and isolated as a minority in the early '90s in Texas.^[5]

Tsai studied at Wellesley College, where she received a B.A. in economics,^[6] and Harvard Business School, where she received an M.B.A. and later led research on the state of AAPI women in business.^[7] She found her first corporate job working for Starbucks in Shanghai, which focused on its expansion into the China market. Her team pitched and executed a strategy to launch consumer products in China in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which housed the bottled Starbucks Frappuccino.^[8] Tsai worked in corporate America as a financier for a decade and spent her twenties traveling globally for work.^[9]

Tsai traveled to Kyoto, Japan, in 2008.^[3][7] There, she met with a modern geisha who introduced her to time-tested ingredients based on a Japanese diet.^[9] She not only discovered cultural remedies for her skin, but also felt the experience begin to heal her spirit.^[7] When she returned to San Francisco, she created Tatcha, an entrepreneurial endeavor she described as a "necessity".^[7]

In 2009, Tsai approached retail partners for the business, but was told Tatcha was "too niche" and "too exotic" for the Western woman.^[4] After struggling to secure funding, Tsai sold her engagement ring, car, and furniture, then worked from her mother's garage. She spent 9 years without a salary.^[7] In 2017, she received funding from private equity firm Castanea Partners.^[10]

Despite many years at the company, the business was sold to Unilever in 2019 for $500 million, and Tsai stepped down shortly afterward.^[4]

Tsai married Eric Bevan at the Gamble Mansion in Boston, Massachusetts May 29, 2004. The couple shares one daughter, Alea.^[1] In a 2025 interview with Elle, Tsai revealed she is no longer married.^[11]