From the Basement to the Boardroom

Here's the scene. It's early afternoon and I'm sitting on a plush, leather cream couch in a stylishly minimalist waiting room on the 11th floor of a Rockville, Maryland high-rise. Mei Xu (pronounced may-she), who looks like she just stepped out of a photo shoot for some global travel magazine, strides through the glass doors, with luggage in tow. Her kind PR and Marketing Coordinator Mareike, informs me that Mei just arrived off a plane from New York City. Ah, the life of a jet-setter.

Mei Xu along with her husband David Wang are owners of Pacific Trade International, Inc., an international home accessories business with products that are sold in Target, Kohl's, and Pier 1 Imports, to name a few.

I am invited into a showroom where the entire company is gathered to celebrate the birthdays that occurred that month. Tons of Asian-inspired cuisine is spread across the table. "What language do we choose to sing in this time?" said the small-statured Mei as she stood at the front of the room. Although she is very petite, Mei's presence is sheerly disarming. Charismatic almost.

The group decides to sing in Polish. More than 15 languages are represented among the employees of the young, diverse company which is divided into two major brands: Chesapeake Bay Candles and Blissliving Home.

"Shop til' you drop," says Mei as she hands out gift cards to the birthday girls and invites everyone out to her home for a summer BBQ. I am later pointed toward Mei's light-filled office as she wraps up some business.

In her office, Mei spoke of her life in China under the Communist regime where her parents who had views differing from the government, had to attend daily meetings to be questioned. And as "punishment" for the Tiananmen Square Massacre (the student and activist led protests of 1989 that led to the killing of up to 3,000 people), Mei, along with all of the other graduates that year, were sent to blue collar jobs in warehouses and factories. "I pretty much went crazy after the first week," she says of her time working in a warehouse keeping track of inventory from a clip board. So she quit, and eventually came to the U.S. to study journalism at the University of Maryland.

She's always been a fashionista of sorts. As a youth, Mei would get into trouble at school for wearing pedal pushers and tight jeans. The school administrators would accuse her of being "bourgeoisie." Mei says these small incidents were early indicators of how her life would later unfold. She applies that same high fashion sensibility from her youth to home interiors; and this has differentiated her company from the rest.

Mei, armed with a graduate degree in journalism was unable to find a job using her education. "[I] basically didn't have a lot of choices. So, I found a job [at a company]that exported high-tech medical equipment to China," she says.

She quickly "got bored very easily with the same job entering data and following up on orders," and eventually told her husband that she wasn't happy; David wasn't either. As a Seismologist, he felt that predicting earthquakes was a long-shot; and preferred to predict finances.

"We both quit our jobs at the same time. It's a little insane," she says of the risky decision they made. "Good things can come out of bad things. If we had the best, most exciting, fulfilling jobs, we would have never had this company."

The couple began attending trade shows for global inspiration and got turned on to the candle business. And in 1994, Mei and David launched their Chesapeake Bay Candles brand out of their makeshift factory in their basement-using Campbell's Soup cans as molds. However, while they were creating their prototypes, they forgot one key ingredient which made the candles have a fossilized appearance rather than the usual smooth appearance that candles usually have.

They took their samples to Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's and the buyer's loved the ground-breaking colors and rough hewn textures. Bed Bath & Beyond followed suit and became Chesapeake Bay Candles' #1 customer. And after monthly phone calls for nearly two years, they eventually landed Target as a major account.

Two years ago, Mei "got a little restless," and decided to diversify their business by introducing Blissliving Home, a globally inspired home interiors brand. Last year, Pacific Trade International sold an upwards of $60 million at the wholesale level and despite this year's economic downturn, the company has picked up new accounts including QVC and Pottery Barn.

For Mei and David, success did not come in a neatly tied package, but it did come after a decision to take a risk. "Many people don't realize that just because you were laid off, or didn't get your dream job, or didn't get your promotion, doesn't mean this is the end of your career or the end of your dream," Mei said as she sat behind her desk peering intently at me. "You have many choices. It's all about seizing that moment-making the decision. Being determined to do it, when it is really time to do it."

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Own it!

Mei's tips for getting started in business.

Analyze what exactly is your passion. See if you're actually good at that. There are so many ideas. "If yours is not standing out, then it's not good enough."

"Map out the first two years of how things will actually work out." Think about how you are going to sustain your way of life without a steady income.

"Open your horizons without making an early commitment by going to some professional trade shows. For every single category of products, there is a professional trade show." This is a direct train that gets you to see what other ideas are already out there. Find out if they are successful? Think about, "what am I going to do that's different from the others?"

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