Meet Meena Kumar | Artist and Dessert Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Meena Kumar and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Meena, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born in New York City but also grew up in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa before heading out to Los Angeles on my own. Vivid memories of events and people from each of these places flash in my mind all at once whenever anyone asks “Where are you from?” Each is a facet of who and where I call “home.”

More formatively speaking however, I’m from my Korean mother who was raised in Seoul and my Indian father who grew up in Bangalore. I was immersed in our multi-cultural environment full of home cooked Korean and Indian meals and my mom’s deliciously innovative renditions of what was seen as “American food” at the time. It was totally normal for her to dress in saris for special occasions with my dad’s South Asian community of friends, for my family to attend the Korean Presbyterian Church on Sundays, and for us to visit the Hindu Temples for holy days and celebrations. I grew up comfortably eating various dishes with my hands, chopsticks, or flatware depending on which cuisine was on the table. I effortlessly transitioned between speaking in Korean to English and vice versa. It wasn’t until recently that I learned I was being shaped as a “Third Culture Kid” (or “TCK”), a term used to define “a child who grows up in a culture different from the one in which his or her parents grew up.” Learning about this term and the shared emotions of people who grow up with their variation of the Third Culture experience was validating and felt liberating.

As with many TCKs, I feel a kinship around diverse groups of people and those with mixed identities who also struggle to check just one box. Because food plays such a key role in connecting people with their cultures, I became passionate about learning food stories as they pertain to identity and embarked on a journey discovering how my own deepened point of view can be represented in the food I make and share.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
MICOO is a dessert business that pairs artisan rice cakes and mochi pastries with third culture ice cream. Each dessert is made to be a decadent, joyful, nostalgic, and adventurous burst of flavor and comfort. Our mochi ice cream is 3-4 times larger than the mochi ice cream you’ll find anywhere else. This isn’t because of some notion that bigger is better (that’s definitely not part of our philosophy) but because I wanted to create a very ice cream-forward mochi dessert that could include all the right amounts of swirls, chocolate chips, nuts, pastry bits and any other textural elements that add fun complexities to particular flavors. The ice cream is so good, we also offer just that in pints. Micoo’s ‘Mango Lassi Mochi Ice Cream’ has become a thing of pride and joy for me because it perfectly embodies an essence of my childhood: walking around Flushing, NY with my Korean grandmother while eating rice cakes and hanging out in my Dad’s Manhattan-based Indian restaurant ordering mango lassis. It was a real ‘ah-ha’ moment to finally bite into the dessert form of my childhood but then to also see it become our top seller across various neighborhoods and communities of people.

People will always warn you that starting your own business, in particular, in the food industry is difficult but it’s hard to fully grasp the challenges until you’re faced with them. First off, it took more resources and money than I had anticipated. I was new to the industry from a commercial standpoint so there was a lot of sticker shock in learning the type of infrastructure, permit requirements, and equipment I’d need to operate my business legally and create the products I had envisioned. So much of the process is not as intuitive as the you’d think so it helps to ask questions and build honest, dependable relationships with people from the get-go.

The physical labor and lack of routine in the early stages of each phase can be intense but what’s been even more challenging for me is maintaining my mental well-being. I took for granted the heavy toll sharing something so personal in a business setting can take on an entrepreneur, especially if you’re going about it on your own. I’ve rode emotional roller coasters that span weeks but also sometimes a single day. What’s helped overcome this is prioritizing my sleep schedule, making time for rest and play, and considering everything that happens (both good and bad) as feedback that’s going to help me sharpen and strengthen what I deliver. I try to channel an inventor or scientist’s mindset, where even failures are celebrated because learning what does not work is also really valuable.

What I want the world to know about my brand and story is that it comes from the deeper meaning behind “fusion food.” It’s not just pairing ingredients and techniques from various cultures because they make sense somehow. It’s a representation of who we are, how we’ve grown up, and how so much of what we eat, see, and do today has come from the mingling and sharing of ideas across people of various walks of life for many generations.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The food itinerary would be a lot in itself haha. We would eat and drink our hearts out at Din Tai Fung, Night + Market, Mayura, Marisco’s Jalisco, Farsi Cafe, Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, Noma, Kazu Nori, Stout Burgers and Beers, Forma Restaurant and Cheese Bar, and Milo + Olive. We’d picnic at the Hollywood Bowl before seeing an evening concert, stroll through the beautiful Getty Museum, peruse the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market and Playa Vista Farmers’ Market, go to the beach at least a few times, and catch a rooftop/outdoor movie.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Every person I’ve developed a bond with has shaped who I am and part of the story I try to share in everything I create. My parents and grandparents, not just in how they raised me but the lives they led and the obstacles they faced before I was even born is something I reflect on every day. My family and the close friends I’ve made throughout various life chapters have encouraged me and believed in me during times I needed emotional support the most. My current big endeavor would not be possible without the generous expertise of people I’ve met in the food industry (I created an excel sheet just to be able to keep track of all the acts of kindness big and small from people who may not have even known how much they were helping me). Mainly, I need to give a BIG shoutout to Arturo Arvizu for lending his vast array of technical skills, expertise, enthusiasm, and generosity which all plays a huge role in making Micoo even a possibility.

Website: www.micoo.co

Instagram: @micoo.mochi & @mekudesigns