Meet Rose Ha | Entrepreneur

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

Hi Rose, how do you think about risk?
I remember being in college and feeling like there wasn’t a single major that sparked interest for me.

After 5 years at a university with little direction and terrible grades, I made the decision to drop out and pursue culinary school. I fell in love with cooking immediately and eventually decided to move to San Francisco. I found myself moving on a whim for an opportunity to stage/intern at a Michelin starred restaurant with no guarantee of a permanent position. But I loved the Bay Area so much that after the internship ended, I made it work by taking a temporary job at a tech company during the day and working at a coffee shop in the evenings until I landed positions at restaurants I was passionate about. This lead to a 10 year career in kitchens and as a private chef which took me all over the Bay Area, Napa and Hawaii.

So I guess taking risks is something I’ve never been afraid of. I’ve always prioritized quality of life and happiness over the possibility of investing so much time and money into something that I may not love in a few years.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, I was working full-time as a private chef. My employers were kind enough to keep my full salary even though my work load basically diminished. After a week or so of reliving my teenage/college years of video games and snacks, I became extremely bored. So I started diving back into old hobbies like drawing and painting. I realized how much I missed being creative in that way.

My cousin at the time was into retail arbitrage for Amazon and started teaching me about all the ways to sell products on Amazon and Ebay. I suddenly found myself out at random stores searching for products that might higher re-sell values online but it wasn’t really a passion for me.

Until one day, I found myself at a shop that had a ton of beautiful clay and ceramic pottery at a ridiculously low price. As an experiment, I took a picture of the pottery and posted it on Facebook Marketplace to see if I would get any hits. Within 15 minutes, I had 10+ messages about the pottery. So I went back to the shop, was able to basically secure the pottery at a wholesale price and thats when I started flipping pottery online. I would take orders through Facebook Marketplace, arrange for no-contact pick up from my porch and have people pay via Venmo or cash upon arrival.

Eventually I set up all of my additional pottery on the porch with plants. Suddenly the porch became a mini outdoor shop where people could browse when they came to pick up their orders.

When the pandemic seemed to carry on in October of 2020, I received news that my employers had decided to eliminate my position. It was at that point that I decided to really pursue this passion for being an entrepreneur fully. So I reached out on NextDoor, asked if there were any home owners or business owners who had outdoor space they were willing to share for me to have a plant + pottery pop-up.

A local chef at a coffee shop reached out and let me pop-up in their parking lot. I practically sold out that day in just a few hours. Suddenly I was there almost every weekend and I knew I was on to something so I continued to reach out within my community and ask if there were additional businesses who would be willing to host a pop-up. In December of 2020 a friend who was also popping up at a speakeasy/brewery in SF invited me to come out. I spent the next 4 months popping up every weekend.

Eventually I started to feel the work load of constantly having to pack/unpack for pop-ups, my apartment was overly crowded with pottery, plants and supplies so I decided to at least do some initial research on how much it would cost for a commercial/retail space. Businesses, schools, etc were slowly starting to open up so I knew that if I wanted a brick and mortar that I had to get in before rent started to skyrocket again.

I took a chance on a few random Craigslist ads, stumbled upon a real estate agent who was extremely helpful and she was able to use her resources to find a space that fit my parameters that wasn’t even publicly listed. And the craziest part was that it was only 1 1/2 blocks away from my apartment at the time.

It wasn’t an ideal space, but the price was right, the landlords were extremely nice and it felt right.

So after I pitched the idea to my fiancé and family, I made the decision to cash out my 401k and used my savings to open up our brick and mortar without taking on any investors.

Here we are, 20 months later and I couldn’t be more grateful for what we’ve built. My entire journey has been nothing but taking risks and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I believe the most important thing that has driven our success is that I’ve remained 100% true to who I am and my values.

I’ve never tried to represent anything other than who I really am on all of our social media. We don’t filter our photos or overly stage anything, I’m very vocal about mental health, social injustice, body positivity and just trying to keep things real.

I maintained a grass roots mentality when it came to building our community. I didn’t want to pay for marketing our first year and just trusted that if people came in, enjoyed the space, their purchases and the interaction that they would naturally bring their family and friends in. And that’s exactly what happened.

We built our community because my fiancé and I are constantly out doing pop-ups in our city and interacting with new people and other business owners. We’re not just the faces you see on social media, we’re exactly who you meet and interact with when you come into the shop and see us at events.

What should our readers know about your business?
What excites me the most about or shop is our ability to uplift and encourage other entrepreneurs to chase after their dreams. Being a business that started from the ground up with zero funding, investors, and from a tiny apartment, I really respect and relate to everyone who hustles to get what they want.

This has been the absolute hardest journey I’ve experienced in life. There’s always this idea of what the business would be, what we would represent and all the aesthetics. But behind the scenes there are stressful days and weeks when the shop is slow, making sure rent is paid, setting aside time for personal life, constantly evolving, stream lining and growing the business, its endless.

But I take mental health days and close the shop when it gets overwhelming, and we’re honest about it with our customers.

I take time for myself to decompress, I’ve had to learn to put my phone down when I come home so I’m not working through the night.

I workout when I need stress relief but my mind is running. I stay away from negative people, negative thoughts and surround myself with people who support me and believe in the business.

We’re a plant shop. We sell cool, rare plants from South America and Southeast Asia, We have pottery, self care items and we carry products from multiple small businesses throughout the Bay Area. But beyond this concept of us being a plant shop, my goal is to continue to support our community, especially small business owners that are women, people of color or part of the LGBTQ+ community.

My goal is to just be true to who I am, share that with our community, and provide a space that is safe and brings peace and calm to everyone who comes.

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.
Brenda’s (Oakland, CA) My favorite brunch/lunch spot. Cajun/creole inspired and they have the BEST fried chicken. They also have vegan options (my fiancé is vegan), great coffee and drink menu.

Bar Shiru (Oakland, CA) My fiancé and I’s favorite bar. They serve Japanese whiskey and cocktails, spin jazz vinyls and prioritize creating an environment that isn’t obnoxiously loud. It is chill, you can have a conversation with the person next to you without screaming at the top of your lungs, and they have a no bullshit, no disrespect policy. My kinda place!

Kingdom of Dumpling (San Francisco) This is THE spot for Shanghai soup dumplings, it is a tiny, hole in the wall restaurant with like 6 tables and their food is BOMB. My favorites also include their stir-fried string beans, chicken fried rice, crispy chicken wings, shredded mushroom, pan fried soup dumplings and chow mien.

Palace of Fine Arts (San Francisco) I love coming here on a warm, clear day and I usually bring a blanket, snacks and a magazine. It’s my favorite place to chill, its absolutely beautiful and just reminds me of something out of Final Fantasy or something,

Julie’s Tea and Garden (Alameda) My favorite breakfast spot in Alameda. Alameda (where our shop is located) is just the cutest, small town feel island in the Bay. Julie’s has a hidden garden that you can access when you walk past their cash register. I love that when I introduce people to the spot for the first time, they always look confused when I start walking towards the kitchen. And then suddenly they find themselves outside in this beautiful garden setting that is super peaceful. Their food is also amazing. Healthy, hearty, vegetable forward and just plain delicious. They also make these amazing latte’s with lavender, I mean come on.

Point Isabel + Point Pinole (Richmond + Pinole, California) These are two beautiful parks that are also dog friendly and allow for pets to be off leash. I love that you can see the Golden Gate Bridge from both parks, you’re right on the water and can get a really nice walk/hike in. A lot of people who visit from out of town mention that they have nothing like this where they live. I think its amazing to be able to access such huge, open spaces and see so many dogs and their owners interacting. Something about watching dogs run around freely makes my soul happy.

The Pots SF (San Francisco) The best place for all you can eat hot pot in the Bay. It’s like $35/person if you pay cash and they serve unliminited wagyu beef and kurobuta pork belly along with a ton of other meat/seafood options, a whole vegetable buffet and a refrigerator full of fruit teas and drinks that are all included in the price.

Timeless Coffee (Oakland, CA) They serve an entire menu of all vegan pastries, donuts, pies, cakes, and savory pastries. It’s a black owned business as well.

I could go on and on…. there’s so many awesome places to visit.

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?
Donna Meadows, Chef at Little House Cafe (Alameda, CA) She was the first person to respond to my post on NextDoor and offer space for me to have my first pop-up.

Janay Masters (Founder, Hella Plants Market) She created an entire plant-based themed market around plants, plant-based food and vegan friendly products for home and body that really helped market my store and build our customer base.

Justice + Jenna, owners of Soul Blends Coffee (Oakland, CA) My fiancé initially approached them at a market we were both vending at and suggested they pop-up at the shop. Eventually they would come out 1-2 a week, set up their espresso machine and station right in front of the shop and everyone in the neighborhood would come out for coffee + plants. It was amazing!

Speakesy Ales + Lagers (Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco) The manager at the time, John was such an incredibly nice human being. He supported every vendor who popped up on the weekends, never charged us vendor fees and was so encouraging.

My Fiancé, Jeff, He has been my #1 support system since day 1. He has seen the business grow since the beginning when I turned my sunroom into a mini pottery shop. He has never missed a single pop-up or event, encouraged me to open up the shop and has been my mental/emotional support during this entire journey. I really can’t imagine coming this far without him or the business being what it is today without his input.

My friends and family. Even when I have crazy random ideas, they are always supportive and encouraging, help me remember that I always have a backup career if things change and are so good at grounding me and reminding me that as long as I work hard that results will come.

Website: www.plantbaybe.com

Instagram: @plant.baybe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plant.baybe/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/plant-baybe-alameda-2

Image Credits
Maurice Ramirez for any photos of me in the canvas/brown apron.