We recently connected with Tara Uziel and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Hot Lips as a stand alone shot through me as an idea for a business in my early twenties without any idea of what that business would be. I just knew I liked it and that when I had my own business it would be named Hot Lips. It’s sexy, provocative and cheeky. Many people think I got the name from MASH’s “Hot Lips Houlihan, but alas no. I believe the name came to me first and that the concept of my business was built around it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in Cathedral City, specifically, in the Cathedral City Cove, about fifteen minutes from Palm Springs. I left the desert when I was 18 and didn’t come back until I was 50. I bought a home in my old neighborhood and as I was trying to figure out my next career moves realized there was no local community based coffee shop in my neighborhood. It was a a gut defining decision to move forward with finding a way to bring a coffee shop to my childhood neighborhood. How I got to that decision is a windy road, I’m a licensed attorney (didn’t stick), I’ve been a bartender (that was fun), a sales person at Nordstrom (loved customer service) and most recently a property manager in San Francisco for over 20 multi unit residential buildings (enjoyed the people connections). I was also the PTA President and loved putting my quirky twist on a somewhat stuffy position. Specifically with being the PTA President for two years my ability to bring my personality to a position was exercised, I thrived on engagement with the community, making things happen, bringing people together and making all of it fun. Taking from all of this experience, I know that I love engaging with people, I want to create spaces for people to gather, I want to make people happy, and I thrive on hosting. I also divinely could picture the coffee house space aesthetically. I knew that I wanted it to represent sexy 60’s and 70’s vibes with a Palm Springs twist. I also wanted the space to be an extension of my personality, a place where everyone is welcomed and where the vibe is fun. I believe I succeeded.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I’m a two month old business and I’ve established a great reputation from the jumpstart. I’ve done this by representing my shop personally everyday. I am excited and curious about every person that walks up to my counter. I am authentically engaged with every customer and I want to know each and every one of them. I’m also committed to making every individual happy with what they are walking out with. I want to use the best ingredients and make sure that every drink is made the way they want it. It matters most to me that the people that buy one of my drinks is happy that they did. I

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is my first entrepreneurial enterprise. Also, the first time I’ve had to go through the process of opening something from start to finish. I really just jumped in without knowing anything. So the entire act of opening my shop is an example of three steps forward and two steps back. From finding a location, negotiating the lease, dealing with the city, not knowing what was needed when dealing with the city, hiring a contractor, dealing with said contractor, the delays involved with permit issues, questions I didn’t know to ask the city that I should have, not knowing that a Health Department existed and would have their own rules/compliances. The entirety of the experience pushed me to the utter depths of my sanity, but I kept moving forward because the small steps I made towards my goal got me closer to my goal. I had such a clear vision of what I wanted and I believed in it enough to be patient with the process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hotlipscoffeeshop.com
• Instagram: hotlipscoffeeshopcatcity
• Facebook: hotlipscoffeeshopcatcity
• Linkedin: tarauziel
• Yelp: Hot Lips Coffee Shop
• Other: Google – Hot Lips Coffee Shop