We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mika Shino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mika below.
Mika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
We are a mission-driven, innovation-forward, woman-owned and minority owned startup, aiming to disrupt the way we snack and create opportunities for people to enjoy vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, cruelty-free, planet-friendly foods while integrating cultural diversity and inclusion in their lives.
Issei Mochi Gummies was created out of a need to have better snack options for my two children. Frustrated by the existing candy options laden with animal-derived gelatin, artificial colors/flavors and high fructose corn syrup, I began to bake these gummies in my own kitchen, trying to emulate a chewy texture of gelatin by using a mixture of rice and tapioca flours. My kids loved them. Their friends loved them. Their parents loved them. And Mochi Gummies were born. Mochi is from Japan, where I am from, and it is an ancient, sacred snack. But they are highly perishable unless sold frozen. So through almost 3 years of research, trials and testing with a team of food and starch scientists, we were able to create the very first shelf-stable, clean-label, vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, naturally flavored gummy candy made with rice flour.
Our brand, Issei, means ‘first generation Japanese immigrants in the U.S.’. and symbolizes the hopes and dreams that immigrants carry with them to their new home, with the rich heritage and cultures we bring with us. Our brand is an ode to the diversity of experiences, memories and stories that all immigrants carry, often told through food. It is about creating bridges and celebrating diversity through food, our taste buds and in the grocery aisle. Our aim is to empower our traditions with innovation to create a powerful story through food for better and inclusive foods.
We are challenging the traditional ways in which we are used to consuming snacks which are laden with animal-derived ingredients and chemically enhanced additives, at the same time innovating to expand the scope of textures, flavors and ingredients inspired by our Asian heritage for a more inclusive food culture. Food connects people. Food inspires, and food heals. The memories and stories we keep and tell of our histories, ancestry and past customs that we all carry are often shared through food. The more people are exposed to different foods around the world, the more acceptance, respect and appreciation will be cultivated. Our mission is to elevate not just our Asian heritage and celebrate cultural diversity, and to elevate and celebrate the heritage of immigrant/outsider cultures through food in order to raise awareness and mutual understanding/appreciation through food.
Mika, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Mika Shino created a woman+minority founded, owned and led company which has disrupted a stagnant candy sector, offering a clean-label, better for you snack that is natural, vegan, gluten-free, celebrating her Asian heritage and building bridges through food, as well as injecting diversity in the food sector. The impact of her work and her brand is immeasurable, as the very first mover in rice-based gummies, and as the only Asian owned and asian inspired food product in the candy category in the premium and natural food sectors. She wants her kids to see themselves reflected in all facets of society, from the grocery stores to the media. She is on her way to accomplishing that goal.
From very early on, Mika followed her curiosity and passion in life, allowing her to learn, travel, grow and work in several capacities – as an artist, a dancer, a diplomat, and an entrepreneur. Her path may seem unconventional, but everything she chose to do shares a common element – to create something that can build bridges between people, celebrate diversity and make a positive impact in the world. Her years at the United Nations allowed her to hone in on creating intercultural dialogue amongst different communities from all over the world in order to foster peace through culture. She launched innovative international programs that approached traditional United Nations work in new and unexpected ways. By creating new ways to build intercultural dialogue, and by honoring the diverse heritage and commonalities through art, philosophy, academia and music, she was able to bring people together and find a common language to communicate for mutual deeper understanding. She worked with students, teachers, thinkers, artists and policy makers in France, U.K., Australia, Lebanon, Russia, Cuba, India, Kenya, Turkey, South Africa and beyond, with her programs serving as a catalyst for a vibrant grassroots network of community activities seeking positive change through culture.
After years of working within large intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization serving to create programs for philosophy, democracy and human rights all over the world, she embarked on a journey for a more creative path, brining her to collaborate with the top creative minds of today from Herbie Hancock to Frank Gehry. She served as COO and CEO for music tech startups, advised private companies such as Cartier International for their philanthropic work. But she knew that she wanted to create her own work, carve out her own path through her own company which would house all of her ideas.
After a brush with a health crisis, she decided to stop her consultancy/advisor/producer work to finally set up her own company with a vision to using food and culture to bring a better lifestyle and joy to people grounded in her passion for making the world better for her family. Her innovation, Mochi Gummies, was something that was born out of her desire to have better food for her kids, without junk. Inspired by her Japanese heritage, she began to bake little bits of mochi in her kitchen with her kids and their friends, quickly becoming her first fans. She realized that by going back to her heritage, she was able to innovate something that honored her tradition, built bridges between cultures and brought joy to people with an alternative approach to food. So she founded ‘Issei’, which means ‘first generation Japanese immigrants in the U.S.’, to honor the heritage that immigrant families like her bring to their newfound country with hopes and dreams of a better future, but always cherishing their history.
Issei Mochi Gummies launched in September 2022 exclusively at Whole Foods to critical acclaim and sold-out shelves, and one year later, can be found in 800 stores with an aggressive growth strategy in 2024.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My entire career has been defined by pivots – I began as a dancer, working on music videos and commercials, then as a music producer, recording with incredible musicians and producers, becoming immersed in academia to study for my undergrad, two Masters and Ph.D. qualifying degrees in France, UK and the US, working at the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for over a decade, creating my own consultancy firm for philanthropy, being a CEO of a music tech firm in Norway, to finally launching my own company and brand – I feel like I am where I am today because of my pivots. Pivots are scary. They are full of risks. Do I leave what I have now for something unknown but somehow feels like a calling? Will I find stability after switching jobs, moving countries or following my dreams? It is all uncertain. But I feel that if you are a creative person, a curious person, you are drawn to many things in life, and you want to fully explore them. And you can’t do that without taking a leap of faith and risking what you have now for what you don’t know you may have later. If my career has been defined by pivots, so too has my life and the place I call home. I was born in Kyoto, Japan, growing up in the U.S., living in France for almost 2 decades, studying in the U.K., and doing research and working in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. I think I would not be who I am today if it were not for all of those pivots.
My last career pivot was perhaps the most extreme in that I quit my 2 positions as a CEO of a music tech firm and a Director of a non-profit – 2 positions I carried out simultaneously – to launch my food innovation startup, Issei. I had never worked in the food industry, I knew no one in the food sector, and I had no idea how to get on a store shelf. But I knew that what I was making for my kids could help other mothers, parents and families in finding a cleaner, natural snack for their children. So I began to find my way little by little, and 14 months after launch, we are in 800 stores launched by Whole Foods Market, Sprouts and Raley’s, and planning our launches in thousands of stores next year.
It has been such a marathon that it is hard to remember the path here, but we got here somehow. I never knew it would have been possible if I didn’t take the leap to pivot, driven only by my faith and hope. Despite the challenges and adversities in launching a startup, it was worth every single bit of struggle, worry and risk.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Issei Mochi Gummies was created out of a need to have better snack options for my two children. Frustrated by the existing candy options laden with animal-derived gelatin, artificial colors/flavors and high fructose corn syrup, I began to bake these gummies in my own kitchen, trying to emulate a chewy texture of gelatin by using a mixture of rice and tapioca flours. My kids loved them. Their friends loved them. Their parents loved them. So in a sense, it first started out as a ‘side-hustle’, in that I was baking these for our friends and family just to share the pleasure of eating a guild-free candy. This is how Mochi Gummies were born. But it was just the start. I was encouraged by some of the parents of my children’s friends who worked in the food industry to “drop everything and do this”. I first laughed it off, but then I got curious about what it would take to make my gummies shelf stable – so that it would sit next to, say, a gummy bear. And that was the start of a very long, arduous, nail-biting road of food science, bringing us from the U.S., to Vietnam and Thailand, to Japan and back to the U.S. It was – it is – an extremely difficult thing that had not been done before.
Mochi is from Japan, where I am from, and it is an ancient, sacred snack. But they are highly perishable unless sold frozen. So through almost 3 years of research, trials and testing with a team of food and starch scientists, we were able to create the very first shelf-stable, clean-label, vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, naturally flavored gummy candy made with rice flour.
Our first milestone was submitting the product to a Whole Foods ‘reset’, where they accept proposals from anyone for new food products. I had not sold a thing before, my packaging was still a prototype, and I had no idea what I was doing. Miraculously, the buyers at Whole Foods got it immediately. They understood what I was trying to do. They launched us exclusively in 170 stores. That was the big first step we needed to introduce ourselves to the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mochigummies.com
- Instagram: @mochigummies
- Facebook: @mochigummies
- Linkedin: @Mika Shino
Image Credits
Nick Lee