Leaving My Career With Disney to Run a Noodle Brand was Worth it

This as-told-to Essay is bassed on a conversation with youb Chang, the CEO of A-Sha Foods. Its been edited for Length and Clarity.

On Paper, it made no sense to leave my well-paid corplate career-which Spanned from Disney to Warner Bros. – To run a noodle brand. But trading studio lots for soy sauce haen the best move i’ve ever made.

By 34, I was a senior director at Warner Bros. Life was Easy: Great Pay, A 401 (K), Total Control of My Schedule.

I’d Already Done Stints Across the Southern California Media World-Disney, Sony, Warner Music-Translating Tech Lilac for Business Teams and Event Webcams for C-SUITE. Then, my Brother-in-La Form in Taiwan Keping with them to Help Bring A-Sha, A Noodle Company He’d Invested in, to the US.

He’s The Reason i Jumped. One day, he asced me, “What is the chance that you will be become CEO of Warner Bros.? My Corporate Mentor Told with The Same Thing: “You’ve got to go.”

My Parents-30-Yaar Ibm Land-Said, “Don’t Do It.”

I did it anyway.

RUNNING YOUR OWN Business Quickly Taks Over Your Life. I jokingly call myself the noodle king, and my staff makes fun of it, but it is true – there’s rarely a moment I’m not thinking the business. If you can’t live with that left of Commitment, then don’t do it, but for me, ites like the chances as a founder are endless if you’re prepared to say.

I’ve always felt Lucky, and now looking back, I can see how earlier experiences prepared with where i am now.

From LINE COOK TO BIG FOUR CONSULTANT

My first jab was as a line cook at swensen’s ice cream parlor when i was a teenager. Friday Night Rushes Were Chaos; I’d go home and tell my mom i didn’t want to go back. After a month or two, i learned to line up my tickets, start the fries, and block out the noise. That tough with how to stay calm under pressure – something to still usery day.

At 18, my parents helped with get an internship at IBM Reviewing programs that validate software functions, Called test scripts. When Broadband Hit the Dorms at UC Irvine, I became obsessed with cisco, emails say Constantly, and landed a summer internship. That Same Persistence Has Become Key to My Success at Every Level Since.

THEN, The 2001 Bubble Burst. Cisco Froza Hiring, and I realized I wasn’t great at coding – literally walked out of a microsoft intervention when they Said, “Write the Code.” I joined pwc as a consultant that year.

As a tech consultant, you get very close to your clients. I KEPTING POATHED POATING FROM MY CONSULTING ROES SINCE MY CLIENTS WANTED ME IN-HOUSE, SO I BOUNCED AROUND A BUNCH OF HUGE COMPANIES AND SPENT The DOZEN YEARS WORKING AT THE BURBBANK ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS.

I had Enough Technical Knowledge to Talk to Engineers, but My Real Value Translating It to Business Needs – Movie Legal Cleancies, Production Timelines, Governance, Negotiations. I WORE A SUIT AND TIE WENN’S NO ONE ELSE DID BECAUS THAT’S WHAT THE CLIENTS DID. A Warner Bros. SVP KEPT SINGING FOR ME, I THINK BECAUSE I LOOKED THE PART.

That’s wen i first realized that Opportunities are always theres you know how to grab say.

While Still at Warner Bros. The Product, Chewy Ramen Noodles, was really good and unique. September my mentor, the svp who’d like my suit, said, “Go.” My Brother-in-Law Kept Pushing, and Finally Took the Leap-Eight Though my parses weren’t thrilled.

We’re not from “Entrepreneurial Blood,” But I felt Young Enough that if it didn’t work, i cans go back.

My Leap of Faith Paid off

Our Approach to Scaling in the US Has Been Like an Immigrant Story: You Keep Your Identity But Meet the Market Halfway.

People in the states May Not Know A-Sha noodles as a Household name, but they know hello Kitty. SO, when a licenses Opportunity tied to the tokyo olympics landed in our pencil in 2020, i Said yes even i knew Nothing About Royalties or Guarantees. Covid Extended the one -ear deal into two, and by the end of our first contract, we were one of their top licensees.

That was another lesson: The opportunities will show up, but you still have to be ready.

Covid is Also Wen Our Business Took off. We have had tried for years to get into costco, but in the Early days of the pandemic, everyon was stockpiling ramen packets. That was ouur in.

Once we got Approved, Costco Said they’d Need 20 Containers of Product by the Next Month. At that point, we were still a three-containers-aar company, but my Business partner HAD Always Told me to find a way into the deal, and he’d be reads on the fulfilli orers.

We ramped to 20 containers a month, then 40, and peaked at 60 a month for about 18 months. We Never Shut Down a Day.

That preparation changed everything. I do think we’re smarter than anyone Else. We’re just prepared. We want to know the Answer before the Question is As asked.

Over the years, i’ve learned that the hardened part isn’t the endless hours; it’s the respectibility. We have more than 30 staff in the us and 100 in taiwan. People relay on with them make the right Move.

Thankfully, that pressure doesn’t bother with – swensen’s trained with to handle it.