Seven years ago, Quynh Ho first started his business, My Twist, down in Cicero, IL. Now, his shop has relocated to Summit, IL where the small frozen yogurt and Boba Tea shop has exploded in popularity following its opening. He has been grateful for the community’s support and he has been able to feel welcomed.

“I feel like I’m part of the community now. When we first came in, obviously I was a stranger because I’m not from Summit,” said Ho. “But now I feel like everybody has kind of opened their arms and welcomed us. I love all the students that come around.”

As he states his inspirations for making his business and how he hoped to create a close place for students to hang out and be themselves, Ho recounts how he started his business and how his journey has been so far.

The following has been edited and condensed.

Tell me a little bit about yourself

Ah well, I’m an Asian American. I was born in Vietnam, but I moved to the States, and I grew up on the north side of Chicago. I’ve been here for about 20 years. I wanted to open a shop like this by a high school because it gives students a place to go. When I was younger, that’s what we were looking for. We were going up and down the streets, but there was nowhere to go. Then I went to Chinatown when I was younger and there they had boba tea. I was like wow, and thought this would be a very good thing to have in a school setting. So, this was the inspiration for why this came to be.

How did you first get into this?

It’s a funny journey because originally, I was in school. I was a biology student and pre-med. I was looking at being a pharmacist or a dentist. I took the classes; I took the courses,  but I didn’t find a passion. I didn’t like it at all. It wasn’t something that I wanted to do. So, I decided to go into business. I wanted to do something that was clean, refreshing, and a little bit new. There’s restaurants everywhere but I feel like with boba tea, if I can twist it, make it my own, make it unique, I can really make it stand out.

Why did you name your shop My Twist?

The reason we chose the name is because it’s our little twist. Our little version of a boba tea shop. So, if you were to go to another boba tea shop they’re either missing this, or that. For us, we don’t want to miss much. Every other smoothie place either uses syrup, frozen [fruit], artificial flavors or jam. We don’t want that. We want our own version to be as healthy and as fresh as possible. So we use nothing but fresh ingredients. Obviously, our main selling point is boba tea, and that’s our passion. We spent a lot of time to come up with our own version, our own ingredients, our own recipes. We made it our own twist.

 How has opening a shop changed your view on things?

I’ve learned to be a lot more patient with myself and with everyone else. Anyone with experience in customer service or wholesale, or any type of sales will tell you once you work in sales you’re going to see people. You’re going to interact with all different kinds and types of people. Overall, I’ve learned to be more patient, more understanding, a lot calmer, and to accommodate everyone’s needs.

Do you have any final advice for anyone?

My advice is that in the meantime, especially if you’re a high school student, I would focus on your schoolwork. I know it sounds very cliché but in this age group you need to focus on school because it has the fundamental things you’ll need to be successful in life. Now whether you proceeded with a four-year college plan or not, none of that matters as long as you’re happy with what you’re doing. There’s always going to be tough times, nothing in life is smooth. The important thing is that you keep your faith, you keep your happiness, and you keep trucking on.