Founder Feature - Priya: Maji Drinks. (The Founder Who Stopped Complaining and Built the Chai Latte Herself).

Each month, we sit down with a woman doing it all, not perfectly, but honestly. This is what modern motherhood and modern ambition really look like.

"I've become a firm believer in hitting go before you're actually ready. Waiting for the perfect moment is just a slow way to fail."
— Priya, Founder of MAJI

Priya. Founder, MAJI. Mother of one.

Priya is the founder of MAJI, a chai latte brand born from one very simple grievance: paying five pounds for a disappointing cup in a coffee shop. What started as quiet frustration turned into a full-blown business, built in the gaps between nursery runs, nap times and a marriage that is currently running on half an hour a day. MAJI launched officially three weeks ago, though Priya will be the first to tell you that is something of a technicality.

The Origin: From a Bad Latte to a Brand

MAJI started because Priya was sick of paying a fiver for a disappointing chai latte in a coffee shop. She knew she could make something better, so she stopped complaining and built it herself.

But the brand is not only about the product. It carries something far more personal. Priya spent her formative years feeling embarrassed by her heritage, and MAJI has become her way of leaning into that, rather than shying away from it. What began as a fix for a five-pound problem has turned into something closer to reclamation.

The Juggle: There Is No Typical Day

What does a normal day actually look like?

There is no typical day, and Priya is quick to say so. It usually starts with a nursery drop off and whatever tactical meltdown her daughter has planned for the morning. Some days she is fully committed to having Ribena in her cereal, and that is simply how the day begins.

By ten, Priya is into the grind. She is head of production, the packager, the content creator and the accountant, all at once. It is a relentless, singular effort, and the reality of building it this way means her marriage takes the hit. She and her husband get half an hour together after the bedtime routine, then she is back at it, because the work does not finish itself. It is a massive trade-off, but one she is hoping will pay off.

The Reality Check: Trusting Herself to Figure It Out

What has been the hardest part of building this?

Priya spent fifteen years as a freelance event planner, where she had the luxury of being an expert in her own little bubble. Building a product brand from scratch has been a reality check in comparison. The hardest part has been the mental block of doubting whether she actually knows what she is doing.

She has had to force herself to stop waiting for validation and just trust that she is capable of figuring it out as she goes. It is a quieter kind of courage than people expect founder stories to have, and it is one we think a lot of women building things right now will recognise immediately.

The Win: "She Sells Chai"

What has felt like the real milestone so far?

It is not some grand corporate milestone. For Priya, the real one is when people ask her little girl what her mum does, and she says, "She sells chai." There is so much cultural nuance held in that one small sentence. Her daughter sees her at markets, she knows what they are doing together, and it feels like a full circle moment for Priya, one that connects directly back to the heritage she once felt embarrassed by.

What's Next: Building It in Public

Priya has technically only been officially live for three weeks, but she will tell you that is a bit of a technicality. For the past year she has operated like, in her own words, some sort of chai dealer, doing clandestine drop-offs at people's doorsteps just to get the product out into the world.

It has been a whirlwind, and it has made her a firm believer in hitting go before you are actually ready. Waiting for the perfect moment, she says, is just a slow way to fail. MAJI launched its chilled product in the middle of a heatwave, hardly a textbook business move, but the feedback since has been what is keeping her going.

The plan for this next chapter is simple. Build it in public. With a two-week pop-up on the horizon, Priya is focused on maintaining the momentum and turning MAJI into something that lasts long past this summer.

The Edit: Try MAJI

If you want to taste what started all of this, find MAJI at its next pop-up or follow along as Priya builds the brand in public this summer here »> https://www.instagram.com/majidrinks/

Thank you so much to Priya for taking the time to talk to us! We are so excited for your journey ahead and can’t wait to see the business grow!