Life: 5 Years Out ...

Yuchen Zhang ’10, left, and her mother, Tanyue Chen, run a smoothie shop in downtown Santa Monica.

Jim Purdum

When her grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011, Yuchen Zhang ’10 made her hot soy-milk smoothies so Grandma Wang could easily get the nutrients she needed. Zhang was living in New York City, where she had moved after graduation to take a job at Deloitte Consulting. 

A few months after her grandmother died, Zhang relocated to Deloitte’s Los Angeles office, drawn by her childhood fascination with Hollywood. Zhang loved the challenge of being a consultant, but she also dreamed of being an entrepreneur. After a few years at the firm, she saw an opportunity to embark on a new career: smoothie-shop owner.

Zhang convinced her mother to move from New Jersey to help her open Pulse Café in downtown Santa Monica in 2012. The café — which, in a shoutout to Princeton, is decorated with lots of orange — has eight small tables inside and three outside, and serves organic smoothies and other foods. 

With just three employees, Zhang and her mother work seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In the first few months, they changed the menu 40 times, experimenting and adjusting to their customers’ tastes. With little free time, Zhang finds that the main way she makes new friends is through the café. She does miss the intellectual aspects of consulting.

A mother-daughter enterprise poses challenges. The two are very close but sometimes have disagreements. “I am very analytical and logical,” Zhang says. “My mom goes with her passion.” Her mother usually gets her way, Zhang adds.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow ordered a date smoothie with bananas and homemade almond milk.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow ordered a date smoothie with bananas and homemade almond milk.