My small American town was perfect for growing up, but not for building a career. So I moved to China.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Emory Babb, 32, cofounder of Grassroots, a vegan company based in Beijing.

At 23, I was working at a youth rehab facility in Oregon — the last stop before prison for most of the kids. I’d graduated with a degree in public relations a year earlier.

The facility was understaffed, and kids were trying to hurt themselves.

After six months, I couldn’t do it anymore. I posted on Facebook saying that I needed work, and a friend living in Beijing replied, offering to help me get a job teaching English.

So, in 2017, I moved to Beijing.

A couple of months later, a friend called to tell me the facility back home had been shut down. He said there had been a riot, and protective services had stepped in.

It helped confirm that I’d made the right decision.

Focusing on cheese

After teaching and working at an education startup for almost two years, in 2020, I landed a job at Xiaomi in communications. Then, a year later, I started working at the electric bike company Niu Mobility. I was looking for a new job because I wanted to be part of an organization moving toward sustainability goals.

Now, I help run a vegan cheese creamery called Grassroots with two business partners: Will Kerins, from the US, and Manuel Moreno, from Costa Rica. Out of the three of us, I’m the only vegan.

Sales launched in August 2024, and while we’re not profitable yet, revenue has been growing.

Next month, we’re releasing a cream cheese that we’re hoping will be our breakout product.

Simplifying life to stay on budget

I share a place with a roommate and live on 10,000 yuan a month, about $1,400. Rent is my biggest expense. I’m living simply and on a tight budget right now — spending as little as possible, especially on food — what Silicon Valley types call the “ramen era.”

Living in China is safe. For English speakers, it’s easy to work in education or marketing and make a significant amount of money. What I’ve learned is that if you’re looking to build something, there’s real opportunity here.

I grew up in Bend, Oregon. It’s a great place to grow up and a great place to die, but it wasn’t where I wanted to build a career. The city’s population is just over 100,000 — roughly one-third the size of a single district in Beijing.

I don’t own a car, and don’t plan to. I bike everywhere and take public transport.

In this city, I can go to restaurants with food from all over the world, take ice baths, yoga classes, and stay out late. I think that life in a small town and life in a big city are often more different than life in New York City versus Beijing.

No plans to move back

I’m 32 now. By 35, I’d like to start a family, probably in China.

I never thought I’d be living somewhere else. I was born in Arizona, then my family moved to Florida, and then to Oregon. I’ve always been bouncing around a bit, but always in the US context.

I would only consider moving back to somewhere like San Francisco.

But under this administration, I’d worry about my Chinese girlfriend. I don’t feel comfortable moving back, specifically with the anti-immigrant political climate.

Here in China, I’m an immigrant. I see myself as a guest trying to contribute what I can.

If I were to leave China, I’d likely go to Europe since there’s an established vegan industry there. I’d be open to expanding my company or joining a new one.

For now, I’m studying business at Quantic, an online graduate school.

My mom started a landscaping business 10 years ago. After a near-fatal brainstem stroke, my dad is in a wheelchair. Now he and my mom make wheelchairs out of mountain bike parts. My twin brother owns a farm business in Arkansas.

All four of us are on entrepreneurship journeys in different stages of life.

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