She dropped out of culinary school at 21. Today, she teaches dumpling-making for a living

CNBC

23-05-2025

Samantha Mui has always been a bit of a rebel.
Growing up, she knew she hated school but loved being creative and cooking. As a kid, she said, she played hooky by pretending to be sick so she could stay home and watch Julia Child or Martha Stewart on TV and "tinker" in the kitchen all day. Then, she'd clean it all up before her parents came home.
"I really struggled in school, because I had a hard time paying attention in class ... I was really rowdy and I was kind of a troublemaker," Mui told CNBC Make It. "I was struggling to follow directions. If I didn't understand it, I would just try to do it in a way that made sense for me, but I felt like I was always getting reprimanded [for that]."
She recalled being placed in an ESL (English as a second language) class in the fifth grade, despite the fact that she was born in the U.S. and spoke proper English. "Ever since that [happened], I just thought I was not smart," she said.
"At a young age, I knew that I needed to do it my own way ... I realized [that] I can't force myself to like something, but, if I'm interested in something, I'm going to be obsessed with it," Mui said.
It wasn't until she was in her late 20s that she finally decided to embrace her natural talents instead of fighting them.
Today, the 34-year-old San Francisco Bay Area native is the author of the cookbook "Melting Pot" and the founder of Thirsty Dumpling, a do-it-yourself dumpling-making startup. Her business brings in about $20,000 a month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
For most of her life, Mui struggled to fit into society's mold. After high school, she went on to study for a couple months at a community college, before deciding to go to culinary school instead.
"I went to community college for one semester and absolutely hated it. I just felt really lost, like: 'What am I doing here?' So I didn't feel like [I had another] option," said Mui. It was in culinary school that she gained much more confidence.
"I remember being on the Dean's honor list that year ... That's the moment I was like: 'Aha, you're not stupid ... you're just a hands on person,'" Mui said.
Through culinary school, she came to accept her own learning style and decided that she should give college another chance. So in 2012, at the age of 21, she dropped out of culinary school and went to college to complete her undergraduate degree.
"After that, I was always on the honor roll. [I became an] overachiever at that point, because I finally cracked the code of school. Like, just understanding what is asked of me and ... I had a lot of tricks in my head of how to do school," she said.
By 2016, Mui had earned both a bachelor's degree in communications and media studies as well as a master's degree in international business studies. For the next several years, she worked a few corporate and service jobs.
But she realized that she was very unhappy. "I definitely didn't feel like it was my end goal at that point ... like, [there was] something inside of me that wanted to do something else, you know, but I didn't know what that was yet," said Mui.
In December 2022, Mui's father died suddenly — just months after her grandmother's death. She realized that only two things really matter in life: how you treat others and whether you're happy.
Shortly after, Mui left her corporate role and decided to take a break. She gave herself time to rest, reflect and think about what she wanted to do next.
Within three weeks of being unemployed in April 2023, Mui had a phone call with her mother, who said, "If you could only make dumpling-making easy ... That's a billion dollar idea."
"And a light bulb moment went off ... I remember, within the next day, I started buying all these products to start tinkering in my kitchen," Mui said. The idea was to create a DIY kit for people to make dumplings from scratch.
"In that moment, all the things I've been through ... started coming back," she said. "When I was younger, where I truly struggled with learning — it's like I knew that I could create a product that could be very easy and simplified for [anyone to use]."
She thought the kits would not only give people confidence in the kitchen, but also become a way for others to learn about her culture.
Mui said she invested about $27,000 to get the company started and launched Thirsty Dumpling by November 2023. She now lives in Chicago, where she runs the business, selling dumpling-making kits as well as teaching in-person and online classes on how to make dumplings.
"I'm so much happier. So much lighter ... if money was not an option, I would probably be doing [this]," she said. "I just feel like I'm doing what my inner child always wanted to do."
When asked what would tell her younger self if she could go back in time, Mui said, "I would tell myself to value my gifts and talents more ... Don't focus so much on my weaknesses, focus more on my strengths."