How SAWY Began
SAWY didn’t start as a project.
It started from a very ordinary feeling:
life becoming quiet.
After staying in the U.S. for work, my circle slowly shrank.
Friends from school moved to different cities.
Most of the people I met came from the same industry I worked in.
My days were peaceful, stable, and predictable.
But over time, I realized something was missing.
I wasn’t lonely.
I was simply no longer meeting people in a way that felt alive.
Wanting to hear how life actually feels
Online, there is no shortage of information.
Social media gives us fragments.
News gives us events.
YouTube gives us explanations and opinions.
All useful, in their own ways.
But what I really wanted to know was much simpler:
how does it feel to be someone else, living their life right now?
Not a takeaway.
Not a lesson.
Just the texture of lived experience - what people notice, worry about, enjoy, and carry with them.
Those kinds of conversations rarely happen online.
They happen when people sit down together.
Using what I already loved
I’ve always been drawn to beautiful, well-made things.
I enjoy arranging flowers.
I love tea, and the quiet ritual around it.
I care about objects that feel thoughtful and tactile.
And I genuinely enjoy talking with people - listening, asking questions, helping conversations flow.
At some point, the idea became very simple:
What if I just invited people over for afternoon tea?
That was where the name came from.
Saturday Afternoon With Yuan.
No big branding exercise.
Just a time, a place, and an invitation.
Letting it grow, one gathering at a time
Over the past year and a bit, I’ve hosted more than 50 gatherings.
Some were small afternoon teas, with six to eight people around a table.
Some were collaborations with brands, sharing things we genuinely liked and believed in.
And some were slightly larger, relaxed social gatherings - around thirty people -because a community can’t grow if people never cross paths.
Each format had its own rhythm.
Each served a different purpose.
Hosting strangers is its own craft
Inviting strangers to sit together isn’t easy.
People don’t always share a background, or obvious common ground.
That’s where my role as a host matters.
Facilitation becomes important.
So does choosing a theme.
Before each gathering, I share the topic in advance, so people can decide if it resonates with them.
Over time, our themes naturally formed:
health and everyday wellbeing,
work and life paths,
aesthetics and culture,
how the world is changing,
and conversations around feminism.
The structure is light, but intentional.
Enough to hold the space.
Loose enough to let people be themselves.
A way of knowing the world
SAWY slowly became my way of understanding the world.
Through these gatherings, I met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
I learned how different lives actually unfold.
When I decided to step away from corporate work, many of these connections opened unexpected doors and new directions.
None of it was planned.
It emerged through conversation.
Why I’m writing here
I want SAWY to continue growing, naturally, without forcing it.
Writing feels like an extension of the same impulse:
sharing stories, moments, and a way of living that values presence, curiosity, and care.
This is my way of bringing these experiences - and the things I love - into a wider, English-speaking world.
One table at a time.
One Saturday afternoon at a time.
