How an alumna found the right blend

By Micah Mertes

Entrepreneur, small business owner and herbalist weren’t roles Andrea (Comiskey) Lawse, BA’02, MA’04, ever imagined for herself. But, like many alumni before her, she took an unexpected path. Her Creighton experience (unexpectedly) prepared her for the detour, she said.

For Lawse, the founder and CEO of Artemis Tea & Botanical, going from a bachelor’s and master’s in literature to a career as a clinical herbalist/business owner makes more sense when you zoom in to her areas of study. At Creighton, Lawse focused on ecocriticism, which explores the connections between literature and the natural world.

“I was most fascinated with the question of: How do the types of relationships we have with nature, specifically plants, impact the course of history, natural and cultural?” Lawse said.

After completing her master’s, she continued her studies as a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There, she had the opportunity to take courses from a local master herbalist.

“I told myself that in the middle of working on a doctoral degree and teaching and raising small children that it would be a good idea to start another intellectual discovery,” Lawse said. “And the more I got into it, the more I utilized plants for my own health and wellbeing and that of my family and loved ones. It became clear that I might not be satisfied with just thinking and writing and teaching about plants as concepts. I wanted to interact with them in a more visceral way.”

Lawse started blending herbs in her kitchen and, in the process, discovered what would become the flagship tea of her business: Huntress.

She began drinking Huntress every day, the “particular blend of herbs, scent, taste and healing properties coming together in a way that blew open the doors of my head and heart,” she said. (Huntress was a great work companion, as well, helping her power through long days juggling her roles of student, teacher and mother.)

Lawse shared Huntress with her friends and family, who loved it and encouraged her to take her gifts to the rest of Omaha. Soon, she was creating more blends, taking on clients as a clinical herbalist and selling her teas at farmers’ markets. For her brand, she chose a name inspired by the Greek goddess Artemis, protector of the hunt, wild animals and vegetation. The experience of creating her teas, she said, “felt like I was tapping into the Artemis archetype.”

As Artemis grew into a business and took more time from her PhD studies, Lawse tried to hold on to both vocations as long as she could. She couldn’t let go of either. Then fate intervened (or, at least, a burglar).

Lawse’s house was broken into, and her computer was stolen, along with all of her research.

“Every backup of every backup was gone, and this was before the cloud was a big thing,” she said. “I realized I had to completely start over and redo everything. So there was that and a series of other events that forced me just to take a pause and ask, 'Is the universe trying to tell me something here?’ I checked in with my heart, and the choice became clear.”

She didn’t see leaving her PhD program as abandoning her studies. Artemis was the culmination of her education, her “living, evolving dissertation.”

Lawse took Artemis from her kitchen to a commercial space. Nearly a decade later, Artemis sells dozens of handcrafted, small-batch Artisan tea blends to thousands of customers every year, in Omaha and across the U.S., through Artemis’ flagship shop in the Blackstone District, at local retailers and through subscriptions online. (Artemis will soon move down the street, from 40^th and Farnam Streets to 36^th and Farnam. The original shop will become a production and fulfillment space.)

For a former humanities student and teacher, managing the business side of things has been by far the most challenging part of the endeavor, Lawse said. But she’s been supported by (and has supported in turn) another Creighton-humanities-alumnus-turned-small-business owner: her husband, Daniel Lawse, BA’02, co-founder of Verdis Group.

“And Daniel and I have received so much help from other small business owners, too,” Andrea said. “It’s been a lot of trial and error, but there’s this tremendous community in Omaha, so many folks who are more than happy to lend advice and help us navigate the flood of new things we have to learn and think about.”

Lawse said that her Creighton education also played a pivotal role in preparing her to run her business, even though she’d never taken a business class.

“Whatever your major at Creighton and whatever material you’re learning, your education teaches you so much beyond that,” Lawse said. “It teaches you about vocation, professionalism and excellence. My professors absolutely set me up with the critical thinking I needed to function independently in the professional world. Creighton prepared me by giving me the grit and stick-to-it-ness I needed to succeed in whatever path I chose.”

Not unlike the ingredients of the first tea she made, Lawse said, the elements of her Creighton experience blended together to create a unique and holistic whole.

“Without my time at Creighton, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am,” Lawse said. “Creighton played an extraordinarily large role in shaping me.”

Andrea and Daniel Lawse’s Creighton journey continues today. Aderyn Lawse, the eldest of their three children, is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in environmental science and biology.

“She’s doing wonderfully,” Andrea said. “She’s been delighted by her experience, and we’re so excited to see how well she’s doing.”

Whatever path Aderyn chooses — or, perhaps more accurately, whatever path chooses her — Andrea knows she’ll be ready for any detours that come her way.