Hidden Gems: Meet Helen Li of Superlova

Today we’d like to introduce you to Helen Li.

Hi Helen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The seed for Superlova! was planted when my husband Leo and I started an underground supper club out of our Arts District loft in LA 12 years ago. Leo grew up in a Portuguese fishing family in San Diego and trained as a chef; I grew up between China and Eastern Europe in a family of amazing cooks. Together, we blended our backgrounds into a cooking style that felt uniquely ours.

The supper club eventually shut down after our landlord got nervous about liability, but the spark was already there. When we had our first child, we bought an old food truck and launched a mobile restaurant called Chinese Laundry, serving modern Chinese dishes inspired by our personal favorites. Over the years it evolved — from that truck, to a lively street noodle stand in Highland Park called Live Noodz, to a crowd-favorite steel-barrel roast duck stand at Smorgasburg. Just when things were finally taking off, the pandemic hit and everything stopped overnight.

But lockdown gave us something we’d been missing: time together. By then we were a family of four who had been hustling nonstop, and we had forgotten how to actually be with each other. Losing direction in the business gave us clarity about how we wanted to live — with more intention. During that period, we started jarring the sauce from our fan-favorite Dan Dan noodles so customers could make them at home. That’s when the idea of shifting from food service to a product-based business first took root.

It was also during this time that I had to return to China for half a year to care for my mother as she was dying of cancer — an experience that changed me deeply and reshaped how I wanted to build anything going forward.

So when we finally launched Superlova years later, we were intentional about everything: what the brand stands for, what goes into our jars, how we serve our customers, and how we grow. We didn’t start this to chase trends or scale fast. We started it to make real food easier — for people who care about taste and health but don’t always have time for long prep.

We refused to take shortcuts. No seed oils, no preservatives, no MSG — just olive oil, stone-ground sesame paste, and authentic ingredients sourced from China, made the same way we cook for our kids.

Superlova is really about joy — the kind that sneaks up on you in a bite of something delicious after a long day.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We’ve faced almost every kind of challenge you can imagine — operational, emotional, and personal.

On the business side, transitioning from food service to CPG meant learning everything from scratch: manufacturing, food safety, supply chain, packaging, compliance, wholesale, distribution — all of it. We’re a tiny team, so every mistake hits hard. We’ve dealt with leaking lids, product recalls, rising ingredient costs, tariffs that suddenly made our biggest ingredient 30% more expensive, and the constant pressure to produce premium-quality food at a price people can still say yes to.

But the harder challenges were personal. During the pandemic, while trying to keep our business afloat, I had to return to China for six months to care for my mother as she was dying of cancer. When I came back, I was grieving, exhausted, and trying to rebuild a business that had completely changed. It took a long time to find my footing again.

There were moments we thought about walking away — when production failed, when money was tight, when uncertainty felt endless. But each setback pushed us to get clearer about what we’re building and why.

Superlova is still a very small, very hands-on operation. We make mistakes, we fix them, we learn publicly, and we keep going. Our challenges have shaped the way we run this brand: slower, more intentional, and rooted in real values instead of shortcuts.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Superlova! is a small-batch sauce brand based in Southern California. We make Chinese-inspired sauces using clean, intentional ingredients — olive oil instead of seed oils, whole-grain stone-ground sesame paste, and authentic ingredients sourced directly from China. Everything is made without preservatives, fillers, binders, or MSG, because we only make what we would feel good feeding our own kids.

Our two flagship sauces, Dan Dan Sauce and May May Sauce, are designed for people who love real food but don’t always have time for long prep. A spoonful can transform whatever’s already in your fridge — noodles, vegetables, dumplings, burgers, eggs, even a cheese board. We’re known for creating restaurant-quality flavor that’s fast and flexible, not watered down or overly processed.

What sets us apart is our philosophy: convenience shouldn’t mean compromise. We’re not trying to mimic fast food or be another “just add water” meal kit. Our sauces give home cooks speed, but they also leave room for creativity. That’s why they come in jars, not single-serve pouches. You can use them your way — a drizzle, a dollop, or the whole jar.

Brand-wise, I’m most proud that we’ve stayed true to our values. We’re still a tiny, family-run operation making small-batch sauces with the same care we put into feeding our own family. And people feel that.

If readers remember one thing about Superlova!, it’s this: we make real flavor easy — without sacrificing taste, quality, or health.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up straddling two very different cultures and timelines. Until I was 12, I lived in China as an only child — the reality for many families during the one-child policy. In my family, like in many others, daughters were often raised like sons. There was this unspoken expectation that I should prove I wasn’t a “lesser substitute” for the boy they never had. Even as a sensitive kid, I felt that pressure — not in dramatic ways, but in small, subtle moments that shaped how hard I pushed myself.

At the same time, I was deeply artistic. I loved to draw, sing, and get lost in my imagination. Being an only child meant I spent a lot of time alone, and I genuinely enjoyed it. I was the type of kid who could stare out a window for an hour, thinking about the meaning of things most adults didn’t have the time to slow down and notice.

When I was 12, my parents and I immigrated from China to Budapest, Hungary, where I attended an international school. Overnight, my world expanded. Suddenly I was surrounded by different cultures, languages, and perspectives. That experience pulled me out of my inner world and made me more adaptable, observant, and curious. It also made me feel like I existed between worlds — Chinese at home, international at school, and quietly trying to decode it all in my own head.

Looking back, my childhood was a mix of introspection, creativity, and a quiet determination to prove myself — traits that still shape who I am and how I build things today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.superlova.com
• Instagram: super.superlova
• Facebook: super.superlova
• Youtube: theyanzabird