Health-Ade Kombucha: Daina Trout by Mya Sharp

Entrepreneurship 2012

myalsharp — 2024-02-20 16:05:30 UTC

In 2012, Daina, Justin, and Vanessa came up with an idea to create a hair mask to help with hair loss out of a SCOBY from kombucha. The hair mask was much harder to make than they thought, so they used the next best thing. They started selling the kombucha they were already making, instead of using the SCOBY.

Land 2012

myalsharp — 2024-02-20 16:06:46 UTC

Kombucha is typically made from tea, water, sugar, and a culture. A culture is the collection of microorganisms that are responsible for the fermentation of kombucha. Health-Ade also added a mixture of green and black tea, and cold-pressed juice from organic produce for added fresh flavor.

Labor 2007

myalsharp — 2024-02-20 16:06:57 UTC

In 2007, Daina and Justin Trout moved to Los Angeles, hoping Justin would find success in the music industry. Daina found a sales job at GlaxoSmithKline and on her first day, she was paired up with her future best friend, Vanessa Dew. Fast forward to 2012, both Daina and Vanessa felt unsatisfied at GSK and Justin was struggling in the music industry. This led the three of them to brainstorm new business ideas they could start.

Capital 2013

myalsharp — 2024-02-20 16:07:41 UTC

Daina began brewing her kombucha in her apartment in Los Angeles. Vanessa Dew had a connection with some friends at the Brentwood farmers market. This connection led them to sell their kombucha at farmer's markets all over the area. Their main goal, however, was to get their product into a prominent grocery chain. Eventually, the trio got Erewhon Market to give them a little shelf space in 2013.

Entrepreneurship 2019

myalsharp — 2024-02-23 16:17:36 UTC

In 2019, Daina was included on Inc’s Female Founder 100 list and was also named BevNet’s Person Of The Year. The same year, she was a semifinalist in EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year program and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization. A year later, Daina was highlighted on Entrepreneur’s 100 Powerful Women list and was a featured guest on NPR’s How I Built This.

Capital 2016

myalsharp — 2024-02-23 17:19:16 UTC

Coca-Cola Co., took an early interest, as did Century City-based First Beverage Group, which was only among a handful of venture capitalists that invested in Health-Ade. In 2016, the company opened a 50,000-square-foot office and production and bottling facility in Torrance. This led to Health-Ade distributing its kombucha in Whole Foods Market Inc., Target Corp., and Costco Wholesale Corp. stores.

Today

myalsharp — 2024-02-23 17:32:49 UTC

Today, Health-Ade brews over 120,000 bottles of Kombucha every day and does close to $200 million in retail sales. Health-Ade produces 16 flavors of kombucha, which can be found in more than 26,000 stores. In 2019, the company sold more than 5 million cases of kombucha and plans to continue growing sales every year.