Vanessa Dew: Co-Founder of Health-Ade Kombucha

This week, we chat with Vanessa Dew who is the Co-Founder of Health-Ade Kombucha. Vanessa founded Health-Ade Kombucha in 2012 alongside her best friends and husband-and-wife team, Justin and Daina Trout. As Chief Sales Officer, Vanessa brings an invaluable knowledge of sales and marketing amassed from years spent at a major pharmaceutical company before leaving to help start Health-Ade Kombucha. Through her expertise in channel penetration and people management, Vanessa has led Health-Ade’s sales team to boost availability in key channels and markets, while cultivating the Health-Ade brand as a whole. The brand is now available in 35,000 stores including Whole Foods, Target and Trader Joes.

Originally from Los Angeles, Vanessa is a first-generation Asian American who has always had an interest in science as well as the entrepreneurial bug, even as a little kid. She received her BS in Biochemistry from UC San Diego and an MBA from the University of Southern California. One of her passions is to give back to the community and other entrepreneurs and serves as a USC Marshall Mentor, advises several young CPG companies, and is an active member of the Female Founder Collective, Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) and Asian Business Association (ABA). Further, she’s an advisor of GoldHouse with the goal of helping to uplift other Asian American entrepreneurs. She has been awarded the NextGen Innovation Award and has spoken on her entrepreneurial journey from Singapore to NYC. Her interests and hobbies include cooking, travelling, experiencing the food scene in LA and beyond, staying active and hanging out with her husband, Kevin, their son, Oliver, and pup, Dubu.

Follow us!

Vanessa: @v_dew (and on Fireside here)

Health-Ade Kombucha: @healthade and website here

RAPID Decision-Making (technique mentioned during show): more info here

Dear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething (and on Fireside here)