Passionista Daina Trout — Co-Founder Health-Ade Kombucha

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

Swiss engineer George de Mestral had no intention of inventing Velcro when he took his dog into the woods on a hunting trip. But when burrs started to stick to his pooch’s fur, a revolution began. Navy engineer Richard James was trying to create springs to keep sensitive instruments on ships from bobbing about when he accidentally designed the Slinky. And Daina Trout had no intention of becoming a kombucha mogul when she first started focusing her attention on the fermented beverage. When it all began, her husband, Justin, had learned he was losing his hair. So Daina, Jeff and Daina’s best friend, Vanessa Dew, joined forces to create a SKOBY (or Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) to help combat his problem. The plan was to build a hair growth empire. They were suddenly were offered a spot at a local Los Angeles farmer’s market and they weren’t prepared to reveal their SKOBY to the masses. Luckily SKOBY is the culture that is used to make kombucha and Daina had been making the drink in her closet and giving it away to friends. When their Health-Ade Kombucha became a hit at the Brentwood street fair, the team knew that they should focus on the health drink and ditch the haircare product. Six years, and a ton of sweat equity later, Health-Ade is the fastest growing beverage in the category. During our sit down with Daina, she gave us the full story of her journey, talked frankly about the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and inspired us with her no holds barred approach to growing her business while being a devoted wife and mother. To listen to our conversation with Daina Trout go to The Passionistas Project Podcast. To learn more about where you can buy Health-Ade Kombucha and join their online community visit the official Health-Ade website.