beverage-entrepreneur
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Jaqui Rice Gold
Jaqui Rice Gold is the co-founder and CEO of G.O.A.T. Fuel, a health-forward sports energy drink she launched in January 2020 with her father, NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, and her husband Trevion Gold. Built as the first Black-owned energy drink to lean on cordyceps mushrooms instead of sugar and synthetic stimulants, the brand grew from a pandemic-era direct-to-consumer scramble into a nationally distributed product in tens of thousands of retail doors, with sponsorship deals spanning the Los Angeles Lakers and the WNBA's Chicago Sky.
Jerome Tse
Jerome Tse is the founder and CEO of Berri Organics (also branded Berri Pro), a Southern California maker of certified-organic, plant-based hydration drinks. A Cornell-trained Hotelie and former competitive rower, he built the world's first plant-based organic fitness beverage, Berri Fit, from a dorm-kitchen prototype into a national brand. Its follow-up, Berri Lyte, an organic electrolyte solution, now anchors the company and sells in roughly 2,000 stores including Whole Foods, CVS, Target, Wegmans and Sprouts. Tse was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list in 2019, and the company has raised more than $7 million.
Jennie Ripps
Jennie Ripps is the founder and CEO of Owl's Brew, the boozy-tea company she co-built with Maria Littlefield to put real fruit, tea and botanicals back into ready-to-drink cocktails. A certified tea sommelier who started in publishing, she hand-blends every flavor base in her own kitchen before it ever reaches production. Owl's Brew has earned 40+ tasting awards and reaches shelves at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target and Total Wine, plus stadiums from Yankee Stadium to TD Garden. Beyond the bottle, Ripps champions women in the alcohol industry through the Wise Women Collective and brings readers together with the Boozy Book Club.
Sean Banks
Sean Banks is the founder and CEO of Krisp Drinks LLC, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania beverage company that makes Krisp Flava, Krisp Fruitish, and Krispwtr - a line of zero-sugar flavored spring waters sourced from Pennsylvania's Locust Mountains. He built the company from a convenience-store insight into a brand now stocked at Giant Food Stores, Amazon, and bodegas across all five New York City boroughs, while running it as a family operation with his wife and daughters.