Rosa Li is the founder of prebiotic sparkling beverage brand Wildwonder. She bases her beverages on the wellness drinks that her Chinese grandmother used to brew for her when she was young. Li joins Cheddar News to talk more about the company and the inspiration behind it. 

Between Bells

How Prebiotic Sparkling Beverage Wildwonder Came To Be

Welcome back to between bells starting the company during the pandemic. The brand wild wonders seeing expansive growths into tumble beginnings in 2020, carried by major retailers like whole foods and Wegmans. The company offers prebiotic sparkling beverages with no added refined sugar. It's the first drink that combines the two crucial components for a healthy gut live probiotics and prebiotic fiber, but the company's secret ingredient reimagining the healing drinks of the founders chinese heritage joining us now to discuss this founder of Wild Wonder, Rosalie, rosa, Such a pleasure! Welcome to the show. Your company just launched a new flavor, strawberry passion. I have to ask you first what was the inspiration to create this company especially during the pandemic. Yeah, Hey Hannah, thanks for having me here, I'm so excited to be here. Um yeah, so wild wonder was inspired by these healing tonics from my Chinese grandmother who raised me for the 1st 12 years of my life. Um so growing up she blew these healing tonics that were really good for my health, um lifting my spirit, calming my stomach and really instilled in me the philosophy of food as medicine from an early age. So you know, after working many stressful jobs in finance, I worked in investment banking, private equity, um I started running into health issues that all stemmed in my gut. So I got my gut microbiome tested. I really became a true believer in gut health. So then it really hit me, you know the homemade tonics that grandma made for me worked wonders on my overall wellness and there is a perfect opportunity to apply a modern twist on ancient wisdom. So Wild Wonder was born. And I like to say it's rooted in culture and taste like a California produce stand sold done. You know I was spending some time on your website and you mentioned your grandmother a lot on your website. She helped you inspire the ingredients and the recipes. How does Wild wonder maybe reimagine your grandmother's remedies and of course your chinese heritage within these products. Yeah, good question. So our products are rooted in eastern herbal wisdom. Um so there's a lot of the fresh brewed flowers, herbs, botanicals. So for example, um the strawberry passion flavor that we just launch is made with fresh brewed hibiscus flower, guava roses made from fresh rose petals. All of those are really great for immunity for gut health. And we also put prebiotic, so derived from the mechanicals and herbs, essentially their fiber food for probiotics to thrive. So a lot of people know about probiotics, but you know probiotics are fairly new without probiotics or probiotics actually aren't as effective. So we put you know, all the crucial components to a healthy gut on one. Can we call this healthy gut in the can, There's so many reasons, I love this company, one of them being 5% of your company's profits go towards empowering women in marginalized communities, why take this step as well Rosa. Yeah, so you know so much about, you know this is a good time to talk about it because api heritage month is the month of May and it's really about honoring the rituals. Um We grew up with embracing what makes us different and special and uplifting each other. So um I feel very passionate about uplifting being so um by introducing better for your products to the market and uplifting our communities. Um so 5% of profits go to causes that empower women, empower marginalized communities because a world wonder we're here to really create everyday wonders and for those under voice in our communities. Talk to me about the challenges, bands balancing a product with you know, great ingredients, a great recipe as well as celebrating your heritage. Yeah, I mean it's definitely not easy, but you know, we are very passionate about the mission that we're on, it's not just about um providing better products. We talk about our mission being uplifting or being and are doing so, being meaning is you know better for you products with great ingredients. We actually use all organic certified ingredients in our drinks which is rare these days. Um we don't have any refined sugar is low in sugar, so it's healthy soda alternative, healthy kombucha alternative. Um And on top of that um we want to create, bring communities together and uplifting each other. Um so that's where the, you know, the 5% comes for and it's really about helping other communities in need. Um and together, you know, we're stronger. Absolutely. How are you working to stay competitive in this market in this sector? Yeah, I would say, you know, we have a great team and we have a great vision and we also have a great product and the products do speak for themselves. Um you know, in 2020 for example, we actually launched on international women's day in the middle of a pandemic. And I would say that was a really challenging time. We had large orders going out to some of the most health conscious offices like google and facebook and all of a sudden the whole channel is shut down. Um so our business was actually wiped out overnight, but you know, we felt really strongly about what we have here and actually the whole foods reached out to us instead, they wanted to stock our products. So we worked really hard to pivot and immediately launching retail and launched online. So I think that all speak to, you know, the strength, the strength of our products, the strength of the team. Um you know, the odds are stacked against us in the middle of the pandemic, but I was actually also able to, you know, raise money as a female minority founder. You know, the we receive low single percentage of all venture funding, right? So the fact that we were able to grow in the midst of a pandemic really speaks to the potential of what we have to offer. I have to tell you you have a new consumer. I'm so impressed with everything you've accomplished about 15 seconds and I'm sorry to rush this answer, but I do want to ask you what does a a. P. I. Month mean to you? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, this is a really exciting time for us. I think, you know, as I mentioned with our mission, we're here to really honor our heritage, our family values, the rituals we grew up with. Maybe it's the healing philosophies of um, my grandparents. Maybe it's bringing more globally inspired flavors. I think this is a great opportunity for a lot of the food and beverage companies to really embrace our values are, you know, the heritage inspired flavors and um, share that with the community and uplift our communities together. I cannot wait to try this Founder of Wild Wonder Rosalie, here's the continued success rosa. Thank you