I've always loved exploration - the idea of it as well as actually doing it. My first interests were piqued by time spent as a child reading National Geographic with my father. Staying true to my interests, my academic career was grounded in international studies. Upon completion of grad school in France, I spent my entire 20s trekking the globe, more than 40 countries in all, feeding my desire to know how people live their lives, and piquing my interests in anthropology.

In every country I visited, I was fascinated to see how the different daily rituals of social life, food and drink, work and play, all mix to create a different sense of identity and possibility. For me, wanting more from life is closely related to wanting more overall wellness. Personally, I knew I was at my best when I experienced a dynamic flow of physical, spiritual and mental wellbeing.

Over the years, my travels began to focus increasingly on remote, developing countries. In 1999, my fascination turned a distinct corner closer to ethnobotany, thanks to a little purple berry - the superfruit, açai. The local customs and usages of the superfruits I first experienced in Brazil sounded a lot like the publicity associated with the synthetic nutrient "functional foods" that had become so popular. But the source was nature itself.

By definition, superfruits like açai are totally natural, incredibly high in functional nutrition and low in naturally occurring sugar (not to mention, free of synthetic stimulants or vitamins). It seemed compelling that if you start with great fruit - and do it right - you could create a really great juice... a juice that would stand as a counterpoint to everything else going on in the functional foods space. That's the core idea that became Bossa Nova.

Associates I was working with in Brazil at the time told me to quit my job and sell these fruits. I thought they were crazy, but after winning the USC business plan competition for Bossa Nova a couple of years later, I knew the idea "owned me" - I did not own it.

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