The Quality Makers: Rosa Li of wildwonder
Founder Rosa Li of wildwonder
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Born in Beijing, China and now based in San Francisco, founder of wildwonder, Rosa Li, was raised by her grandparents for the first 12 years of her life. These formative years were particularly special to Rosa because wildwonder was very much inspired by her grandmother, who used to brew tonics with a symphony of wild herbs and botanicals that soothed Rosa’s stomach and lifted her spirits. This cultural method taught Rosa the philosophy of food as medicine, and as a result, wildwonder became a platform in which her heritage continues to be the main source of creativity and innovation. In honor of her grandmother’s wisdom and California’s produce, wildwonder is where Rosa’s two worlds collide in the most delicious way possible.
Credit: wildwonder
Can you introduce wildwonder? I'd like to hear about the name and the different products you offer.
wildwonder is a heritage-inspired, fruit-forward brand offering sparkling drinks with unique flavor profiles and gut health benefits. We're the first drink to put prebiotics and probiotics all in one can, for a more holistic way to approach gut health. A lot of people think of us as a healthy soda alternative, but we don't taste like a soda, we don't go after the traditional soda flavors and we bring low-sugar drinks to the table. We have 50% less sugar than kombucha and 90% less sugar than soda. We offer Raspberry Lychee, Strawberry Passion, Peach Ginger, Lemon Ginger, Pear Turmeric, Guava Rose, Pineapple Paradise, and Mango Gold. All our flavor profiles are culturally influenced and sold at $42 per 12-pack.
Are your flavors Asian inspired?
We don’t just focus on Asian flavors, but we really create unique flavor experiences. The “Asian part” of the drink is actually the botanicals, so it's really rooted in Eastern herbal wisdom. My grandmother used to brew these herbs for me growing up, so the first ingredient in every can is herb-focused. For example, honeysuckle is very popular in Eastern herbalism because it treats a variety of conditions like indigestion and bacterial infections. A lot of our flavors are the culmination of East meets West. In Raspberry Lychee, you get my favorite Asian fruit, as well as a quintessential American fruit, to really bring forth this melting pot idea. People find that really approachable, but we’re still different from your more traditional or typical flavors.
Credit: Rosa Li
How is your personal journey related to starting wildwonder?
I never really thought of myself as a beverage entrepreneur, in fact I started my career in finance, worked a lot of stressful jobs, traveled a lot, and all those hours eventually started to have an impact on my body. At one point, I went to the doctor's office and he said, “you're the first girl to overestimate her weight by 20 pounds.” I realized that my lifestyle was not having a great impact on my health, so I started looking into gut health. I noticed that a lot of these functional ingredients that I used to consume, actually had a very positive impact on the gut. I went to Stanford, which is an environment that really cultivates entrepreneurship, and that experience encouraged me to go after my passions. So after working with a number of startups, I decided to really create something that 1. honors my heritage, and 2. really goes after something I'm personally passionate about. I wanted to use wildwonder as a way to bring these heritage-inspired and healthy ingredients to the masses.
I'm a huge foodie, so I don't believe in giving up taste for health. All of these functional, better-for-you products don't taste that good, so to really make someone love and enjoy a drinkable product, it has to be delicious. I created a drink with a taste profile that’s really delightful and approachable, so that we can actually get the benefits to the everyday consumer. When I first started, there were a ton of kombuchas out there, and there still are, but kombucha is not for everyone. I created wildwonder as a way to expand that market for kombucha, because we're able to offer the same benefits, but through a much better tasting product. We do have some additional benefits, like fiber, which is really beneficial because a lot of people lack fiber in their diet. Overall, wildwonder is the culmination of grandma-wisdom combined with the concept of a California produce stand. Our goal is to make our products a habit for people to consume, so being taste-forward is key.
Credit: Rosa Li
I want to hear more about how this brand and your products are a reflection of your heritage.
I’ve realized that there are so many practices and habits that I built over time that I didn’t really appreciate until much later in life. For instance, monk fruit is a very popular ingredient in Eastern or Chinese Herbal Medicine and wisdom. I actually visited the largest producer of monk fruit with my mom last year when I was visiting my grandmother. That was the moment where my grandma tasted my product for the first time, so it was a really special moment. When we visited this farm that had monk fruit, I was reminded of its essentiality which is why it's in most, if not all, of our drinks. It helps sweeten the drinks without increasing or affecting your glycemic index, so it's a better version of stevia, without the aftertaste or the sugar that everyone's trying to avoid. We balance that with real fruit juice to make the drink sweeter, but very low calorie at the same time. All the ingredients in our drinks are very much rooted in the culture I grew up with, and also the culture I find myself in now. The East is more herbal wisdom, whereas the West is more the taste of California.
Tell me about your newest launch in collaboration with the iconic drag queen, Nymphia Wind.
Our newest launch has the most exciting and most unique flavor. This is actually our very first product collaboration, and it's so on brand for both sides. Various members of my team follow RuPaul's Drag Race, and obviously we know that Nymphia made history as the first East Asian drag queen that took the crown from RuPaul's Drag Race. I’ve always wanted to work with her because she's not only super creative, she's also all about elevating Asian art and culture. Growing up in China, I used to watch Peking Opera: a very traditional opera that involves musical instruments, vocal performances and acrobatics, that my grandparents used to love. Nymphia, during one part of the show, sashayed onto the main stage in full on, Peking Opera glam. What she did was so unique. She is not afraid of embracing her culture and traditional art, and she's making it cool. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do: embracing our uniqueness, telling our story, and really elevating AAPI heritage, art and culture.
Credit: wildwonder
I immediately found the alignment between the two brands, so we reached out to her and she fell in love with our flavors. Banana is her favorite fruit, and she's always wearing yellow, so we thought it would be the perfect flavor collab. Banana Queen has a banana cream flavor, which is also really unique for a sparkling drink, and it turned out to be very nostalgic. Banana is a very popular fruit in Taiwan, which is where Nymphia’s heritage comes from, so it really felt like the perfect fit. When we launched, we did this photo shoot where we had a huge banana as the prop. She made a costume that was just fabulous, where she basically acts as a cream part of the banana cream, so she was sitting on top of the banana in this fabulous outfit. It was such an honor to work with her.
Credit: wildwonder
Tell me more about how inclusivity is one of your core values.
Our mission is to create everyday wonders for those underserved in our communities. When we first launched the brand, we worked with female and diverse creatives every step of the way. We’ve always had a diverse team because I truly believe that people who are from different backgrounds will bring different perspectives and will make our company stronger. The beverage space is very ‘bro-ey’ and traditionally non-diverse. So, to bring in the element of difference is not only really exciting, it also pushes the boundaries. In everything we do, we tend to collaborate with people who are like-minded, and who have similar missions. We work a lot with women and female-founded brands, with diverse, POC-founded brands and voices, and even artists and creators.
Credit: wildwonder
What would you say differentiates your brand from others in the industry?
Firstly, I would once again point out our unique flavors, which are really a reflection of our diversity and show our deep roots in Eastern herbal wisdom. But the secondary part is how we think about the benefits we offer. These are not empty calories. A lot of people want to make sure that they're doing something that's better for their bodies, but most of the things out there that are functional or better for you, are hard to understand. We really strive to make health-related things fun, whimsical and easy for people to consume. You don't have to understand the difference between a prebiotic or a probiotic, or all the nuances of gut health. If you read the label, you'll see there's just botanicals, herbs and fruit in each of our drinks.