Words by Virginia Myers & Megan Smith
Photography by Jesse Fox

In 2010, Heather Howell was wooed away from her job in talent acquisition for a Fortune 100 company and charged with the task of taking a small farmer’s market product to a nationally recognized and distributed brand. She had no beverage, bottling, distribution, or start-up experience. A deterrent for some, perhaps, but Rooibee Red Tea’s investors believed this former Division I athlete, no stranger to competition, was the secret ingredient to the tea’s success.

The million dollar question for any brand stepping into the marketplace is ”how do I get recognized?” Heather, now Chief Tea Officer of Rooibee Red Tea, knew the company’s only chance of a little known tea leaf product becoming a household name was to focus time and energy on three objectives: strategic store presence, stellar people, and spot-on public relations. “My first goal was to find the best team I could in the food and beverage space,” Heather said. “I knew we needed hearty team members to take Rooibee Red Tea to the next level. The beverage space is dog-eat-dog and there are some big dogs there reluctant to give up market share. To survive in this industry, you have to be scrappy.”

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