Food People #006: Maya French & Koia & Happy Pop!

Maya French was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 in 2019 for her role in building the nation’s leading plant-based protein beverage, Koia. Today, Maya is building her next iconic brand, Happy Pop! with Koia co-founder, Dustin Baker.

After a decade of experience in food & beverage, Maya has found her voice and calling, “Building brands for happier lives in a MAD world.” Happy Pop! is just one of the brands to come out of her venture studio, MAD Projects.

In our chat, Maya shares her path from 23-year-old student to entrepreneur and what it takes to find your voice while building an industry-leading brand.

It’s been a privilege to speak with Maya, learn from her incredible experience, and share more of her story with you.

Bon Appétit! - Read Time: 10 Minutes

If you’re reading this email in gmail it might get clipped! You can always view full issues here.

Part I: Business

Lex: Describe your path to working in food.

Maya: My path to working in food started humbly. I started making fresh juice, which eventually pivoted to protein drinks. It came out of the need to solve for dietary restrictions I had, and I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle.

I began to see how the products my partner and I created changed people's lives. Our products helped them live healthier lives. That created a purpose for me. It’s what drove me into the food industry and what keeps me in it.

That happened very early in your life, right?

I started in the food business when I was 23 years old. I was partied out and ready to get serious. I was going to school for marketing, but I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. When I found something that I was passionate about, I went all in. I quit school early and decided to start a business - I figured that there are some things in life that you only get one opportunity to do. 

Koia was your first food and beverage brand. You started in 2013 - it has now been over a decade. What you've built is incredible.

In the last decade, what has been the toughest obstacle that you've personally had to overcome?

Being uncomfortable all the time and being a business owner forces you to grow. In a way, it's almost like when you have a child and you're forced to be an adult. It's the same thing when you're starting a business.

A lot of your flaws can leak into the business, especially how you interact with people (employees or customers). Learning myself over time, learning to overcome fear, and learning to lean into my strengths has been one of the most difficult and rewarding things over the years. It's constantly changing because you're growing at a super fast rate. You're forced to.

I recently read that one of those obstacles was finding your voice and that you've now found it. Tell us about what it feels like now to be in your third food and beverage business, in your 30s, and owning your voice.

I didn't find my voice until I received accolades. That was a pivotal point for me in 2019. Getting that recognition validated the work that I've done. Before that recognition, you’re working with your head down and never think that what you're doing is good enough. Once I received that recognition, I was more empowered to be a representative not only as a young female but as an African American female.

I don’t look like the typical person who owns a business in food and beverage.

I found importance in coaching other people and giving them a leg up in any way that I could because the food and beverage industry is very much an insider business. You only know what you know through who you know and who has done it before.

If you’re on the outside of it, it's very hard to break through those barriers. Anything that I could do to help, whether that was continuing to do podcasts, writing, or sharing my journey, I think has helped amplify my voice in many ways and helped other people conquer their goals.

What does it mean to be a woman in the food industry today?

We are often misunderstood. Our passion sometimes can be mistaken for aggression. We are incredible leaders and we have to support one another in every way that we can in a male-dominated business. We lead by uplifting one another, which teaches men to do the same. 

Being a woman in the food industry, one of the most strenuous industries, means a lot. We're all superwomen trying to change the world with one common mission.

You had a male counterpart in your first business and your current venture. How would you say that relationship has helped you grow?

Having a male counterpart is like having a close brother in business. Someone you can lean on and who makes investor meetings a little easier when you realize there are a lot of men in the world who aren't used to being in rooms with women.

It allows me to live in my feminine energy and contribute that to the business.

It also allows me to live in my masculine energy, which is beautiful. I like it. It's not like two females are going into an investor meeting trying to convince a bunch of corporate finance men to invest in the business. It's a nice gender balance.

What's a cherished highlight of your career in food?

There are so many cherished highlights of my career in food. Every time I go to an Expo West is a cherished highlight. You get to see so many amazing founders and emerging brands. You're constantly learning from one another. It's our Super Bowl. Every year I repeat that cycle, it’s the thing I look forward to the most.

You had a busy booth at Expo West this year with your new product, Happy Pop!, which is very delicious. I love the Rainbow Drip flavor. How did the idea for Happy Pop! come to life?

Shortly after my partner and I had exited Koia in 2021, we were anxious and wanted to come out with a beverage right away. It took a long time to get it to where we are, having it be a mood-boosting beverage. We knew we wanted something people could feel right away, that could help the world in its current state.

During the pandemic, a lot of people were unhappy. You look at the effects of social media on individuals, especially the younger generation, and everybody has FOMO. No one's ever satisfied with their current life. We wondered how we could make people feel something right away or take something right away that didn’t take too much time.

We explored cannabis at first because that's something you can feel. Given all of our research and visiting the production facilities, we noticed that a lot of people aren't doing it because there is a huge barrier to entry. It takes a lot of money to build a business and you have to wait around for regulations to change for it to work. 

We started looking at brands like Olipop and Poppi and what they're doing in soda. They're focused on gut health and high-fiber products - I can't do high-fiber products.

We looked at the growing energy category and we found a white space.

There's an opportunity there because when you have energy or anything you can feel, there are many different types of feelings that go along with it.

We wanted to create more happiness in the world. We found an ingredient that converts to dopamine in your body - mucuna powder. We figured combining that with one hundred milligrams of caffeine would give you a happy energy boost. It's a motivator and it tastes great. The formulation is amazing because we're not using any sugar alcohol, stevia, or added sugar and you feel it right away. You keep coming back for more.

I can vouch that it tastes amazing and your packaging makes me happy. Just looking at the can before I consume it brings a smile to my face. I love that it ties back to what you mentioned about Koia leaving this lasting impact on the world, first through plant-based protein and now through happy energy. 

Who are the women in food that inspire you?

Vanessa Walker has been a great mentor of mine. She used to be the head of sales and marketing for both La Croix and Celsius. I worked with Amy Cohn on Joydays. She's an incredible founder. Jordan Gaspar is a badass queen. She was a great mentor in the early days of Koia.

All the women I've met along my journey have had a certain confidence in the way they handle themselves in the industry. They do what needs to be done with a ferocity that has always been inspiring to me and helped my confidence.

I read somewhere that the qualities you admire in other people are the qualities you see in yourself. So it's great to see that those are the qualities you admire in them because those are the qualities I think we all admire in you.

PART II: Food

Describe your childhood in food.

My mother always attempted gourmet cooking, so it shaped my palate and gave me a baseline for healthy food, even though my cultural food was soul food. As I grew up and was able to eat whatever I wanted, that changed.

When they say you can live to eat or eat to live, I was living to eat. I matured and started realizing I had dietary restrictions and that I wanted to feel good.

I think a major thing with people and their relationship to food is that they don't realize they feel bad until they start to feel good. When I started to eliminate things from my diet and feel good, I started to eat to live, while also finding things I could enjoy. If I was missing certain foods that I couldn’t eat, I would create them. My relationship with food has changed over time. 

What snacks remind you of home?

Snacks I can't eat anymore! I love corn and I can't have it anymore. I can't digest it, but it reminds me so much of home because it was one of my favorite snacks growing up.

If I think about living on the South Side of Chicago, it would be candies like Fruity Chews and walking tacos, which are burrito bags with meat and cheese in them. I can't have cheese anymore either. Those are the types of snacks that are very nostalgic for me and remind me of home.

I love a walking taco. What were some of your food traditions growing up?

Every New Year my grandmother makes a seafood gumbo, which is amazing. It has all types of seafood.

Some people might be completely grossed out, but every year she makes chitterlings, which are pig intestines. There are only two people in the house that eat it, which are me and my grandfather. I like it with Louisiana hot sauce.

Those are some of the foods that are embedded into my culture because they are southern. My grandmother grew up in Paducah, Kentucky. A lot of my family came from there and brought those traditions back here.

Nowadays, I mostly eat vegetables, like greens and sweet potatoes - I have very little meat on my plate. I still love a good plate of soul food.

What is your most memorable food experience?

It’s not a great one. It’s when I got food poisoning from something and learned never to eat it in that form again. It's always the bad moments that are ingrained in your brain. The first time I got sick from corn is ingrained in my brain too.

Great food experiences would be the times I went to Mexico City and Israel - they have the best food there! My food experience in those two places have changed my life.

I can relate to food aversions. I once ate too many dolmades, which are Greek grape leaves stuffed with rice. I was six or seven and I wouldn't stop eating them. I got so sick and haven't had one since. 

How would you describe your current dining habits or rituals today?

Every day I have the same breakfast sandwich. It's an “Egg McMuffin” that I make. It's an English muffin with fig or raspberry jelly. Then, I add egg whites with prosciutto and Fly By Jing chili crisps on top. That's a staple for me.

I try not to snack throughout the day. I'll wait to have one more big meal.

I drink a ton of beverages throughout the day. I'm the beverage queen. I love to have three or four beverages at a time, half full throughout the house.

I love to go out to eat at restaurants as a way to connect with people, whether that's in groups or one-on-one. 

I’m very conscious of restaurants that use bad seed oils. My body will know and I'll never eat at that restaurant again. Sushi is a go-to and a treat for me. If I'm feeling bad or depressed, I'll order Sugarfish or KazuNori. I could eat sashimi every single day.

I love that your body can detect seed oils - most restaurants won't disclose that. Anywhere you don't eat, I won’t eat!

How do you consider and evaluate food today, whether that's choosing menu items in a restaurant or walking the aisles of a grocery store?

With my very restrictive dietary needs, it’s been helpful to learn how things are cooked. There are things restaurants won't disclose. I know that there is butter or milk in a dish because I know how it's made. That helps inform me when I'm making decisions in a restaurant.

In a grocery store, my eyes go directly to allergen statements. I'm looking at what oils are in a product and if they have any allergens. I don't like products with soy in them, so I'll stay away from those - it makes me bloated. I stay away from corn and milk ingredients. 

I always say I eat everything as long as it doesn't have the things that I can't have in it.

How do you buy your groceries? Do you shop in person or online? Is it the same groceries every week? Do you peruse the aisles?

I love to peruse the aisles for new products, but I think grocery shopping is so hard! I have to buy veggies and things that are fresh, but they can go bad before I have time to cook and eat them.

One thing that I've been doing recently is making bowls. I get the set number of ingredients for the bowls and I mix and match. It’s usually two types of greens, like kale or spinach. I'll make a base with rice or quinoa, and then I'll add beans. I'll get one or two proteins to mix and match with. I’ll add some random complimentary veggies and sauces. That helps me grocery shop because I'll put it all into a bowl, knowing it's nutritious. 

I’ll go to Erewhon for specialty items like snacks. Whole Foods has great sauces and random things that I like. Trader Joe's is a great place for me to get everything on a budget.

What was your last great food adventure?

Last February I went to Mexico to learn about regenerative agriculture and sustainability in the food movement down there. I did a tour of Chiapas and learned about their biodiverse farmlands. I learned more about organic food and the diversity of plant species. That was eye-opening for me, and delicious! 

You're the first person to respond to that question with a learning experience!

What's a food people would be surprised you love?

I think it’s pie.

I'm not a huge sweet eater, but I like pies and soft cookies. Those are the only types of sweets I like, but again, they can’t have milk. Very often I can find apple pies without any dairy ingredients. Those are my guilty pleasures.

I also like a good soft bread. I'm really big on bread textures - something that's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

This issue of Salt & Main is brought to you by LEXINGTON BAKES

Part III: Dessert

This interview continues with rapid-fire questions on TikTok and Instagram. Follow @SaltAndMain on TikTok and @SaltAndMain on Instagram and don’t miss the rest of the conversation including Maya’s favorite Koia flavor, vegan ice cream, what makes the best potato chip, the perfect sandwich, best travel snack, and more.

Connect with Maya & Happy Pop!

• Follow: @mayajfrench on IG

• Follow: @drinkhappypop on IG

• Shop: HappyPop!

If you enjoyed this interview, please help us grow by forwarding to a friend who might enjoy it too. 🫶