Meet Sierra Hooshiari

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sierra Hooshiari. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sierra, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
I suffered a severe brain injury as a sophomore at Cornell University that left me in a coma. The recovery was unlike anything I could have anticipated. I don’t remember the specific details of the event, but onlookers said it appeared as though I was trying to jump out of the way of a speeding driver while crossing a pedestrian sidewalk. My sandal got stuck in the hood of the car, and I landed on the windshield. The neurosurgeon who evaluated me said I was a ‘force of nature.’ And that’s probably an accurate description.

When I woke up out of the coma, the world was strange and different. I had suffered an epidural hematoma and a case of encephalitis. I couldn’t remember much of anything and felt like I was experiencing the world like a newborn baby—for the first time. I had even taken the class, “Intro to neurology and neuroscience’ the year before, and remember wondering during my recovery the irony at how the textbook didn’t mention a brain injury like this.

My brain chemistry changed, but so did my outlook. I knew that if I wasn’t100% focused on recovery, I might not recover. No matter what life threw at me, I chose to only reach for positive thoughts.
I suffered from the depression that comes with post concussion syndrome, but good habits and discipline from my previous life, kept me getting out of bed no matter how I felt or how much pain I was in on a given day.
I always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but the brain injury recovery propelled my ability to become a risk taker.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Launching a beverage brand in today’s saturated market isn’t easy. But when I went to the Coke Museum in Atlanta, I was mesmerized by the impact of Coke on our community and knew that I had to reinvent the beverage industry with BrainPOP Drink. We hope to help our fellow Americans become healthier and integrate brain nutrition into their daily lives in a fun and playful way.

BrainPOP Drink is a fun fizzy fusion with only 30 calories and 6-8g of sugar per 12oz can. It has a botanical caffeine blend of green tea extract, green coffee bean, and guarana seed. The hydration component of l-creatine, minerals like magnesium and potassium, and nutrients like taurine, l-theanine and Vitamin D, create a heightened boost and smooth caffeine edge without the crash. The fruit purées add a fresh burst of delicious flavor. There are no artificial flavors, colors, sugars, or preservatives.

The surgeon community showed particular enthusiasm for BrainPOP Drink early on, particularly those who perform microsurgery or are caffeine sensitive. BrainPOP is on track to become the Physician & Healthcare Worker’s #1 Beverage of Choice

Our cans are aesthetically appealing and vibrant. They’ll even make your fridge look more glamorous! BrianPOP can support you during rough mornings or a midday slump. It can be used as a pre-workout or post-workout drink. It also makes a great cocktail or mock-tail mixer. There’s something in it for everyone.

Our ‘Drink To Think’ tagline imbues a message of positivity; we want our consumers to care about what they consume and their mental health, one sip at a time!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Everyone is dealt a different hand of cards, so comparing yourself to someone else is futile and unhealthy. Do your best every day, try to be better than you were yesterday.

  1. My brain-injury recovery taught me that mistakes are opportunities for unanticipated success. I started out by telling myself that “when one door closes, two more open.” I walked around and said it to myself, and even to others with unapologetic confidence, I didn’t really believe it at first, but I stuck to that manta until it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sometimes an event you think is the worst possible thing that could happen can actually be the best. It depends on the story you choose to talk about yourself and your life‘s events.
  2. Apologize with confidence. Take responsibility for your mistakes. This will only make you a more amazing human. Practice seeing eye-to-eye with others even if you don’t fully agree. You can use this as an opportunity to become a better listener.
    When you’re genuinely listening, you’re not thinking. You are committing to be present with the other person. Neither my IVY-League education nor my upbringing with my immigrant parents taught me this. I never saw my parents do this, so I invented my own pathway to do this with grace and ease when entering into the Corproate world as a new graduate. Now I love taking responsibility for my actions, my mistakes, and my life.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
We’re looking for investors and grants to take our brand to the next level. You can reach our founder at sierra@newagedrinks. We’re also always looking for distributers and beverage-industry insiders to help spread the word and help us live our mission of making our nation healthier and happier, together, ‘one sip at a time.’

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Richard Qian, Physique 57 Hoboken Let’s #DrinkToThink Together! Love at First Sip by Omer Atici

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