{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Startup CPG Podcast","title":"Founder Feature: Maria of The Purple Drop","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1484,"description":"\nIn this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Maria Velasquez, founder of Purple Drop — a Peruvian super drink made from purple corn grown high in the Andes. Maria is bringing chicha morada, a staple in every Peruvian household, to the US market for the first time as a better-for-you RTD. And she is doing it with her mother-in-law's recipe, organic agave, and zero compromise on the integrity of the original.\nCaitlin opens with a passage from her personal library on ancient fermentation that captures just how deep the history of chicha actually goes. Maria meets that with her own origin story: a Moroccan woman who married into a Peruvian family, fell in love with the culture and the cuisine, and had a lightbulb moment in Lima over Christmas that turned into a brand. She also explains why the one RTD version already on the market — packed with sugar, additives, and coloring — was exactly what she did not want to make.\nFrom there the conversation covers the functional story behind purple corn (studies show it has 10 times more antioxidants than blackberries), the co-packer journey that eventually landed at a brewery, a rebrand that brought llamas and vibrant color to life, and a launch strategy built around winning Peruvian Americans first before casting a wider net. Maria spent a decade in B2B cybersecurity marketing and it shows — in the community-first approach, the food service play she is already running with Peruvian restaurants in the NYC tri-state area, and the PR box she is designing to transport people straight to Peru.\nListen in as they cover:\nHow a Christmas trip to Lima and a mother-in-law's recipe became the foundation of Purple DropThe functional benefits of purple corn and why anthocyanins make this more than just a great-tasting drinkThe co-packer challenge of commercializing a product that American manufacturers had never made beforeHow Maria is building community by winning Peruvian Americans firstThe rebrand...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/pMuUaMpWaAi3tfCEgC2OkLBVzokuLjLsIzwDIbGFqi4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hMTFl/MTgxNTNlZTAwZjU1/ZmNmNWM1ZjkwMDg5/NTU4MS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}