My lightbulb moment: Juice guru Kara Rosen, reveals the inspiration behind her plant-based drinks brand
- Kara Rosen, 42, who lives in London, founded plant-based brand Plenish in 2012
- She revealed her inspiration came after she became ill at the age of 29
- Plenish is now sold at Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Boots and Whole Foods
Kara Rosen, 42, founded Plenish, a range of plant-based juice cleanses and nut milks, in 2012. She lives in London with her husband Leon and their two daughters, Charlie, two, and Belle, eight.
I’m a native New Yorker but worked here in my 20s, doing marketing for Vogue publisher Condé Nast. It was great fun, but exhausting, as I was travelling a lot. I thought I was healthy, yet everything I ate was beige: porridge, sandwiches, whatever I could grab at airports.
Then, in 2003, I got a bad case of strep throat, which causes painful inflammation. I went on anti-biotics, but it kept coming back.
Kara Rosen, 42, (pictured) who lives in London, revealed the inspiration behind her plant-based juice brand Plenish
I hit rock-bottom at Christmas 2007, when I got so ill my parents came to look after me. I was 29, single and felt so powerless.
This was a real wake-up call. I decided to visit a nutritionist. She told me my gut was so destroyed by antibiotics that I couldn’t absorb the nutrients from food.
So I went on a juice cleanse, to rebuild my microbiome, which affects immunity. It was life-changing.
I got into juicing. My friends thought I’d become a hippie!
Shortly after, I met my husband Leon and we moved to London. However, there wasn’t the same juicing culture here.
So I ordered a cold-press juicer to make my own. At first, it was just for me. Then, when I attended post-natal yoga classes, I started sharing my juices with other mums. One day I got a call from someone at Goldman Sachs. His wife had given him one, and he wanted enough for the whole trading desk.
Health boost: plenishdrinks.com
This was my lightbulb moment. I realised there were other people, like me, who needed a healthy boost but don’t have time.
In 2012, I launched Plenish — a range of handmade, plant-based juices and dairy-free milks — while still on maternity leave.
The beginning was a blur: I was juggling a new business with a baby. Yet, I got a partnership with Soho House and Yoga Studios; launched in Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Liberty in 2014, and Ocado in 2015.
Now, we’re stocked in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Boots, Planet Organic and Whole Foods. Gwyneth Paltrow also named us the best juice cleanse on her website Goop.
Our aim remains to make it easy for people to look after their health, and the planet’s, so that we’re running on plenty, not empty. It’s never been more important.