Her Story
About Sai
Saisha Patel serves as co-founder and co-CEO of Drink Hippie, a functional beverage company she helped launch to deliver clean energy options without spikes or crashes. Her career spans 13 years building startups from the ground up across nonprofit, tech, and beverage CPG sectors. Patel earned both her master's and bachelor's degrees in organizational leadership while working full time and holds a SAFE Agilist certification. Earlier in her career she received the 40 Under 40 Influential Leader award from National Mortgage Professionals Magazine and contributed to a team that earned the Best Work Culture Award from TechCrunch. Through Drink Hippie, alongside her co-founders, she has cultivated the Energy for Change impact initiative, which each quarter supports a woman driving positive change in her community with partnership, platforming, and product.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sai
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a lot of really wonderful mentors that took a risk on me. When I won that 40 Under 40 award, I was with a company called New American Funding, and the CEO at the time decided to give me a huge opportunity for leading a team. I didn't have the background, I didn't have the resume, but he saw that I had the grit and the passion and the ability to learn quickly. Leaders that were willing to allow me opportunities, but then also to give me very direct and honest feedback throughout that journey, got me to where I am. I receive feedback really well, I want the constructive feedback, but I also want to be given the opportunity to try new things.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
There's two things. One is to never stop learning, never let your title get in the way or bring an ego to you. I will learn until the day I die. If I'm not learning something new every single day, I'm not doing something right. And then the second thing is to be okay with failing and failing quickly. Failing is not a sign of you're not gonna make it or you're not gonna succeed. Failing is actually a sign of taking something and being able to learn from it quickly and utilize it to do even better things.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You should never let the fact that you might be the only woman in the room deter you or intimidate you. You're there for a reason, you are confident in what you are doing, and you are likely one of the most impactful people in the room, and just know that, and walk in with confidence, and speak with confidence, and you'll be able to change the category.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Beverage is one of the hardest CPG categories because it's a very heavy product and logistically there's a lot more complications, but two, it's such a competitive market and a competitive landscape. The biggest challenge is we're coming into a space that is already so inundated with so many different brands and so many different companies, but we are still wanting to stand out and still be the most impactful we can be. The biggest thing we're doing right now is honest storytelling, being as boots on the ground as possible, and really making sure that although it's a competitive space, although it's a difficult product logistically, that we are able to tell our story and get in front of as many people as possible.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Authenticity, respect, and commitment.
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