Kindroot was founded by Alisa Pospekhova in 2018. Alisa struggled with autoimmune and respiratory conditions since childhood, and whenever she got sick, she would get persistent coughs that would last three weeks at a time. As a result, she was a frequent consumer of lozenges. One day, Alisa found herself walking into a Walgreens for a new pack of lozenges and realized that while she had purchased the same Ricola lozenges for the past 20 years, she still didn’t feel any emotional connection to the brand. Alisa began to think about developing a different kind of lozenge — one that was natural and soothing but could also resonate with the consumer. As she was refining the concept in her mind, Alisa happened to be traveling at LAX and was going through security with a Ziploc bag of adaptogenic powders, recommended by her holistic doctor, when she was stopped by TSA. After being cleared and as she was going up the escalator at Delta terminal, the idea for Kindroot hit her.

Alisa decided to create functional lozenges by leveraging the lozenge as a convenient delivery vehicle for adaptogenic herbs and aromatherapy. She had spent the last 15 years in CPG brand management and had gone to herbalist school, so she knew what she needed to do to bring Kindroot to market. Alisa experimented with blending various adaptogens together and called up every single manufacturer she could find, but each one rejected her concept, telling her the chances of success were low. Nonetheless, she refused to give up. Alisa hired a scientist and a production expert and, 18 months later, began producing the lozenges herself. Fast forward to today, Kindroot’s products have supported the health needs of fans across the country, giving the uninspiring and stale lozenge category a much-needed facelift.