Building Cha’s Organics: Marise May on Purpose-Driven Business, Regenerative Food & Growing With Integrity

In this episode of The People-Driven CEO Podcast, Shane sits down with Marise May, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cha’s Organics, to talk about purpose-driven entrepreneurship, food, sustainability and what it takes to build a company around values that still has to work as a business.

Marise shares the unlikely love story behind Cha’s Organics, from studying Nutritional Science at UBC and moving to Tokyo to meeting her future husband and business partner, Chanaka. Their time in Sri Lanka introduced her to the country’s food culture, farming traditions and traditional knowledge, eventually inspiring them to build a business that could bring those products to North America while creating a positive impact for the people and ecosystems behind them.

She also opens up about the earliest days of the company, launching the business while raising a six-month-old baby, taking on a first shipment worth roughly $40,000 with almost no money and building the company one relationship at a time. Twenty years later, Cha’s Organics has grown from spices and tea into a much larger organic food portfolio, with products sold through retailers including Costco Canada. The conversation explores what happens as a founder-led company grows, from learning how to delegate and build systems to leading people without losing the relationships and purpose that made the business work in the first place.

Marise also shares why fair trade, regenerative organic farming and supporting farmers are not separate from the business model. They are part of how she believes a healthy business should operate. Ultimately, Marise’s vision is about using food as a way to create better outcomes at every level: healthier products for consumers, stronger livelihoods for farmers and more resilient ecosystems for future generations.