Co-Founder of Hu Chocolate & HumanCo, Jason Karp: Defying Medical Diagnoses to Running Multi Hundred Million Dollar Health + Wellness Companies

In this episode of Rooted, I interviewed Jason Karp, the Co-Founder of Hu Chocolate and later HumanCo. For anyone that does not already know, Hu creates chocolate with simple, clean ingredients, with the mission of “getting back to human.”  This mission was born after Jason graduated from UPENN and faced multiple autoimmune diseases and was also told that he would go blind by age 30. Jason defied the medical diagnoses by studying many populations and regions of the world with long-living, healthy people. He realized that while there are some differences in each group, the commonality is that they are all very in touch with nature and the earth. He then began adapting simple lifestyle changes himself. While running his own hedge fund, he, his wife, and his brother-in-law started Hu Kitchen as a passion project to heal people, which is where Hu as we know it today was born.  After selling Hu to Mondelez, Jason started HumanCo, a mission driven private holding company that invests in and builds brands focused on healthier living and sustainability. HumanCo’s brands include: Cosmic Bliss, True Food Kitchen, Snow Days, Against the Grain, and Grove Collaborative.  This was an AMAZING conversation. We discussed so much like: His illnesses and the genesis for creating Hu Kitchen “Old lifestyle” characteristics vs our modern lifestyle Work culture in the US vs other places of the world Balancing simple health and wellness practices while having fun and not being too anal  Why Jason decided to start HumanCo How Jason is now on a mission to transform the US food system (he has spoken at the Senate and is a big advocate against Kellog’s and their use of artificial food dye The differences between running a hedge fund in his early career vs what he does now What he predicts is going to happen with the US food system Hu Chocolate can be found in Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Kroger, Sprouts, Thrive, etc. I’m also a huge fan of eating out at True Food Kitchen and HumanCo’s other brands can also be found in many of these stores and online! I hope everyone enjoys!