John and I (Vincent) actually go way back. We went to University Liggett School together here in Grosse Pointe, and then attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor so we had already known each other for a while before AuraFizz started.
The idea really came about when I was going into my fifth year at Michigan, and John was going to be working in the Hospital in Ann Arbor. We ended up rooming together, and we thought, “We’re applying to med school, but we also have some time. Why not try to build something?”
We looked at different markets and kept coming back to things we actually cared about: health, fitness, and drinks we liked ourselves. Functional soda was really growing, and we thought there was room to make something different.
We both like staying active, but we also still like soda. After workouts, sometimes we’d want a zero-sugar or prebiotic soda, and we started thinking, “Why isn’t there a soda that’s refreshing like that, but also has some real functionality, especially after a workout?”
So we took the better-for-you soda idea and added electrolytes to make it more hydration-focused. That became AuraFizz: a prebiotic electrolyte soda that combines the fun of a prebiotic soda with the function of a hydration drink.
As things started to come together, we brought in three of our best friends to help us build it: William Cooksey, Alec Leonard, and Tarun Jarial. All of us went to University Liggett School, so there’s a strong local connection behind the brand. William also went to Michigan with us, Alec went to the University of New Hampshire, and Tarun went to Ohio State. Having them involved made it feel less like just a business and more like a team of friends trying to build something meaningful from the community that helped shape us.
And for us, it also connects to medicine. Our dream is to become physicians and help heal people one by one, but that path takes time. AuraFizz gave us a way to start making an impact now by creating a healthier soda option for our community and eventually for people beyond it.
“AuraFizz started with friendship, community, and a shared interest in health. We went to Liggett together, went on to different universities, and came back together to build something we believe can make a positive impact.”
