Gabe and Wendi are the founders of Mana Rush Guarana, a Hawaiʻi-made natural energy powder built on a simple premise: clean ingredients, honest sourcing, and no shortcuts. Starting from scratch as a small founding team in Hawaiʻi, they’ve grown the brand by prioritizing product integrity over mass production — keeping batches small, flavors seasonal, and ingredients traceable. Mana Rush is their proof that a values-driven business doesn’t have to choose between doing things right and building something real.
Company: aloharush llc
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Gabe Riela-Enoka: Gabe and Wendi are the co-founders of Mana Rush Guarana, a natural energy powder made in small batches in Hawaiʻi. We built Mana Rush around one core belief — that energy shouldn’t come from a lab. Our product uses guarana, a plant native to the Amazon rainforest, which delivers a slow, steady release of natural caffeine without the crash that comes from coffee or canned energy drinks. We mix and package every batch here on Oʻahu using real fruit powders, plant-based sweeteners, and no artificial ingredients. What started as a personal search for a cleaner energy source has grown into a brand that ships across the US, rooted in the spirit of Hawaiʻi and a genuine commitment to doing things right — from how we source ingredients to how we treat our customers.
What was the defining moment when you decided that strong ethics and high profits were not in conflict, but could actually reinforce each other in your business?
Gabe Riela-Enoka: The moment came when we were sourcing ingredients for our first batches. We could have used synthetic caffeine — it’s cheaper, more consistent, and easier to work with. Instead we committed to guarana, a real plant with a real story, even though it cost more and added complexity. What we discovered is that customers who care about what they put in their body are also the most loyal customers. The ethical choice and the profitable choice turned out to be the same choice.
Can you share one specific decision or policy where you chose the ethical path even though it appeared more expensive or risky in the short term, and what was the long-term business impact?
Gabe Riela-Enoka: When a certain fruit powder we use goes out of season or a harvest is affected by weather, we go out of stock rather than substitute with an artificial flavor. That’s lost revenue on the table. But we’ve never compromised on that. The long-term impact is that our customers trust us — they know that if Mango Rush is available, it’s the real thing. That trust is worth more than any short-term sale we gave up.
How do you embed your core values into daily operations and decision-making without sacrificing speed, competitiveness, or profitability?
Gabe Riela-Enoka: We keep the operation small by design. Small batches mean every decision about ingredients, packaging, and quality gets made by people who care — not by a production line optimized for volume. It’s slower, but it keeps our values from being diluted by scale. We also treat transparency as a default — if something changes, we tell our customers. That standard keeps us honest internally too.
What’s the biggest pushback you’ve received from investors, board members, or stakeholders regarding your values-driven approach, and how did you handle it?
Gabe Riela-Enoka: As a self-funded, independent brand we don’t answer to outside investors, and honestly that’s intentional. The pressure to cut corners usually comes from outside capital that wants faster returns. By staying independent, Wendi and I get to make decisions based on what’s right for the product and the customer first. The pushback we do get is from the market itself — competing against brands with massive ad budgets and synthetic ingredients priced cheaper. Our answer to that is just to keep making something better and let the product speak.
For other CEOs who want to build a values-driven yet highly profitable company, what is the one practical piece of advice you would give them to get started?
Gabe Riela-Enoka: Get very specific about what you will never do. Not what you believe in — what you will never compromise on. For us it’s the ingredient list. That single constraint has shaped every decision we’ve made and kept us honest when shortcuts were tempting. Values without a line in the sand are just marketing.
