Rana Chang started House Kombucha in 2009 as an on-the-ground, community-based startup. Kombucha brewing is an ancient Asian tradition of fermenting tea into a living, probiotic beverage. Rana learned to make kombucha as a child by watching her mother grow the weird “mushroom tea” in her kitchen cupboard and drink it for its medicinal properties.  She started House Kombucha in her South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood by renting a small kitchen space in the basement of an old kebab restaurant and selling it at a farmer’s market in the Metreon.  Now, based in the East Bay, House Kombucha is blessed to be employing a full brew team to bring delicious, raw kombucha tea to the greater Bay Area.  Rana lives in Oakland, is a member of the Baha’i Faith, serves on the board of the San Francisco Henry George School, and enjoys local theater, dim sum, and cats.

Aaron is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of House Kombucha, a community-based startup. He also co-founded Bay Localize, a local ecological justice group that works to build equitable, resilient communities in the Bay Area and beyond. He also serves on Earth Island Institute’s Program Committee and as a core organizer with the Living the New Economy Oakland collaborative. He has an M.A. in Globalization and the Environment from Humboldt State University and a triple B.A. in Anthropology, Philosophy, and Environmental Studies from Iowa State University. He has worked for Van Jones’ Ella Baker Center for Human Rights/Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, Julia Butterfly Hill’s Circle of Life Foundation, David Brower’s Earth Island Institute, Grassroots Globalization Network, ReThink Paper, and with the Student Environmental Action Coalition. Aaron’s commentaries have been featured on AlterNet, NPR, Earth Island Journal, and the S.F. Bay Guardian. He lives with his wife Rana and their two children in Oakland. He’s an an avid gardener, climate fiction author, hiker, singer, amateur astronomer, and aspiring guitarist. His advocacy blog, “World Shift Vision,” can be found at aglehmer.wordpress.com.