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Fresh off debuting her baby bump, Vanessa Hudgens is rolling out something delicious for her soon-to-arrive little one — and enlisting fellow Hollywood moms in the process.
The entrepreneurial star has launched kid-friendly, spill-proof pouches for Caliwater, the vegan cactus water brand made from prickly pear fruit (sourced from the Sonoran Desert) that she launched in 2020 with co-founder Oliver Trevena. Caliwater has new investors to celebrate, too: Actress Nikki Reed, fitness expert Brooke Burke and singer-songwriter Roselyn Sanchez have joined as backers and ambassadors for Caliwater Kids.
“In the very beginning, and still to this day, it’s our favorite thing to share Caliwater with our friends. We ended up sending it out to all of our friends from different walks of life, all the friends that our parents would call us pretty soon after their package would arrive and say that their kids drank all the prickly pear,” Hudgens tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Caliwater Kids Organic Cactus Water Pouches, 24-Count
The eight-ounce recyclable pouches come in wild prickly pear and watermelon flavors, contain no artificial sweeteners or flavors, and are packed with five naturally-occurring electrolytes for supporting hydration. They’re available to buy online at Amazon and Walmart and in stores at Ralphs, H-E-B, the Fresh Market and other brick-and-mortar grocers. “The kids were just blowing through the prickly pear. And we [thought] there was an opportunity here for us to step in and give the kids a really delicious, healthy alternative.”
A portion of proceeds from Caliwater Kids are donated to Olive Crest, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing child abuse by supporting children and families in crisis.
Related: Vanessa Hudgens on Mixing Her Filipino Heritage Into Her Smoothies
The Spring Breakers star caught with THR just days after the Oscars, where she co-hosted ABC’s The Oscars Red Carpet Show with Julianne Hough. It marked the 35-year-old actress’ third consecutive year hosting the Academy Awards’ official pre-show — and the first time she revealed that she was expecting with husband, baseball player Cole Tucker. Here, she shares more about the nostalgic journey to launching Caliwater Kids, how she brought on her newest celebrity investors on board, how she stays involved in her businesses on a day-to-day basis and why she’ll always make a case for bath time.
What inspired the pouch packaging?
We (Trevena and I) were looking back at our childhoods, we had Capri Sun and loved it, I still have friends who drink Capri Suns to this day because of the nostalgia. But then I’m looking at the packaging and just realizing how it’s just filled with … high fructose corn syrup, so much sugar. It was actually called off the shelves because they found a really dangerous ingredient. [Editor’s note: In 2022, Kraft Heinz issued a voluntary recall of about 5,760 cases of Capri Sun’s wild cherry flavor drinks after a diluted cleaning solution, “which is used on food processing equipment, was inadvertently introduced into a production line at one of our factories.”]
We decided to go with pouches so that they were going to be easy, good for on the go and for me personally, bring that sense of nostalgia. I wrote little affirmations on the back of them for the kids to say out loud.
What was the conversation you had to bring Nikki, Brooke and Roselyn on board as investors?
“Moms — this is for the kids!” We wanted to make sure that our company is filled with real-life users of the products, people who trust our product enough to give it to their own children. And so we brought these women on who we are friends with, who we just adore and got to bring it into the world with them, which is just so fun.
At Caliwater, we’re all about keeping it in the family. Me and Oliver have been friends for 15 years or so now, and we just love being able to have this partnership together and put our business hats on together and be able to lean into this with each other on our sides. So we’re all about continuing to grow the family, all of our investors, everyone who’s on board, our friends or family, and it’s really just such a tight-knit little group that we’ve got.
Caliwater Kids Pouch, 24-Count Variety Pack, 4.2-oz.
And especially in business, you really have to have that trust, they’re like your partners in life, too.
Oliver, we’ve done enough life together. If we can do everything that we got through together, then we can do some business!
What are some of the key lessons in entrepreneurship that you’ve learned so far?
I just [try to] know what’s going on, and try to be as involved as possible. I’m constantly scheduling calls with the team for catchups to see where we’re at with numbers, see how we’re doing at certain retailers as opposed to others, and seeing where we need to push out a new flavor. I’m really hands-on and extremely involved and I want to be, because that’s kind of how you learn the ropes and stay truly on top of everything that’s going on. It’s not about just slapping your name on something. You really have to do the work.
What’s your metric for success?
Seeing children, just drinking it, seeing random children drinking. Just knowing that it’s actually being used for what we intended it to be used for, which is the kids on the go.
Brooke Burke, Nikki Reed, Roselyn Sanchez and Vanessa Hudgens and in Caliwater Kids campaign
Caliwater Kids
Seeing those “in the wild” moments must be a great feeling.
Even with Caliwater, when I’m out and about and I walk into a little boutique market and they have it in the refrigerator and I didn’t know that it was there because it’s like a tiny little boutique — that’s the stuff that makes me feel like we’ve really been successful because it’s about reaching those little parts of different cities and different communities and knowing that it’s accessible and being consumed and enjoyed, is success for me.
Do you still do an inventory check when you go to any grocery store?
Oh yeah. I’m a proud mom of Caliwater.
You’re clearly very busy these days, with Caliwater and Know Beauty, and hosting the Oscars pre-show. What does your relaxation routine look like? Has it changed at all with pregnancy?
I’ve always said this, I’m such a big bath person. I’ve always been that way. At the end of the day, I think as a fire sign, being in water, it’s just very decompressing emotionally and mentally, and I’ve always been such a big advocate for skincare and nothing’s changed. I still use my Know Beauty masks at night every few days. And I think just always taking care of yourself, taking time out of your day, really carving out a moment just for you is important no matter what stage of your life.
