Smita Satiani is an Indian-Pakistani-American entrepreneur and the co-founder of Alaya Tea, an organic and biodynamic tea company that works directly with Indian farmers mitigating climate change at the base of the Himalayas. Previously, Smita spent nearly 15 years deploying and scaling climate and social impact technology at GoogleX, The White House, and at Ashoka, a global fund for social entrepreneurs. Her work has been featured at the MIT Media Lab, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. She is also an adjunct instructor of policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Smita and her cofounder Esha Chhabra founded Alaya Tea in 2019, with a small, self-funded budget, and a big vision of building a fresher, kinder tea business. Since its launch, Alaya has scaled nearly 5x, and has been featured in Bon Appétit, Martha Stewart Living, Vogue India, Good Housekeeping, NYMag, and dozens of other international press outlets. The business has branched out to brewing tools, regenerative cotton merch, and ceramics sourced from Indian artisans. Alaya is an amalgamation of their collective careers in social impact and climate change.
