Kara Goldin

Kara Goldin is chief executive officer and founder of San Francisco based hint Inc., which produces all-natural essence waters, with no sweeteners and nothing artificial. Since its official launch in April 2005, hint® has received numerous accolades from national publications including “Best Flavored Water” (in Health, Men’s Health, and SELF in both 2010 and 2012), “Best Enhanced Water” (BottledWaterWorld and BevNET) and “Top 25 New Products” (in Prevention). Kara started hint, Inc. to make it easier for consumers to lead a healthy lifestyle. Unsweetened hint water has successfully challenged the notion that drinks must contain sugar or diet sweeteners to appeal to the consumer. Flavored only with natural fruit essence, hint delivers refreshment without unnecessary additives and sweeteners.

hint’s latest market innovation and brand extension is the introduction of hintfizz, a carbonated version of hint Water, that received the 2012 Better Homes and Gardens “Best New Product Award” as well as the 2012 Silver Stevie Award for “Best New Product or Service of the Year.” Her authority in the beverage industry has propelled her to be a leading media resource and contributor to national outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, MORE, The Huffington Post, Forbes.com, Reuters and Businessweek as well as appearances on national programs including CNBC and Fox News.

With an extraordinary track record of business success, Kara was formerly the Vice President of Shopping and E-commerce Partnerships at AOL, where she grew AOL’s shopping business from startup to more than $1 billion in revenue in less than 7 years.

Kara has been selected among only 10 other women as Fortune’s 2011 “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs,” and was named in 2012 as one of Ernst and Young’s “Entrepreneurial Winning Women.” She was honored as the 2012 Gold Stevie Award Winner for “Female Entrepreneur of the Year” in the category of Business Products and was listed as a “Rising Star” and a “CEO to Watch in 2013” by the American Express website, OpenForum.com. Kara’s most recent accolade includes being named one of the “40 Women to Watch Over 40,” a list emphasizing the accomplishments of women who are making major professional contributions after the age of 40, which is also recognized by Forbes.

Hint is available at leading retailers and is one of the top beverages at Google, Facebook and other forward-thinking companies. Kara currently lives near San Francisco with her husband Theo (hint’s COO), four children and two Labradors. She is an active member of SFBay YPO.