Iris Nova Wants to Be the Coca-Cola of Wellness Beverages, CEO Says
*By Chloe Aiello*
Health beverage company Iris Nova is modeling itself after its latest, greatest investor, Coca-Cola.
"The legacy and infrastructure they've built globally is really a model for what we'd like to build with Iris Nova," CEO and co-founder Zak Normandin told Cheddar Monday. "There's no better partner to kind of guide us along that path than Coca-Cola."
Beverage behemoth Coca Cola ($KO) led the latest $15 million round of funding for Iris Nova, the New York-based parent company of health beverage brand Dirty Lemon. Actress Sophia Bush and baseball legend Alex Rodriguez also participated in the round, [according to Crunchbase](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dirty-lemon-beverages-3/investors/investors_list#section-investors). Normandin said he'd like to use the funding to eventually expand the number of brands under the Iris Nova umbrella.
And the company is getting started right away. Normandin said the company already has plans to launch a new brand, the alcohol-free aperitif Tres Limon, and has another product coming for the second half of 2019. It's also planning to expand its retail concept, The Drug Store, to a second location in New York City ー joining one currently in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood ー as well as to Miami and Los Angeles.
Dirty Lemon, which is known for adding unusual ingredients, like turmeric, collagen, and charcoal, to its beverages also briefly had a CBD beverage on the market, [but pulled it in early November](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/dirty-lemon-pulls-cbd-drink-from-shelves-over-legal-worries).
At the time, Normandin told Cheddar that the company's decision to remove the CBD-infused drink from the market came down to legal concerns, saying the company was “not in a position to take that risk right now.”
On Monday, he expanded on that reasoning, adding that the decision had more to do with CBD's tenuous legal status than Coke's investment.
"We were just trying to button up the company. In going through a big round of funding like this, we were just making sure that legally we were in a good place to take on that capital," Normandin said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/iris-nova-ceo-says-dirty-lemon-is-only-a-text-message-away).
On today's episode of On The Job: Cheddar gets a look at how the salon and beauty industry has pivoted throughout the pandemic; Mark Brim, President of Aquent's Recruiting Division Vitamin T, breaks down how remote work has transformed hiring and recruiting process across the board;
Julie Bauke, President & Chief Career Strategist at The Bauke Group, breaks down why companies are being 'ghosted' by new hires, and what repercussions can come from this.
Mark Brim, President of Aquent's Recruiting Division Vitamin T, joins On The Job to discuss how remote work has transformed hiring and recruiting process across the board, and the latest trends surrounding remote hiring across the globe.
Julie Bauke, President & Chief Career Strategist, The Bauke Group, joins Cheddar to discuss the phenomenon of new hires accepting jobs and quitting before their first day of work, and how ghosting one company may come back to bite you when you find a job you really want.
Miami's real estate market has boomed since early 2020, thanks to an overall strong housing market, remote work, and no income tax as incentives. The city is preparing to welcome even more residents as people relocate to warmer climates to work from home. Garrett Derderian, director of market intelligence at SERHANT, joined Cheddar to discuss the Magic City's red hot market.
Paul Tracey, Founder & CEO of Innovative Technologies, and author of 'Delete The Hacker Playbook' and 'Cyber Storm', joins Cheddar to discuss the most effective ways to protect small businesses from cyber attacks, the labor shortage's effects on cybercrime, and how businesses and employees can stay cyber secure while working from home.
A lot has changed since the pandemic began back in march 2020. COVID-19 caused a huge disruption in the U.S. labor force that is just beginning to normalize. As of last month, about 96% of jobs lost in the pandemic have returned. Still, where people work now looks very different from two years ago. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier looks at where the jobs are now and where they aren't.
Dave Burg, EY Americas Cybersecurity Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss the rise of quantum computing and how it can compromise existing security measures at play today, and what the timeline looks like for quantum computing to become a reality.
