Meet Danila Savchenko | Founder of Purithea

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danila Savchenko and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danila, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Work life balance is really a challenge for anybody and finding the right mix is a continually evolving process. How to know when to keep pushing yourself but not burnout, or how far to enjoy yourself but not overindulge, is, in my own opinion, meant to be constantly adapting to the circumstances. At this point in my life, the balance weighs heavier in favor of work. I’m at a point in my life where I don’t have parenting responsibilities and I’m thankfully healthy, so I’m taking advantage of these circumstances to push myself harder while I still can. Of course, as that changes and I become a parent and I get older the balance will shift a bit in the other direction. That’s also a function of the work I put in now. My philosophy is that when you’re starting or in the early stages of a career or business, you need to work harder at that point to lay a solid foundation and what you may call “career infrastructure” to have the luxury of working less in future years. I will, however, say that I do still make a significant amount of time to travel and do things to unwind and have fun. Even then though, I will often tie in some work into my travels, not because I have to but I can have fun mixing work with fun. For example, on a recent trip to Texas that was purely for fun, I set aside a day for and hired a local photography team and we did a photoshoot for some of my products around the city of Austin. The way that I’ve achieved the right work life balance for me has been mapping out my goals and desires for the next couple of years on a macro level, while planning out each week’s goals and tasks on a micro level. The macro planning gives me an overarching goal that motivates me, and the micro weekly planning allows me to be efficient and free up time during the week for some fun and leisure. In the future, as my personal responsibilities start to outpace my work ones, I expect the balance to shift a bit toward life and less work.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started Purithea with two friends at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Before the pandemic we had always discussed working together on a health centric product line in the food and beverage sector. Once the pandemic began we, like everybody else at home, had a lot more time on our hands and saw the opportunity to use that extra time to work toward that goal. In my kitchen, experimenting with different nut butters, specifically nut types and processing methods, tested for both flavor and nutritional benefits, Purithea’s first product, One Nut, was born. We’re nut butter enthusiasts and that’s why we started there. The taste, culinary uses, and great health benefits of nut butter make it a must have in any kitchen, especially for the health focused. The problem with really all the nut butters available today is that they are filled with added oils, sugars, sodium and other fillers. We put nothing in the nut butter other than the one main ingredient, the nut itself, hence the name One Nut. What sets us even further apart from others is the unique process with which our nut butter is made. Using a centuries-old method passed down among families of nut farmers in the Caucuses, our nut butter is cold pressed using locally sources millstones that press the nuts into a velvety butter without nutrient destructive heat. From there we added Matcha to our offering after noticing that an increase in demand from consumers was leading to a decrease in quality. Our quality over quantity approach is the core principle of Toka Matcha. If you try our matcha you will see the color is a deeper green, and as a result the flavor is richer, than any other matcha on the market. The challenges we faced were essential logistic. In a supply crunch brought on by the pandemic affecting the entire world, we had to source our ingredients internationally and did not want to compromise quality by turning to other sources. We overcame this by working closely with our producers and logistics partners and found creative ways to get our ingredients delivered. I’m most proud of the quality of our product offering. As I said quality over quantity is our guiding principle and having been able to overcome all the challenges and not compromise on that is what I am most proud of.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d say to start mornings with a stroll to Verve Coffee on Melrose. I’d set aside time during the week to hike the trails up Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades and stop at the top to take in the ocean view. For dinner, I’d recommend Koi on La Cienega. And for a night of drinks and music with a great crowd, I recommend Members in Hollywood. Going for a walk through the Venice canals and checking out the Getty Villa and Museum are a must. For working out, it’s both fun and active to go to Rumble in West Hollywood for a boxing class. For local Persian faire, one must eat at Raffi’s Place in Glendale for lunch when you can enjoy the open air restaurant.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
For sure my friends and family. My friends and family are such an important part of my support system. Without them I couldn’t have come this far.

Website: www.purithea.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/sawwaki

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danila-savchenko-68a94053

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sawwaki