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{{Short description|American spice company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Diaspora Co.
| logo = Diaspora_logo.png
| type = [[Private company|Private]]
| foundation = {{Start date and age|2017}}
| location = [[Oakland]], [[California]], [[United States]]
| founder = Sana Javeri Kadri
| key_people = {{Unbulleted_list|Sana Javeri Kadri|Sayed Ishtiyaque<br>([[Operations director|Director of Operations]])|Wynne McAuley<br>([[Chief operating officer|COO]])}}
| industry = [[Food]], [[spices]]
| products =
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| footnotes =
| website = {{URL|https://www.diasporaco.com/}}
}}
'''Diaspora Co.''', aka '''Diaspora Spice Co.''', is a company that trades in [[spice|spices]] sourced from small farmers in [[Southeast Asia]]. The company was founded in August 2017 by [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]] Sana Javeri Kadri, and is based in California's [[Bay Area]].<ref name=bustle/> The company's mission is "to disrupt the industry with culture, equity, and joy."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/06/10/taking-care-of-business-sana-javeri-kadri-diaspora-co.cnn |publisher=[[CNN]] |accessdate=July 14, 2022 |title=Entrepreneur strives to disrupt the spice trade |date=June 10, 2022}}</ref>

==History==
Javeri Kadri was born in Mumbai but lived in the United States.<ref name=bustle>{{cite news |url=https://www.bustle.com/life/diaspora-co-sana-javeri-kadri-self-care-backup-plans-advice |title=Meet The Spice Company Founder Who Sees Chai As A Metaphor: Diaspora Co.'s Sana Javeri Kadri shares her best advice for disconnecting, forming relationships, and being a leader |first=Madhuri |last=Sathish-Van Atta |newspaper=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]] |accessdate=July 14, 2022 |date=May 23, 2022}}</ref> She attended [[Pomona College]] and worked on the [[Pomona College Organic Farm]].<ref name="Tasty">{{cite news |last1=Szewczyk |first1=Jessy |title=Meet The Queer Desi Immigrant Changing The Way We Buy Spices |url=https://tasty.co/article/jesseszewczyk/sana-javeri-kadri-diaspora-interview |access-date=10 August 2023 |work=[[Tasty (website)|Tasty]] |date=11 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref> In 2016, the "golden milk" drink, made primarily with turmeric, became popular. She realized that Mumbai turmeric was higher quality and more potent, so she left Oakland for [[India]] feeling disappointed in the quality of the [[turmeric]] for sale in the [[United States]].<ref name="CE">{{cite web |last1=Sontag |first1=Elazar |title=A Queer, Female Entrepreneur is Taking Back Turmeric for Indian Farmers |url=https://civileats.com/2018/02/01/a-queer-female-entrepreneur-is-taking-back-turmeric-for-indian-farmers/ |website=Civil Eats |access-date=27 September 2025 |date=1 February 2018}}</ref><ref name="Vogue">{{cite web |last1=Adler |first1=Tamar |title=Diaspora Co.’s Fair-Trade Spices Will Enlighten More Than Your Cooking |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/diaspora-co-fair-trade-spices |website=Vogue |access-date=27 September 2025 |date=9 April 2021}}</ref> Her investigation into the [[spice trade]] led her to found a company that trades in spice from small family farms.

The first spice marketed by Diaspora was turmeric. After visiting the [[Indian Institute of Spices Research]], Kadri noted many different varietals of turmeric that were aromatic, brightly colored, high yielding, and high in curcumin. But those varietals didn’t exist on the commercial market, so Kadri decided to work directly with Indian farmers, eliminating all of the middle agents, and export these turmeric varieties herself.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krishna |first1=Priya |title="I'm Not a Woo-Woo Wellness Ayurvedic Yoga Instructor Selling You Turmeric" |url=https://www.bonappetit.com/story/sana-javeri-kadri |website=bon appetit |access-date=27 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220070800/https://www.bonappetit.com/story/sana-javeri-kadri |archive-date=20 February 2019 |date=17 January 2019}}</ref> At the start, aiding in the mission to "[change] centuries-old trade practices left over from colonial times", Kadri sourced the turmeric from Kasaraneni Prabhu, who is a fourth-generation turmeric farmer in the [[Andhra Pradesh]] state in [[Southeast India]]. Further, unlike all of the neighboring turmeric farms, which spray the turmeric with pesticides, Prabhu’s farm is pesticide-free and utilizes the traditional method of co-planting with marigolds.<ref name="CE"/>

After intense publicity in 2017, including an endorsement from cookbook author [[Julia Turshen]], Diaspora had to pick up turmeric orders and launched a [[Kickstarter]] campaign to fund the introduction of Baraka cardamom, a domesticated strain of naturally pest-resistant wild [[cardamom]] grown in the [[Kerala]] rain forest. In 2019, Diaspora added Aranya pepper and Guntur Sannam Chilies. In 2020, Diaspora was selling 10 spices. By the end of 2021, the company carried 20 spices.<ref name="Vogue"/> Since creation, Diaspora has expanded to sell over 40 different spices and spice mixes, from over 200 family farms.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.treehugger.com/spice-up-kitchen-equitably-5323396 |website=Treehugger |title= How to Spice Up Your Kitchen Equitably: Diaspora Co. is creating a more equitable spice trade, one piquant masala at a time |first=Neeti |last=Mehra |date=May 27, 2022 |accessdate=July 14, 2022}}</ref> In July 2022, the company acquired $2.1 million in funding.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaynaharris/2022/07/14/diaspora-co-mints-21-million-in-fresh-financing-to-build-an-equitable-spice-trade/ |newspaper=[[Forbes]] |accessdate=July 14, 2022 |title=Diaspora Co. Mints $2.1 Million In Fresh Financing To Build An Equitable Spice Trade |first=Shayna |last=Harris |date=July 14, 2022}}</ref>

==Equity==
In merging her Oakland and Indian roots, Kadri's committed to making Diaspora “radically inclusive” as a way of supporting marginalized communities whenever possible. Some methods include hiring queer people, especially those of color, whenever possible; paying the farmers fairly with the "Diaspora Co Model" vs the "Traditional Commodity Model," Instead of working with a large company to pack her turmeric, she decided to intentionally pay her community by hiring locally. Diaspora has made an impact in both Andhra Pradesh and Oakland by directly supporting multiple Indian farmers’ operations, and offering American consumers an equitable model for how spices can be both sourced and sold. In turn, Prabhu’s farming methods are spreading among farmers in his area as others are noticing his good returns on crops, his healthy soil, and his higher curcumin concentrated, less water-intensive turmeric variety. Thus, some additional farmers have moved away from pesticide-heavy farming.<ref name="CE"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official|https://www.diasporaco.com/}}

[[Category:2017 establishments in California]]
[[Category:American brands]]
[[Category:American companies established in 2017]]
[[Category:Companies based in Oakland, California]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies established in 2017]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies based in California]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies of the United States]]

Diaspora (spice company) - Revision history

Qtree2009: created a entry