February 11, 2026
This Black-Owned Business Turns ‘Heritage Into Healing’ With Its Sparkling Okra Water At Erewhon
The health food venture was created by Tuskegee alum and entrepreneur, Anna Cobb.
For fans of the luxury grocery store Erewhon, shoppers can now snag sparkling okra water, all thanks to an HBCU alum turned successful entrepreneur.
Before Anna Cobb launched O’kra, the latest company to stock Erewhon shelves, she was a student at Tuskegee University. However, while matriculating at the HBCU pursuing a degree in plant sciences, her life took a drastic turn. She took an energy vitamin, developing an allergic reaction that almost ended her life.
After surviving a weeklong coma, Cobb decided to forge a new path for healthy energy supplements. This research led to a passion project and, now, to her successful business.
“I realized my survival meant a greater purpose,” Cobb wrote, as reported by Afrotech.
“This experience prompted extensive research into the harmful chemicals present in energy supplements. During my time at Tuskegee University, I observed a lack of healthful food and beverage options on campus, inspiring me to transform my personal research into a campuswide plant-based catering company during my senior year.”
With an entrepreneurial spirit, she found her real footing with Rejuvenation Beverage Co., launched in 2020. The company focused on plant-based energy drinks, and its assortment won Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition prize.
As Rejuvenation validated Cobb in the health business sector, she developed a new brand, O’Kra, under her umbrella company. Deemed the world’s first sparkling okra water, the drink’s signature ingredient is a callback to a Black generational secret.
“I created O’kra after surviving a life-threatening allergic reaction to a synthetic energy drink,” shared Cobb ahead of the company’s September 2025 launch.
“Through that healing journey, I discovered the powerful benefits of drinking okra water: clearer skin, more energy, fewer mood swings, and I knew it was time to bottle this glow.”
The vegetable is more than a slimy side dish. For generations, it has been used in various ways for its nutritional value and health benefits. Also a skin-nourishing drink, O’kra provides a new staple in the skinfood sector.
According to its press release, the key benefits include relief from perimenopause and menopause symptoms, hormonal balance, gut health, and deeper hydration. For those seeking a natural way to promote greater health, this “ancestral healing” offers a remedy with taste.
“For generations, okra has been used in kitchens and communities as a healing food,” Cobb shared on LinkedIn.
“I wanted to honor that heritage while bringing it forward as a modern wellness product, the world’s first sparkling okra water.”
She added, “For me, this isn’t just business. It’s survival and purpose. After almost losing my life to a synthetic supplement, I vowed to create something clean, safe, and powerful that works with the body, not against it. O’kra is my way of turning heritage into wellness and science into healing.”
To try the pineapple-flavored drink, local shoppers can head to Erewhon or purchase it directly on O’kra’s website.
RELATED CONTENT: Minding Our Own Business: How Garveyism Imagined Pan-African Identity
