Q&A with Matt Masifilo, Founder of Kavafied

Tell us about yourself.

Hello, I am Matt Masifilo.  Born and raised in Ewa Beach, Hawaii and now living in Sarasota, Florida with my family. 

How did you get started in the kava industry?

I got started in the commercial kava industry selling ziplock bags of Tongan kava to a few people I knew back when I was in high school.  I attended Stanford University and started my first official kava business in 2011 when a few fellow students and I attempted to develop a bottled kava beverage that would serve as an alternative to alcohol at parties, bars, and nightclubs.  After many quick lessons learned, I put my first kava business aside and kept my focus on playing football in the NFL.

Tell us more about Kavafied.

I founded Kavafied to simplify kava for the modern lifestyle.  We have done this through consistent need-based innovations like the AluBall Kava Maker, AluBottle, and Magic Kava bucket.  We are a kava enabler company at heart bridging the gap between traditional and modern lifestyles.

What special projects are you working on? 

The big project I am involved with right now is the American Kava growing movement. We are simply picking up where my voyaging ancestors left off a few hundred years ago.

Kava continues to establish itself as the 4th pillar of American social drinking (Alcohol, Tea, Coffee, Kava). The kava industry is a long game worth playing and I am always grateful to be a part of it.