Founders’ Story
Numi is a labor of love by a brother and a sister
Numi was founded in 1999 in Oakland, California by brother and sister Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani with a vision to share the transformative, healing power of tea with the world. They named their company after the steeped dried desert lime they drank in their early childhood in Baghdad, Iraq. The drink symbolizes hospitality and community (numi means “citrus” in Arabic). Creative, conscious change-makers, they have introduced little-known herbs and teas to the United States, while advancing human rights and sustainable causes around the globe.
Ahmed Rahim, CEO & Co-Founder
Ahmed is the alchemist behind Numi’s teas, creating unique, innovative, and delicious blends with his tea’m. Before co-founding Numi, he studied theater and psychology in New York City, then spent a decade living, working and traveling in Europe as a professional filmmaker and photographer. He began designing teahouses in Prague, where he learned about tea’s culture, ceremonies, and its many health benefits. He speaks English, Arabic, Czech, French and German.
Ahmed has led the way in Numi’s sourcing efforts, traveling extensively to countries of origin and building partnerships with farmers and their communities that have lasted for over 20 years. Always in search of rare, healing plants, he is passionate about sharing new tastes and ingredients with the public.
Ahmed is the co-founder of many groups aimed at caring for community and the planet, including OSC2 (One Step Closer to an Organic Sustainable Community), JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion), and the OSC2 Packaging Collaborative. He chairs the Numi Foundation board, and is an advisor and board member to entrepreneurs running sustainable businesses with emerging, innovative products.
Ahmed lives on a 40-acre farm in northern California with his partner, where he grows a plethora of fruits and vegetables, including bananas. He is a lover of nature and plants, and recently welcomed 27 chickens to his farm. At his art and music studio there, Ahmed plays piano, guitar, congo drums, and writes and sings his own music.
Reem Hassani, CBO & Co-Founder
At Numi, Reem oversees brand identity, including all packaging design, brand voice and experience. An artist by trade (including a Diploma d’Arte from Lorenzo de Medici Art Institute in Florence, Italy and an M.F.A. in Arts & Consciousness Studies from JFK University), Reem’s original artwork has been a source of inspiration for Numi’s brand vision and packaging. In 2019, she was honored as one of Progressive Grocer’s Top Women in Business.
Reem is a co-creator and contributor to Numi Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to nurture communities so they can thrive. The Foundation provides fresh produce to families suffering from food insecurity due to Covid-19, art curriculum she designed and co-wrote to low-income students in northern California, clean drinking water to tea farming communities worldwide, and summer school to orphans and war victims in Iraq.
Reem practices art at her studio in northern California, and attends art workshops in Italy bi-annually with her long-term mentors. Her mediums include oil painting and mixed-media, with subject matter ranging from her personal story and identity to socio-political issues. Reem sees her art as a spiritual practice in self-awareness and meditation.
Reem lives on a farm in northern California with her husband and two sons. She loves to cook from the vegetables in their garden and make popsicles from the oranges on their trees. They take care of four goats, four sheep, ten chickens, four ducks, and one puppy. One of her son’s chores is to collect eggs from the chickens every day.
Activating Purpose
Numi Tea’m
Numi Foundation
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