Founded 2026 · Cleveland
The premise.
The proof.
The plan.
Why I Started This
I started Wake Up CLE because I care about my kids, and the kids who haven't been born yet, and the generations of Cleveland kids who deserve to inherit something better than what we got.— Ariel Brent, Co-Founder
It takes a village. That is not a slogan to me. It is the operating principle of this company.
Meet the Crew
Two founders. One village.
Ariel Brent
CO-FOUNDER · VISION & OPERATIONS
Ariel carries the vision and runs the day-to-day. She's a student of whole-body health — integrative medicine, Ayurvedic tradition, the daily work of figuring out why every ingredient in every cup is there. She believes wellness isn't a luxury — it's a birthright that's been gatekept by class, geography, and income for too long. What she learns goes in the cup. What goes in the cup, she explains. She's early in her path and serious about it. She's trying to be a better student, a better mom, and a better neighbor every day — and to build Wake Up CLE into something the next generation of Cleveland kids can inherit better than she did.
Clayton Marshall
CO-FOUNDER · BUILD & BRAND
Clayton is the builder. He designs the trailer, dials the rig, and engineers the systems that make Wake Up CLE actually run. The precision he brings to the build is the same precision he brings to everything — the right ingredient, the right dose, the right intention behind every cup. Like Ariel, he believes healthier bodies, healthier blocks, and healthier futures get built the same way: with care, with rigor, and with love for the people you're building for. He doesn't take shortcuts. He doesn't fake the work. He's just trying to leave Cleveland — and his family — better than he found it.
The Thesis
Communities don't have a capacity problem. They have a resource distribution problem.
The knowledge exists. The organization exists. The desire to build, to grow, to create wealth and health and futures — that is not absent from Cleveland's East Side, from Hough, from Glenville, from Central. What is absent, systematically and by design, is access.
Wake Up CLE is a delivery system for that access. We chose beverages because they are intimate — consumed multiple times a day, formed into habit, associated with identity. A beverage brand that earns daily trust has more reach than a lecture series, more durability than a grant cycle, more honesty than charity.
The drink is real. The mission is the destination.
How We Decide
Every decision passes through five.
WHOLE-BODY
Health is everything, and everything is health. Function leads. Flavor follows. Real ingredients, anti-inflammatory chemistry, ancient frameworks alongside current research.
GENERATIONAL
For the kids and the ones not yet born. Every decision passes through the lens of seven generations forward.
KNOWLEDGE
We are a learning institution disguised as a beverage company. Our customers are students, and eventually, teachers.
THE VILLAGE
Nothing real is built alone. Our suppliers, team, and customers are named members of the village.
INTEGRATIVE
Everything touches everything. Health AND community AND climate AND education AND wealth-building — at the same time, by design.
Ten-Year Vision
Cleveland is the proof.
The blueprint is the network.
By 2036, Wake Up CLE will be the proof-of-concept for a federated network of community-rooted wellness brands across American cities that have been overlooked: Wake Up DET. Wake Up BAL. Wake Up CHI. Wake Up MEM. Wake Up STL.
Each brand its own expression — rooted in its own city, sourcing from its own bioregion, employing its own community. All connected through a shared philosophy and educational backbone, and an aligned mission: that premium consumer wellness can be a vehicle for local economic regeneration.
This is not a hope. It is the plan.
Together
Cleveland forges people. Steel, championships, river fires, factory closures, families that stayed when staying was the harder choice — through all of it, this city built us differently. We hold longer. We work harder. We show up. Wake Up CLE is what we do with what Cleveland built in us. Point it forward. Aim it at the next generation.
Make sure they inherit a city that was loved well.