Steve
O'Dell.

I grew up in Rochester, NY — youngest of five boys, all athletes. I played collegiate volleyball at UCLA and studied History, but dropped out half a semester before graduating to build something I believed in.

I live in New York with my wife, Gina Perrelli — co-founder and CEO of Stay AI — and our cat, Kobe.

In 2016, I Googled "what is the healthiest form of energy?" and landed on matcha. My co-founder Robbie and I tried it and decided to build a brand around it. That became Tenzo. We sourced directly from a 12th-generation tea master in Kagoshima, Japan, got USDA Organic certified. We work with large franchise organizations.

I left Breath Death on July 31, 2026. I had been COO of a dentist-formulated breath brand backed by Logan Paul, Adin Ross, Odell Beckham Jr., and MGK. It partnered with WWE for SummerSlam and launched on Amazon and TikTok Shop. Different category from matcha. Same job: a clean formula, a sharp brand, and real distribution.

The throughline across everything: I look for categories where the incumbent product is low-quality or dishonest, find a cleaner answer, and build a brand people are proud to be part of.