<p>Maya Ayed moved from Tunisia to the US at 17, got diagnosed with SIBO, and found an unexpected fix: a tablespoon of real olive oil every morning. That personal turning point turned into Alya, a DTC subscription brand built from a family olive farm—and a crash course in how broken (and fake) the olive oil supply chain gets once “big food” and middlemen enter the picture.</p><p>In this episode, Maya breaks down what “extra virgin” actually means, how fraud happens (yes, she says the mafia gets involved), and the practical steps her team uses to protect quality—from fast pressing to lab testing and proper glass bottling. We also get into the founder side: bootstrapping with pre-orders, using offline events to drive online subscriptions, staying mentally steady through wins and disasters, and why “build an audience before you need it” saved her when she needed visa sponsorship fast.</p>