Hey guys, it’s Debbie Nigro — and today, I want to introduce you to someone whose spirit will stick with you long after you finish reading this.
Meet John Chiorando — a brilliant businessman, devoted family man, and philanthropist — and yes, the self-proclaimed “Coconut Commander” behind the fast-growing beverage brand Once Upon a Coconut.
But it’s not just about the coconuts.
It’s about “Greatitude.” Not a typo. It’s the name of John’s new book — a powerful message born from unimaginable heartbreak: the loss of his beautiful daughter, Nina, to a rare form of terminal cancer called Leptomeningeal Disease.
A Book Born From Heartache — and Healing
John didn’t plan to write a book. But when his young son once complained about not getting enough Christmas presents, something clicked. He realized how much of today’s culture is focused on what we lack, rather than what we have.
So he wrote Greatitude, a message-driven book that gently shifts our lens toward appreciation, especially for life’s simplest joys — like a cup of coffee, a walk on the beach, or time with someone we love.
Then Nina got sick.
And suddenly, what started as a lesson in thankfulness became a tribute to her courage — and a platform for purpose.
As John shared on the show:
“My colleague told me, ‘You didn’t write this book. Your daughter did.'”
And you know what? She did.
100% of Book Proceeds Go to Charity
Every single dollar from the purchase of Greatitude goes to one of two causes close to John’s heart:
Nina Strong Foundation for rare cancer research
Down Syndrome Foundation (another personal connection in his family)
And as a thank-you?
You get a free case of Once Upon a Coconut when you buy the book.
(Love that part!)
Grab it at Greatitude.org
Once Upon a Coconut: Coconut Water With a Cause
You’ve probably seen the bright, playful cans of Once Upon a Coconut on shelves — I spotted it in a DeCicco’s Supermarket here in New York and literally stopped in my tracks.
It’s more than delicious (hello, coconut + chocolate?!), it’s also doing good:
Plant-based, non-GMO, full of electrolytes
Ethically sourced from Vietnam
And here’s the biggie: 10% of all profits go to charity.
As John says:
“Giving is our best ingredient.”
Even Shark Tank’s Daymond John and NFL stars like Rob Gronkowski and Ronnie Stanley are investors. But it’s the mission that’s the real magnet.
Fastest-Growing Coconut Water Brand in America
From Whole Foods to Walmart to Target — Once Upon a Coconut is popping up everywhere. And it’s not just good business — it’s good energy.
As John says:
“We call it nature’s Gatorade.”
Cheers to that!
Final Sips of Inspiration
Talking with John was a reminder that life is fragile, beautiful, and worthy of deep appreciation — even in the face of heartbreak… in spite of it all.
If you want to feel better, do better, and drink something better…
Pick up a copy of Greatitude. Sip some coconut water with purpose. And maybe, just maybe, start seeing the world through a lens of Greatitude too.
With heart,
Debbie
BUY THE BOOK + GET YOUR FREE CASE OF COCONUT WATER!
GO TO GREATITUDE.org
Enjoy meeting John Choriando and enjoy the podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show.If you’d rather read than listen the audio transcript is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
0:00:00
(Speaker 5)
And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.
0:00:07
(Speaker 3)
I tell me you’re not going to love my next guest after I introduce you to him, okay? Because you know me, I always bring like the best people to this show. I am so blessed that I have the opportunity to do this. Anyway, hi everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro.
0:00:21
(Speaker 1)
John Choriando is an amazing human being. This guy constantly gives, gives, gives and gives back. He’s a brilliant businessman, family man and philanthropist, besides being the coconut commander at Once Upon On a Coconut, I love that title, and the CEO at Quality One Wireless. He’s also the author of a book called Greatitude, not Gratitude, Greatitude, but it’s about gratitude. It’s a book he wrote inspired by the loss of his daughter recently, his beautiful young
0:01:08
(Speaker 1)
daughter Nina, and her journey and passing from a horrific terminal form of cancer called Leptomeningeal Disease, LMD. And I got the opportunity to meet John through a dear friend of mine and business associate by the name of Brian Rathjen, who always introduces me to incredible people. And Brian was an investor in his company, as was, by the way, Damon John from Shark Tank, once upon a coconut. I started reading about him and I was like, oh my God, I’ve got to know this guy.
0:01:40
(Speaker 1)
I want to introduce you to him and I want to tell you about his book. Everybody who buys this book, all the proceeds go to the foundations you’ll hear about and you get a free case of Once Upon a Coconut.
Hello, John, my honor to know you.
0:01:53
(Speaker 2)
Debbie, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I don’t know how I can live up to that introduction, but I’m going to do my best.
0:02:00
(Speaker 1)
First let me say my heart to your heart on the loss of your daughter. I can’t imagine that your days aren’t filled with trying to move through horrific pain, so I’m so sorry.
0:02:10
(Speaker 2)
I appreciate that. It’s the best way to describe it, and it’s a club I never wanted and no parent ever wants to be in. Most days are hard, and some days are just a lot harder.
0:02:22
(Speaker 1)
It’s just a nightmare. But you, being the guy you are never sit still you’re always doing something about things that need stuff done for them or to them or about them you know and I love your book I read it cover to cover tell everybody the story behind Gratitude because I think it’s amazing.
0:02:44
(Speaker 2)
So about two or three years ago my at the time eight-year-old son was complaining, like most people do, about what he didn’t get for Christmas and not focusing on the amount of things that he actually did get for Christmas. I guess it touched a nerve with me, where I get into conversations where people tend to focus on what I don’t have and not focus on what I do have. So I said, there’s got to be a message to today’s generation.
0:03:14
(Speaker 2)
We’ve got to get away from the sense of entitlement and appreciate everything in our lives. There is so much to appreciate. 160,000 to 165,000 people every day don’t wake up, so there’s something for all of us to appreciate.
0:03:26
(Speaker 1)
I have to agree with you. There’s a big sense of entitlement that I feel, too, going on with the world these days, especially young kids. I think it’s spread to different generations where I’ll have conversations with grown men and they’ll focus on that one thing that they’re
0:03:47
(Speaker 2)
lacking and they’ll spend so much energy on that conversation not trying to change it or alter it. I think it’s a disease of entitlement. I think it’s a disease of entitlement. I think it’s a disease of entitlement. one thing that they’re lacking and they’ll spend so much energy on that conversation,
0:04:05
(Speaker 2)
not trying to change it or alter the reality of the situation and not take a quick look at all the beautiful things that they do have in their lives. I wrote the book and I published the book and while my daughter was battling both breast cancer, brain cancer and ultimately, Leptomeningeal disease and right as the book was going to be launched on Amazon, one of my coworkers said to me, you know, you didn’t write this book.
0:04:32
(Speaker 2)
And I’m like, yes I did, of course I did. I have the notes, I have everything. And she just said to me, now your daughter wrote this book.
0:04:40
(Speaker 1)
Oh wow, that’s heavy.
0:04:42
(Speaker 2)
And it’s true, I froze. Looked back and I often go back to our text messages and she would wake up and finish chemo and just look forward to a cup of coffee or walking outside with her husband or going to the beach or taking a walk with the dog, things that I think we all take for granted.
0:05:01
(Speaker 1)
Absolutely. I mentioned to you in an email that I am a two-time cancer survivor. I have been through chemo twice and I know that attitude was critical to even getting through it and attitude is everything. She had an incredible attitude. I’m so sorry she didn’t make it. It breaks my heart. It really does. It’s tough. It’s tough. So you are this magical guy. I can’t
0:05:27
(Speaker 1)
believe what I’ve read about you. I can’t believe how many people and I’m not kidding I read a lot of companies, both as an investor,
0:06:02
(Speaker 2)
board member, upper management, and I’ve got brought into an opportunity with Once Upon a Coconut where I saw the coconut water business as kind of bland. It needed to be spiced up a little bit and beverage in general, CPG, is very transactional
0:06:18
(Speaker 2)
and I wanted to do something that incorporated what all of our companies have, is the spirit and message of giving back. So with Once Upon a Coconut, every time you purchase something for almost 10% of the profits go back to charity.
0:06:30
(Speaker 1)
A lot. That’s a lot of money. Giving is your best ingredient, you said.
0:06:33
(Speaker 4)
Yep, it is.
0:06:34
(Speaker 1)
And you know what I love? I love the flavors. Oh my God. There’s coconut water and pineapple, coconut water and watermelon, premium coconut water and chocolate, blueberry. I mean, oh my gosh, it’s so much fun. The first time I saw it, I stopped in my tracks because the display case is amazing. I saw it, I think, in a Chico’s supermarket here in New York. I walked past it. It was on end cap.
0:06:58
(Speaker 1)
I walked back and I go, ìOh, thatís interesting. What gorgeous branding and everything around the product.î Tell me the coconut story.
0:07:06
(Speaker 2)
Itís an interesting story. I did not want to be in the beverage space. I didnít know I would be in the beverage space. I got brought into an opportunity to invest in a company and I did a bunch of due diligence and I just found that their ethics were not in alignment with my investment strategy.
0:07:25
(Speaker 1)
I like that.
0:07:26
(Speaker 2)
So I gracefully bowed out and on the way out of my graceful exit, they felt it was a good idea to, I guess the best way I’ll keep it vanilla is to wake the sleeping dog.
0:07:40
(Speaker 1)
Oh, good one.
0:07:41
(Speaker 2)
So I hung up the phone and said, you know what? These guys can do this. Imagine what I could do with the people that I have around me. So now I’m in the coconut water business for four years. Last year, we were the fastest growing coconut water company in America. We’re making inroads.
0:07:56
(Speaker 2)
We’re making a difference.
0:07:57
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, it’s great.
0:07:58
(Speaker 2)
We have an amazing customer base. We have a great product. We have a great message. I think the pillars of this company are unique in CPG and the sky’s the limit for us.
0:08:08
(Speaker 1)
I guess it didn’t hurt that Damon John, with his reputation on television from Shark Tank, invested in that he found this to be amazing. We live in an influencer environment these days. Most people see somebody they know and they trust. They go, oh, he did it. Then it’s got to be fabulous.
0:08:25
(Speaker 1)
So I can’t imagine that hurt.
0:08:27
(Speaker 2)
It’s an amazing story. Damon just posted on social media that he liked our product. We reached out to Damon and he came on board with us and I will tell you, we have a lot of celebrity investors. We have Rob Gronkowski, we have Ryan Cabrera from the 90s, we have a bunch of unique blend of celebrity people who are athletes who have invested is Ronnie Stanley
0:08:52
(Speaker 2)
from the NFL. No one comes close to the work ethic and the spirit of what Daymond John brings. He is out there, Deb. You can’t outwork this man. I’m going to try, but you can’t outwork him. He’s truly invested in every sense of the word, invested with us, his relationships, his friends, his advice, it’s been priceless
0:09:19
(Speaker 2)
and he is just the guy out there who I imagine this is how he built FUBU with the same work ethic, the same mentality, the same grind because you can just see, you know they say success leaves breadcrumbs. He’s definitely someone you can learn from.
0:09:35
(Speaker 1)
Wow, that’s fantastic. The product is amazing, electrolytes, plant-based, non-GMO, hydration, all the buzzwords that people these days are looking for because they’re trying to do better and be well. The wellness category is exploding and you fit perfectly in there. How hard is distribution in the crowded beverage market these days?
0:09:58
(Speaker 2)
It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s real estate. When you really look at it, the CPG business, beverage specifically, both on the shelf and in the refrigerator, is a real estate grab. There’s only a certain amount of refrigerators, less refrigeration in the RIDBI shelf space, and retailers have 3,000 choices to choose
0:10:16
(Speaker 2)
from, so why us? Why would you pick us? Over the last two years, our distribution has just exploded, from Big Geyser in New York to the Anheuser-Busch Network through Cisco, KE, UNFI. We’re servicing folks like Sprouts, Whole Foods, ShopRates up in the Northeast. We’re in Walmart, Target, and it has just exploded. But piecing together that distribution probably took us the most time because it is very fragmented. There are territories granted to specific distribution partners and each one of those is a different relationship to
0:10:52
(Speaker 2)
build a different contract and a different kind of just path to success. You’ve done a really good job.
0:11:17
(Speaker 2)
Tell us the benefits of it.
Hydration, paramount for hydration. We call it internally nature’s Gatorade. There’s nothing better, potassium, electrolytes, it’s natural, it comes in multiple flavors.
0:11:31
(Speaker 1)
There’s no scientific data for this, but legend has it it’s great for a hangover. That’s a good one. And you know what I love speaking of hangover and heads and coconuts falling on your head from a tree. Tell everybody how these are sourced because that’s part of the story.
0:11:42
(Speaker 2)
Yes, so we source these as young coconuts out of Vietnam. I’ve been to the facility multiple times. It is an endless rain forest of coconut trees. Wow. And it is sourced the way it was probably a thousand years ago. Guys go up, they hack them down, they lower them down, they put them into canoes on tributaries. They’re brought to one main source and then
0:12:04
(Speaker 2)
those coconuts are trucked into factories where they’re put into cans and sent on a boat here to us to enjoy their delicious flavors.
0:12:11
(Speaker 1)
I always wanted to figure out how to get a coconut down from a coconut tree. An average person can’t do that. You’ve got to be able to climb the tree, right?
0:12:18
(Speaker 2)
Best way to do it is just buy one of our cans. It’s pretty tough. They offered me to go up on that ladder and I said, you know guys, certain things I’ve learned to leave to the experts.
0:12:28
(Speaker 1)
Oh, that’s funny. I’m a big fan of palm trees with coconuts. I could stand under one and look up for hours and it makes me feel happy. So, it’s so happy to meet you. You know, this Coconut Water with a Purpose is speaking to where most brands should be going these days. If you have the power to have a presence and do something with what you’re making, then by all means, why not do it right ten percent of profits go to charity that’s a very hefty amount that’s beautiful and I know you’re donating to a lot of communities and the line that I love was each sip makes the world a better place so that’s fantastic let’s get back to the book whose idea
0:13:05
(Speaker 1)
was it to give a case of once upon a coconut to everybody who buys your book
0:13:09
(Speaker 2)
gratitude I was mine I think from a marketing perspective, we have seen from the Coke and a water viewpoint that hands in hands, when you taste our product, there’s no more effective marketing. We could have billboards, commercials, fancy everything, nothing is impactful as you tasting the product. So the more people I can get to taste this product, the more customers, the more money we raise, the more capital we put back into communities, the more change we make in the world.
0:13:39
(Speaker 1)
And the goodness goes on. It’s great.
0:13:42
(Speaker 2)
Yeah. It’s aligned with the book, right? Yeah. The book is about giving back all the proceeds from the book, not the profits from the book. All of the proceeds from the book go back to my daughter’s cancer foundation, Nina Strong, and the Down Syndrome Foundation, and I let the customer pick which of the two they’d
0:14:00
(Speaker 2)
like to donate to, but the entire purchase price of the book goes to one of those two
0:14:05
(Speaker 1)
causes. And we’re going to send everybody to gratitude.org. Is that where you want them to go?
0:14:10
(Speaker 2)
Yes, ma’am.
0:14:11
(Speaker 1)
Gratitude.org. That’s gratitude, only the word great instead, right, attached to it up front as part of it. John Chiriendo, you’re a joyful guy to have the opportunity to talk to. I’m honored you took the time. Thank you for being you and for all you do, and I just can’t wait to taste that coconut water.
0:14:29
(Speaker 2)
So yeah, send me your address. Yes. Every time I hear a person who’s beaten cancer. Yes. It inspires me to continue to see and hear more of those stories. So thank you for the inspiration. And
0:14:41
(Speaker 1)
thank you for kicking that thing’s butt. Yeah, you’re welcome.
It’s a little bit of a guilty survivor thing when you hear somebody else’s family member that you love didn’t make it. I’m sorry, John. Again, I appreciate you. Yeah. Have a wonderful rest of your day and more power to you. More people should be like you.
Thank you, Deb. rest of your day and more power to you.
