Alexandra Daignault Sangster | Top 40 Under 40 2025

by avenuecalgary

Alexandra Daignault Sangster — Photo by Steve Collins.

Age: 32

Occupation: Founder and CEO, Sarjesa Inc.

In 2017, Alexandra Daignault Sangster had no idea that Sarjesa, a class project she developed at Mount Royal University, would turn into a fully fledged tea-making enterprise.

Today, Sarjesa Inc. operates a 4,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in south Calgary, equipped with nine tea bag machines. In addition to Sarjesa, the tea brand, the facility manufactures for client brands and sells to independent retailers and customers across North America, all while supporting disadvantaged women.

In 2023, Sarjesa developed and started implementing a sourcing framework that measures — through supplier surveys and interviews — whether women at the farm level are participating in and benefiting from ingredient purchases. The framework guides Sarjesa’s long-term partnerships with ethical producers, and directly impacts how Sarjesa formulates, packages and manufactures every product in its facility.

“It didn’t even occur to me to start a business that wouldn’t be impacting the women and the communities that we work with, just because it’s been so ingrained in me that you take care of others,” says Sangster.

Sarjesa is run by a majority-women team from diverse backgrounds, and Sangster says the company’s team reflects its lived values. Sarjesa partners with local farmers and all Sarjesa tea blends have at least one component that is either Alberta-grown or sourced elsewhere in Canada.

In 2024, Sangster acquired Buzzd Nutrition, a brand of dairy-free coffee creamers. She has transformed the company by developing new formulas and earning key food safety and natural health product certifications that meet Canadian and U.S. regulations. As her business scales, Sangster insists that the choice shouldn’t be between good business and doing good.

“We can grow things other than canola; we can build our own food systems,” she says. “It doesn’t mean we have to do it all, but there are specific things that we can do really, really well.”

Thank yous
“My nan, my family, my partner, my team, my friends, my mentors, Mount Royal University, Trico Charitable Foundation and every person who believed in this.”