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Courtney Peace wants you to drink more clean water. And, while you’re at it, his water.
“You gotta stay hydrated,” the Oak Cliff native said while gulping down a bottle of his Maji Pure alkaline water.
Studies show that most of us aren’t. According to the CDC, 43% of Americans drink less than four cups a day (another survey put us at a whopping 80%). And, when we do drink enough, it’s not likely to be the cleanest or the safest.
That’s why Peace launched Maji Pure as one of a handful of Black-owned water companies in the country.
“I had been drinking [my alkaline water] by myself for a minute,” he explained.
Then, water shortages and boil notices during the pandemic (and the 2021 snowstorm) helped him see a bigger vision.
“It was kind of like a God-send,” he said. “I was one of the few guys who could actually bring water to the community … in their time of need.”
That’s when Peace knew he had to bring his brand to the masses.
Overcoming adversity
He initially started the venture with a few partners, but when they fell off, he knew he had to keep going.
“I kept with the dream,” he said.
It took two years for Peace to push through bureaucratic red tape and financial setbacks. The most challenging parts, he said, were figuring out the manufacturing process and getting a license to bottle and sell water.
“They gave me the blues about that license,” he admitted.
Peace also opened up about facing uphill battles since he was a teenager. By the time he was 18, he was incarcerated for a crime he says he did not commit. After serving 11 years of a 15-year sentence, he was out on parole, unemployed, and with few options to make his own second chance.
But he said he’s not looking for sympathy: “I don’t believe in hard or difficult, I just believe in what it takes to get it done.”
He’s more interested in having an impact on the community.
The most rewarding parts of his journey, he explained, have been “to actually see my people appreciate what I’m doing for the community and the unity I’m bringing behind it. I am someone that is really from the hood. For people in the hood to see me doing this, it gives them a spark of innovation.
“They can see and say, ‘Peace can do this. Peace went to prison, wouldn’t nobody give Peace a job when he got out of prison. And Peace has got a billboard right now with Maji Pure going down Highway 35,’” he continued. “It changes the consciousness and the belief on what we can do.”
From making water to making waves
Calling it the “people’s water,” Peace believes he has one of the best alkaline water brands on the market. “It’ll change your life,” he said. “Everyone who has tried the water has become a customer. You don’t really know what clean water is until you drink clean water.”
Maji Pure water is filtered through a reverse osmosis process to a level of 0 TDS, which measures the number of dissolved sediments in the water.
It is then infused with minerals like calcium and magnesium to make it alkaline.
While the body is self-regulating, alkaline water with a pH balance of 9 has been touted for helping take stress off the body’s systems, resulting in everything from better digestion and clearer skin to weight loss.
“It’s like a healing agent,” said Peace. “Our bodies are so filled with different toxins daily, from the air we breathe and some of the foods we eat. Alkaline water helps your body maintain balance. It will have you feeling better. Your energy levels will be better.”
For non-believers, he’s also done a few live demos showing the pH levels of several national water brands. Each time, Maji Pure tested higher, with fewer additives.
And now, he’s ready to make waves in the community. Since launching in January, Maji Pure is already available in local mom-and-pop shops, medical spas, and even gyms throughout Texas, including Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Houston, and Mansfield. Peace has even secured retail space in California.
He is also sharing the wealth. While building his brand, he offers wholesale opportunities and training for other entrepreneurial hopefuls.
Within the next two years, Peace wants Maji Pure to become a household name.
“I’m not just saying it’s water for Black people,” he said. “I want everybody to embrace this and pay attention to what they are putting into their body.”
That includes creating and selling a filtration machine for consumers to soften and change the pH at home, along with opening a grocery store.
“That’s something else I hope to happen in the future — where we provide fruits and vegetables to our community,” Peace explained.
Until then, he plans to keep pushing his marketing and community-building efforts. He will be selling water at the Rick Ross Car and Bike show in Georgia next weekend and then he will be back as a sponsor for a mental health awareness event and for a local Juneteenth celebration.
“We are doing a lot of things in the community,” he said, “that we’re trying to balance out from negative to show the positive light of where we come from.”
This story, originally published in Texas Metro News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and TMN. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
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