Westwood, MA, 22nd June 2022, ZEXPRWIRE, From a young age, Steven Fortuna was fascinated by invention and business, and especially the interplay between the two. This interest led him to pursue degrees in both engineering as well as finance.  His strong educational background provided the underpinning for two successful careers, the first as a technologist and the second as a financier before he decided to embark on yet a third career, this time as an entrepreneur.  And to the surprise of many, the company that he started was not in either of his previous two industries, but rather in the consumer packaged goods space.  The idea of starting a beverage company was born of an inspiration he received while gardening at his cottage in the Berkshire Hills of Western MA.

 As Founder and CEO of Blossom Water LLC, Steven Fortuna has always been on the cutting edge of beverage innovation, being the first to use flower botanicals as a key flavor component across his company’s entire SKU portfolio. Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Steven never lost touch with a couple of important guiding principles, ones that he used repeatedly throughout his career. i.e. there is no substitute for hard work and you must always be on top of your game. Despite adhering to these simple truths, Steven has found the challenges of the beverage industry to be an order of magnitude greater than anything he has ever undertaken.

Steve Fortuna is an electrical/computer engineer and finance guy by training, however, he has worn many hats over the course of his career. Fortuna began life as a hardware design engineer at Raytheon, where he designed air traffic control display systems.  From there, Fortuna moved into software engineering and had the opportunity to work on a number of different classified government projects at the MITRE Corporation.  After Steve Fortuna received his MBA from Columbia, he parlayed his engineering background into equity research on Wall Street, where he analyzed technology stocks at a number of different large Wall Street firms.

Fortuna held increasingly responsible positions at PaineWebber, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Prudential Equity Group.  While First Vice President at Merrill Lynch, he ranked Number Two on Institutional Investor’s All-America Research Team. Having made his mark as a research analyst on the Street,  he decided he wanted to try his hand at running money and so joined Stratix Asset Management, where he was a portfolio manager responsible for a $50MM+ long/short equity book.  Then, after a few years, Steve decided (along with a partner) to launch his own firm, S2 Capital Management, where, together, they ran a $150 million long/short equity fund focused on the technology and energy sectors.

As the stresses of managing a fund began to build, Steve Fortuna often sought refuge in the cottage gardens of his home in the Berkshires.  It was there while planting a beautifully scented mock orange when the inspiration struck to develop a beverage that used flower essences like these. He soon started meeting with other beverage entrepreneurs and industry experts. Fortuna also researched the history of flowers in beverage applications throughout the world and quickly realized that his idea had merit. The final factor in making the decision to move forward was that it became clear that consumers wanted healthier and more interesting beverage options. Hence, Steve Fortuna pulled the trigger and Blossom Water was born!

Steve Fortuna has been able to utilize his vast experience, knowledge and research to produce a quality product with a solid business foundation. This foundation is going to allow Steve and the team at Blossom Water LLC to integrate innovative technology and flavors into their health-conscious beverages.