Boutique Marketing Agency for Food and Tech
Good people building great brands.



At Active Ingredients, we share a passion to help good brands become great, increasing our clients’ potential for positive impact through digital-forward marketing.
We’re experts in our disciplines, but we’re also surfers, musicians, food bloggers, cyclists, environmentalists, bakers, runners, kale-eaters and dog people. And cat people.

We know that brands can, and must, play a role in transforming our lives and planet, and with our expertise and our passion, we can greatly amplify that role.
Our mission is to build a healthier world by helping food & technology brands create positive impact.
Our core values
Learn, unlearn and be curious.
Be courageous enough to fail.
Act with empathy and give a damn.
Champion growth in life and work.
Our Team


Brian West
Partner | Strategy


Mary Ames West
Partner | People and Operations


Eric Eisenberg
Partner | Brand and Content


Sara Behrendt
Creative Director


Mike Zens
Technical Director


Pascale Gregory
Digital Project Manager


Eric Kemp
Senior Digital Designer


Nick Kessler-Irving
Front-End Developer


Richard Roberts
Practice Lead | Strategy and Search Marketing

Old Friends, New Energy. Meet the Partners.
Brian, Mary and Eric met in 1997 at a music festival near Yosemite National Park. Almost immediately they were planting roots and conspiring to create things together. They had been dedicated to protecting the environment since the early ’90s, each having worked for conscious companies and nonprofits, and shared tales from collective years spent surfing, climbing, backpacking and living in awe of our natural world.
Merging this collective passion with their career superpowers in digital strategy, brand storytelling and creative team leadership, they were compelled to use the power of the web to help benevolent brands reach more people and tell richer stories and make a bigger impact on the health of the planet than they ever had before. Welcome to the future of Active Ingredients.


Our HQ is based in beautiful Sausalito, California — just north of the Golden Gate Bridge — but we operate seamlessly as a remote team with full time staff in the San Francisco Bay Area; Portland, OR; Brooklyn, NY; Missoula, MT; and Asheville, NC.
Awards
We don’t like to brag, but we’re proud of the work we’ve done with our clients.
Outstanding Website: Lindsay Olives
Davey Awards
Copy or Writing: Lindsay Olives
The Communicator Awards
Food & Beverages: Cline Cellars
W3 Silver Winner
Best Computer Software Website: Lithium Technologies
Web Award
Food & Beverages: Lindsay Olives
W3 Silver Winner
Outstanding Website: Lindsay Olives
Web Award
Consumer Goods: Comfort Zone
The Communicator Awards
Food & Beverages: Lindsay Olives
The Communicator Awards
Computer / IT Software: Lithium Technologies
The Communicator Awards