September 24, 2024 • 25 mins
Pixie Paula Dezzutti, CEO of Local Choice, Striped Pig Distillery, Ghost Monkey Brewery, Skirt Magazine, Pixie Records
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeart Media Presents CEOs you should know all right, welcome
to the iHeartRadio of the Low Country CEOs you should
know A market president Andrew Burge, and we are super
excited today to have a local influencer, rock star, entrepreneur, podcaster,
spirits owner and super mom mother of nine, Pixie Paula
(00:20):
d ZOUTI welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We are too. I've really enjoyed getting to know you
and just learned recently, as of five minutes ago, that
you still have Christmas music as you bring back on
your cell phone. Is that year round?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That is year round all the time.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So, Pixie, you are the embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit. Where
does that come from one side of the family? You know?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I don't think so. It's strange.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I always think this by looking at you know, I've
got a pretty big demographic given nine kids to look at.
Who turns out to be an entrepreneur? Is a nature nurture?
You would think I'd have a good database there, right,
And if it was just all nurture, I think I'd
have more of my kids that would have ventured out,
but probably not even half of them, they're all creative,
(01:06):
which I do believe is definitely nurture. But from an
entrepreneur's perspective, I think you're born with it. I think
you have this fascinating curiosity that just wants you to,
you know, go, not follow the grain, or just be
thinking about things outside the box.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So being a super mom and a powerful woman in
yourself skirt magazine owner, you're in the spirit space at
a very high level. You're a podcaster. Which of those
is your favors, one of those of passion versus the other?
How do you look at that?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You know, I learned a long time ago that there's
a big difference between passion and purpose, and I was
able to sort out for me that it's not about
follow your passion and the money will follow. Do what
you love and everything will be okay. It doesn't work
out that way for me in my experience. I've learned
that if you know what your purpose is on the planet,
if you could really identify with who your true self is,
(02:01):
then it doesn't matter what your outside circumstances look like.
Passion comes and goes, it flares and wanes. Right, sometimes
we have to build up your passion again to get
out of bed. But if you can just say I
know what my purpose is on the planet, it doesn't matter.
It does that more defines you. So for me it's
unconditional love and possibility, and then I'm always in alignment.
So as long as I pick and choose any of
(02:23):
my experiences and I can do a check and say,
are you in alignment with your purpose? Not passion, Like
it could feel really great to stay out all night
and go party in and do some kind of great
passionate things. But actually passion comes from the Greek Latin
actually the Latin root word passio, which means to suffer
the passions of the Christ, you know, the twelve Passions.
(02:44):
So we didn't start coming up with this passion versus
purpose until after the in like the early eighties, honestly,
So for me, it's not about passion. It's about purpose,
and that's where I define myself, and that's where I'm
most happiest. When i feel like I'm in alignment with
making a country tribution to our greater community and the
world and the planet for my unconditional love and possibility,
(03:07):
then I am so tuned in and turned down by
everything going on so I don't need anybody to give
me passion. I'm just motivated on my own right because
I'm in alignment with my purpose.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I've learned that from you and just a few short
conversations on how your passion is. It's energetic, it's magnetic,
you know, and it makes everybody else around you more
passionate too, I think I found so your energy's awesome.
So obviously you know you're the owner locally of Stripe
Pig Distillery, one of the only the only female owned
distilleries in the country.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
No, not in the country, but there's very few. So
statistics are constantly changing. But the latest one that I
looked at was that less than one percent of distilleries
worldwide are owned by women, less than one percent and
five to eight percent in breweries. And I also own
Ghost Monkey Brewery, and I was delighted to have acquired
(03:59):
that with my partner John, to move into our what
we call the sip and share model, a giving back
through spirits. I say, we're not creating spirits, we're creating inspiration.
But yeah, in South Carolina, I think I'm the only
one hundred percent fully woman owned distillery, brewery, hybrid and
(04:19):
I think that actually that could be true in the
United States at this point, I don't think there's another
female owned distillery brewery hybrid and possibly about to take
my company public, which will be yes, and I'm very
excited about it. I'm in the exploration process and it
looks like a good fit for me, And so I
would be the only person, forget about the only woman,
(04:42):
the only person to take a distillery brewery public. Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So with that, I'm a female, I'm thinking of owning
my own business, starting something. I have a passion. What
advice would you give that person?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Okay, remember you keep bringing passion and I keep going
back to purpose. So and because this is what I'm
going to tell you when you I literally file tax
returns for like fourteen corporations, right, I am not passionate
about any of that.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Do you want a CPA firm on the side as well?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
From the early eighties, I've been in financial planning and
tax practice and tax strategy. So for me, this is
you know, come, you can't do all this without having
some kind of give you know, knowledge in the space.
Well you can, but you're going to spend a lot
of money. And most women entrepreneurs. Let's just talk South Carolina.
Only thirty five percent of small businesses in South Carolina
(05:38):
are owned by women, only thirty five percent. And from
a wage perspective, women earn about fifty six cents on
the dollar to I'm sorry, seventy six cents on the
dollar to our male friends, and Hispanic women only fifty
six cents.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So there's a huge disparity. And so it's important.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Again, I might not be passionate about every single thing
that I have to do, but I know that my
purpose and I look at the fact that I have
more years behind me on the planet than ahead of me.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
What is my purpose?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And I knew it was about possibility, right I mentioned
unconditional love impossibility. So if women really internally start to
identify with what they know their measurable impact is on
the planet, and it doesn't matter what they do. It
could be sanitation engineer, it could be nanny, it could
be teacher, it could be lawyer, it could be entrepreneur.
(06:28):
They have to know that internally, this is what their
commitment is, this is who they are. They're remaining true
to themselves, and that is going to give them the
wisdom and the stamina, the perseverance to get up every
day and attack the tasks at hand. And I'm more
concerned about financial literacy for women. Ninety percent of women
(06:49):
are going to be one hundred percent alone, and I
don't see there one hundred percent ready. Skirts demographic is
thirty five to sixty five year olds, and I am
forever educating women on how to monetize themselves, how to
make their business scalable, and how to have an exit strategy.
We just recently launched the Mini Skirt targeting young ladies
fourteen to twenty four because they said there's just not
(07:11):
enough time. Miracle compound interest and you don't know what
you don't know. But you start having a relationship with
money around the age of fourteen, if not sooner, and
you start having an identity in this day and age
with our social media platforms pretty early, you become a brand, right.
You're trying to get likes, you're posting information, you are
branding yourself, but you're not necessarily creating a business model
(07:35):
for yourself. And I just want for women to have
a positive understanding about money. So money's just a tool, right,
It's an emotional tool, and our relationship with money is
really defined based on how we feel, and sometimes it's
generational how we feel about money, how it works wealth. There's,
you know, all kinds of stuff that goes on in
(07:57):
the background about our relationship with money. But one thing
that you don't have an excuse for is not getting educated.
And so that's what we're providing for our young ladies
fourteen to twenty four is a real in depth conversation
about women in finance and giving them the tools that
are totally holistic, like their emotional wellbeing, their ability to communicate,
(08:20):
their ability to network, their ability to write, and have
a great opportunity to share who they are and share
their voice with our greater communities.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I'm going long.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I'm going to just tell you this is what I truly,
truly believe that the products and the services that are
going to be the leaders of the future are going
to come from the people who step up to be leaders.
And that's why it's important for them to have this
skill set and to have the sisterhood of tenured entrepreneurs
who've been through this road with very little moved the
(08:53):
needle over the last thirty to fifty years.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Honestly, it's pretty sad, So we've got to all rally together.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We talk about the support structure that you're giving young
women with mini skirts. It's also the leaders on the
other side, you like yourself, that are training these young women,
that are mentoring them. How do you put that circle together?
How did you select these women that are instructors and
trainers and mentors.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
We'll still the program is still evolving, but just by
posting out there that we were looking for tenured women
entrepreneurs who wanted to give back to these young sisters, right,
big sister, little sister kind of thing. And the fact
that I also want to do pen paling between our
young women here in the United States with look social
media doesn't portray accuracy, So we want to have them
(09:38):
be introduced to women internationally, young ladies internationally, so they
have peer to peer, better perspective from a worldwide perspective,
which the world is closing in on us, right, and
so we need them to have that. They just volunteered.
All of a sudden, we posted that we were having
a couple of meetings, and they started calming out of
the woodwork. So now it's a matter of getting the
(09:58):
visibility out to schools, and churches and resources. There's so
many amazing nonprofit women support groups out there that we
want to kind of intersect with them and collaborate with
them to help do what they're doing. So many will
say they're helping with women on financial independence, but the
(10:18):
statistics don't show that, so I have to. I just
felt the need to really step in and make sure
we could create programs that were measurable and impactful because
the statistics don't show that all these things that are
out there, they're not working. So we're hoping we come
up with something that makes a difference.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I believe in you. I think that you're the person
to do that. I appreciate that so much. So off
the wall, you work a lot. I do you have
passions you know that run very deep? Yeah, to do
when you're not working around charleson what's your favorite thing
to do?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Karaoke?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Karaoke and damn you say s think pik of that
as well.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
When I have fallen love, it will be completely wow.
I love to sing, and everyone should sing. It doesn't
matter how well you sing, just sing.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That's great. That is huge.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
So karaoke, karaoke and dancing. I could dance all the time.
You know, my kids are my passion too, That is
a passion. I am absolutely in love with my children.
Depending on what day of the week, who who I think?
You know, I'll make a joke and say, go find
your real birth mother.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You know there's how many even of them that came
back to work with you?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, seven of them running operations.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
M hmm. Yeah, it's amazing. We have four generations. My
eighty two year old mom who lives with me, she's
there doing her part, and my grandchildren are there. I mean,
at most given days, you could walk into the Stripe
Pig distillery and see four generations of pixies pixies and
training and doing their little magic thing. My grandkids are
(11:50):
the best.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So you got Pixie when you're two years old? I
what are your kids? O? They all have their all
little nicknames for sure. You know you can't have all
these kids and not give them nicknames. So it's pretty funny.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Sure that they're all just magical though, And I really
just that is important is sharing the magic and recognizing
what I say, unconditional love impossibility. And I got that
from my upbringing. You know, my parents were just like
a shoot for the stars. You know you can reach
the moon. In fact, I have on my My branding
is billionaire branding. Like you know, be careful where you're aim.
(12:22):
You're gonna fall short of the mark no matter what, right,
so be careful where you aim.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Aim high, am high.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I think that was interesting thing that Jim Carrey said
as a keynote speaker. He said, you can fail. It's
something you don't love, So why not go after something
that you do?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's great? Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So I want to talk about the Stripe Pig if
we could a minute, absolutely, because you know that this
the local choice is my parent company and its name
and between Stripe Pig and Ghost Monkey and what we're
doing for events over at two two.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Two five Old School Drive.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I love that. That's a jingle.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, it is a jingle. Right, we are really turning.
We're not I say, we're not creating spirits. We're creating
in We created the first give back initiative in the
spirit space. So we give two dollars a bottle back
for any of our products that are purchased in conjunction
with a fundraiser or a community education program. Now, I
took the multi trillion dollar alcohol industry to the blockchain
(13:15):
and created the first NFT in the spirit space. Wrote
a book about it called Alphabet Soup. It's on Amazon
and I tell the story again. It's about giving back.
So sip and share. If you think about the fact
that we've had March of Times, Big Brothers, Big Sisters,
Tri County Veterans, Special Olympics, Hoody and the Blowfish Foundation,
(13:36):
Ronald McDonald house.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We do events.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
You know what it's like to pay two hundred fifty
dollars and go to a black tie affair and put
on your tucks and show up.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
You get out of the.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Car and you go to the bar, and if there
was no bar, you'd be like, Mmm, how I'm spending
all this night? And that's most nonprofits big gala to
raise funds for their charities, and they're mostly volunteers.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
They don't know how to do this.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
We can throw a better party, but more importantly, we
can give that give back initiative that Sip and Share
by leveraging the bar. So we become the four to
one k matching program to anybody that's trying to raise money.
We're leveraging the bar and it's not just about me.
But if I make this precedent stick with everybody, think
(14:21):
of the trillions of dollars of beer, wine and spirits
that you see everywhere and compelling the big boys to
have to follow suit, then we would be putting all
those dollars right back into our communities in exchange for
their brand loyalty. And that is given real meaning to
let's drink responsibly.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
What a way to plug a huge brand in Charleston
and tie it back to less shrink responsibly. That's amazing.
So tell me a little more about some of the
brands that you have under Stripe Pig. Do you have
a favorite? That's a hard question. Can you share that?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Definitely the stripe Pig now, because the story of the
stripe Pig goes back to US history. It's steeped history
to eighteen thirty eight. So our label, the stripe Pig
is definitely my favorite. And we actually just created an
app about it. It's available on Apple and Google Play.
It's called the Stripe Pig, and it's really like the
ugly duckling little story. You know, why do I have
stripes and the other pigs don't? So there's this whole
(15:17):
metaphysical spiritual play to all these spirits. You know, I
say we are spiritually speaking and I'm being I'm talking
to Jess, but it's I kind of believe it.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Literally.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
At one time we had a rabbi, a priest, and
a monk blessing our spirits. Yeah, we were getting them
Kosher certified. I'm an ordained minister, non denominational, was raised Catholic,
went to some seminary, and then got to the point
where I was like, I'm going to be non denominational.
And I do think the universe pushed me into spirits
(15:48):
because it doesn't make any sense, you know, with like,
with my skill set and my pedigrees and designations and education,
I am a door to door bourbon salesman. Like it's like,
you know, but it's well, I could go down that
whole road of Jesus turning water into Winebote. I'm like,
I am not going to doubt that this doesn't work
if you are obedient. And it all came to me
(16:10):
in a dream. So the brands that I love the
most are the people that step up and have said
we want a partner, we want to do a cross
brand with you, and we don't do licensing deals. By
the way, We've had several celebrities come across our desk.
We did Dwight Eubanks, the Braxtons, Gentry, Southern Charm, Fleetwood,
Mac Badass, Boosey, Hatfield and McCoy, Richard Rawlins, Fast and Loud.
(16:36):
I mean, I've done so many high visibility celebrity brands.
I call them vanity brands because we know in the
industry that it's very few celebrity driven brands that actually
make it to be a clooney deal. But they all
still have a voice to share, and most of them,
by the way, also have a nonprofit foundation. So we
go back to SIP and share that if we're leveraging
(16:57):
our skills. And let me give you this, we have
won close to two hundred and fifty awards, beating the
market leaders across the board in all category of spirits.
So you think that praying isn't counting. I don't have
to tell everybody I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you.
I'm praying for you. I just pray and out of it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I know it's gorny.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's like we're creating the Holy spirits. I don't know
what's happening, but good things happen. And more importantly, conversations
like this, conversations around the biggest, most profitable industry on
the planet, and we're talking about spirituality.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Crazy right, crazy crazy, it's your passion coming through. It
came to you in a dream. I think that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Did it did? The whole sip and share It was
revealed in a dream.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
And I'm just being obedient, and I wish I could
see what the ending was, because, man, I'm telling you,
it is hard. It is hard to be in this
industry and compete with the big boys and have a difference,
even in our hometown. It's hard. I look at and
you know there are discrimination laws. There really are in
the United States, but a lot of people just don't
(17:59):
pay it atention. I have to pay ten thousand dollars
a year to get certified woman owned, Women Owned certifications
across numerous VET platforms like WBEANC WNC. Just to be
able to get pitched for some locations, larger locations Walmart, Target, Disney,
you have to be certified women owned. I'm spending all
(18:22):
that money to prove that I am a woman, that
there's no mail right in the checks behind me, you know.
And I'm a single mom, Like, I've been doing this
by myself for a very long time, and still I
have to prove based on my merit and value and
what that Still that just gets me in the door.
We know that if there are women opportunities, most businesses
(18:45):
and governments for sure are required to select those products
and services from women owned. Diversity is important and I know,
I'm like, ugh, you got to tell that story. I'm
woman owned, women owned, woman owned. It does matter because
ninety percent of these women, as mentioned, going to be
one hundred percent alone. Are they one hundred percent ready?
And they're moving more into CEO positions, they are managing
(19:08):
and taking over more. Even though the inequality and the
gender gap pay is still existing, we are narrowing it slightly.
And twenty five percent of women in South Carolina will
get a bachelor's degree. It's not enough, but we are
making progress, you know, and our education program we're in
the bottom third in South Carolina of the nation. It's
(19:29):
important for these women to get the confidence that they
need step into their roles, whatever that is. Figure out again,
what is your purpose on the planet. You will thrive
as long as you identify with your purpose and if
we could get to them earlier to help them to
figure out what that is, they're just going to be superstars.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Well, it sounds like that you are taking the first
step and mentoring that next round of female on CEOs,
female owned businesses with your Miniskirts Foundation. So join the fight,
mind you?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So Wednesday night we have meet and greet Stripe Peg
from six to eight every single Wednesday, and we call
it Weekly Wednesday where the deals go down. And I've
seen some amazing deals go down on Wednesday. So everybody
should come out that wants to just meet other business
entrepreneurs or just have some great friends. It's like the cheers,
like everybody knows your name when you walk into the
Pig on Wednesday, and if you haven't met anybody yet,
(20:19):
within five minutes, you're gonna feel like family.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Thursday Nights is karaoke oh and featuring TEKSI Oh yeah,
but the Pixie Chicks.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We call it.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Perfect Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
And then first Saturday of every month is the Vendor
the Stripe Vendor Fair. We've got over fifty vendors and
a waiting list who come that who share everything that
they that they're creating, what their businesses look like. It's
always so much fun. There's entertainment and food and food trucks.
And the first Saturday of every month and then second Sunday,
we do books in brunch. So any local authors who
(20:52):
want anybody who wants to write their story, go to
skirt dot com contact me. We'll get your story out.
You know, we're a media publishing company and we will
help you get your story out. Also, I do want
to mention a big important date is August seventeenth. We
are creating the first nonprofit Poaloosa. We are dedicated and
committed to getting We already have fifty nonprofits under one
(21:17):
roof one day, one location. The mayor is going to
actually proclamate that day as the first ever nonprofit Poaloosa.
All of the nonprofits in the Greater Charleston area are
going to show up. We learn from each other, We
collaborate with each other. It is open to the public
with a brunch first and then vendor fair afterwards, so
(21:39):
you could bring even your kids, even the retirees. Anybody
who wants to donate their time and learn about the charities,
they can come to one location and go from table
to table to table and see what resonates with them,
see where they want to volunteer their time. And remember
your time is another currency. Remember what I said, the
where you give, the more you get. So give of
(22:01):
your time, give of your resources. Come learn about all
the nonprofits in Charleston and what they are doing, and
I do mean the greater Charleston area. We're really really
hitting the borders, the boundaries of our state boundary.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Everybody is coming. It's just going to be fabulous.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
So you could go to event right and get tickets
and the event itself is free.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Just it's going to be so much.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
We want any nonprofits that want to come along and
play for the day to set up a table with us.
And we're also asking for business donations throughout the community.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Anything that anyone can donate that has.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
A value of twenty five dollars or greater will go
on a big raffle table and then the proceeds from
that raffle will be split between all the nonprofits equally.
So it's our one chance of really supporting each other,
bringing everybody together and getting strength their strength and numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
For sure, all great Calls is one place one day. Yes, yes,
this community celebrates and really backs their passions and their causes.
So I think that's having those one place that's that's perfect.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
And that is National Nonprofit Day. So that has now
become the mini Skirt Proclamation Day. As we are the
biggest nonprofit committed to all of our nonprofits.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I love it so as we part, give us one
motivational thing that you live by, Give us a quote,
give us a pixiism if you will.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Oh my gosh, there's so many things that I want
to share all the time. I'm just learning this late
in life. When you're a creator. It's so easy to to.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Be a creator.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
You could create, create, create, you know, manifest and you're
always coming up with things. I think the hardest thing
to do, and I hope that people take this into
council is not being attached to It's easy to get
attached to your dreams. What happens is if you if
those if the journey turns out differently than what you thought,
(23:53):
it's more important, I believe to get enrolled in how
it turns and out and not get stuck in how
it didn't turn out. If you could somehow create that
shift and really embrace that it was meant to be
this way. Then you just constantly motivated again. You're brought
(24:15):
back back into your purpose. Remember purpose versus passion, and
don't be attached to how things appear or how things
didn't turn out. As creators, we're so focused on that
dream for so long that it's hard to shift. But
sometimes the shift is the real miracle. So go with
(24:37):
the flow, I guess is what they would say, easily right,
But more importantly, just embrace that fully, embrace that shift
because you don't know what you're going to manifest next.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Purpose verse passion. Yeah, Pixie Paula, thank you so much
for joining us today. It was greig getting to know
you and hope everyone will support your calls.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
That day of giving delighted. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Awesome. You've been listening to iheartradioc eos you should know,
heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here on this
iHeartRadio station
iHeart Media Presents CEOs you should know all right, welcome
to the iHeartRadio of the Low Country CEOs you should
know A market president Andrew Burge, and we are super
excited today to have a local influencer, rock star, entrepreneur, podcaster,
spirits owner and super mom mother of nine, Pixie Paula
(00:20):
d ZOUTI welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We are too. I've really enjoyed getting to know you
and just learned recently, as of five minutes ago, that
you still have Christmas music as you bring back on
your cell phone. Is that year round?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That is year round all the time.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So, Pixie, you are the embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit. Where
does that come from one side of the family? You know?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I don't think so. It's strange.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I always think this by looking at you know, I've
got a pretty big demographic given nine kids to look at.
Who turns out to be an entrepreneur? Is a nature nurture?
You would think I'd have a good database there, right,
And if it was just all nurture, I think I'd
have more of my kids that would have ventured out,
but probably not even half of them, they're all creative,
(01:06):
which I do believe is definitely nurture. But from an
entrepreneur's perspective, I think you're born with it. I think
you have this fascinating curiosity that just wants you to,
you know, go, not follow the grain, or just be
thinking about things outside the box.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So being a super mom and a powerful woman in
yourself skirt magazine owner, you're in the spirit space at
a very high level. You're a podcaster. Which of those
is your favors, one of those of passion versus the other?
How do you look at that?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You know, I learned a long time ago that there's
a big difference between passion and purpose, and I was
able to sort out for me that it's not about
follow your passion and the money will follow. Do what
you love and everything will be okay. It doesn't work
out that way for me in my experience. I've learned
that if you know what your purpose is on the planet,
if you could really identify with who your true self is,
(02:01):
then it doesn't matter what your outside circumstances look like.
Passion comes and goes, it flares and wanes. Right, sometimes
we have to build up your passion again to get
out of bed. But if you can just say I
know what my purpose is on the planet, it doesn't matter.
It does that more defines you. So for me it's
unconditional love and possibility, and then I'm always in alignment.
So as long as I pick and choose any of
(02:23):
my experiences and I can do a check and say,
are you in alignment with your purpose? Not passion, Like
it could feel really great to stay out all night
and go party in and do some kind of great
passionate things. But actually passion comes from the Greek Latin
actually the Latin root word passio, which means to suffer
the passions of the Christ, you know, the twelve Passions.
(02:44):
So we didn't start coming up with this passion versus
purpose until after the in like the early eighties, honestly,
So for me, it's not about passion. It's about purpose,
and that's where I define myself, and that's where I'm
most happiest. When i feel like I'm in alignment with
making a country tribution to our greater community and the
world and the planet for my unconditional love and possibility,
(03:07):
then I am so tuned in and turned down by
everything going on so I don't need anybody to give
me passion. I'm just motivated on my own right because
I'm in alignment with my purpose.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I've learned that from you and just a few short
conversations on how your passion is. It's energetic, it's magnetic,
you know, and it makes everybody else around you more
passionate too, I think I found so your energy's awesome.
So obviously you know you're the owner locally of Stripe
Pig Distillery, one of the only the only female owned
distilleries in the country.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
No, not in the country, but there's very few. So
statistics are constantly changing. But the latest one that I
looked at was that less than one percent of distilleries
worldwide are owned by women, less than one percent and
five to eight percent in breweries. And I also own
Ghost Monkey Brewery, and I was delighted to have acquired
(03:59):
that with my partner John, to move into our what
we call the sip and share model, a giving back
through spirits. I say, we're not creating spirits, we're creating inspiration.
But yeah, in South Carolina, I think I'm the only
one hundred percent fully woman owned distillery, brewery, hybrid and
(04:19):
I think that actually that could be true in the
United States at this point, I don't think there's another
female owned distillery brewery hybrid and possibly about to take
my company public, which will be yes, and I'm very
excited about it. I'm in the exploration process and it
looks like a good fit for me, And so I
would be the only person, forget about the only woman,
(04:42):
the only person to take a distillery brewery public. Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So with that, I'm a female, I'm thinking of owning
my own business, starting something. I have a passion. What
advice would you give that person?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Okay, remember you keep bringing passion and I keep going
back to purpose. So and because this is what I'm
going to tell you when you I literally file tax
returns for like fourteen corporations, right, I am not passionate
about any of that.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Do you want a CPA firm on the side as well?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
From the early eighties, I've been in financial planning and
tax practice and tax strategy. So for me, this is
you know, come, you can't do all this without having
some kind of give you know, knowledge in the space.
Well you can, but you're going to spend a lot
of money. And most women entrepreneurs. Let's just talk South Carolina.
Only thirty five percent of small businesses in South Carolina
(05:38):
are owned by women, only thirty five percent. And from
a wage perspective, women earn about fifty six cents on
the dollar to I'm sorry, seventy six cents on the
dollar to our male friends, and Hispanic women only fifty
six cents.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So there's a huge disparity. And so it's important.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Again, I might not be passionate about every single thing
that I have to do, but I know that my
purpose and I look at the fact that I have
more years behind me on the planet than ahead of me.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
What is my purpose?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And I knew it was about possibility, right I mentioned
unconditional love impossibility. So if women really internally start to
identify with what they know their measurable impact is on
the planet, and it doesn't matter what they do. It
could be sanitation engineer, it could be nanny, it could
be teacher, it could be lawyer, it could be entrepreneur.
(06:28):
They have to know that internally, this is what their
commitment is, this is who they are. They're remaining true
to themselves, and that is going to give them the
wisdom and the stamina, the perseverance to get up every
day and attack the tasks at hand. And I'm more
concerned about financial literacy for women. Ninety percent of women
(06:49):
are going to be one hundred percent alone, and I
don't see there one hundred percent ready. Skirts demographic is
thirty five to sixty five year olds, and I am
forever educating women on how to monetize themselves, how to
make their business scalable, and how to have an exit strategy.
We just recently launched the Mini Skirt targeting young ladies
fourteen to twenty four because they said there's just not
(07:11):
enough time. Miracle compound interest and you don't know what
you don't know. But you start having a relationship with
money around the age of fourteen, if not sooner, and
you start having an identity in this day and age
with our social media platforms pretty early, you become a brand, right.
You're trying to get likes, you're posting information, you are
branding yourself, but you're not necessarily creating a business model
(07:35):
for yourself. And I just want for women to have
a positive understanding about money. So money's just a tool, right,
It's an emotional tool, and our relationship with money is
really defined based on how we feel, and sometimes it's
generational how we feel about money, how it works wealth. There's,
you know, all kinds of stuff that goes on in
(07:57):
the background about our relationship with money. But one thing
that you don't have an excuse for is not getting educated.
And so that's what we're providing for our young ladies
fourteen to twenty four is a real in depth conversation
about women in finance and giving them the tools that
are totally holistic, like their emotional wellbeing, their ability to communicate,
(08:20):
their ability to network, their ability to write, and have
a great opportunity to share who they are and share
their voice with our greater communities.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I'm going long.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I'm going to just tell you this is what I truly,
truly believe that the products and the services that are
going to be the leaders of the future are going
to come from the people who step up to be leaders.
And that's why it's important for them to have this
skill set and to have the sisterhood of tenured entrepreneurs
who've been through this road with very little moved the
(08:53):
needle over the last thirty to fifty years.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Honestly, it's pretty sad, So we've got to all rally together.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We talk about the support structure that you're giving young
women with mini skirts. It's also the leaders on the
other side, you like yourself, that are training these young women,
that are mentoring them. How do you put that circle together?
How did you select these women that are instructors and
trainers and mentors.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
We'll still the program is still evolving, but just by
posting out there that we were looking for tenured women
entrepreneurs who wanted to give back to these young sisters, right,
big sister, little sister kind of thing. And the fact
that I also want to do pen paling between our
young women here in the United States with look social
media doesn't portray accuracy, So we want to have them
(09:38):
be introduced to women internationally, young ladies internationally, so they
have peer to peer, better perspective from a worldwide perspective,
which the world is closing in on us, right, and
so we need them to have that. They just volunteered.
All of a sudden, we posted that we were having
a couple of meetings, and they started calming out of
the woodwork. So now it's a matter of getting the
(09:58):
visibility out to schools, and churches and resources. There's so
many amazing nonprofit women support groups out there that we
want to kind of intersect with them and collaborate with
them to help do what they're doing. So many will
say they're helping with women on financial independence, but the
(10:18):
statistics don't show that, so I have to. I just
felt the need to really step in and make sure
we could create programs that were measurable and impactful because
the statistics don't show that all these things that are
out there, they're not working. So we're hoping we come
up with something that makes a difference.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I believe in you. I think that you're the person
to do that. I appreciate that so much. So off
the wall, you work a lot. I do you have
passions you know that run very deep? Yeah, to do
when you're not working around charleson what's your favorite thing
to do?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Karaoke?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Karaoke and damn you say s think pik of that
as well.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
When I have fallen love, it will be completely wow.
I love to sing, and everyone should sing. It doesn't
matter how well you sing, just sing.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That's great. That is huge.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
So karaoke, karaoke and dancing. I could dance all the time.
You know, my kids are my passion too, That is
a passion. I am absolutely in love with my children.
Depending on what day of the week, who who I think?
You know, I'll make a joke and say, go find
your real birth mother.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You know there's how many even of them that came
back to work with you?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, seven of them running operations.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
M hmm. Yeah, it's amazing. We have four generations. My
eighty two year old mom who lives with me, she's
there doing her part, and my grandchildren are there. I mean,
at most given days, you could walk into the Stripe
Pig distillery and see four generations of pixies pixies and
training and doing their little magic thing. My grandkids are
(11:50):
the best.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So you got Pixie when you're two years old? I
what are your kids? O? They all have their all
little nicknames for sure. You know you can't have all
these kids and not give them nicknames. So it's pretty funny.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Sure that they're all just magical though, And I really
just that is important is sharing the magic and recognizing
what I say, unconditional love impossibility. And I got that
from my upbringing. You know, my parents were just like
a shoot for the stars. You know you can reach
the moon. In fact, I have on my My branding
is billionaire branding. Like you know, be careful where you're aim.
(12:22):
You're gonna fall short of the mark no matter what, right,
so be careful where you aim.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Aim high, am high.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I think that was interesting thing that Jim Carrey said
as a keynote speaker. He said, you can fail. It's
something you don't love, So why not go after something
that you do?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's great? Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So I want to talk about the Stripe Pig if
we could a minute, absolutely, because you know that this
the local choice is my parent company and its name
and between Stripe Pig and Ghost Monkey and what we're
doing for events over at two two.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Two five Old School Drive.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I love that. That's a jingle.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, it is a jingle. Right, we are really turning.
We're not I say, we're not creating spirits. We're creating
in We created the first give back initiative in the
spirit space. So we give two dollars a bottle back
for any of our products that are purchased in conjunction
with a fundraiser or a community education program. Now, I
took the multi trillion dollar alcohol industry to the blockchain
(13:15):
and created the first NFT in the spirit space. Wrote
a book about it called Alphabet Soup. It's on Amazon
and I tell the story again. It's about giving back.
So sip and share. If you think about the fact
that we've had March of Times, Big Brothers, Big Sisters,
Tri County Veterans, Special Olympics, Hoody and the Blowfish Foundation,
(13:36):
Ronald McDonald house.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We do events.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
You know what it's like to pay two hundred fifty
dollars and go to a black tie affair and put
on your tucks and show up.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
You get out of the.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Car and you go to the bar, and if there
was no bar, you'd be like, Mmm, how I'm spending
all this night? And that's most nonprofits big gala to
raise funds for their charities, and they're mostly volunteers.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
They don't know how to do this.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
We can throw a better party, but more importantly, we
can give that give back initiative that Sip and Share
by leveraging the bar. So we become the four to
one k matching program to anybody that's trying to raise money.
We're leveraging the bar and it's not just about me.
But if I make this precedent stick with everybody, think
(14:21):
of the trillions of dollars of beer, wine and spirits
that you see everywhere and compelling the big boys to
have to follow suit, then we would be putting all
those dollars right back into our communities in exchange for
their brand loyalty. And that is given real meaning to
let's drink responsibly.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
What a way to plug a huge brand in Charleston
and tie it back to less shrink responsibly. That's amazing.
So tell me a little more about some of the
brands that you have under Stripe Pig. Do you have
a favorite? That's a hard question. Can you share that?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Definitely the stripe Pig now, because the story of the
stripe Pig goes back to US history. It's steeped history
to eighteen thirty eight. So our label, the stripe Pig
is definitely my favorite. And we actually just created an
app about it. It's available on Apple and Google Play.
It's called the Stripe Pig, and it's really like the
ugly duckling little story. You know, why do I have
stripes and the other pigs don't? So there's this whole
(15:17):
metaphysical spiritual play to all these spirits. You know, I
say we are spiritually speaking and I'm being I'm talking
to Jess, but it's I kind of believe it.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Literally.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
At one time we had a rabbi, a priest, and
a monk blessing our spirits. Yeah, we were getting them
Kosher certified. I'm an ordained minister, non denominational, was raised Catholic,
went to some seminary, and then got to the point
where I was like, I'm going to be non denominational.
And I do think the universe pushed me into spirits
(15:48):
because it doesn't make any sense, you know, with like,
with my skill set and my pedigrees and designations and education,
I am a door to door bourbon salesman. Like it's like,
you know, but it's well, I could go down that
whole road of Jesus turning water into Winebote. I'm like,
I am not going to doubt that this doesn't work
if you are obedient. And it all came to me
(16:10):
in a dream. So the brands that I love the
most are the people that step up and have said
we want a partner, we want to do a cross
brand with you, and we don't do licensing deals. By
the way, We've had several celebrities come across our desk.
We did Dwight Eubanks, the Braxtons, Gentry, Southern Charm, Fleetwood,
Mac Badass, Boosey, Hatfield and McCoy, Richard Rawlins, Fast and Loud.
(16:36):
I mean, I've done so many high visibility celebrity brands.
I call them vanity brands because we know in the
industry that it's very few celebrity driven brands that actually
make it to be a clooney deal. But they all
still have a voice to share, and most of them,
by the way, also have a nonprofit foundation. So we
go back to SIP and share that if we're leveraging
(16:57):
our skills. And let me give you this, we have
won close to two hundred and fifty awards, beating the
market leaders across the board in all category of spirits.
So you think that praying isn't counting. I don't have
to tell everybody I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you.
I'm praying for you. I just pray and out of it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I know it's gorny.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's like we're creating the Holy spirits. I don't know
what's happening, but good things happen. And more importantly, conversations
like this, conversations around the biggest, most profitable industry on
the planet, and we're talking about spirituality.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Crazy right, crazy crazy, it's your passion coming through. It
came to you in a dream. I think that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Did it did? The whole sip and share It was
revealed in a dream.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
And I'm just being obedient, and I wish I could
see what the ending was, because, man, I'm telling you,
it is hard. It is hard to be in this
industry and compete with the big boys and have a difference,
even in our hometown. It's hard. I look at and
you know there are discrimination laws. There really are in
the United States, but a lot of people just don't
(17:59):
pay it atention. I have to pay ten thousand dollars
a year to get certified woman owned, Women Owned certifications
across numerous VET platforms like WBEANC WNC. Just to be
able to get pitched for some locations, larger locations Walmart, Target, Disney,
you have to be certified women owned. I'm spending all
(18:22):
that money to prove that I am a woman, that
there's no mail right in the checks behind me, you know.
And I'm a single mom, Like, I've been doing this
by myself for a very long time, and still I
have to prove based on my merit and value and
what that Still that just gets me in the door.
We know that if there are women opportunities, most businesses
(18:45):
and governments for sure are required to select those products
and services from women owned. Diversity is important and I know,
I'm like, ugh, you got to tell that story. I'm
woman owned, women owned, woman owned. It does matter because
ninety percent of these women, as mentioned, going to be
one hundred percent alone. Are they one hundred percent ready?
And they're moving more into CEO positions, they are managing
(19:08):
and taking over more. Even though the inequality and the
gender gap pay is still existing, we are narrowing it slightly.
And twenty five percent of women in South Carolina will
get a bachelor's degree. It's not enough, but we are
making progress, you know, and our education program we're in
the bottom third in South Carolina of the nation. It's
(19:29):
important for these women to get the confidence that they
need step into their roles, whatever that is. Figure out again,
what is your purpose on the planet. You will thrive
as long as you identify with your purpose and if
we could get to them earlier to help them to
figure out what that is, they're just going to be superstars.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Well, it sounds like that you are taking the first
step and mentoring that next round of female on CEOs,
female owned businesses with your Miniskirts Foundation. So join the fight,
mind you?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So Wednesday night we have meet and greet Stripe Peg
from six to eight every single Wednesday, and we call
it Weekly Wednesday where the deals go down. And I've
seen some amazing deals go down on Wednesday. So everybody
should come out that wants to just meet other business
entrepreneurs or just have some great friends. It's like the cheers,
like everybody knows your name when you walk into the
Pig on Wednesday, and if you haven't met anybody yet,
(20:19):
within five minutes, you're gonna feel like family.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Thursday Nights is karaoke oh and featuring TEKSI Oh yeah,
but the Pixie Chicks.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We call it.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Perfect Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
And then first Saturday of every month is the Vendor
the Stripe Vendor Fair. We've got over fifty vendors and
a waiting list who come that who share everything that
they that they're creating, what their businesses look like. It's
always so much fun. There's entertainment and food and food trucks.
And the first Saturday of every month and then second Sunday,
we do books in brunch. So any local authors who
(20:52):
want anybody who wants to write their story, go to
skirt dot com contact me. We'll get your story out.
You know, we're a media publishing company and we will
help you get your story out. Also, I do want
to mention a big important date is August seventeenth. We
are creating the first nonprofit Poaloosa. We are dedicated and
committed to getting We already have fifty nonprofits under one
(21:17):
roof one day, one location. The mayor is going to
actually proclamate that day as the first ever nonprofit Poaloosa.
All of the nonprofits in the Greater Charleston area are
going to show up. We learn from each other, We
collaborate with each other. It is open to the public
with a brunch first and then vendor fair afterwards, so
(21:39):
you could bring even your kids, even the retirees. Anybody
who wants to donate their time and learn about the charities,
they can come to one location and go from table
to table to table and see what resonates with them,
see where they want to volunteer their time. And remember
your time is another currency. Remember what I said, the
where you give, the more you get. So give of
(22:01):
your time, give of your resources. Come learn about all
the nonprofits in Charleston and what they are doing, and
I do mean the greater Charleston area. We're really really
hitting the borders, the boundaries of our state boundary.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Everybody is coming. It's just going to be fabulous.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
So you could go to event right and get tickets
and the event itself is free.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Just it's going to be so much.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
We want any nonprofits that want to come along and
play for the day to set up a table with us.
And we're also asking for business donations throughout the community.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Anything that anyone can donate that has.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
A value of twenty five dollars or greater will go
on a big raffle table and then the proceeds from
that raffle will be split between all the nonprofits equally.
So it's our one chance of really supporting each other,
bringing everybody together and getting strength their strength and numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
For sure, all great Calls is one place one day. Yes, yes,
this community celebrates and really backs their passions and their causes.
So I think that's having those one place that's that's perfect.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
And that is National Nonprofit Day. So that has now
become the mini Skirt Proclamation Day. As we are the
biggest nonprofit committed to all of our nonprofits.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I love it so as we part, give us one
motivational thing that you live by, Give us a quote,
give us a pixiism if you will.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Oh my gosh, there's so many things that I want
to share all the time. I'm just learning this late
in life. When you're a creator. It's so easy to to.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Be a creator.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
You could create, create, create, you know, manifest and you're
always coming up with things. I think the hardest thing
to do, and I hope that people take this into
council is not being attached to It's easy to get
attached to your dreams. What happens is if you if
those if the journey turns out differently than what you thought,
(23:53):
it's more important, I believe to get enrolled in how
it turns and out and not get stuck in how
it didn't turn out. If you could somehow create that
shift and really embrace that it was meant to be
this way. Then you just constantly motivated again. You're brought
(24:15):
back back into your purpose. Remember purpose versus passion, and
don't be attached to how things appear or how things
didn't turn out. As creators, we're so focused on that
dream for so long that it's hard to shift. But
sometimes the shift is the real miracle. So go with
(24:37):
the flow, I guess is what they would say, easily right,
But more importantly, just embrace that fully, embrace that shift
because you don't know what you're going to manifest next.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Purpose verse passion. Yeah, Pixie Paula, thank you so much
for joining us today. It was greig getting to know
you and hope everyone will support your calls.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
That day of giving delighted. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Awesome. You've been listening to iheartradioc eos you should know,
heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here on this
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