The Alexi Cashen Podcast

Sarah Shadonix is the Founder and CEO of Scout & Cellar, a Clean-Crafted™, woman-founded and led winery that has created a higher standard for how wine is made by creating a more authentic, sustainable, and delicious approach to the wine-making process. After several years of practicing commercial litigation, Sarah decided to pursue her passion for wine instead. In 2014, she earned her Advanced Certificate from the Wines & ...

Bryan Monteleone is the Co-founder of Drinkubator, a company that lives at the collision of beverages and technology and leverages digital strategy for spirits, RTDs, wine, and non-alcoholic brands to help them make better business decisions based on live data and analytics.

Bryan oversees business development and relationship management and brings his ability and experience in developing, building, and selling technology solutions...

Anna Lundstrom and her husband founded Folksy Hard Kombucha, a better-for-you alcoholic beverage that's more thoughtful and more enjoyable. At Folksy, they are committed to pure ingredients and honest practices that put people and the planet first. Their better-for-you alcoholic drink is made from a light combination of organic fruit juices and natural botanicals, and it's low in sugar and brewed to a breezy 5% — so you can feel go...

Carlos de Jesus is the Director of Marketing and Communications at Amorim Cork, the largest cork producer in the world. He played rugby at the national level before cutting his teeth at Breakstone & Ruth LLP, a leading New York-based investor and shareholder relations firm where he worked in media and investor relations and corporate communications. 

Originally hailing from Portugal, his natural curiosity and interest in e...

Alexi Cashen is the Co-founder and CEO of Elenteny Imports, a multifaceted logistics company dedicated to growing its partners' businesses in the wine, beer, and spirits industry. She is also the Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of St. Hildie's Spiked Tincture Tonics, boozy craft tonics made with natural ingredients and botanical tinctures. 

Alexi is fondly called the "Chief Executive Optimist" — spreading the gospel of empat...

Gina Fugina is a passionate female Spanish wine importer and the Owner of Able Beverage LLC, a Maine-based Spanish wine import company. Able Beverage imports high-quality biodynamic, vegan, and certified organic Spanish wines to more than 15 states, including Maine, California, New York, Colorado, and New Jersey.

Gina is also the owner of her sip for a cure brand, pALS CAVA. She was inspired by a friend's fight against ALS (Lou Geh...

Helen Johannesen is the Owner and Founder of Helen's Wines, a naturally-driven and organically farmed wine shop. She is also the Director of Operations and the Beverage Director at Jon & Vinny's restaurant and all associated restaurants, including Animal, Son of a Gun, and Petit Trois. She is passionate about food and wine and was titled Best New Sommelier by Food & Wine in 2016.

Helen graduated from the University of Wisco...

Donna Katz is the Founder and CEO of G's Hard Ginger Beer, a ready-to-drink dry hard ginger beer brand made with 100% real ingredients. She is focused on bringing natural, cleaner, and transparent ingredients to the alcohol beverage space. Donna is an Australian native and moved to Napa Valley, California, in 2013. She began dry-farming a small block of grapevines organically by hand and making restrained-style wines in 2014. Donna...

Marisa Wilairat is the Alcohol Compliance Manager at Elenteny Imports, a multi-faceted logistics company dedicated to growing its partners' businesses in the wine, beer, and spirits industry. The Elenteny team handles all the details of compliance, logistics, and delivery for their clients so their team can focus on sourcing and selling exceptional wines, beers, and spirits.

Before joining Elenteny Imports, Marisa was an Associate ...

Blake Hershey is the Founder and CEO of Sippd, an AI-powered plugin and app that helps users discover their new favorite wines using Taste Match technology. Blake has a background in the aerospace and technology industries, working at companies including NASA and JPL. He founded Sippd in 2019 after leaving his position as Chief Innovation Officer at MORI Associates.

In this episode…

How is AI moving the wine industry forwa...

Roni Ginach is the Owner of Roni Selects, an importer and distributor of natural wine made by a community of savants. When she was studying at New York Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, she worked in the food hospitality and wine industry — and had her first taste of being a sommelier. Roni has experience as a Wine Director for Cliff's Edge and Michael's Santa Monica, a Beverage Director for Kidmet Los Angeles, and a Sales Represe...

Diana Novak joined Palm Bay International in 2010, one of the leading wine and spirits importers in the country, to spearhead education for the spirits portfolio and serve as a connection between distributors and key accounts in Chicago and the Midwest markets. Diana was promoted as the National Director of Craft Spirits Education in fall 2013 – a role she continues to hold today. In her capacity as National Director, she can be fo...

Emily Darchuk is the Founder and CEO of Wheyward Spirit, a farm-to-flask, award-winning company that creates specialty spirits made from upcycled ingredients. Emily forged her career as a food scientist in the natural food and dairy industry before disrupting the liquor sector through ingenuity and a commitment to sustainable spirits. After many trial runs, Emily perfected the distillation process of turning whey into alcohol. Sinc...

Jennie Ripps is a tea sommelier and the Founder and CEO of Owl's Brew, which offers a range of fresh-brewed, organic tea and botanical-based mixers as well as spiked, sparkling boozy teas. Jennie is also the Founder of Brew Lab Tea, a company specializing in crafting custom blends in partnership with restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, and other retailers. 

Jennie is the Co-author of Wise Cocktails, and she has been featur...

Jordan Salcito has been curious about wine since learning her grandfather made it in his basement and fell head over heels for it since her first harvest in Burgundy in 2006. She began her career in New York as a hostess at wd~50 before becoming a prep cook at DANIEL, sommelier and manager at Eleven Madison Park, then eventually Wine & Beverage Director for David Chang's Momofuku restaurants. After investing over a decade worki...

Kat Hantas is the CEO of 21 Seeds, an all-female-founded, all-natural, fruit-infused tequila brand. They are committed to using all-natural ingredients, both in their tequilas and cocktails. Their three signature infusions are Cucumber Jalapeño, Grapefruit Hibiscus, and Valencia Orange, which can be turned into delicious, low-calorie cocktails.

In this episode…

What makes a successful brand hold true? Do you want to make t...

Caitlin Landesberg was the Founder and CEO of Sufferfest Beer Company. She grew and scaled her brand to success through strategic marketing and determination — ultimately, selling her brand to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. She has experience as a marketing executive working for Adobe, Strava, and Mozilla. Caitlin is a passionate investor at This Is Water, focused on helping others grow their brands.

In this episode…

I...

Grace O'Reilly is an Agronomist for Waterford Whiskey, where she combines passion with agriculture. Grace grew up on a sheep and suckler-to-beef farm in the northeast of Ireland and is from a fifth-generation farming family. Her previous roles include working at Minch Malt, where she gained valuable experience working in different parts of the country. 

Grace attended University College Dublin, where her desire to work in the ...

Aimee Cronin is the Vice President of Trade Growth for City Hive, an omnichannel commerce platform for over 2,500 wine, beer, and spirit retailers. City Hive combines mobile apps, websites, and advanced customer engagement into one easy-to-use system. Aimee is also the President of Little Big Fish, a strategic sales, marketing, and brand development agency, and a Strategic Advisor at Ujama, a strategic brand positioning, partnershi...