August 1, 2025 • 41 mins
What happens when two cousins with a deep love for music, a sharp eye for branding, and a rebellious spirit decide to take on one of the most male-dominated industries in the world? You get Lodestar Whiskey — a bold, boundary-breaking brand co-founded by Anna Axster and Wendelin von Schroder, recently named two of Forbes' “10 Women Changing the Whiskey Industry.”
In this episode of The She Leads Podcast, host Adrienne Garland sits down with Anna and Wendelin to talk about how they transitioned from the film and music industry into spirits, why whiskey became their unexpected calling, and how they’re flipping the script on who whiskey is really for. From late-night artist management and cross-country tours to building flavor profiles and breaking into distribution, their journey is as rich and layered as the whiskey they’ve created.
You’ll hear how these powerhouse founders took a hobby born of travel and taste, turned it into a thriving business during the pandemic, and navigated every twist of regulation and red tape with tenacity and vision. They also dive deep into the intentional branding and community-building behind Lodestar, from creating a product that’s inclusive, contemporary, and “unstuffy,” crafted for both seasoned whiskey lovers and the whiskey-curious.
Whether you’re a spirits enthusiast, a budding entrepreneur, or just love a good founder story, this episode is packed with insight, grit, and inspiration. Pour yourself a glass and settle in because this is a masterclass in turning passion into purpose.
Chapters
🥂 01:06 Meet Anna & Wendelin! Cousins, co-founders, and women changing the whiskey industry.
🥃 04:19 When ordering whiskey exposed a cultural gap
🚨 05:36 Turning a music career that was halted by the pandemic into a new business
💡 06:30 How working together and an entrepreneurial spirit made co-founding easier
🔥 11:22 Crafting a whiskey flavor profile that’s delicious, inclusive, and unexpected
📦 16:19 From accelerator funding to getting the product on shelves
📣 19:05 The importance of clear branding and storytelling
📈 21:42 Distribution and the strategic expansion in the hospitality industry
🍸 23:43 Welcoming whiskey-curious women without excluding anyone
🌈 26:52 Intentionally avoiding gendered branding
☀️ 29:58 Reimagining how whiskey is served with contemporary cocktails and refreshing summer spritzes
🎢 34:35 The rollercoaster of starting a business with consumer feedback, licensing and fundraising
🚀 38:54 Find Lodestar Whiskey: Available in LA, and shipping to most US states via lodestarwhiskey.com
Links
Website: https://www.lodestarwhiskey.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lodestarwhiskey/
Connect with Anna & Wendelin, and order their whiskey!
Website: www.sheleadsmedia.com
The upcoming She Leads LIVE 2025 conference in NYC will take place on November 6th & 7th. Learn more at sheleadsmedia.com
"I love ♥️ listening to The She Leads™ Podcast!” If that thought crossed your mind at any time while listening to our special show, I’d love it if you would take a moment and give our podcast some love too. To do so, simply Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Taking this simple action helps my team and I to spread the word about all the incredible guests featured on The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! 🗺 Also, if you haven’t done so already, please +follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
— Adrienne
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways
we're only just beginning toimagine. And women, we're not
playing this game anymore. We'rethe ones reshaping the entire
field, building models,movements, and businesses that
serve more than just a few. Onthe She Leads podcast, you'll
hear real conversations withwomen who've broken through all
(00:28):
kinds of barriers, revenue,identity, orders, and
expectations.
There's no sugarcoating here,just the truth told by those who
are living it. I'm AdrienneGarland, entrepreneur,
strategist, educator, andcreator of live experiences
gathering women leaders togetherfor over a decade. And this is
(00:53):
the She Leads podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Anna Axtor and Vendelin von Schroeder love
whiskey. But every time theyordered it at a
Speaker 1 (01:01):
bar, they got the look. Women who love whiskey?
Yeah. Right. They're cousins.
They're cofounders of Lodz DarWhiskey, and they're two of
Forbes top 10 women changing thewhiskey industry. Anna and
Vendelin join me on this newevolution of the She Leads
podcast. It's what we're herefor now. Women who could care
(01:22):
less about fitting in and whochoose to move forward by
building what works for us.Let's hear from these incredible
founders.
So hi, everybody, and welcomeback
Speaker 2 (01:33):
to the She Leads podcast. Today, I'm welcoming
Anna Axtor and Vendelin vonSchroeder, cofounders of
Lodestar Whiskey, to our specialshow. These incredible women
were recently featured in Forbesas two of 10 women changing the
whiskey industry. They arecousins, and they've developed a
(01:53):
love for whiskey during theirtravels while working in the
music industry, but felt thatexisting brands didn't speak to
them as female consumers. I'msure that all of you can relate
to things that are happening inthe world that are not
necessarily made for us.
So I can't wait to dive into ourconversation today with these
(02:15):
incredible women that took theirpassion and turned it into a
business. And I hope thatthrough sharing their story that
you will be inspired to look atsome of the things that you're
passionate about and turn itinto a business if that's
something that's feasible foryou. So welcome to the show,
Anna and Vendelin.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Thank you. Happy to be here. Yeah. Thanks so much.
Great to meet you.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Great to meet you too. So I read a little bit
about your story, and I thinkit's super interesting. You
know, even even what you didbefore you started your business
was super interesting. So maybewe can start at the beginning.
You can tell me a little bitabout your backgrounds, your
cousins.
(03:00):
You're obviously friends, andnow you're cofounders. So I
would love to just kind of hearabout, you know, what your
careers were like before. Andthen what was the thing that
prompted you to say, hey. Youknow, there is a need here.
There's a problem that we'd liketo solve, and we're gonna do it.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Sure. We as you mentioned, we're cousin we're
cousins. We're family. We grewup in a big family. Getting
together and sharing longdelicious meals and good drinks
was kind of always part of ourDNA.
And we both have a background infilm actually, and so we ended
(03:40):
up working in in entertainmentand then kind of ended up in the
music industry. And for a littleover ten years, we worked
together and built somebusinesses in that space, small
businesses, the record label,artist management, that's kind
of the space that we were movingin. And during that time, we
(04:02):
just traveled a lot for work allover The US, literally to every
pretty much every state. Andalso I think I'm missing one.
Places abroad, and we whiskeywas kind of the drink of choice
in that music space.
(04:24):
And we ended up, you know, kindof developing a love for that
product. And we became curious.We started developing our
palates, tasting obscurewhiskeys in weird places, and it
kind of became a little bit of ahobby. And then we also noticed
during that time that wheneverwe would walk up to a bar and
(04:45):
order a whiskey drink, it wouldelicit a reaction. Sometimes
that was positive, but and thensometimes it was negative, but
it was always a reaction.
And that was something thatkinda stuck with us. It's like,
what is going on here? And wealso noticed that a lot of the
brands in whiskey seem to betalking to people that look and
(05:07):
are completely different than weare. Namely, a lot of them were
still predominantly speaking toolder white men. And that's kind
of what sparked our interest andwhere we felt like, is there a
blank space here that nobody isreally filling in what's going
on?
And so that was the the originalkind of little spark that
(05:28):
happened, but we were busy inour careers and not really
thinking of doing anything likethis until The pandemic hits.
The
Speaker 2 (05:37):
pandemic. Pandemic. Man, the pandemic really shifted
everything for everybody.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah. Yes. We, you know, more and more of we were
at the time, we were alsoworking on music festival, and
that got canceled overnight anda lot of other things we were
working on just stoppedovernight and we were fortunate
enough that we had theopportunity. We kind of looked
at each other and we said, well,I mean, maybe a few drinks were
involved as well. Like maybeit's time to to do something
(06:09):
different and to follow thispassion that we have and see see
where we can go with it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now you worked together in the film and and
music industry before youstarted this. How did that even
come about? Because that'ssomething that is also, you
know, not usually the case, thatthat, you know, cousins are sort
of working together. And thenyou also mentioned that you
started a couple of smallbusinesses. So you had to have
(06:34):
had some type of entrepreneurialspirit in there.
So I'd I'd sort of love tounderstand, like, you know, why
did you decide to both work inthe same industry, work
together, and then what whatwhere did that entrepreneurial
spirit kinda come from?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
At least for me, a lot of it was circumstantial
slash I kind of just said yes,which I feel like a lot of
things, good things happen whenyou just say yes. But Yeah. I
was out here in Los Angeles andI was I like I said, I was
working in film and kind ofended up through different
circumstances in music and wasjust rolling up my sleeves to do
(07:16):
this thing that kind of I've Ifound myself in and and started
artist management for a coupleof artists. And it just kind of
became I became very busy andthings and I needed I I wasn't
enough. One person wasn't enoughto kind of handle the workload.
(07:38):
And this happened to be at thesame time when Venlon was moving
from New York to Los Angeles.And she was working here in
film, and we were just hangingout. And and I was like, I need
somebody to do this with me. Ifyou would ever be interested,
let me know. And she said yes.
The rest is history. But what itallowed for as far as Lodestar,
(08:04):
as far as the whiskey businessgoes, what I think was really a
benefit in starting thistogether was that we had such a
shorthand of working togetheralready. Yeah. Because we had
spent a decade working togetherin a different field, but we
knew kind of what our eachother's strengths are, what how
we complement each other. And soit was definitely an easier jump
(08:28):
to do this with somebody thatyou have a lot of working
history with already.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah. And and then you can imagine oh, sorry. Go
ahead.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah. No. I think the thing too is just going back.
It's like, I think both of us,we and I don't know where this
comes from. I think probably isalso partly how we were raised
in our family is that we werejust we were raised by strong
women and and had people aroundus that believed in us.
(08:55):
It's like if you have a goodwork ethic and you believe in
what you're doing and you rollup your sleeves and you're I
don't know how to say this inEnglish. Like when you You're
not above anything. Yeah. You'renot precious with yourself.
Precious with yourself, kind ofare willing to do whatever and
(09:17):
you just you just take a shotand see what happens.
And so that I think wassomething that was already in us
and then has just kind of likein our careers kept, we kept
being presented withopportunities to put that quote
unquote skill to use. Yeah. Andjust going for it and not being
(09:41):
afraid to be new at somethingand to not know how to do
something, but to know that youcan figure it out. And then, you
know, you know how to ask forhelp, those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah. It it seems like the both of you have such
an incredible foundation, likeeverything from your upbringing,
powerful women in your family,that knowing that, you know,
whatever it is that you chooseto set your sights on, that
you're going to do everythingthat it takes to, you know, make
(10:16):
it work or at least learn whatworks. I think that that is that
is such a an entrepreneurialcharacteristic, and it's
incredible. And, you know, it'sit's so lucky when someone is
sort of born with that. Italmost feels like it's in your
DNA, but it's certainlysomething that someone can
(10:38):
cultivate as well.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And Sure. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely feel like
I've cultivated it throughout mylife and career. Right.
For sure.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
And you're always you're always sort of building
on it. So it this this muscle isgetting stronger and stronger.
So you were both in an entirelydifferent industry and then
going into the spirits industry,which is completely male
dominated. Right? So I think yougot a little You
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
That's very true. That is very true.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And and you got a you got
Speaker 2 (11:16):
a taste of you know, with the whiskey industry was
like just by ordering thedrinks. So how did you go about
even formulating Lodestarwhiskey? Because that's pretty
impressive. You don't just whipup whiskey or maybe you do. I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, like, I know I already said, we had spent all
this time nursing our hobby ofjust tasting a lot of different
whiskeys all over the country,all over the world. I think one
of my favorite stories is thatwe found a couple somewhere out
in Texas that were makingwhiskey in their backyard and I
(11:55):
emailed them and asked if wecould stop by. They were
wonderful. That's their Awesome.Whiskey, amazing whiskey and
just like a couple that werepassionate and doing it
essentially in their backyard.
And so we we over a couple ofyears really developed not only
(12:18):
our palates but kind of came upwith our dream flavor profile
and we were just like we triedthis over here and like oh we
really like this but we don'tlike this and we like the
mouthfeel and the viscosity ofthis whiskey and if we were to
ever make a whiskey, we wouldwant it to have, you know, some
spice and built a flavor briefnot only based on what we liked
(12:42):
and didn't like, but we alsoreally thought about like who is
consuming this and who do wewant to consume this and you
know if we want to invite morewomen to try whiskey like what's
important to us in terms of theflavor profile. And so we took
this consumer approach tobuilding an ideal flavor brief
(13:05):
and then when we actuallydecided we were going to do
this, we reached out todifferent people in our network
and a lot of Google searchingand reading, going to library
and reading books and found youknow some master blenders that
we could talk to and ended uppartnering with somebody who
(13:27):
really understood what we weregoing for and was really excited
by it.
And they actually also said thatthey'd never seen a flavor brief
that was this detailed before.They were like, we really like
how you're thinking about thewhole process, not only the
flavor, but you know from whatonce it hits your glass till it
(13:47):
goes to your lips and etc. Sothen we started working at it
and there was a there was someback and forth and trying
different things. Eventually wedecided that blending was going
to be the best way to achievewhat we were looking for and
that was kind of it. Yeah, andthen we landed on two components
(14:11):
and tried them in differentways, different percentages of
each and different ages andproof points, all of those
things.
Then finally ended up withpretty much, I mean, exactly in
the bottle what we had set outto do. So that was really fun.
And in the meantime, we've Imean, we started with just
(14:33):
knowing we had to learn so much.So we spent a couple of years
just learning about whiskeymaking, like Valen was saying,
visiting countless distilleriesand meeting lots of people. And,
yeah, and then we kind of caughtthe blending bug too because
it's so much fun and such acreative process.
And that's what I find sofascinating about whiskey as a
(14:54):
product. It's it's almost likeit's alive. You know? Like,
every barrel is different evenif the exact same thing at the
exact same time went in. Yeah.
This everything just everylittle detail has an impact on
the flavor of what comes out ofit. So, yeah, it was a really
fun kind of journey to figureout how to do this. And now we
(15:16):
have it in the bottle, and we wewe're proud of the product, and
we yeah. It was kind of amazingthat we I don't know. Like we
said earlier, it was it was wehad no idea what to do, but we
knew we had a goal of what wewanted to achieve.
And we had to learn how to gofrom the Idea. The idea to and
(15:39):
we had no idea what the inbetween would be, but we were
kind of just figuring out how tohow to navigate that journey as
we went along. And and if youjust roll up your sleeves, you
can you can figure anything out,really.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I love that. There are so many lessons in
everything that you're talkingabout. And to me, it seems that
this growth mindset that youboth have and the tenacity to
keep going because I'm sure thatyou experimented with things
that were probably terrible.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And
Speaker 2 (16:14):
there is so much that goes into it. And it's not just
about, you know, what is thewhiskey. There's there are so
many different components torunning a a business. And then
especially, you know, I don'tknow a lot, but I do know that,
you know, getting any type ofspirit onto the shelves is a
whole entire business ontoitself. So you could have the
(16:37):
best product in the world, butif you don't get any
distribution or placement, then,you know, you're you're selling
it out of your garage, I guess,or in your backyard in Texas.
So how did that whole processwork? Like, once you, you know,
you you sort of formulatedeverything, got it all together,
(16:58):
bottled it, all of that goodstuff, how did you then sort of
break into stores or shelves?
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah. I mean, we we met we tried to meet as many
people as we could, talk to asmany people as we could. And so
we talked to another femalefounder in the space, and she
was so lovely and open. And andshe mentioned this VC called
Distill Ventures. Yes.
(17:27):
And so she was like, you shouldtalk to them, and we had never
heard of them and and literallylooked it up online and sent in
an application for their for oneof their accelerator programs
and got invited to an interviewand ended up pitching and ended
up getting funding from them andand being in that program for
(17:49):
for about a year. And this wasprelaunch. This was pre us being
in stores or anything. Mhmm. Sothat was really super helpful
for us, especially since we werecoming so from such a different
space and had really no historyor much knowledge about about
the spirits industry.
So that was not only helpfulbecause it kind of financially
(18:11):
got us off the ground, but itwas also really helpful because
we had a team of people who werewell versed in the spirits
industry to just advise us andhelp us. Yeah. That help us.
There's a lot of regulatory redtape in the spirits industry, so
helping navigate them, helpingus understand distribution
(18:34):
channels. And we had an inklingagain, like we did a lot of
research before.
We knew that California was agood state to not only is it our
home state, but, like, it's agood state to start to launch a
spirits brand in just because ofthe way that the regulations of
the three tier system work here.So we kind of knew that ahead of
(18:55):
time but still they helped us alot with that. Before even that,
do want to say another thingthat was that I think not only
set us apart, but was reallyimportant for us to do is to
really make sure that all of ourbranding or brand messaging,
like what it what we wanted toput out in the world was really
(19:16):
clear and that we were that wehad a story that we wanted to
tell. And so we work a lot onthat. And that was also, you
know, a lot of our work in inour previous careers was around,
you know, building brands forartists and marketing and all
(19:36):
those things.
So that was it was in ourwheelhouse, but we really wanted
to make sure that that wasreally buttoned up and clear.
And I think that was ultimatelyalso what got us in the door
with the Sylvan. Hardly. Yeah.Because not only the product was
excellent, but we we we knewwhat we the story we wanted to
(19:57):
tell.
We had a strong mission and weknew who we wanted to reach and
a very strong idea of how how wewould reach that consumer. And
then through Distill Venturesand their kind of support and
advice, we just kind of wereable to soft launch basically in
(20:18):
LA and and navigatedistribution. And, I mean, this
is an ongoing process. We'restill learning. We're still
navigating it.
We're still understanding it.This was not something that we
figured out, and now we're hereand we figured it out. No. We're
we're learning about the ins andouts of it still every day, and
we're still so new. I mean, wejust launched a little over a
(20:41):
year ago.
So, like Yeah. We're yeah. Andthat's the other thing is that
we were very conscious aboutwanting to do a soft launch in
one city in our home hometownwhere we knew we could be really
involved, foods on the ground,and really learn and make sure
that our messaging wasconnecting with the consumer and
(21:02):
make sure that we could bereally hands on in making any
changes that needed to happen.And kind of like make building
the playbook so that once we'rewe've got the ball in place,
then we can say, okay. Now we'reready for a bigger launch in
more cities and other states,and then we can just basically
pour fuel on the fire.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Pour whiskey on that fire. That's amazing. Yeah. So
how and how does that work whenyou expand to other cities? Is
it partnering with a distributorso that you can get into these
other states?
Because otherwise, I couldimagine, like, trying to figure
out the regulations from stateto state if it's all different.
(21:45):
That is very complicated.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah. It I mean, ideally, it is with a
distributor. You could do itkind of in certain states. Not
in all states. You can do itwithout one.
But, yes, ideally with adistributor, you still have to
be very involved and on theground approach even if go to a
different site. I think a lotfrom what we learned and the
approach we decided to take isnot to extend too quickly so
(22:13):
that we can really build in eachmarket before if we go out if we
spread ourselves too thin, it'swe've heard from many people
that that often does not workwell in this particular
industry. Yeah. And like mostindustry, but especially the
spirits industry, it's verywe're so closely tied to
(22:33):
hospitality too. It's a arelationship.
It's a people industry. So it'sreally important to build really
strong relationships and makesure that there's so on premise
is restaurants, bars, offpremise is a retailer like a
liquor store or a grocery storethat sells liquor. And so, you
(22:59):
know, are your early adopters,your brand evangelists. And so
you want to make sure thatyou're connecting with them and
building a strong relationshipso that it can grow. That's just
easier to do in a place whereyou live.
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
The physical being in that physical location does make
it a a lot easier. So isLodestar, of course, it's made
by women with your palates inmind, but is Lodestar
specifically targeted at the thefemale consumer who's, like,
(23:39):
whiskey curious. Can you talk alittle bit about who your, I
guess, ideal customer is?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah. So we're and, again, like you said earlier, we
we love men, and and we hopethat men also drink our whiskey
and they do. But we wespecifically had women in mind
when we created Lodestar becauseand not necessarily from a
flavor perspective because weactually, as women, don't like
(24:10):
that when people are like, well,women only drink a certain kind
of thing or they like sweetthings or they, you know, it's
like, no. You like what youlike. We're all humans.
We all have different palates.We all There's things we like.
There's things we don't like. Sowe just ultimately, from a
flavor perspective, wanted tomake something that was just
really delicious and easy todrink. We wanted to invite more
(24:34):
people into the whiskey categoryso we want to approach people
who maybe haven't tried whiskeybefore just because it didn't
interest them or maybe theydidn't drink whiskey because
there's a real culture attachedto it that didn't speak to them,
namely women.
(24:56):
Or some people are evenintimidated by it. You know, we
were talking a lot about thistoo that when we were younger,
we felt that way about wine forexample. Like you feel like you
have to have a dictionary withyou everywhere you go and
understand all the terms andknow where something is from and
how, you know, and while all ofthose things are wonderful to
(25:17):
know and the craft of making awine or a spirit, especially
whiskey, is so cool and worthlearning about if that's
something that interests you. Itcan also just be good and it's
something that tastes good andyou drink it and it's on your
bar in a bottle that looks cooland pretty and you reach for it
(25:38):
and you share it with yourfriends, right? We wanted to
target people who either are orfit into one of those buckets
where they haven't been spokento before or maybe felt
intimidated by it.
Or they really like whiskey, butmaybe it's not a brand out there
that they feel speaks to themspecifically. And we wanted to
(26:03):
target people who enjoycommunity and gathering people
around, whether that be at atable or in your backyard or,
you know, wherever, and andcelebrate shared moments over a
good glass of whiskey or atasting whiskey. We'll also add
(26:23):
that in in in our decisionsaround the pack and how we
wanted to brand Lodestar, it wasvery intentional that we didn't
want to put something out therethat is overly gendered because
coming at it from a consumerperspective, that was not
something that spoke to us. Andthere are some really great
(26:45):
products out there that are, youknow, very much, from an
aesthetics point, targetedtowards more traditional ideas
of the the of women, I guess, orthe female gender. And we wanted
to stay away from that.
We felt like that was not whatwe were going for. We wanted it
to be inclusive, and that meansit also should include however
(27:10):
anybody identifies and notbasically be only targeted to
one specific gender idea. So,yeah, it was it was important to
us in in the branding as well tocreate something that appeals to
women consumers but doesn'talienate men or anyone else,
basically.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah. It really seems like what you're describing that
you are sort of bringing, youknow, whiskey into the the
modern era and making it moreaccessible to all. Because it
definitely whiskey does when youwhen when you think about it,
(27:50):
when I think about it, itdefinitely feels male. It
definitely feels tough. And, youknow, you don't necessarily I
mean, it's it's fine if if youwanna be tough, but you don't
wanna necessarily
Speaker 3 (28:05):
be like, give me a whiskey. Right? It's it's like,
however, if that's somethingthat speaks to you
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Then do it.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
There's
Speaker 3 (28:15):
so many brands out there that will offer you
exactly that, and many of themare delicious. Sure. So, like,
there that exists, and that'sgreat. And but we that's exactly
what we felt like we werefilling a gap there where that
it's something that feelsinclusive, contemporary. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. That's a great word, I think, contemporary.
Because I was thinking, like,you're modernizing, like, what
whiskey is. You're really, youknow, opening it up and not
swinging the pendulum to theside of the the feminine or,
like, pinkwashing everythingbecause that that doesn't work
either. If it doesn't work, Ithink we're realizing that that
(29:01):
does not work either.
And and I just love it. I didtake a look at your website, and
and I read a couple of thearticles that were written about
your whiskey. Justcongratulations on on on
launching this, on, you know,having an idea, bringing it to
life literally. But I alsonoticed that you have some
(29:25):
really interesting whiskeycocktails that are also more
contemporary. Can you talk alittle bit about how how that
came about?
Because it seems like that mighteven be another way in for for
people that might not considerwhiskey.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Absolutely. And that was very intentional as well.
Like, we were as Vinland wassaying earlier, when we thought
about initially about the flavorprofile, so many things were
important to us, mouthfeel,viscosity, color, obviously
flavors. But part of the flavorprofile we were going to we're
going for was also we alwaysthought about different serve
(30:06):
strategies. So we wanted it tobe good and high quality to
where you can just taste it neatand enjoy it or drink it on the
rocks.
But it was very important to ustoo that it works in cocktails
because, again, for a consumerwho's maybe new to whiskey, is
not familiar with it, that's anthat's kind of an easy way to
start with whiskey or to enjoyit. We want it Lodestar to be
(30:28):
approachable, but have enoughkind of what they call backbone
to stand out in a cocktail.Right? If it's too kind of too
chill, then you won't reallytaste it. So it was all those
things that were important to uswhen we first thought about what
we wanna put in the bottle.
And then once we had it in thebottle, we, yeah, we just kind
(30:50):
of I guess some of the cocktailideas were inspired by us just
by our backgrounds, how we grewup of loving to cook and play
around with flavors. And wewanted to create cocktails that
were maybe not traditionally howpeople thought about whiskey. A
lot of times when you saywhiskey cocktail, people think,
oh, an old fashioned orManhattan. Spirit forward. Both
(31:12):
of which are very spiritforward.
So maybe not the easiest way forsomebody who's new to the
category to kind of try it. Andwe wanted to kinda challenge how
people think when to consumewhiskey as well because a lot of
people think, oh, it's a winterdrink, and you sit by a fire and
sip on it or you have it in anold fashion. So we were like,
(31:34):
let's come up with some ideasthat are maybe more refreshing,
maybe more of a summer cocktail.We ended up creating a spritz
with one of our accounts for,like, an Easter or Mother's Day
thing or something. And so,yeah, a lot of those thoughts
went into it, that's how thosesome of those cocktails were
created.
So there's, like, a mango one onthere, or there's an iced tea
(31:58):
that has, like, a smoky blacktea in it and basically drinks,
like, an Arnold Palmer withwhiskey in it. And a lot of
those kind of more refreshingones are we do a lot of events,
and a lot those are just totalcrowd pleasers. And we love
getting this feedback, which weget every time. Like, oh, no. I
(32:18):
don't drink whiskey or I don'tthis is not for me.
And then it's like, well, justtry a little bit of the
cocktail, then they try it, andthey're like, oh my god. Is that
(32:41):
people it's at least in my mindone of the very few spirits that
people expect that you woulddrink meat or on the rock. It's
like you know whereas and peopleare like, oh, I don't I don't
like that and I'm like, do you Ialways ask, do you drink any
other spirits just by himself?Do you drink tequila by itself?
(33:02):
Do you drink rum by itself orgin?
They're like, no. And then I'mlike, okay. Well then try it in
the cocktail because, you know,you're you're drinking it with
mixers and so you shouldn't onits own. And you don't have to.
You don't have to drink it onits own to enjoy it.
Yeah. Yeah. A word that keptcoming up for us over and over
(33:24):
was unstuffy. Like, we wanted tocreate something that was high
quality and delicious and can beenjoyed by somebody who knows a
lot about whiskey, but itdoesn't have to be complicated.
It can just be tasty.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah. And it and it can have all the complexity, but
it doesn't need to becomplicated, which I just I
absolutely love. But I feel likeyour your story and just like,
you're talking about the the artof distilling and the
thoughtfulness that you've putinto everything from the
(33:57):
formulation to the brand to howyou're working together and how
you're approaching it in thisvery methodical and and
thoughtful way is very much amaster class and and and really
how to almost start a business.Right? Especially being so close
to customers, getting out there,seeing what they are enjoying,
(34:21):
you know, if there is anythingthat they are turned off by,
probing, and asking why.
And, you know, this it it allsounds so amazing and that
you've done everything right.And I just wanna ask for, you
know, the audience, were thereany challenging points along the
(34:42):
way? Not not just, yeah, we hadto do a lot of research and
understand, but did you actuallyrun into any roadblocks at all?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Well, I mean, obviously, there I feel like
there's challenging points everyday. It doesn't end. A roller
coaster. Sometimes in the sameday. In the same day.
Yeah. There's definitely beenchallenges. One that always
comes to mind was licensing forspecific specifically for for
(35:13):
spirits. This is a this is justa you just have to have a lot of
tenacity to get through thatprocess. And and especially when
you don't really know even whenyou're new to it, like, there
were so many things that wedidn't know.
And we're like, we're just gonnacross this box because we don't
know what else and and kindahoping for the best and hoping
that maybe we can talk tosomebody on the phone who might
(35:35):
be able to explain it to us.Like, that was a long and drawn
out process that was tedious andI think kind of a barrier a
little bit because it was a lotto deal with. But again, if you
have the tenacity and you justkind of don't give up, you get
through it, obviously. We're nowat a point where we need to
(35:56):
fundraise again and that'salways a challenge. Especially
as women, that is always achallenge.
Yeah. And obviously, and this ispart of what drives me anyway
is, and it could be really inany space, we happen to be in
the whiskey space, but as youmentioned earlier, just to be
(36:20):
women who, you know, went out tocreate their own business and to
be in the world doing that everyday and continuing that and
running up against the challengethat so very little of of
startup funding goes to womenand and and just trying, you
know, trying to be part of ofhopefully that changing over,
(36:46):
you know, in our lifetimes,hopefully, still.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
And, you know, there definitely are more and more
resources, and there are manymore people that are recognizing
all of the qualities that you'reboth talking about. Like, those
are the qualities that lead tosuccessful businesses that last
over the long term. And I thinkthat, hopefully, some of these
(37:14):
funding sources are arerealizing that. And not only
that, there are many women thatare starting to get into the
financing world. So I think it'sfor all of us, it's it's a
matter of also finding out wherethose resources are as well.
And networking, networking,networking. I mean, I I I see
(37:37):
that that is how you got towhere you are in addition to
everything else being sothoughtful and particular about
what it is that you want, butalso building these
relationships. And all of thatis extremely exhausting. So I I
I give you it's it's exhausting.So I give you a lot of props for
(37:59):
continuing, and I I'm justreally excited.
I mean, I don't think thatyou're in New York yet, but when
you are, please please come by.We would love to have you at She
Leads. I think that that wouldbe so amazing. But I just wanted
to say thank you so much forsharing your story with me and
(38:24):
with the entire She Leadspodcast audience. I hope that
anybody who's listening in canlisten to all of the points that
Venzelin and Anna shared aboutevery aspect that they thought
about when, you know,conceptualizing, launching, and
continuing to grow theirbusiness.
(38:44):
So thank you so much for yourinsight. Thank you so much for
creating this amazing product,and I cannot wait to taste it.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Thank you. Thank you so much. We also I wanted to
just mention that while we areonly available in stores in LA
and kind of surrounding areas.We do ship to most states in The
United States. So if people didwanna pick up a bottle, they can
head to our website, and we willship it to
Speaker 2 (39:14):
That is amazing. So can you just share with
everybody your Instagram andyour website so that they they
can listen to this episode andgo buy themselves a case?
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Sure. Lodestar. It's lodestarwhiskey.com. So Lodestar
is l0destar and thenwhiskey.com. Whiskey with an e.
Yeah. People spell whiskeydifferently too.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Okay. Great. And we'll put all of that in the
show notes. And, again, thankyou so much for sharing with us
here today.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
If this conversation moved you, inspired you, or made
you think differently, pleasetake a moment to leave a five
star rating and review. It's notjust about boosting the show.
It's about amplifying the voicesof women entrepreneurs who are
leading with vision, buildingwith purpose, and shaping what's
next. We need more of theseconversations in the world right
(40:16):
now, don't you think? And ifsomeone came to mind while you
were listening, someone whomatters to you, send this
episode to them.
If there's something on yourmind about leadership, legacy,
or what's next, I want to hearit. Head to sheleadsmedia.com
backs lash voice and leave avoice memo or note. Your insight
might just help shape a futureepisode. Make sure to follow the
(40:39):
show and come back next week formore conversations you won't
hear anywhere else. Thank you somuch for listening.
This is the She Leads PodcastNetwork.
Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways
we're only just beginning toimagine. And women, we're not
playing this game anymore. We'rethe ones reshaping the entire
field, building models,movements, and businesses that
serve more than just a few. Onthe She Leads podcast, you'll
hear real conversations withwomen who've broken through all
(00:28):
kinds of barriers, revenue,identity, orders, and
expectations.
There's no sugarcoating here,just the truth told by those who
are living it. I'm AdrienneGarland, entrepreneur,
strategist, educator, andcreator of live experiences
gathering women leaders togetherfor over a decade. And this is
(00:53):
the She Leads podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Anna Axtor and Vendelin von Schroeder love
whiskey. But every time theyordered it at a
Speaker 1 (01:01):
bar, they got the look. Women who love whiskey?
Yeah. Right. They're cousins.
They're cofounders of Lodz DarWhiskey, and they're two of
Forbes top 10 women changing thewhiskey industry. Anna and
Vendelin join me on this newevolution of the She Leads
podcast. It's what we're herefor now. Women who could care
(01:22):
less about fitting in and whochoose to move forward by
building what works for us.Let's hear from these incredible
founders.
So hi, everybody, and welcomeback
Speaker 2 (01:33):
to the She Leads podcast. Today, I'm welcoming
Anna Axtor and Vendelin vonSchroeder, cofounders of
Lodestar Whiskey, to our specialshow. These incredible women
were recently featured in Forbesas two of 10 women changing the
whiskey industry. They arecousins, and they've developed a
(01:53):
love for whiskey during theirtravels while working in the
music industry, but felt thatexisting brands didn't speak to
them as female consumers. I'msure that all of you can relate
to things that are happening inthe world that are not
necessarily made for us.
So I can't wait to dive into ourconversation today with these
(02:15):
incredible women that took theirpassion and turned it into a
business. And I hope thatthrough sharing their story that
you will be inspired to look atsome of the things that you're
passionate about and turn itinto a business if that's
something that's feasible foryou. So welcome to the show,
Anna and Vendelin.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Thank you. Happy to be here. Yeah. Thanks so much.
Great to meet you.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Great to meet you too. So I read a little bit
about your story, and I thinkit's super interesting. You
know, even even what you didbefore you started your business
was super interesting. So maybewe can start at the beginning.
You can tell me a little bitabout your backgrounds, your
cousins.
(03:00):
You're obviously friends, andnow you're cofounders. So I
would love to just kind of hearabout, you know, what your
careers were like before. Andthen what was the thing that
prompted you to say, hey. Youknow, there is a need here.
There's a problem that we'd liketo solve, and we're gonna do it.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Sure. We as you mentioned, we're cousin we're
cousins. We're family. We grewup in a big family. Getting
together and sharing longdelicious meals and good drinks
was kind of always part of ourDNA.
And we both have a background infilm actually, and so we ended
(03:40):
up working in in entertainmentand then kind of ended up in the
music industry. And for a littleover ten years, we worked
together and built somebusinesses in that space, small
businesses, the record label,artist management, that's kind
of the space that we were movingin. And during that time, we
(04:02):
just traveled a lot for work allover The US, literally to every
pretty much every state. Andalso I think I'm missing one.
Places abroad, and we whiskeywas kind of the drink of choice
in that music space.
(04:24):
And we ended up, you know, kindof developing a love for that
product. And we became curious.We started developing our
palates, tasting obscurewhiskeys in weird places, and it
kind of became a little bit of ahobby. And then we also noticed
during that time that wheneverwe would walk up to a bar and
(04:45):
order a whiskey drink, it wouldelicit a reaction. Sometimes
that was positive, but and thensometimes it was negative, but
it was always a reaction.
And that was something thatkinda stuck with us. It's like,
what is going on here? And wealso noticed that a lot of the
brands in whiskey seem to betalking to people that look and
(05:07):
are completely different than weare. Namely, a lot of them were
still predominantly speaking toolder white men. And that's kind
of what sparked our interest andwhere we felt like, is there a
blank space here that nobody isreally filling in what's going
on?
And so that was the the originalkind of little spark that
(05:28):
happened, but we were busy inour careers and not really
thinking of doing anything likethis until The pandemic hits.
The
Speaker 2 (05:37):
pandemic. Pandemic. Man, the pandemic really shifted
everything for everybody.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah. Yes. We, you know, more and more of we were
at the time, we were alsoworking on music festival, and
that got canceled overnight anda lot of other things we were
working on just stoppedovernight and we were fortunate
enough that we had theopportunity. We kind of looked
at each other and we said, well,I mean, maybe a few drinks were
involved as well. Like maybeit's time to to do something
(06:09):
different and to follow thispassion that we have and see see
where we can go with it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now you worked together in the film and and
music industry before youstarted this. How did that even
come about? Because that'ssomething that is also, you
know, not usually the case, thatthat, you know, cousins are sort
of working together. And thenyou also mentioned that you
started a couple of smallbusinesses. So you had to have
(06:34):
had some type of entrepreneurialspirit in there.
So I'd I'd sort of love tounderstand, like, you know, why
did you decide to both work inthe same industry, work
together, and then what whatwhere did that entrepreneurial
spirit kinda come from?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
At least for me, a lot of it was circumstantial
slash I kind of just said yes,which I feel like a lot of
things, good things happen whenyou just say yes. But Yeah. I
was out here in Los Angeles andI was I like I said, I was
working in film and kind ofended up through different
circumstances in music and wasjust rolling up my sleeves to do
(07:16):
this thing that kind of I've Ifound myself in and and started
artist management for a coupleof artists. And it just kind of
became I became very busy andthings and I needed I I wasn't
enough. One person wasn't enoughto kind of handle the workload.
(07:38):
And this happened to be at thesame time when Venlon was moving
from New York to Los Angeles.And she was working here in
film, and we were just hangingout. And and I was like, I need
somebody to do this with me. Ifyou would ever be interested,
let me know. And she said yes.
The rest is history. But what itallowed for as far as Lodestar,
(08:04):
as far as the whiskey businessgoes, what I think was really a
benefit in starting thistogether was that we had such a
shorthand of working togetheralready. Yeah. Because we had
spent a decade working togetherin a different field, but we
knew kind of what our eachother's strengths are, what how
we complement each other. And soit was definitely an easier jump
(08:28):
to do this with somebody thatyou have a lot of working
history with already.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah. And and then you can imagine oh, sorry. Go
ahead.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah. No. I think the thing too is just going back.
It's like, I think both of us,we and I don't know where this
comes from. I think probably isalso partly how we were raised
in our family is that we werejust we were raised by strong
women and and had people aroundus that believed in us.
(08:55):
It's like if you have a goodwork ethic and you believe in
what you're doing and you rollup your sleeves and you're I
don't know how to say this inEnglish. Like when you You're
not above anything. Yeah. You'renot precious with yourself.
Precious with yourself, kind ofare willing to do whatever and
(09:17):
you just you just take a shotand see what happens.
And so that I think wassomething that was already in us
and then has just kind of likein our careers kept, we kept
being presented withopportunities to put that quote
unquote skill to use. Yeah. Andjust going for it and not being
(09:41):
afraid to be new at somethingand to not know how to do
something, but to know that youcan figure it out. And then, you
know, you know how to ask forhelp, those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah. It it seems like the both of you have such
an incredible foundation, likeeverything from your upbringing,
powerful women in your family,that knowing that, you know,
whatever it is that you chooseto set your sights on, that
you're going to do everythingthat it takes to, you know, make
(10:16):
it work or at least learn whatworks. I think that that is that
is such a an entrepreneurialcharacteristic, and it's
incredible. And, you know, it'sit's so lucky when someone is
sort of born with that. Italmost feels like it's in your
DNA, but it's certainlysomething that someone can
(10:38):
cultivate as well.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And Sure. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely feel like
I've cultivated it throughout mylife and career. Right.
For sure.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
And you're always you're always sort of building
on it. So it this this muscle isgetting stronger and stronger.
So you were both in an entirelydifferent industry and then
going into the spirits industry,which is completely male
dominated. Right? So I think yougot a little You
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
That's very true. That is very true.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And and you got a you got
Speaker 2 (11:16):
a taste of you know, with the whiskey industry was
like just by ordering thedrinks. So how did you go about
even formulating Lodestarwhiskey? Because that's pretty
impressive. You don't just whipup whiskey or maybe you do. I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, like, I know I already said, we had spent all
this time nursing our hobby ofjust tasting a lot of different
whiskeys all over the country,all over the world. I think one
of my favorite stories is thatwe found a couple somewhere out
in Texas that were makingwhiskey in their backyard and I
(11:55):
emailed them and asked if wecould stop by. They were
wonderful. That's their Awesome.Whiskey, amazing whiskey and
just like a couple that werepassionate and doing it
essentially in their backyard.
And so we we over a couple ofyears really developed not only
(12:18):
our palates but kind of came upwith our dream flavor profile
and we were just like we triedthis over here and like oh we
really like this but we don'tlike this and we like the
mouthfeel and the viscosity ofthis whiskey and if we were to
ever make a whiskey, we wouldwant it to have, you know, some
spice and built a flavor briefnot only based on what we liked
(12:42):
and didn't like, but we alsoreally thought about like who is
consuming this and who do wewant to consume this and you
know if we want to invite morewomen to try whiskey like what's
important to us in terms of theflavor profile. And so we took
this consumer approach tobuilding an ideal flavor brief
(13:05):
and then when we actuallydecided we were going to do
this, we reached out todifferent people in our network
and a lot of Google searchingand reading, going to library
and reading books and found youknow some master blenders that
we could talk to and ended uppartnering with somebody who
(13:27):
really understood what we weregoing for and was really excited
by it.
And they actually also said thatthey'd never seen a flavor brief
that was this detailed before.They were like, we really like
how you're thinking about thewhole process, not only the
flavor, but you know from whatonce it hits your glass till it
(13:47):
goes to your lips and etc. Sothen we started working at it
and there was a there was someback and forth and trying
different things. Eventually wedecided that blending was going
to be the best way to achievewhat we were looking for and
that was kind of it. Yeah, andthen we landed on two components
(14:11):
and tried them in differentways, different percentages of
each and different ages andproof points, all of those
things.
Then finally ended up withpretty much, I mean, exactly in
the bottle what we had set outto do. So that was really fun.
And in the meantime, we've Imean, we started with just
(14:33):
knowing we had to learn so much.So we spent a couple of years
just learning about whiskeymaking, like Valen was saying,
visiting countless distilleriesand meeting lots of people. And,
yeah, and then we kind of caughtthe blending bug too because
it's so much fun and such acreative process.
And that's what I find sofascinating about whiskey as a
(14:54):
product. It's it's almost likeit's alive. You know? Like,
every barrel is different evenif the exact same thing at the
exact same time went in. Yeah.
This everything just everylittle detail has an impact on
the flavor of what comes out ofit. So, yeah, it was a really
fun kind of journey to figureout how to do this. And now we
(15:16):
have it in the bottle, and we wewe're proud of the product, and
we yeah. It was kind of amazingthat we I don't know. Like we
said earlier, it was it was wehad no idea what to do, but we
knew we had a goal of what wewanted to achieve.
And we had to learn how to gofrom the Idea. The idea to and
(15:39):
we had no idea what the inbetween would be, but we were
kind of just figuring out how tohow to navigate that journey as
we went along. And and if youjust roll up your sleeves, you
can you can figure anything out,really.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I love that. There are so many lessons in
everything that you're talkingabout. And to me, it seems that
this growth mindset that youboth have and the tenacity to
keep going because I'm sure thatyou experimented with things
that were probably terrible.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And
Speaker 2 (16:14):
there is so much that goes into it. And it's not just
about, you know, what is thewhiskey. There's there are so
many different components torunning a a business. And then
especially, you know, I don'tknow a lot, but I do know that,
you know, getting any type ofspirit onto the shelves is a
whole entire business ontoitself. So you could have the
(16:37):
best product in the world, butif you don't get any
distribution or placement, then,you know, you're you're selling
it out of your garage, I guess,or in your backyard in Texas.
So how did that whole processwork? Like, once you, you know,
you you sort of formulatedeverything, got it all together,
(16:58):
bottled it, all of that goodstuff, how did you then sort of
break into stores or shelves?
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah. I mean, we we met we tried to meet as many
people as we could, talk to asmany people as we could. And so
we talked to another femalefounder in the space, and she
was so lovely and open. And andshe mentioned this VC called
Distill Ventures. Yes.
(17:27):
And so she was like, you shouldtalk to them, and we had never
heard of them and and literallylooked it up online and sent in
an application for their for oneof their accelerator programs
and got invited to an interviewand ended up pitching and ended
up getting funding from them andand being in that program for
(17:49):
for about a year. And this wasprelaunch. This was pre us being
in stores or anything. Mhmm. Sothat was really super helpful
for us, especially since we werecoming so from such a different
space and had really no historyor much knowledge about about
the spirits industry.
So that was not only helpfulbecause it kind of financially
(18:11):
got us off the ground, but itwas also really helpful because
we had a team of people who werewell versed in the spirits
industry to just advise us andhelp us. Yeah. That help us.
There's a lot of regulatory redtape in the spirits industry, so
helping navigate them, helpingus understand distribution
(18:34):
channels. And we had an inklingagain, like we did a lot of
research before.
We knew that California was agood state to not only is it our
home state, but, like, it's agood state to start to launch a
spirits brand in just because ofthe way that the regulations of
the three tier system work here.So we kind of knew that ahead of
(18:55):
time but still they helped us alot with that. Before even that,
do want to say another thingthat was that I think not only
set us apart, but was reallyimportant for us to do is to
really make sure that all of ourbranding or brand messaging,
like what it what we wanted toput out in the world was really
(19:16):
clear and that we were that wehad a story that we wanted to
tell. And so we work a lot onthat. And that was also, you
know, a lot of our work in inour previous careers was around,
you know, building brands forartists and marketing and all
(19:36):
those things.
So that was it was in ourwheelhouse, but we really wanted
to make sure that that wasreally buttoned up and clear.
And I think that was ultimatelyalso what got us in the door
with the Sylvan. Hardly. Yeah.Because not only the product was
excellent, but we we we knewwhat we the story we wanted to
(19:57):
tell.
We had a strong mission and weknew who we wanted to reach and
a very strong idea of how how wewould reach that consumer. And
then through Distill Venturesand their kind of support and
advice, we just kind of wereable to soft launch basically in
(20:18):
LA and and navigatedistribution. And, I mean, this
is an ongoing process. We'restill learning. We're still
navigating it.
We're still understanding it.This was not something that we
figured out, and now we're hereand we figured it out. No. We're
we're learning about the ins andouts of it still every day, and
we're still so new. I mean, wejust launched a little over a
(20:41):
year ago.
So, like Yeah. We're yeah. Andthat's the other thing is that
we were very conscious aboutwanting to do a soft launch in
one city in our home hometownwhere we knew we could be really
involved, foods on the ground,and really learn and make sure
that our messaging wasconnecting with the consumer and
(21:02):
make sure that we could bereally hands on in making any
changes that needed to happen.And kind of like make building
the playbook so that once we'rewe've got the ball in place,
then we can say, okay. Now we'reready for a bigger launch in
more cities and other states,and then we can just basically
pour fuel on the fire.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Pour whiskey on that fire. That's amazing. Yeah. So
how and how does that work whenyou expand to other cities? Is
it partnering with a distributorso that you can get into these
other states?
Because otherwise, I couldimagine, like, trying to figure
out the regulations from stateto state if it's all different.
(21:45):
That is very complicated.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah. It I mean, ideally, it is with a
distributor. You could do itkind of in certain states. Not
in all states. You can do itwithout one.
But, yes, ideally with adistributor, you still have to
be very involved and on theground approach even if go to a
different site. I think a lotfrom what we learned and the
approach we decided to take isnot to extend too quickly so
(22:13):
that we can really build in eachmarket before if we go out if we
spread ourselves too thin, it'swe've heard from many people
that that often does not workwell in this particular
industry. Yeah. And like mostindustry, but especially the
spirits industry, it's verywe're so closely tied to
(22:33):
hospitality too. It's a arelationship.
It's a people industry. So it'sreally important to build really
strong relationships and makesure that there's so on premise
is restaurants, bars, offpremise is a retailer like a
liquor store or a grocery storethat sells liquor. And so, you
(22:59):
know, are your early adopters,your brand evangelists. And so
you want to make sure thatyou're connecting with them and
building a strong relationshipso that it can grow. That's just
easier to do in a place whereyou live.
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
The physical being in that physical location does make
it a a lot easier. So isLodestar, of course, it's made
by women with your palates inmind, but is Lodestar
specifically targeted at the thefemale consumer who's, like,
(23:39):
whiskey curious. Can you talk alittle bit about who your, I
guess, ideal customer is?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah. So we're and, again, like you said earlier, we
we love men, and and we hopethat men also drink our whiskey
and they do. But we wespecifically had women in mind
when we created Lodestar becauseand not necessarily from a
flavor perspective because weactually, as women, don't like
(24:10):
that when people are like, well,women only drink a certain kind
of thing or they like sweetthings or they, you know, it's
like, no. You like what youlike. We're all humans.
We all have different palates.We all There's things we like.
There's things we don't like. Sowe just ultimately, from a
flavor perspective, wanted tomake something that was just
really delicious and easy todrink. We wanted to invite more
(24:34):
people into the whiskey categoryso we want to approach people
who maybe haven't tried whiskeybefore just because it didn't
interest them or maybe theydidn't drink whiskey because
there's a real culture attachedto it that didn't speak to them,
namely women.
(24:56):
Or some people are evenintimidated by it. You know, we
were talking a lot about thistoo that when we were younger,
we felt that way about wine forexample. Like you feel like you
have to have a dictionary withyou everywhere you go and
understand all the terms andknow where something is from and
how, you know, and while all ofthose things are wonderful to
(25:17):
know and the craft of making awine or a spirit, especially
whiskey, is so cool and worthlearning about if that's
something that interests you. Itcan also just be good and it's
something that tastes good andyou drink it and it's on your
bar in a bottle that looks cooland pretty and you reach for it
(25:38):
and you share it with yourfriends, right? We wanted to
target people who either are orfit into one of those buckets
where they haven't been spokento before or maybe felt
intimidated by it.
Or they really like whiskey, butmaybe it's not a brand out there
that they feel speaks to themspecifically. And we wanted to
(26:03):
target people who enjoycommunity and gathering people
around, whether that be at atable or in your backyard or,
you know, wherever, and andcelebrate shared moments over a
good glass of whiskey or atasting whiskey. We'll also add
(26:23):
that in in in our decisionsaround the pack and how we
wanted to brand Lodestar, it wasvery intentional that we didn't
want to put something out therethat is overly gendered because
coming at it from a consumerperspective, that was not
something that spoke to us. Andthere are some really great
(26:45):
products out there that are, youknow, very much, from an
aesthetics point, targetedtowards more traditional ideas
of the the of women, I guess, orthe female gender. And we wanted
to stay away from that.
We felt like that was not whatwe were going for. We wanted it
to be inclusive, and that meansit also should include however
(27:10):
anybody identifies and notbasically be only targeted to
one specific gender idea. So,yeah, it was it was important to
us in in the branding as well tocreate something that appeals to
women consumers but doesn'talienate men or anyone else,
basically.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah. It really seems like what you're describing that
you are sort of bringing, youknow, whiskey into the the
modern era and making it moreaccessible to all. Because it
definitely whiskey does when youwhen when you think about it,
(27:50):
when I think about it, itdefinitely feels male. It
definitely feels tough. And, youknow, you don't necessarily I
mean, it's it's fine if if youwanna be tough, but you don't
wanna necessarily
Speaker 3 (28:05):
be like, give me a whiskey. Right? It's it's like,
however, if that's somethingthat speaks to you
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Then do it.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
There's
Speaker 3 (28:15):
so many brands out there that will offer you
exactly that, and many of themare delicious. Sure. So, like,
there that exists, and that'sgreat. And but we that's exactly
what we felt like we werefilling a gap there where that
it's something that feelsinclusive, contemporary. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. That's a great word, I think, contemporary.
Because I was thinking, like,you're modernizing, like, what
whiskey is. You're really, youknow, opening it up and not
swinging the pendulum to theside of the the feminine or,
like, pinkwashing everythingbecause that that doesn't work
either. If it doesn't work, Ithink we're realizing that that
(29:01):
does not work either.
And and I just love it. I didtake a look at your website, and
and I read a couple of thearticles that were written about
your whiskey. Justcongratulations on on on
launching this, on, you know,having an idea, bringing it to
life literally. But I alsonoticed that you have some
(29:25):
really interesting whiskeycocktails that are also more
contemporary. Can you talk alittle bit about how how that
came about?
Because it seems like that mighteven be another way in for for
people that might not considerwhiskey.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Absolutely. And that was very intentional as well.
Like, we were as Vinland wassaying earlier, when we thought
about initially about the flavorprofile, so many things were
important to us, mouthfeel,viscosity, color, obviously
flavors. But part of the flavorprofile we were going to we're
going for was also we alwaysthought about different serve
(30:06):
strategies. So we wanted it tobe good and high quality to
where you can just taste it neatand enjoy it or drink it on the
rocks.
But it was very important to ustoo that it works in cocktails
because, again, for a consumerwho's maybe new to whiskey, is
not familiar with it, that's anthat's kind of an easy way to
start with whiskey or to enjoyit. We want it Lodestar to be
(30:28):
approachable, but have enoughkind of what they call backbone
to stand out in a cocktail.Right? If it's too kind of too
chill, then you won't reallytaste it. So it was all those
things that were important to uswhen we first thought about what
we wanna put in the bottle.
And then once we had it in thebottle, we, yeah, we just kind
(30:50):
of I guess some of the cocktailideas were inspired by us just
by our backgrounds, how we grewup of loving to cook and play
around with flavors. And wewanted to create cocktails that
were maybe not traditionally howpeople thought about whiskey. A
lot of times when you saywhiskey cocktail, people think,
oh, an old fashioned orManhattan. Spirit forward. Both
(31:12):
of which are very spiritforward.
So maybe not the easiest way forsomebody who's new to the
category to kind of try it. Andwe wanted to kinda challenge how
people think when to consumewhiskey as well because a lot of
people think, oh, it's a winterdrink, and you sit by a fire and
sip on it or you have it in anold fashion. So we were like,
(31:34):
let's come up with some ideasthat are maybe more refreshing,
maybe more of a summer cocktail.We ended up creating a spritz
with one of our accounts for,like, an Easter or Mother's Day
thing or something. And so,yeah, a lot of those thoughts
went into it, that's how thosesome of those cocktails were
created.
So there's, like, a mango one onthere, or there's an iced tea
(31:58):
that has, like, a smoky blacktea in it and basically drinks,
like, an Arnold Palmer withwhiskey in it. And a lot of
those kind of more refreshingones are we do a lot of events,
and a lot those are just totalcrowd pleasers. And we love
getting this feedback, which weget every time. Like, oh, no. I
(32:18):
don't drink whiskey or I don'tthis is not for me.
And then it's like, well, justtry a little bit of the
cocktail, then they try it, andthey're like, oh my god. Is that
(32:41):
people it's at least in my mindone of the very few spirits that
people expect that you woulddrink meat or on the rock. It's
like you know whereas and peopleare like, oh, I don't I don't
like that and I'm like, do you Ialways ask, do you drink any
other spirits just by himself?Do you drink tequila by itself?
(33:02):
Do you drink rum by itself orgin?
They're like, no. And then I'mlike, okay. Well then try it in
the cocktail because, you know,you're you're drinking it with
mixers and so you shouldn't onits own. And you don't have to.
You don't have to drink it onits own to enjoy it.
Yeah. Yeah. A word that keptcoming up for us over and over
(33:24):
was unstuffy. Like, we wanted tocreate something that was high
quality and delicious and can beenjoyed by somebody who knows a
lot about whiskey, but itdoesn't have to be complicated.
It can just be tasty.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah. And it and it can have all the complexity, but
it doesn't need to becomplicated, which I just I
absolutely love. But I feel likeyour your story and just like,
you're talking about the the artof distilling and the
thoughtfulness that you've putinto everything from the
(33:57):
formulation to the brand to howyou're working together and how
you're approaching it in thisvery methodical and and
thoughtful way is very much amaster class and and and really
how to almost start a business.Right? Especially being so close
to customers, getting out there,seeing what they are enjoying,
(34:21):
you know, if there is anythingthat they are turned off by,
probing, and asking why.
And, you know, this it it allsounds so amazing and that
you've done everything right.And I just wanna ask for, you
know, the audience, were thereany challenging points along the
(34:42):
way? Not not just, yeah, we hadto do a lot of research and
understand, but did you actuallyrun into any roadblocks at all?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Well, I mean, obviously, there I feel like
there's challenging points everyday. It doesn't end. A roller
coaster. Sometimes in the sameday. In the same day.
Yeah. There's definitely beenchallenges. One that always
comes to mind was licensing forspecific specifically for for
(35:13):
spirits. This is a this is justa you just have to have a lot of
tenacity to get through thatprocess. And and especially when
you don't really know even whenyou're new to it, like, there
were so many things that wedidn't know.
And we're like, we're just gonnacross this box because we don't
know what else and and kindahoping for the best and hoping
that maybe we can talk tosomebody on the phone who might
(35:35):
be able to explain it to us.Like, that was a long and drawn
out process that was tedious andI think kind of a barrier a
little bit because it was a lotto deal with. But again, if you
have the tenacity and you justkind of don't give up, you get
through it, obviously. We're nowat a point where we need to
(35:56):
fundraise again and that'salways a challenge. Especially
as women, that is always achallenge.
Yeah. And obviously, and this ispart of what drives me anyway
is, and it could be really inany space, we happen to be in
the whiskey space, but as youmentioned earlier, just to be
(36:20):
women who, you know, went out tocreate their own business and to
be in the world doing that everyday and continuing that and
running up against the challengethat so very little of of
startup funding goes to womenand and and just trying, you
know, trying to be part of ofhopefully that changing over,
(36:46):
you know, in our lifetimes,hopefully, still.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
And, you know, there definitely are more and more
resources, and there are manymore people that are recognizing
all of the qualities that you'reboth talking about. Like, those
are the qualities that lead tosuccessful businesses that last
over the long term. And I thinkthat, hopefully, some of these
(37:14):
funding sources are arerealizing that. And not only
that, there are many women thatare starting to get into the
financing world. So I think it'sfor all of us, it's it's a
matter of also finding out wherethose resources are as well.
And networking, networking,networking. I mean, I I I see
(37:37):
that that is how you got towhere you are in addition to
everything else being sothoughtful and particular about
what it is that you want, butalso building these
relationships. And all of thatis extremely exhausting. So I I
I give you it's it's exhausting.So I give you a lot of props for
(37:59):
continuing, and I I'm justreally excited.
I mean, I don't think thatyou're in New York yet, but when
you are, please please come by.We would love to have you at She
Leads. I think that that wouldbe so amazing. But I just wanted
to say thank you so much forsharing your story with me and
(38:24):
with the entire She Leadspodcast audience. I hope that
anybody who's listening in canlisten to all of the points that
Venzelin and Anna shared aboutevery aspect that they thought
about when, you know,conceptualizing, launching, and
continuing to grow theirbusiness.
(38:44):
So thank you so much for yourinsight. Thank you so much for
creating this amazing product,and I cannot wait to taste it.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Thank you. Thank you so much. We also I wanted to
just mention that while we areonly available in stores in LA
and kind of surrounding areas.We do ship to most states in The
United States. So if people didwanna pick up a bottle, they can
head to our website, and we willship it to
Speaker 2 (39:14):
That is amazing. So can you just share with
everybody your Instagram andyour website so that they they
can listen to this episode andgo buy themselves a case?
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Sure. Lodestar. It's lodestarwhiskey.com. So Lodestar
is l0destar and thenwhiskey.com. Whiskey with an e.
Yeah. People spell whiskeydifferently too.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Okay. Great. And we'll put all of that in the
show notes. And, again, thankyou so much for sharing with us
here today.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
If this conversation moved you, inspired you, or made
you think differently, pleasetake a moment to leave a five
star rating and review. It's notjust about boosting the show.
It's about amplifying the voicesof women entrepreneurs who are
leading with vision, buildingwith purpose, and shaping what's
next. We need more of theseconversations in the world right
(40:16):
now, don't you think? And ifsomeone came to mind while you
were listening, someone whomatters to you, send this
episode to them.
If there's something on yourmind about leadership, legacy,
or what's next, I want to hearit. Head to sheleadsmedia.com
backs lash voice and leave avoice memo or note. Your insight
might just help shape a futureepisode. Make sure to follow the
(40:39):
show and come back next week formore conversations you won't
hear anywhere else. Thank you somuch for listening.
This is the She Leads PodcastNetwork.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!