The She Leads Podcast | Rewriting the Rules of Entrepreneurship

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!

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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

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Creators and Guests

Host
She Leads® Media
👩🏻‍⚖️ ⭐️ Adrienne Garland - She Leads® Podcast Network - 4 women X women ⭐️ 🎧 The She Leads Podcast Host| Leadership Conferences, Retreats #SheLeads #Women #entrepreneurs

What is The She Leads Podcast | Rewriting the Rules of Entrepreneurship?

No sugar-coating, no fluff - just real conversations that matter. The She Leads Podcast features raw, unfiltered stories from visionary women who see the future and who've been bold enough to break the mold and re-write the rules. Each episode amplifies diverse voices with powerful missions, giving women the platform they deserve while delivering actionable insights you won't find in business textbooks. Join host Adrienne Garland, MBA, Professor, Entrepreneur for the straight talk about entrepreneurship that other business podcasts are afraid to have.

Speaker 1:

Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.

Speaker 1:

There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads podcast.

Speaker 2:

Anna Axtor and Vendelin von Schroeder love whiskey. But every time they ordered it at a

Speaker 1:

bar, they got the look. Women who love whiskey? Yeah. Right. They're cousins.

Speaker 1:

They're cofounders of Lodz Dar Whiskey, and they're two of Forbes top 10 women changing the whiskey industry. Anna and Vendelin join me on this new evolution of the She Leads podcast. It's what we're here for now. Women who could care less about fitting in and who choose to move forward by building what works for us. Let's hear from these incredible founders.

Speaker 1:

So hi, everybody, and welcome back

Speaker 2:

to the She Leads podcast. Today, I'm welcoming Anna Axtor and Vendelin von Schroeder, cofounders of Lodestar Whiskey, to our special show. These incredible women were recently featured in Forbes as two of 10 women changing the whiskey industry. They are cousins, and they've developed a love for whiskey during their travels while working in the music industry, but felt that existing brands didn't speak to them as female consumers. I'm sure that all of you can relate to things that are happening in the world that are not necessarily made for us.

Speaker 2:

So I can't wait to dive into our conversation today with these incredible women that took their passion and turned it into a business. And I hope that through sharing their story that you will be inspired to look at some of the things that you're passionate about and turn it into a business if that's something that's feasible for you. So welcome to the show, Anna and Vendelin.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Happy to be here. Yeah. Thanks so much. Great to meet you.

Speaker 2:

Great to meet you too. So I read a little bit about your story, and I think it's super interesting. You know, even even what you did before you started your business was super interesting. So maybe we can start at the beginning. You can tell me a little bit about your backgrounds, your cousins.

Speaker 2:

You're obviously friends, and now you're cofounders. So I would love to just kind of hear about, you know, what your careers were like before. And then what was the thing that prompted you to say, hey. You know, there is a need here. There's a problem that we'd like to solve, and we're gonna do it.

Speaker 3:

Sure. We as you mentioned, we're cousin we're cousins. We're family. We grew up in a big family. Getting together and sharing long delicious meals and good drinks was kind of always part of our DNA.

Speaker 3:

And we both have a background in film actually, and so we ended up working in in entertainment and then kind of ended up in the music industry. And for a little over ten years, we worked together and built some businesses in that space, small businesses, the record label, artist management, that's kind of the space that we were moving in. And during that time, we just traveled a lot for work all over The US, literally to every pretty much every state. And also I think I'm missing one. Places abroad, and we whiskey was kind of the drink of choice in that music space.

Speaker 3:

And we ended up, you know, kind of developing a love for that product. And we became curious. We started developing our palates, tasting obscure whiskeys in weird places, and it kind of became a little bit of a hobby. And then we also noticed during that time that whenever we would walk up to a bar and order a whiskey drink, it would elicit a reaction. Sometimes that was positive, but and then sometimes it was negative, but it was always a reaction.

Speaker 3:

And that was something that kinda stuck with us. It's like, what is going on here? And we also noticed that a lot of the brands in whiskey seem to be talking to people that look and are completely different than we are. Namely, a lot of them were still predominantly speaking to older white men. And that's kind of what sparked our interest and where we felt like, is there a blank space here that nobody is really filling in what's going on?

Speaker 3:

And so that was the the original kind of little spark that happened, but we were busy in our careers and not really thinking of doing anything like this until The pandemic hits. The

Speaker 2:

pandemic. Pandemic. Man, the pandemic really shifted everything for everybody.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yes. We, you know, more and more of we were at the time, we were also working on music festival, and that got canceled overnight and a lot of other things we were working on just stopped overnight and we were fortunate enough that we had the opportunity. We kind of looked at each other and we said, well, I mean, maybe a few drinks were involved as well. Like maybe it's time to to do something different and to follow this passion that we have and see see where we can go with it.

Speaker 2:

Now you worked together in the film and and music industry before you started this. How did that even come about? Because that's something that is also, you know, not usually the case, that that, you know, cousins are sort of working together. And then you also mentioned that you started a couple of small businesses. So you had to have had some type of entrepreneurial spirit in there.

Speaker 2:

So I'd I'd sort of love to understand, like, you know, why did you decide to both work in the same industry, work together, and then what what where did that entrepreneurial spirit kinda come from?

Speaker 3:

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 when you just say yes. But Yeah. I was out here in Los Angeles and I was I like I said, I was working in film and kind of ended up through different circumstances in music and was just rolling up my sleeves to do this thing that kind of I've I found myself in and and started artist management for a couple of artists. And it just kind of became I became very busy and things and I needed I I wasn't enough. One person wasn't enough to kind of handle the workload.

Speaker 3:

And this happened to be at the same time when Venlon was moving from New York to Los Angeles. And she was working here in film, and we were just hanging out. And and I was like, I need somebody to do this with me. If you would ever be interested, let me know. And she said yes.

Speaker 3:

The rest is history. But what it allowed for as far as Lodestar, as far as the whiskey business goes, what I think was really a benefit in starting this together was that we had such a shorthand of working together already. Yeah. Because we had spent a decade working together in a different field, but we knew kind of what our each other's strengths are, what how we complement each other. And so it was definitely an easier jump to do this with somebody that you have a lot of working history with already.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And and then you can imagine oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Speaker 3:

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 is also partly how we were raised in our family is that we were just we were raised by strong women and and had people around us that believed in us.

Speaker 3:

It's like if you have a good work ethic and you believe in what you're doing and you roll up your sleeves and you're I don't know how to say this in English. Like when you You're not above anything. Yeah. You're not precious with yourself. Precious with yourself, kind of are willing to do whatever and you just you just take a shot and see what happens.

Speaker 3:

And so that I think was something that was already in us and then has just kind of like in our careers kept, we kept being presented with opportunities to put that quote unquote skill to use. Yeah. And just going for it and not being afraid to be new at something and to not know how to do something, but to know that you can figure it out. And then, you know, you know how to ask for help, those kinds of things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It it seems like the both of you have such an incredible foundation, like everything from your upbringing, powerful women in your family, that knowing that, you know, whatever it is that you choose to set your sights on, that you're going to do everything that it takes to, you know, make it work or at least learn what works. I think that that is that is such a an entrepreneurial characteristic, and it's incredible. And, you know, it's it's so lucky when someone is sort of born with that. It almost feels like it's in your DNA, but it's certainly something that someone can cultivate as well.

Speaker 3:

And Sure. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely feel like I've cultivated it throughout my life and career. Right.

Speaker 3:

For sure.

Speaker 2:

And you're always you're always sort of building on it. So it this this muscle is getting stronger and stronger. So you were both in an entirely different industry and then going into the spirits industry, which is completely male dominated. Right? So I think you got a little You

Speaker 3:

I'm sorry.

Speaker 2:

That's very true. That is very true.

Speaker 3:

And and you got a you got

Speaker 2:

a taste of you know, with the whiskey industry was like just by ordering the drinks. So how did you go about even formulating Lodestar whiskey? Because that's pretty impressive. You don't just whip up whiskey or maybe you do. I don't know.

Speaker 3:

Well, like, I know I already said, we had spent all this time nursing our hobby of just tasting a lot of different whiskeys all over the country, all over the world. I think one of my favorite stories is that we found a couple somewhere out in Texas that were making whiskey in their backyard and I emailed them and asked if we could stop by. They were wonderful. That's their Awesome. Whiskey, amazing whiskey and just like a couple that were passionate and doing it essentially in their backyard.

Speaker 3:

And so we we over a couple of years really developed not only our palates but kind of came up with our dream flavor profile and we were just like we tried this over here and like oh we really like this but we don't like this and we like the mouthfeel and the viscosity of this whiskey and if we were to ever make a whiskey, we would want it to have, you know, some spice and built a flavor brief not only based on what we liked and didn't like, but we also really thought about like who is consuming this and who do we want to consume this and you know if we want to invite more women to try whiskey like what's important to us in terms of the flavor profile. And so we took this consumer approach to building an ideal flavor brief and then when we actually decided we were going to do this, we reached out to different people in our network and a lot of Google searching and reading, going to library and reading books and found you know some master blenders that we could talk to and ended up partnering with somebody who really understood what we were going for and was really excited by it.

Speaker 3:

And they actually also said that they'd never seen a flavor brief that was this detailed before. They were like, we really like how you're thinking about the whole process, not only the flavor, but you know from what once it hits your glass till it goes to your lips and etc. So then we started working at it and there was a there was some back and forth and trying different things. Eventually we decided that blending was going to be the best way to achieve what we were looking for and that was kind of it. Yeah, and then we landed on two components and tried them in different ways, different percentages of each and different ages and proof points, all of those things.

Speaker 3:

Then finally ended up with pretty much, I mean, exactly in the bottle what we had set out to do. So that was really fun. And in the meantime, we've I mean, we started with just knowing we had to learn so much. So we spent a couple of years just learning about whiskey making, like Valen was saying, visiting countless distilleries and meeting lots of people. And, yeah, and then we kind of caught the blending bug too because it's so much fun and such a creative process.

Speaker 3:

And that's what I find so fascinating about whiskey as a product. It's it's almost like it's alive. You know? Like, every barrel is different even if the exact same thing at the exact same time went in. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

This everything just every little detail has an impact on the flavor of what comes out of it. So, yeah, it was a really fun kind of journey to figure out how to do this. And now we have it in the bottle, and we we we're proud of the product, and we yeah. It was kind of amazing that we I don't know. Like we said earlier, it was it was we had no idea what to do, but we knew we had a goal of what we wanted to achieve.

Speaker 3:

And we had to learn how to go from the Idea. The idea to and we had no idea what the in between would be, but we were kind of just figuring out how to how to navigate that journey as we went along. And and if you just roll up your sleeves, you can you can figure anything out, really.

Speaker 2:

I love that. There are so many lessons in everything that you're talking about. And to me, it seems that this growth mindset that you both have and the tenacity to keep going because I'm sure that you experimented with things that were probably terrible.

Speaker 3:

And

Speaker 2:

there is so much that goes into it. And it's not just about, you know, what is the whiskey. There's there are so many different components to running a a business. And then especially, you know, I don't know a lot, but I do know that, you know, getting any type of spirit onto the shelves is a whole entire business onto itself. So you could have the best product in the world, but if 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.

Speaker 2:

So how did that whole process work? Like, once you, you know, you you sort of formulated everything, got it all together, bottled it, all of that good stuff, how did you then sort of break into stores or shelves?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I mean, we we met we tried to meet as many people as we could, talk to as many people as we could. And so we talked to another female founder in the space, and she was so lovely and open. And and she mentioned this VC called Distill Ventures. Yes.

Speaker 3:

And so she was like, you should talk to them, and we had never heard of them and and literally looked it up online and sent in an application for their for one of their accelerator programs and got invited to an interview and ended up pitching and ended up getting funding from them and and being in that program for for about a year. And this was prelaunch. This was pre us being in stores or anything. Mhmm. So that was really super helpful for us, especially since we were coming so from such a different space and had really no history or much knowledge about about the spirits industry.

Speaker 3:

So that was not only helpful because it kind of financially got us off the ground, but it was also really helpful because we had a team of people who were well versed in the spirits industry to just advise us and help us. Yeah. That help us. There's a lot of regulatory red tape in the spirits industry, so helping navigate them, helping us understand distribution channels. And we had an inkling again, like we did a lot of research before.

Speaker 3:

We knew that California was a good state to not only is it our home state, but, like, it's a good state to start to launch a spirits brand in just because of the way that the regulations of the three tier system work here. So we kind of knew that ahead of time but still they helped us a lot with that. Before even that, do want to say another thing that was that I think not only set us apart, but was really important for us to do is to really make sure that all of our branding or brand messaging, like what it what we wanted to put out in the world was really clear and that we were that we had a story that we wanted to tell. And so we work a lot on that. And that was also, you know, a lot of our work in in our previous careers was around, you know, building brands for artists and marketing and all those things.

Speaker 3:

So that was it was in our wheelhouse, but we really wanted to make sure that that was really buttoned up and clear. And I think that was ultimately also what got us in the door with the Sylvan. Hardly. Yeah. Because not only the product was excellent, but we we we knew what we the story we wanted to tell.

Speaker 3:

We had a strong mission and we knew who we wanted to reach and a very strong idea of how how we would reach that consumer. And then through Distill Ventures and their kind of support and advice, we just kind of were able to soft launch basically in LA and and navigate distribution. And, I mean, this is an ongoing process. We're still learning. We're still navigating it.

Speaker 3:

We're still understanding it. This was not something that we figured out, and now we're here and we figured it out. No. We're we're learning about the ins and outs of it still every day, and we're still so new. I mean, we just launched a little over a year ago.

Speaker 3:

So, like Yeah. We're yeah. And that's the other thing is that we were very conscious about wanting to do a soft launch in one city in our home hometown where we knew we could be really involved, foods on the ground, and really learn and make sure that our messaging was connecting with the consumer and make sure that we could be really hands on in making any changes that needed to happen. And kind of like make building the playbook so that once we're we've got the ball in place, then we can say, okay. Now we're ready for a bigger launch in more cities and other states, and then we can just basically pour fuel on the fire.

Speaker 2:

Pour whiskey on that fire. That's amazing. Yeah. So how and how does that work when you expand to other cities? Is it partnering with a distributor so that you can get into these other states?

Speaker 2:

Because otherwise, I could imagine, like, trying to figure out the regulations from state to state if it's all different. That is very complicated.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It I mean, ideally, it is with a distributor. You could do it kind of in certain states. Not in all states. You can do it without one.

Speaker 3:

But, yes, ideally with a distributor, you still have to be very involved and on the ground approach even if go to a different site. I think a lot from what we learned and the approach we decided to take is not to extend too quickly so that we can really build in each market before if we go out if we spread ourselves too thin, it's we've heard from many people that that often does not work well in this particular industry. Yeah. And like most industry, but especially the spirits industry, it's very we're so closely tied to hospitality too. It's a a relationship.

Speaker 3:

It's a people industry. So it's really important to build really strong relationships and make sure that there's so on premise is restaurants, bars, off premise is a retailer like a liquor store or a grocery store that sells liquor. And so, you know, are your early adopters, your brand evangelists. And so you want to make sure that you're connecting with them and building a strong relationship so that it can grow. That's just easier to do in a place where you live.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 2:

The physical being in that physical location does make it a a lot easier. So is Lodestar, of course, it's made by women with your palates in mind, but is Lodestar specifically targeted at the the female consumer who's, like, whiskey curious. Can you talk a little bit about who your, I guess, ideal customer is?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So we're and, again, like you said earlier, we we love men, and and we hope that men also drink our whiskey and they do. But we we specifically had women in mind when we created Lodestar because and not necessarily from a flavor perspective because we actually, as women, don't like that when people are like, well, women only drink a certain kind of thing or they like sweet things or they, you know, it's like, no. You like what you like. We're all humans.

Speaker 3:

We all have different palates. We all There's things we like. There's things we don't like. So we just ultimately, from a flavor perspective, wanted to make something that was just really delicious and easy to drink. We wanted to invite more people into the whiskey category so we want to approach people who maybe haven't tried whiskey before just because it didn't interest them or maybe they didn't drink whiskey because there's a real culture attached to it that didn't speak to them, namely women.

Speaker 3:

Or some people are even intimidated by it. You know, we were talking a lot about this too that when we were younger, we felt that way about wine for example. Like you feel like you have to have a dictionary with you everywhere you go and understand all the terms and know where something is from and how, you know, and while all of those things are wonderful to know and the craft of making a wine or a spirit, especially whiskey, is so cool and worth learning about if that's something that interests you. It can also just be good and it's something that tastes good and you drink it and it's on your bar in a bottle that looks cool and pretty and you reach for it and you share it with your friends, right? We wanted to target people who either are or fit into one of those buckets where they haven't been spoken to before or maybe felt intimidated by it.

Speaker 3:

Or they really like whiskey, but maybe it's not a brand out there that they feel speaks to them specifically. And we wanted to target people who enjoy community and gathering people around, whether that be at a table or in your backyard or, you know, wherever, and and celebrate shared moments over a good glass of whiskey or a tasting whiskey. We'll also add that in in in our decisions around the pack and how we wanted to brand Lodestar, it was very intentional that we didn't want to put something out there that is overly gendered because coming at it from a consumer perspective, that was not something that spoke to us. And there are some really great products out there that are, you know, very much, from an aesthetics point, targeted towards more traditional ideas of the the of women, I guess, or the female gender. And we wanted to stay away from that.

Speaker 3:

We felt like that was not what we were going for. We wanted it to be inclusive, and that means it also should include however anybody identifies and not basically be only targeted to one specific gender idea. So, yeah, it was it was important to us in in the branding as well to create something that appeals to women consumers but doesn't alienate men or anyone else, basically.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It really seems like what you're describing that you are sort of bringing, you know, whiskey into the the modern era and making it more accessible to all. Because it definitely whiskey does when you when when you think about it, when I think about it, it definitely feels male. It definitely feels tough. And, you know, you don't necessarily I mean, it's it's fine if if you wanna be tough, but you don't wanna necessarily

Speaker 3:

be like, give me a whiskey. Right? It's it's like, however, if that's something that speaks to you

Speaker 2:

Then do it.

Speaker 3:

That's great.

Speaker 2:

There's

Speaker 3:

so many brands out there that will offer you exactly that, and many of them are delicious. Sure. So, like, there that exists, and that's great. And but we that's exactly what we felt like we were filling a gap there where that it's something that feels inclusive, contemporary. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That's a great word, I think, contemporary. Because I was thinking, like, you're modernizing, like, what whiskey is. You're really, you know, opening it up and not swinging the pendulum to the side of the the feminine or, like, pinkwashing everything because that that doesn't work either. If it doesn't work, I think we're realizing that that does not work either.

Speaker 2:

And and I just love it. I did take a look at your website, and and I read a couple of the articles that were written about your whiskey. Just congratulations on on on launching this, on, you know, having an idea, bringing it to life literally. But I also noticed that you have some really interesting whiskey cocktails that are also more contemporary. Can you talk a little bit about how how that came about?

Speaker 2:

Because it seems like that might even be another way in for for people that might not consider whiskey.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. And that was very intentional as well. Like, we were as Vinland was saying earlier, when we thought about initially about the flavor profile, so many things were important to us, mouthfeel, viscosity, color, obviously flavors. But part of the flavor profile we were going to we're going for was also we always thought about different serve strategies. So we wanted it to be good and high quality to where you can just taste it neat and enjoy it or drink it on the rocks.

Speaker 3:

But it was very important to us too that it works in cocktails because, again, for a consumer who's maybe new to whiskey, is not familiar with it, that's an that's kind of an easy way to start with whiskey or to enjoy it. We want it Lodestar to be approachable, but have enough kind of what they call backbone to stand out in a cocktail. Right? If it's too kind of too chill, then you won't really taste it. So it was all those things that were important to us when we first thought about what we wanna put in the bottle.

Speaker 3:

And then once we had it in the bottle, we, yeah, we just kind of I guess some of the cocktail ideas were inspired by us just by our backgrounds, how we grew up of loving to cook and play around with flavors. And we wanted to create cocktails that were maybe not traditionally how people thought about whiskey. A lot of times when you say whiskey cocktail, people think, oh, an old fashioned or Manhattan. Spirit forward. Both of which are very spirit forward.

Speaker 3:

So maybe not the easiest way for somebody who's new to the category to kind of try it. And we wanted to kinda challenge how people think when to consume whiskey as well because a lot of people think, oh, it's a winter drink, and you sit by a fire and sip on it or you have it in an old fashion. So we were like, let's come up with some ideas that 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 those some of those cocktails were created.

Speaker 3:

So there's, like, a mango one on there, or there's an iced tea that has, like, a smoky black tea in it and basically drinks, like, an Arnold Palmer with whiskey in it. And a lot of those kind of more refreshing ones are we do a lot of events, and a lot those are just total crowd pleasers. And we love getting this feedback, which we get every time. Like, oh, no. I don't drink whiskey or I don't this is not for me.

Speaker 3:

And then it's like, well, just try a little bit of the cocktail, then they try it, and they're like, oh my god. Is that people it's at least in my mind one of the very few spirits that people expect that you would drink meat or on the rock. It's like you know whereas and people are like, oh, I don't I don't like that and I'm like, do you I always ask, do you drink any other spirits just by himself? Do you drink tequila by itself? Do you drink rum by itself or gin?

Speaker 3:

They're like, no. And then I'm like, okay. Well then try it in the cocktail because, you know, you're you're drinking it with mixers and so you shouldn't on its own. And you don't have to. You don't have to drink it on its own to enjoy it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. A word that kept coming up for us over and over was unstuffy. Like, we wanted to create something that was high quality and delicious and can be enjoyed by somebody who knows a lot about whiskey, but it doesn't have to be complicated. It can just be tasty.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And it and it can have all the complexity, but it doesn't need to be complicated, which I just I absolutely love. But I feel like your your story and just like, you're talking about the the art of distilling and the thoughtfulness that you've put into everything from the formulation to the brand to how you're working together and how you're approaching it in this very methodical and and thoughtful way is very much a master 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, you know, if there is anything that they are turned off by, probing, and asking why.

Speaker 2:

And, you know, this it it all sounds so amazing and that you've done everything right. And I just wanna ask for, you know, the audience, were there any challenging points along the way? Not not just, yeah, we had to do a lot of research and understand, but did you actually run into any roadblocks at all?

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, obviously, there I feel like there's challenging points every day. It doesn't end. A roller coaster. Sometimes in the same day. In the same day.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. There's definitely been challenges. One that always comes to mind was licensing for specific specifically for for spirits. This is a this is just a you just have to have a lot of tenacity to get through that process. And and especially when you don't really know even when you're new to it, like, there were so many things that we didn't know.

Speaker 3:

And we're like, we're just gonna cross this box because we don't know what else and and kinda hoping for the best and hoping that maybe we can talk to somebody on the phone who might be able to explain it to us. Like, that was a long and drawn out process that was tedious and I think kind of a barrier a little bit because it was a lot to deal with. But again, if you have the tenacity and you just kind of don't give up, you get through it, obviously. We're now at a point where we need to fundraise again and that's always a challenge. Especially as women, that is always a challenge.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And obviously, and this is part of what drives me anyway is, and it could be really in any space, we happen to be in the whiskey space, but as you mentioned earlier, just to be women who, you know, went out to create their own business and to be in the world doing that every day and continuing that and running up against the challenge that so very little of of startup funding goes to women and and and just trying, you know, trying to be part of of hopefully that changing over, you know, in our lifetimes, hopefully, still.

Speaker 2:

And, you know, there definitely are more and more resources, and there are many more people that are recognizing all of the qualities that you're both talking about. Like, those are the qualities that lead to successful businesses that last over the long term. And I think that, hopefully, some of these funding sources are are realizing that. And not only that, there are many women that are starting to get into the financing world. So I think it's for all of us, it's it's a matter of also finding out where those resources are as well.

Speaker 2:

And networking, networking, networking. I mean, I I I see that that is how you got to where you are in addition to everything else being so thoughtful and particular about what it is that you want, but also building these relationships. And all of that is extremely exhausting. So I I I give you it's it's exhausting. So I give you a lot of props for continuing, and I I'm just really excited.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I don't think that you'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 would be so amazing. But I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your story with me and with the entire She Leads podcast audience. I hope that anybody who's listening in can listen to all of the points that Venzelin and Anna shared about every aspect that they thought about when, you know, conceptualizing, launching, and continuing to grow their business.

Speaker 2:

So thank you so much for your insight. Thank you so much for creating this amazing product, and I cannot wait to taste it.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Thank you so much. We also I wanted to just mention that while we are only available in stores in LA and kind of surrounding areas. We do ship to most states in The United States. So if people did wanna pick up a bottle, they can head to our website, and we will ship it to

Speaker 2:

That is amazing. So can you just share with everybody your Instagram and your website so that they they can listen to this episode and go buy themselves a case?

Speaker 3:

Sure. Lodestar. It's lodestarwhiskey.com. So Lodestar is l0destar and then whiskey.com. Whiskey with an e.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. People spell whiskey differently too.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Great. And we'll put all of that in the show notes. And, again, thank you so much for sharing with us here today.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

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