IAM2307 – Founder Empowers Future Female Leaders in Food & Beverage Industry

Title: Transcript - Wed, 27 Nov 2024 13:02:48 GMT

Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2024 13:02:48 GMT, Duration: [00:16:59.18]

[00:00:00.44] - Christine Lawler

Yeah, well, I mean, I wanted to do something bigger with my company than just be in business, right? Like it's fine to just, you know, be in business and make a profit, but I wanted to do something that made a positive impact on our industry as a whole. And I came up with the idea of starting a non profit focused on building the future female leadership of the food and beverage service industry.

[00:00:29.35] - Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.

[00:00:57.04] - Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the IMCO podcast and I have an awesome guest back on the show today. I have Christie Lawler. Christie, excited to have you back on.

[00:01:04.82] - Christine Lawler

Thank you so much for having me back.

[00:01:06.73] - Gresham Harkless

Yes, I'm super excited to talk about all the awesome things that you're doing. And of course, before we jump into that awesome conversation, I want to read a little bit more about Christy so you can hear about these, all the phenomenal work that she's been able to do. And Chrissy is a leading expert in beverage marketing as the founder and owner of C CJL Consulting, a beverage marketing agency that houses a nonprofit organization, the Witty Group, and a line of infusion and mixology products, Jab Mixology. She's a public speaker, will be releasing her first book soon, and she's the host of the Lawler Out Loud Mixing up the Mainstream podcast. Chrissy serves on the Galaxy Wine Education foundation board of Directors and volunteers as a core ambassador. And I'm super excited to have Chrissy back on the show. She was on episode number 823 of our IMCO podcast and she has numerous, numerous accolades. I'm just going to read some of them because there's so many. She's been Innovator of the year in 2022 by the bar and Restaurant Expo, Industry Excellence Awards, Most Influential beverage strategist in 2021, most influential woman in marketing in Texas in 2021 and so many more. So, Christy, excited to have you back on. Are you ready to speak to IMCO community?

[00:02:18.21] - Christine Lawler

Thank you. Yes.

[00:02:19.61] - Gresham Harkless

Let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on what you've been working on, what I call your CEO story since we last Spoke.

[00:02:28.06] - Christine Lawler

Oh, gosh. Well, I'm still doing all the things. Not much has changed. Everything is different.

[00:02:36.06] - Gresham Harkless

Right.

[00:02:36.31] - Christine Lawler

You just keep going forward. Yeah. But most excitingly is the Witty group is. We've grown significantly, and we are actually having our board meeting call today after I'm done with you, to discuss, like, the scholarship recipients that we're giving awards to this quarter, which is really exciting.

[00:03:00.93] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I love everything you've been able to kind of do with the Witty group. And I think it was something that when we talked about last time, you had really thought about, like, how you can do. Do good and also make an impact at the same time. And you being able to kind of merge those two things together ends up being, you know, sounds, like, really impactful.

[00:03:19.50] - Christine Lawler

It's. It's just been incredible. We just. We finished our sixth conference in September, and it was our largest one to date, which was incredible. I mean, we're small. We keep it small intentionally because it's very hard for you to have. Build an actual, like, authentic relationship with someone that you've just met if you're in a room of, like, a thousand people. If you're in a room of 45 people, it's much easier to actually get to know each person individually. So that's. That's very exciting for us. I was thrilled. And the only year we didn't do it was 2020, for obvious reasons.

[00:04:00.47] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, obviously, there was a. There's a big, huge thing that was happening that changed the entire globe, and so I wanted to rewind a little bit. And so what led you kind of get started with this? Could you take us through, like, where that this idea kind of came from, you know, and how it was birthed from, like, everything you were doing related to the marketing?

[00:04:17.94] - Christine Lawler

Yeah, Well, I mean, I wanted to do something bigger with my company than just be in business. Right. Like, it's fine to just, you know, be in business and make a profit, but I wanted to do something that made a positive impact on our industry as a whole. And I came up with the idea of starting a nonprofit focused on building the future female leadership of the food and beverage service industry. When I was actually going through trauma therapy, it was after Hurricane Harvey just, like, totally annihilated our house. And I was just like, I was rocked. I'm like, my house has been destroyed. I'm living in this construction zone, and it felt like nothing was okay. And I just kind of, like, I was. I was dealing with that, and I was going through that process of, like, speaking with the therapist and like getting all of that ugly out of me. I realized that I could do something with all of that negative energy that I had been experiencing and turn it into something that was really, honestly, selfishly cathartic and human for me. And then I just started kind of like talking to other friends in the industry about some of the less positive experiences I'd had and kind of came up with the idea of doing, building a non profit that focused on creating a space that was a healing space, a loving, supportive space, something that I wish would have been in existence when I could have benefited from it earlier in my career. So that's kind of where it all came from. And then my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to like create an event during Sundance that was like a.

[00:06:17.06] - Gresham Harkless

She.

[00:06:17.43] - Christine Lawler

She called it like a girls weekend, but like on crack, like crazy fun. And I was like, okay, I love that idea, but we have to have a purpose. It can't. Like, people can't just take a weekend and go to Sundance. And there has to be a reason for it. There have to be something related to what we do for a living. Right. So she gave me that idea and I just ran with it and created the Witty conference, which turned into this ever evolving animal that I literally just built our mock agenda for next year's program yesterday to present to our board on today's call. But it's just, it's turned into something that has benefited me in so many ways emotionally and through new friendships and new relationships. And it's become a thing that people, you know, we've turned into an adjective, you know, when you describe someone, if you call her witty, you know, she's cool or like. And we have Witty men too. Obviously. There are quite a few men that support the organization and they're middies, but it's, it's, it's just turned into something that way bigger than I ever thought it could be, which is so awesome for me. Such a big reward.

[00:07:42.07] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I say often we forget about that human part of business. And do you feel like that's part of what I like to call your secret sauce? It could be for yourself, the organization or the business or a combination of both. But is it that your ability to recognize that, to kind of see the forest for the trees and see like a 20 year old can learn from a 60 year old or vice versa in so many different ways, but you actually hold and create that space for that connection to happen. Do you feel like that's a little bit about what sets you apart? And makes you unique.

[00:08:09.13] - Christine Lawler

I think so, yeah. I mean, it's funny. It's. I was talking to one of my board members when we were on a site visit, and I was like, I think I've realized why no one started something like this before I did. And she's like, because you're insane. And I'm like, yeah, it's so much work. It's so much work. And she's like, yeah, I went to the conference. Like, she's been to five of the six of them. I was introduced to her right before my second conference. And she's like, even, like, the first couple of conferences, I really didn't understand, like, what was going on. Like, it was just a lot. It was just so many things happening. She's like, but now I see. And, like, being a part of it and seeing how much you put into it and what you're creating for everyone else. Yeah. There's a reason no one else has tried to duplicate this, because they realized that there's no way they could tackle it. Like, there's just. It's just a lot. It's a lot of work. I mean, we were literally driving up the mountain to go to the camp this year, and we pulled into a grocery store parking lot in Napa to grab our groceries and snacks and stuff like that on our way up. And I got a call from the director of the camp that they'd lost power.

[00:09:24.52] - Gresham Harkless

Oh, no.

[00:09:25.66] - Christine Lawler

And I'm like, oh, that's okay. All right. And she's like, yeah. So lower camp has no power. The generator has not been hooked up yet down there, so don't buy any groceries. We have no way to keep them cold. We have another conference in house in upper camp. So we'll just have you, like, kind of. You can stay wherever you want, but you'll be eating with them and everything like that while we were doing setup. And we were supposed to have power, but this was a Saturday. We were supposed to get power back on Monday. Monday came and went, no power, and people started showing up on Tuesday. And we've been living in the dark, taking cold showers for three days. And we built the entire conference thinking that everything was going to be ready to go. And then Monday at 4:00, we had, like, all hands on deck. Like, the chef had literally moved all of the food for us from the lower camp kitchen to the upper camp. It was insanity. And we were like, okay, here's the thing. Do we pivot? Do we do the conference in upper camp? So their entire staff was like, helping us. We moved the entire conference first thing Tuesday morning, and they moved all of our food. They did all of this. We set up everything, literally built the bar. And, like, I think about 10 minutes after we finished building the bar, one of the guys from the energy company walks in the door. He's like, we'll have power in 15 minutes. And I was like. And they look at me, and they're like, do you want to move it back down to lower camp? And I was like, no. And I'm looking at the chef, and he is just panic on his face. Like, there's nothing but fear in his eye. And he's looking at me, and I'm like, no. If we move this conference, like, one. We don't have time, because people will be here within the hour. I'm like, and if we move it, all this work that he's done in this kitchen moves to that kitchen. I'm not putting them through that. Housekeeping has rebuilt all these beds. Like, there's no. We're not going anywhere. We're pivoting. We're doing it here. And then, of course, the power came back, and people started showing up, and we're like, hi, we have power. But we didn't even get WI fi back until that night. So, like, literally, the only way we could get a signal or any kind of comms whatsoever, because we were on walkies. Wow. Like, legit. I mean, like, if I. I was stressed, okay, I was stressed. I was drinking a lot of my feet, but I would literally, like, drive the rental car up out of the camp, and I'd go sit on these rocks where I could get a signal, and I check email, and I'd send out, like, updates through our app and everything. And I was like. It became a thing. They're like, oh, Christy, do you need to go to Rocks? And I was like, yes, I need to go back to Rocks. I need a cycle. It was like that, and then everything was fine. It was great. But, oh, my God, so stressful. Yeah, so stressful.

[00:12:35.05] - Gresham Harkless

I can't even imagine. Yeah. And I don't know if this might be what I like to call a CEO hack, which is like, an Apple book or a habit, something that makes you more effective and efficient. But, like, as you're going through those things, I heard you mention that something had happened before. Do you feel like being able to kind of realize, like, how good you are, how great you are, your superpower, whatever that is, being able to kind of recall on that? Do you feel like that's part of like what can make you more effective and efficient when times like that might happen.

[00:13:01.62] - Christine Lawler

100%. It's the Weeble wobble, right?

[00:13:04.87] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah.

[00:13:06.62] - Christine Lawler

And it's. You just do like I'm not, I'm not going to just give up. I'm not going to do nothing with the situation. I'm going to just do everything in my power to fix it and I always get it done. I have never missed a deadline in my life. I've never missed a deadline. So I don't plan on starting and I. These are obviously self imposed deadlines. Creating this conference, it's, you know something, it's stress that I'm putting on myself. Right. So I can't really complain about it because it's completely self induced. So you just, you act and I know I consider myself a realistic optimist. That's how I define my character. I know things are going to go wrong. Right. But I also am confident in my ability to problem solve and fix the things that go wrong and make a plan, make a new plan, make a plan. Z1A3. I don't care. I will figure it out. I get it done.

[00:14:11.75] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Would that be your co nugget which is like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice? I usually say it might be somebody you're mentoring or if you happen to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self. Is that to really understand the true journey of what entrepreneurship, business and all. Being a CEO is encompasses 100% and.

[00:14:30.27] - Christine Lawler

I still don't call myself a CEO. Nice.

[00:14:33.89] - Gresham Harkless

What do you call yourself?

[00:14:35.74] - Christine Lawler

Founder and owner.

[00:14:36.58] - Gresham Harkless

Founder and owner. Okay.

[00:14:38.86] - Christine Lawler

I have a lot of colleagues that refer to themselves as a CEO when they're a company of one. And I'm like, what are you? Chief Executive officer?

[00:14:48.02] - Gresham Harkless

What do you.

[00:14:50.76] - Christine Lawler

You're not a CEO. You have to have like a much bigger team. You have to actually run all the things and help all the people in my opinion.

[00:15:00.46] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah.

[00:15:00.89] - Christine Lawler

So yeah, I'm never going to change that title.

[00:15:03.20] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Well, it's funny that I appreciate you sharing that opinion because that's actually what I was going to ask you. So how would you define that? How would you define like being a CEO in your eyes?

[00:15:11.52] - Christine Lawler

It's executive leadership. It's. And whatever form that takes, whatever style of leadership is irrelevant to that. But it's managing multiple teams, divisions, departments, people, whatever. It's being that leader, being that head where. Yes to that regard. I have all of those things. But I feel like the success or the failure lies with me. Alone. And I feel like that about the conference. I feel like that about everything that I do. If it's going to fail, it's going to fail on my watch. If it's going to succeed, it's going to succeed on my watch. And that to me is the definition of a CEO.

[00:15:54.66] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. So, no, I absolutely appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best people can get a hold of you, find about all the awesome things you and the team are working on.

[00:16:11.10] - Christine Lawler

I don't have anything to say necessarily. I think you've already given me quite the platform.

[00:16:18.38] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And of course we'll, we'll have your links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of that.

[00:16:26.00] - Christine Lawler

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It was good to chat with you again.

[00:16:29.82] - Intro

Thank you for listening to The I Am CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and Blu16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IMCEO CO. IMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation@blue16media.com this has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.