With over 2 decades of experience on the business side - supplier sales, digital marketing, and distribution management - of the craft beverage industry, I provide strategic sales and marketing advice to small to medium-sized beverage alcohol brands through webinars, whitepapers, digital courses, one on one consulting, and group coaching programs.

I write, podcast, teach and speak at industry-focused events about strategic business planning, because I want craft suppliers to know that it is possible to succeed in a saturated, macro-brand-dominated market even if you have limited resources.

There is a cure for Stagnant Sales!

it’s that tipping point that craft beverage brands hit when the honeymoon period of rapid growth begins to go stagnant and incremental sales seem harder to come by due to increased competition in the marketplace. Every brand experiences this, it’s the natural course of a product life cycle, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something about it.

There’s nothing wrong with your brand or your business, the problem lies with the system. 

Our marketplace maze is causing “purchase decision burn out,” making it harder for craft beverage brands to continue adding incremental revenue. Previous selling and marketing techniques designed for our old marketplace won’t work anymore. We have to flip the script in order to survive these new dynamic market conditions. 

A little more about me

• Spent the last 3 decades in the food and beverage industry

• BA in Marketing from Texas State University at San Marcos

• Worked full time and went to college at the same time

• Funded my entire undergraduate degree myself

• Part of a business competition group in college - Students in Free Enterprise - won national titles for business models

• Landed my first sales job with a European beer import company in 2005 because I wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept putting my resume into brewery owner’s hands for over 9 months

• Received no formal field sales training, learning the ropes of supplier side sales by the “sink or swim” method

• Earned a reputation for myself as a very proactive, brand advocate for my breweries in a male-dominated industry;

• Learned how to navigate challenging relationships with beverage wholesalers that underestimated me

• Sold imported European beer in a craft heavy market for over 10 years (the epitome of the underdog)

• Member of Pink Boots Society since 2013 - Denver Chapter Leader, Chapter Committee Chair, member of the Education Task Force and Membership Task Force

• Member of the Brewers Association and the DEI subcommittee; BA Mentor in Leadership, Sales & Distribution, and Marketing & Branding

• Certified Crafting A Strategy Consultant

• Mother to two boys and a gaggle of pets

• Marketing consultant for advertising agencies and state brewery guilds

• Member of the American Cider Association

• Teaching assistant for the Unversity of Vermont Business of Craft Beer program and Taproom Success Certificate program from Craft Brewery Financial Education

• Industry conference speaking engagements include: Craft Beer Professionals, CiderCon, NanoCon, Crafted For Action, Chicago Brewseum Beer Culture Summit, Pink Boots Biennial National Conference, Craft Beverage Expo & Women in Craft, North Carolina Craft Brewers Conference, Colorado Brewers Guild

• Member of Women of the Vine & Spirits

• Featured on multiple podcasts including Good Beer Matters, Craft Brewery Financial Training, Hop Forward, Fueled by Hops, True Craft Podcast, Lawler Out Loud, Marketing Brewing Co, Built and Brewed

• Written work featured in Crafted For All, Craft Brewing Business, The Brewer Magazine, Ekos Craftlab, CODO Beer Branding Trends, and Fintech

• Authored 12 digital courses on craft beverage sales, marketing & distribution

• Over 60 beverage alcohol companies assisted with an average growth in revenue of 20%

• Small business owner and operator for 3 years

• One of the founders of the Safe Bars P.A.C.T. Initiative and the Safer Workspaces Initiative

• Highly influenced by work from Gino Wickman, Brene Brown, Jim Collins, Jon Acuff, Kelly Diels, C.V. Harquail, andrea maree brown, Gretchen Rubin, and Michael Lewis (yes, the Moneyball guy)

Why I’m telling you these things

• I’ve got the right balance of academic experience and real-world marketplace experience

• I started my own business so that I could work around my family, not the other way around

• I know what it’s like to have limited resources and have to DIY your own success with creative solutions

• I believe the ethos of the craft beverage world is centered around inclusivity and equity, and we all have a responsibility to uphold those values

• I want small to medium-sized organizations to know there’s always a workaround, there’s always a way, you just have to be strategic about it

All of these milestones and influences are important for you to know about me, because this is how I came up with the ABV Path to Strategic Profitability, where we analyze, blueprint, and validate a system of strategic business processes for your craft brand that will help you avoid Stagnant Sales - that point in time where you feel tapped out on how to keep increasing sales in a crowded marketplace.

The first step is to book a no BS Discovery Call with me. No, this doesn’t put you on some crazy call list, but it does allow us to chat in more detail about what path might be right for your brand and your team.

Find me on social media - this is a great way to see what market trends I think are important and gather up free resources to help you grow your craft beverage business