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A Makers of Minnesota Edition · Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everybody and welcome to the podcast Dishing with Stephanie's Dish.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Minnesota maker version today, which I'm excited about.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I had a podcast called Makers of Minnesota that I still have bookmarked,
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: but I've kind of moved away from weekly talking to people in the maker space.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: But when I saw that Dana Thompson had a new product, I knew I had to speak with her.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the program, Dana.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to talk to you about this.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Me too, because you,
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: have been someone in my food life that every time I meet you,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think,
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: oh my gosh,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: what an amazing woman.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I need to spend more time with her.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's so cool.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then like life happens and I don't see you for a while.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then I see you again.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And for people that don't know,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: you were very instrumental in putting together Awamni and the Indigenous Food Lab program.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I just really thought that you were very thoughtful about your participation in that.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when I experienced being at the restaurant, I just always saw you working so hard.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I just wanted to say thanks for doing all that.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: You helped create a place for Indigenous people and products.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad to see you're remaining in that space.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: It really means a lot to me to feel seen and to
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: have that acknowledgement.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have no regrets, you know, like all of that.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: It led you to here.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Everything that I imagined happening.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Happened.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: As we talk about your, your next step.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you've created a new botanical beverage called Hetty.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I love the packaging design.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Did you work with someone on that in particular?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Cause it's very beautifully designed.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I found a designer that I really worked well with and got along with really well.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I really wanted to, I tried to find an indigenous designer and wasn't able to.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I worked with a woman that I absolutely love.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I just really wanted something that was very botanical and really clean and
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: When I saw the other THC beverages on the market,
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: they didn't seem as thoughtfully put together as I would want.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I really wanted to create something that had a lot of elegance and dignity.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: It totally was accomplished when I look at the packaging.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So Hetty is a low dose hemp derived THC CBD beverage based in plants, obviously.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: But it's very beautifully designed.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like something that I would drink and maybe feels a little less aggressive
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: than some of the other packaging I've seen.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I really from my marketing and branding background for this,
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like there was a hole in the marketplace.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: as I was looking at the THC bars and I have loved THC my whole life,
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: pretty much growing up on the iron range and,
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: um,
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: where did you grow up?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hibbing.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I have a cabin up in Ely.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you say iron range, I know it's not exactly, but it's somewhat close.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty close.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty close.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I moved to Hibbing when I was, um, just about six, five, I was five years old.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then I moved to Duluth by myself when I was 15.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I know the whole Northland, like the back of my hands.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I know the plants that grow up there and that's Anishinaabe territory.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I love it there.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: When you moved at 15, did you go and live on a reservation or?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: No, I moved to Duluth actually for their choir program.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: because I was a musician and I,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: um,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I needed to move away from home because I had,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: uh,
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: my dad was really very sick.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: He was mentally ill and I'm writing a memoir about that right now.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And just for my own sanity, I had to, um, I had to get out of there.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so my mom helped me get my own apartment in Duluth.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really feel like Duluth is, um,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: like the beginning of my healing, my journey onto the healing path.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Duluth really influenced a lot of these flavors because there's so many cedar around,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't put high bush cranberry in there,
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: even though I tried so hard to see if I could find a source for that.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I just used the regular Wisconsin cranberry.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, the northern Minnesota is is extraordinary.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what I want to celebrate.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: this is why I made the beverage,
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: because for me,
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm working all day long in front of my computer.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And what I'm thinking about the whole time is just wish I was outside.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: I just need to go for a walk or I need to take a trip this weekend and get to the
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: river or whatever it is.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And each one of these flavor profiles is intended to transport you to a place in nature.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about each of the flavors?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because they were pretty unique.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I love them all so much.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So River Path is blueberry and rosehip.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we actually put a little bit of salt in there as well.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it's, you know, I was imagining kind of what...
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: plants would be growing along the river path as you were watching.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it sounds like a July afternoon.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then Woodland Edge is, I think, my favorite flavor.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's cedar, maple, and wild mint.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I love...
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: making cedar maple tea.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I started thinking about walking through a path and like you're going to go
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: into the forest and then you just stand on the edge of the forest and the things
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: that are growing around you are
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're looking at the cedar, you're looking at the maple trees growing along the ground.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so this one's really special.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: It really reminds me of kind of a champagne in a sense, but it's super nutrient dense.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it has a lot of vitamin C and flavonoids and antioxidants, and it's just really good for you.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: They're all full of electrolytes.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: We also have meadow catnap, which is wild mint, lemon balm, and dandelion leaf.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Which is kind of bitter.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually not bitter.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of wish it was a little more bitter, actually.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting flavor.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have to get you samples.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: they're all plants that kind of calm your parasympathetic nervous system.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not going to put you to sleep, but it just kind of takes you down a notch.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very, very, very mint and lemon balmy.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have one final one.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: The final one is marshland harvest.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that is cranberry, blackcurrant, and sumac.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds delicious.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's...
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's so good.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's so, it's so good.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, um, it's not too sweet.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the things that was the challenge when the THC market was kind of
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: coming into Minnesota is I was trying to taste all these different things and
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: figure out what was my favorite.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't find one that, that wasn't too sweet.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want a lot of sugar.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think they use sweet to mask a lot of the flavor profiles maybe because sometimes
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: you're getting a little bit of a dank.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I think they overcorrect sometimes with the sweet versus leaning into more of the earthy side.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe that's true.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: I can't taste any hempiness with my product at all, maybe because it's so low dose.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And talk about that because we're seeing,
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: so when the hemp and THC product drink,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: drinkable products first came out,
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: it was a lot of five milligrams.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then we saw like more flavor forward,
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: three milligrams,
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: people that maybe wanted to have two if they're in a tap room or layer.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then now we're seeing kind of 1% or one milligram where people like then can have a couple at an outing.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so I chose three because I really wanted it to be like a glass and a half of wine.
• 9:10
  Perfect.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I can't have more than five.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just it's too much for me.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: I like to take things just with a little toe in the water.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I just wanted to take the edge off.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to have one of these while I'm having a meeting,
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: a work meeting with different colleagues or,
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: hanging out with my daughter after work.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't want to get all messed up.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's been really so I'm of a certain generation that when people
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: smoked pot,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: they were the burnouts and that wasn't really what I did.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: But alcohol was just like,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: like everybody drank and that was perceived as like,
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: OK,
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: which is weird looking back on it.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here we are today,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: and I still have so much internal bias about THC products that I'm really working
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: towards kind of unpacking for myself,
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: because it feels very much like plant-based medicine,
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: if you think about it in that regard.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not, I'm so afraid of it still.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: I have never actually, I've had a million opportunities.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I literally have...
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Probably 22 THC can beverages in my closet right now.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I've never taken them.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like yours,
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: honestly,
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: maybe you and then there's another guy named Alex Weber that has a product called
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sherab Shrubs that also I could see maybe.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Dana, I'm just confessing, you might be my first experience here.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is great.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to hear what you think if you venture in.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: No pressure at all.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I feel like I'm going to because I feel like my fears aren't founded in reality, really.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, you know, if I don't love it, I'm gonna have to do it again.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why I'm sitting over here on the sidelines.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: But well, it's okay.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to feel guilty about that.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, thank you.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a kind of intense person too, though.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like I'm basically either 110% or I'm flat out on my back sleeping.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like this actually maybe could be something that I might enjoy as just a
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: way to like unwind because I'm always highly wound.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, me too.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm made of the same fabric as you.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And these really do help me sleep well, like.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have problems sleeping well,
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: but sometimes I have a problem getting to sleep because of the nonproductive
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: circular thoughts that continue in my mind.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I drink one of these, I just, I'm out like a light.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty awesome.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: How hard has it been to go to market?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're getting into a surprisingly crowded space now.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of types of beverages.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's true.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm learning this new marketplace and I'm feeling like...
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Every day I get more confident about it.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many people have stepped up and shared their stories with me
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: or shared their insights and have been interested in helping.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just been incredibly humbling.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm building this whole new community, which I feel so excited about.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's amazing.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to circle back to one thing which applies to your question now, which is that
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: you know, people our age were programmed by the war on drugs.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nancy Reagan and I were BFFs.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, that, that, those are deep neural pathways built into so many people.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so the, you know, the, the crowded marketplace is, is one thing.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I,
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: by design made these,
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: the milligrams that they are is because once people try this,
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think that it's going to really resonate with them about how,
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: um,
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: how alcohol has played a part in everyone's lives.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much about being social.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much about like working ourselves to the bone and then wanting to just kind
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: of let the steam out at the end of the day.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe that this is going to be an incredible wine replacement, especially for women.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of men have been purchasing the beverage and I think they're going to like it too,
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: but I really think that women our age are going to enjoy this.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay,
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: that makes me interested because also I think like,
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: there is so much more information about the effects of THC and hemp and,
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: the just say no war on drugs hasn't been super effective,
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: let's be honest.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think people are trying to find ways to be more holistic and in their own bodies
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: and plants certainly have that.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I just, I love the way that you approach it.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like...
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is such a weird thing to say to you,
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: but I feel like you like could be like the person who I would trust to take me on
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: this journey.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yay.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I would love to be such an honor.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just because I feel like I know like you have.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: done so many things.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You've been so successful at so many things.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I also know as a woman in business, it's hard to get recognized.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like I kind of have a kindred spirit with you there.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And just like the idea of coming from a traumatic background,
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: growing up,
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: having family issues,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: our family is just rife with them.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And yet,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: you learn from all that and you have to kind of embrace that core of who you are
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: and find a way to
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: dig out to be on your own at 15 I feel like I was in some ways on my own at 14 I
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: did live with my family but we had so much dramatic stuff happening it was sort of
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: just like and then when I was 18 I just left for good yeah and you look back on
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: those experiences and you embrace them because they make you who you are but I
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: think like to my daughter like just like wow like you're young like she's 24 she's
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: still young you know what I mean still figuring it out
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you grow up in those environments, like you just have to keep moving forward.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: it's it's I'm writing a book right now about my childhood because my father was
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: investigated by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension twice and he was a policeman
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: both times.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then he was convicted of multiple felonies and put in a mental hospital.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and then things started to get interesting.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it sounds really interesting.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: My husband's the Minnesota Book Award winner from last year.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he's a writer too.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like we have that in common too,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: just that challenge of,
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: writing is a hard endeavor as well.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that is, it's really hard.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's so hard.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Takes so much vulnerability.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of discipline too.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And a friend of mine,
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I would get frustrated with my husband because there's just days where he's sort of
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: in his brain and cycling through self-doubt and all of the stuff that happens.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: And my girlfriend said to me, you know, she said, he's an artist and
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: His method is words,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: but make no mistake,
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: like you are married to an artist and that requires a certain amount of patience as
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: the partner.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it has really helped me to see his writing as his art and therefore creating
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: the same amount of like angst that you might see an artist have.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: It makes total sense.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately my writing process doesn't involve a bottle of whiskey.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like I always in my mind, imagine it should.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, sitting on a beach in Key West.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, but the, the, you know, the, the, the, the traumatic childhood and I think my overachieving and my
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: workaholism is definitely a trauma response.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it can resonate.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess like there's worse things in the world than to be an overachiever, right?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it has its own challenges.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: As we look at this crowded marketplace and you trying to make your way, are you being distributed?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going to be in restaurants?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's the primary way that people can find Hetty?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: well,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be in all the on-premise because I really do believe that this is,
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: this could be on the wine list.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm negotiating with my distribution options right now and have had so many
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: amazing people reach out to me and they're really excited to be part of it and to help.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really learning what that is like, like what the restraints of that are, what the benefits are.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot to learn.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: We have been selling a lot on the website, just teddyproducts.com.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we're selling a lot of the variety packs,
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: which is great because I want people to be tasting them and have a taste of their
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: friends and stuff so that they really understand the flavor profiles,
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: which are so carefully curated.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I've had like a lot of co-ops email me and a lot of different people texting
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: and saying,
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: reaching out on LinkedIn,
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: like we want to do it.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like just this morning,
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: someone's like,
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a co-packer in Colorado and we really want your product out here.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And my question back to them was, what is the legislation right now for on-premise?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am going to be, you know, focusing on Minnesota to really learn the business landscape.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to go too fast.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then once I really feel like I've got my arms around Minnesota,
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: then I'm going to choose another state.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to try to hit everything at once.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be really careful about where we go.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: My understanding right now is that the legislation,
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: ironically,
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: is looking very good for us in Georgia and Florida.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would never,
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: when I first started this journey,
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: I never would imagine the Southeast would be my people,
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: but it's looking like it's hospitable.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's excellent.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cause you would think just like Denver and Seattle and Portland and
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: So Denver, I believe, does not have on premise right now.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: They're being really kind of goofy with their laws,
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: which is so ironic because they have had so much history in the marketplace.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Washington has like a 37 percent cannabis tax.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Which makes it cost prohibitive.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what the logic is there.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: In California, you can only sell in dispensaries.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be different.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it'll all norm out, but it's a process of, I think it's going to be five to 10 years, really.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Just like it kind of was,
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: and some of the states just looking at the laws for even just us changing our
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: liquor laws as of recently,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: a lot has happened in the last 10 to 15 years.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's a cool time.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm excited.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to try it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's super fun to have chatted with you.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish you luck on Hetty.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'll put a link in the show notes where people can get it.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you and I will have to have coffee sometime because I feel like we could have a good time together.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I would love that so much.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for being a guest.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me on.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk soon.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.