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Ingrid Best on Leaving Corporate for I Best Wines & The Black Woman Founder Reality · Two Personal with Joy Taylor

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: People don't know. They don't know, they're not aware.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Hi everyone, Welcome back to to you Personal with Joyce Taylor.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: Today we're joined by entrepreneur, founder, and cultural visionary Ingrid Best.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks so much for coming in. And she brought wine.
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  Speaker 3: If you know me, you know I like a little vno.
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  Speaker 3: But I actually really love her. Why which when I
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  Speaker 3: think I maybe the last time I saw you, I
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  Speaker 3: came and told you because it was the first time
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  Speaker 3: that we met. But I've been drinking your wine for ages.
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  Speaker 3: It's amazing wine, and I'm not just she's not paying
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  Speaker 3: me to say that. I really do actually love it.
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  Speaker 3: She's the founder and CEO of I Best Wines. It's
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  Speaker 3: an award winning luxury wine company that is redefining the
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  Speaker 3: wine industry. And she's spent over twenty years in a
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  Speaker 3: bunch of very important rooms Diagio, Moway, Hennessy Baccardy and
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  Speaker 3: some of the biggest spirit brands on the planets, and
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  Speaker 3: then built something of her own through her travels to
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  Speaker 3: South Africa, which is a place that I really love
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  Speaker 3: a few years ago.
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  Speaker 1: So let's get into the story. Welcome to you personally,
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  Speaker 1: good thank you, it's good to be here. And thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being a fan of the brand. And no,
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  Speaker 1: I am not paying her to say that. No, she's
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  Speaker 1: really not like this one is my favorite.
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  Speaker 3: The red blend is great, and I will be trying
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  Speaker 3: the other two and I'll give you my feedback.
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  Speaker 1: But Rose is brand new, so oh it's new. I
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  Speaker 1: want to know what you think about it.
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  Speaker 3: It's listen, I love I love I love a Rose,
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  Speaker 3: a porch pounder as we as we call it. So well,
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  Speaker 3: I guess like, let's start with what made you want
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  Speaker 3: to get into wine.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I look a little younger than I am.
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  Speaker 1: I've been in one in spirits for twenty years. Got
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  Speaker 1: my started as an ambassador in Northern California, launching a
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  Speaker 1: brand for Diagio. So at the time I was an ambassador,
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  Speaker 1: I answered and add on Craigslist to launch a craigs list. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: some things I am right used to happen on Craigslist.
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  Speaker 1: And I fell in love with the industry. I really
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  Speaker 1: loved like the storytelling aspect of it. Many brands are
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  Speaker 1: family brands, right, so there's all this legacy. And kind
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  Speaker 1: of worked my way up from there. So started as
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  Speaker 1: ambassador at Diagio, then got an actual role at Diagio
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  Speaker 1: across their entire portfolio. Then got recruited by LVMH to
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  Speaker 1: work on the mow Ed Hennessy portfolio and again wine
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  Speaker 1: champagne spirits, and I was just really good at it. Right.
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  Speaker 1: I think there's a real intersection with culture that happens
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  Speaker 1: with brands, and so for me that was that was
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  Speaker 1: the part that I really thrived in. Right, a great salesperson,
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  Speaker 1: great marketer, but also someone connected to culture. And I
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  Speaker 1: just worked my way up. I really love love this
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  Speaker 1: industry and I've had a chance to work on some
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  Speaker 1: big brands. I've had a chance to build some big brands,
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  Speaker 1: some joint ventures. And then I was like, I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to do this for anyone else, Like I know
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  Speaker 1: that I have a mastery of this business and I
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  Speaker 1: want to do it for myself. And I love wine.
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  Speaker 1: Wine is like a big part of just kind of
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  Speaker 1: what I do and what I research, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: when I'm spending time with friends or when I'm traveling.
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  Speaker 3: And why did you choose to do South Africa Because
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of different wine regions all over the world.
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  Speaker 2: I have traveled a lot, like it's one of my passions.
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  Speaker 3: So I've had wine everywhere, and I've had wine in
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  Speaker 3: South Africa. I went to the wine region in South
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  Speaker 3: Africa and went to a couple of wineries there, and
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  Speaker 3: it's a beautiful place with amazing wine.
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  Speaker 1: But why did you choose South Africa? Yeah, so originally
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  Speaker 1: I'm from the Bay Area, So originally I was like,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to long wine from Napa. Yeah, because I
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  Speaker 1: know it and it's easy and it's not a twenty
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  Speaker 1: hour travel day. But I was working on Global Citizens,
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  Speaker 1: launching a brand during the Global Citizens in South Africa
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  Speaker 1: and really just kind of fell in love. I was like, wait,
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  Speaker 1: this story is amazing, right, and a girlfriend and I
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  Speaker 1: took a trip and realized like, wait, there's all this
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  Speaker 1: wine coming from South Africa. And I was a bit naive.
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  Speaker 1: Although I had been in the industry for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: I wasn't really up on the South African wine region,
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  Speaker 1: and so I kind of got obsessed. I started doing
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  Speaker 1: all this research and I was like, that's it. That's
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  Speaker 1: where I'm launching the wine from. And you know, in
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  Speaker 1: other places outside of the United States, South Africa wine
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  Speaker 1: is fairly prevalent, right, people know about it. You see
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  Speaker 1: it on menu so on and so forth, but very
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  Speaker 1: underrepresented in the US. And I was like, that's the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity and really the country. I love the country. I
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  Speaker 1: have so many friends there now who I consider family,
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  Speaker 1: the art, the music, film, fashion, you know. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you've been to South Africa and the wine region, in
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  Speaker 1: my opinion, is one of the most beautiful wine regions
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  Speaker 1: in the world. It's kind of my way of being disruptive.
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  Speaker 1: It's also my way of shedding light on a region
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  Speaker 1: that I think the deserves to have really great visibility
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  Speaker 1: in the United States. So there's so many wine wine
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  Speaker 1: drinkers here, right, So I'm also just kind of disruptive
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  Speaker 1: like that.
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  Speaker 3: Now you decide to go to launch launch your wine
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  Speaker 3: in South Africa, obviously you're an expert in this space.
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  Speaker 2: What is the first step? Like where do you even
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  Speaker 2: begin with that?
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  Speaker 3: Because, like you said, it's it's to get We're in La,
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  Speaker 3: So to get to Cape Town, you have to fly,
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  Speaker 3: Like I flew twelve hours to London or eleven hours
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  Speaker 3: whatever it is to London and then another an hours,
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  Speaker 3: like it is a whole day of travel, like basically
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  Speaker 3: on a plane for an entire day.
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  Speaker 1: So La Atlanta. Atlanta has a direct flight, yes, so
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  Speaker 1: that was my route. But I started doing this in
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  Speaker 1: the pandemic. So I was calling people and just researching,
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  Speaker 1: like really researching, like where do I even start? And again,
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  Speaker 1: because I've been in wine and spirits for a while,
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  Speaker 1: you know that it always starts with the product. It
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  Speaker 1: starts with a craftsmanship and production and all of that.
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  Speaker 1: So I was really focused on that piece all the
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  Speaker 1: while also thinking about like what the brand DNA was
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  Speaker 1: going to be, like, what the brand was going to
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  Speaker 1: look like, which had changed, like where we started and
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  Speaker 1: where we ended it kind of changed. It also was
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  Speaker 1: me figuring out who was I going to build this
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  Speaker 1: with right, because it's really difficult to do things by yourself.
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  Speaker 1: And so I tapped five black and brown women that
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  Speaker 1: I had met during my time at different various organizations
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  Speaker 1: and said, listen, I have this dream. I'll give you
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  Speaker 1: some equity. I want to build this brand. And the
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  Speaker 1: equity piece with them was so important for me because
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  Speaker 1: I never had equity in anything that I built. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: So for me, I was like I built a lot
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  Speaker 1: of brands, and I did a lot of cool things,
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  Speaker 1: and there were opportunities for people to give me equity,
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  Speaker 1: and they didn't. And there was a short stint in
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  Speaker 1: my career where I worked for Vitamin Water and I
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  Speaker 1: got equity. This was before they were bought by Coca
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  Speaker 1: Cola and didn't understand it mm hmm. And so this
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  Speaker 1: was my way of saying, like, I'm gonna rewrite all
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  Speaker 1: of those experiences for myself with these women. And so
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  Speaker 1: we built the brand, but it really started with like
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  Speaker 1: who we were going to work with in South Africa,
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  Speaker 1: what winery, what partner, what wines? It starts with the product.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and what story did you want to tell? Because
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  Speaker 3: obviously when it comes to wine, particularly most spirits, but
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  Speaker 3: like wine particularly, people like to feel like they're they're
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  Speaker 3: you know, they have their wine and this comes from
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  Speaker 3: here and this family and this background, like it's not
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  Speaker 3: just you know, popping up them about a wine.
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  Speaker 2: Like you want to tell the story?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? I as such a great point and the way
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  Speaker 1: you put it is like so perfect. The story is
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  Speaker 1: me Right, here's this woman who's worked in the wine
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  Speaker 1: and spirits industry for over twenty years who people were
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  Speaker 1: celebrating right the work that I was doing. And I
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  Speaker 1: had enough courage and enough belief in myself and at
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  Speaker 1: the time enough capital to actually invest in doing it.
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  Speaker 1: That is the story. And I fell in love with
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  Speaker 1: the South Africa wine region. I fell in love with
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  Speaker 1: South Africa. So on the back of every bottle it says,
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  Speaker 1: this is my love letter to South Africa. So the
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  Speaker 1: story is this deep rich love for wine, for craftsmanship,
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  Speaker 1: for artistry, and I think a love for an industry
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  Speaker 1: that I had given so much of my life to.
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  Speaker 1: And in my career I saw all these brands that
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  Speaker 1: were built by families. Right, So best is my real
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  Speaker 1: last name, right, Thank God for my daddy. And so
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  Speaker 1: this is my story, this is my legacy. It's my
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  Speaker 1: way of leaving something to I think, an industry that
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  Speaker 1: I want to make sure remembers me.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you've poured a lot into it, no
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  Speaker 3: pun intended. What do you make of the industry right now?
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  Speaker 3: Because you know, I grew up in the binge drinking era,
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  Speaker 3: so you know, my relationship with alcohol, you know, has
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  Speaker 3: has obviously changed, you know, and matured, but you know,
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  Speaker 3: there was a time where I really feel like, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the conversation around alcohol now is like all alcohol is
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  Speaker 3: terrible for you. The you know, younger generation is not drinking,
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  Speaker 3: but simultaneously they are becoming more lonely, more separated. And
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  Speaker 3: I'm not encouraging people to binge drink or like you know,
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  Speaker 3: become alcoholics.
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  Speaker 1: So just relax.
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  Speaker 3: But there is an aspect of like socializing that has
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  Speaker 3: existed since humans have existed and since alcohol has existed,
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  Speaker 3: that you come together all over the world, like Americans
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  Speaker 3: did not invent drinking, where there is a socialization aspect
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  Speaker 3: of it. Where where do you stand on all of that,
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  Speaker 3: Because I don't, like, I'm not pitching people on, but
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  Speaker 3: I do think that there is a real disconnect with
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  Speaker 3: human beings, Like I don't think that that's a real thing,
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  Speaker 3: and I don't think it's you know, I don't think
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  Speaker 3: it's completely detached from the fact that people are drinking.
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  Speaker 1: Young people are drinking less. Yeah, I think it's such
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  Speaker 1: a great question because people will make this assumption because
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  Speaker 1: I'm a founder of a wine brand, that I'm sitting
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  Speaker 1: around drinking all day long, and that can be farther
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  Speaker 1: from the truth. I'm doing a lot of work, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of business work. It requires me to be on right.
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  Speaker 1: And so now a glass of wine has been something
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  Speaker 1: that I'm like, oh, I have time to have a
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: glass of wine. And I think what has happened is
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  Speaker 1: that people realize there are options if you don't drink
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  Speaker 1: that is okay, and you still have friend groups and
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  Speaker 1: places to go and enjoy a menu because there are
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  Speaker 1: things for you now right to still be a part
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  Speaker 1: of the ritual and it's okay. I love the fact
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  Speaker 1: that people are coming more aware and more conscious, and
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  Speaker 1: so everything for me is about responsibility. Yeah, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and even with a wine brand, you should be drinking
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  Speaker 1: responsible and there are so many ways now for you
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy a glass of wine and not open up
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  Speaker 1: a whole bottle of wine. Yeah. So like the core
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  Speaker 1: of it is one of the best inventions in the world.
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  Speaker 1: You pour yourself a glass and that bottle is can
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  Speaker 1: sit and still be good.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, because I'm not having three that It's what kept
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  Speaker 3: me from opening a bottle, right because I'm like, I'm
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  Speaker 3: not gonna waste this entire bottle. I want one glass
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  Speaker 3: tonight as I'm watching my little show. I don't if
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  Speaker 3: I open it, and I like, now I have.
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  Speaker 1: To drink three glasses or it goes bad. Yeah, So
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  Speaker 1: I think there may be a stigma around like non
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  Speaker 1: drinkers and drinkers, and I think there shouldn't be. I
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  Speaker 1: think everyone has a choice. We're living in a new day.
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  Speaker 1: People's habits have changed. I enjoy a glass of wine
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  Speaker 1: with friends. I love having conversation with friends. When I'm
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  Speaker 1: having a glass of wine. My phone is not in
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  Speaker 1: my hand. My glass wine is in my hand and
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking and I'm, you know, making sure that I'm
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  Speaker 1: present with friends. And I can do that whether I
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: have a glass of wine or not. But I think
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  Speaker 1: there is this ritual that comes with wine drinking, right,
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  Speaker 1: And what I'd like to say to people is what
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  Speaker 1: I enjoy and what I'm selling is that ritual. It's
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  Speaker 1: the community of it, it's the story of it. It's
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  Speaker 1: the kenshift to certain things like art and experiences, but
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  Speaker 1: it always should be anchored in drinking responsibly. Everybody has
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: their own choice that they need to make, and I
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  Speaker 1: encourage that and I welcome that. I think the industry, though,
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  Speaker 1: has created this narrative that like, people are drinking less
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  Speaker 1: and then that and there are shifts in I think
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  Speaker 1: human behavior, but that's with any industry. There's a shift, right,
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  Speaker 1: and it hasn't stopped. I think people embracing my brand
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  Speaker 1: and what I'm doing and what I'm selling more than
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  Speaker 1: wine is like, believe in yourself, take a bed, do
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  Speaker 1: something cool, be disruptive, and if that leads you to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: a glass of my wine, grate. But if it leads
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you to just start that pillow company that you've been
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: thinking about, even better.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I love that you keep saying ritual because
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  Speaker 3: that is really a great word for it. Like people
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  Speaker 3: get together over tea, they get together over food, they
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: get together over wine, they get together over drinks like
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: they you know, spirits, Like they get together to perform
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  Speaker 3: a ritual of sharing something, and that I think is
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  Speaker 3: probably what the industry needs to shift more towards when
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: it comes to storytelling about alcohol, because I didn't go
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  Speaker 3: up in a drinking house at all. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: obviously a lot of people suffer from alcoholism, and a
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: lot of people suffer from you know, there's you know,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: obviously drunk driving and all these other things, these like
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  Speaker 3: negative things associated with it, and of course you know
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  Speaker 3: the price of things well, but I do think the
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  Speaker 3: ritual of getting together with community and you know, talking
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  Speaker 3: about your day and talking about family and like just
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  Speaker 3: being around in you know, the vibrations of other people
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  Speaker 3: is more what I think isn't being sold by the
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: industry than anything else. So I'm glad just you used
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  Speaker 3: that word because community is something that like we've all
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: we all are struggling with these days. We're all connected,
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: you know, we have a million ways to reach each other,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: but we're so disconnected ye and and it's like not
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: authentic connections. And some of like my most fond memories,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: while some of them might be a little a little
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: shaky or you know, being with my girlfriends and like
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: going going to wine. Like in South Africa, we went
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: on a wine tacing trip and it was the first
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  Speaker 3: place we went was this beautiful winery. I'm just absolutely sunny.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: And after our wine tasting, they had all this local
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: art by students and we just got into full Auntie
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: shopping moat and I was like, run.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: That car if I want this, I want that one.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: And I came home with this giant tiger head, you know,
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: the the beating work that they do down there, and
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: I was like, it's on my house, you know, It's
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: like it's hanging in my house. And forever I had
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: nowhere to put it, but I was like, I'm not
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: leaving without this thing.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: And it's like it's fun.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: I had to buy a whole new suitcase for it,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: but it's like it's a it's a funny moment and
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: a great story that all came from us going to
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: this winery. We also went to the Five Sisters Winery there,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: which is a woman owns and brown woman owns winery.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: So like that, the stories are just great and like
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: those memories are very vivid. So I love the word
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: ritual and community Aatasha.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: And I think now when everyone is so glued to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: their phones, which is part of the problem, right, there's
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: like the ritual of the phone which can take take
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: up so much of your time and it does cut
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you off from actually interacting with human.
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  Speaker 3: Beings, well just even eye contact, just eye contact, like
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  Speaker 3: if you're on your phone, you're doing this, Like I
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: have had to adjust like that as disrespect when someone's
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: talking because no women, we can multitask, like I can
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  Speaker 3: write a whole I'm going to cuss with somebody out
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  Speaker 3: and be like yeah, girl, I totally understand, Like I
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  Speaker 3: got two brains going on right now, I'm listening to
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  Speaker 3: you and I am handling this thing, but I have
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  Speaker 3: had to adjust me thinking of that as disrespect as
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: someone being on their phone because you're not getting eye
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: contact with them when you're talking to them.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, No, for me again, I think it's about
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: coming together having experiences. In the case of my best wines,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: we're transporting you to South Africa, right. My hope is
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: that you would get curious about the country, you would
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: get curious about the wine region. And it's if it's
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: not on your list of places to go, hopefully through
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: the experience of the wine and getting to know me
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and the brain and that you go and you experience it.
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  Speaker 1: It's one of the most beautiful places in the world.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: And I think that's the beauty of ritual is that
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  Speaker 1: it should be enticing something. It should be something that's
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: thought provocative, thought provoking. And yeah, but I do think
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: that the industry, I don't want to say is in
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: an interesting place. I just think people have choice, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and I'd love seeing people more responsible. What we need
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: is an industry with a consumer that is uber responsible.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: And if that means drinking isn't for you, don't do it.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Very simply that very simply that and don't feel pressure
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: to do it either, Like there's great mocktails, great mocktails
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: or water non olks.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Yes, and again for the drinker, there's also ways to
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: enjoy a glass just a glass of wine, right, You
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: do not need to open waste a bar or over indults.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: We're over indulged, which is to me the most important
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: piece of it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: So you're an entrepreneur after working in a very corporate
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: space for a long time with a lot of big names,
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: what was your what was your moment where you were like, yeah,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I'm done, I'm going to take a risk on myself
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: and jump into this because I as a business owner,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: as a woman, as a black woman, that is a
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: huge jump and can be a very scary one. And
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: you know, it's a parachute, non parachute moment actually, even
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: if you have savings, like you're moving away from something.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: And I think a lot of people like the idea
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: of being their own boss, but do not understand what
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: the responsibility and what the actual experience of not only
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: being your own boss, but being other people's bosses while
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: being your company.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be really honest with you. I always had
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: an entrepreneurial spirit Before getting into the wine and spirits business,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I was in a music business. I was a street
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: promoter during the time where there was lots of record labels,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: lots of projects to work, just a really cool time
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: in music. And I had a company with one of
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: my best friends. But I was young. I was twenty,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: you know. But when I did enter corporate, I always
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: attacked my job and my role as if it was
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: like my own. So these people got a lot out
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of me, right, because I naturally have an entrepreneur spirit.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I think when it comes to the work, like actually
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: being somebody is like, I'm going to get the work done.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: What I didn't know and what I wasn't prepared for
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: and what I was a bit naive is the realities
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: of what it is to be an adult entrepreneur. Being
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: twenty is one thing. Being forty five when you decide
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to do this thing right where everything has been so
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: comfortable for you for years, expense budgets, Delta one, you know,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: all the things so good where you're like, I'm comfortable, vacations,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: lots of different kind of one direct deposits, direct deposits, healthcare.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: You know, I was very, very naive to the struggles
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: of women entrepreneurs. And I say that because I think
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: that's probably one of the things that I felt a
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: little guilty about in this journey. I had so many
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: friends and people that I knew that were entrepreneurs, and
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I wasn't really stopping to think about what they were
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: going through because I was in this. I was I
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: was comfortable. And so fast forward to you know, the
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: brand will be three years in October. Fast forward to
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: now where I'm now five years in, so two years
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: to actually build and then launch, and now three years
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: since launch. This is hard as fuck.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: And I'm sorry, we just that's completely appropriate for her.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: This it's hard. Been the most jarring experience, second to
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: being a teenage mom, that I've ever had. And the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: moments I was watching this thing the other day where
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: this entrepreneur on Instagram was like, entrepreneurship you could have
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: fifty three cents in the bank one day and you
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: could have fifty thousand dollars in the bank the next day.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: That is what it is. And for someone who took
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: basically a million dollars of her own money because she
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: had it to do it and invest it in this
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: business five years later to like I got five dollars
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: in the bank, you know, and people saying you're so graceful,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, you look you do this thing so well,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and inside your thinking this is so hard, and so
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: it has been really, really difficult, and luckily I'm built
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: for this. Yeah, Luckily, I recognize that God built me
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: with everything I need to do this. But have there
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: been days where I am just like, what did I
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: get myself into? And that I have to dig so
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: deep in the courage and the belief that's required to
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: keep going one thousand percent? Have there been those fifty
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: three cents in the bank days? A shower? Will there be?
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: More likely? Is the brand doing well? Are we doing
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the things that we need to do the building blocks? Yes,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: but there is no doubt about the journey of a
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: black and brown woman founder is hard. And I appreciate
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: everyone saying you're so graceful. I mean, I don't really
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: know any other way to be. I happen to be
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: a graceful person, because if I wasn't, I'd be sitting
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: there like, do you know what I've going through today?
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And I don't think that's
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the way right. I mean, I have those talks with
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: God and I go through that that grunt and that hard,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: that hard stuff with my with my faith. But I'm
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: I'm fully awake and fully aware of how difficult the
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: road has been for so many of my sisters who
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: are out here doing this, and we are under supported
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: by our own we are undersupported by our allies. We
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: are often left to navigate. Do I just say what
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: it is? Do I not say it? Because I don't
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: want people to be like, she's mad and she's this,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and right we are, we are in those spots. But
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: are we built for it? We built for it? And
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: that's where there's that interesting I think crossroads of like, damn,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Like sometimes I don't want to be built for all
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: this hard ship I don't have. Why do I have
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to be God's strongest? So? Yeah, why can I be?
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I want to be a little Could I have a
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: soft moment?
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I mean that's that's.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Very real, and that is across the board in any industry,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: even in corporate spaces as well, where it's like I
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: am doing the work and you're claiming to be supportive
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: and you're claiming that you love this, but you know,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: for me, I try to always financially support my friends.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Like there are brands that are gonna send me stuff
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: and that's great, but like I want to buy your thing.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: If you want to give me, you know, the friends
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: and family discount, I'll take the I'll take the extra whatever.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: But like I want to support you, like I'm I'm
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: buying other people's stuff. So if I even if I
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: don't like your product, I'm gonna support you, like I'm
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: gonna support with my dollars because you are a company.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: If someone's doing work for me and they're a friend,
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: I want to pay them for the work that they're
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: doing because if I was not there, I would be
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: paying them for the work. And I think when you're
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: an entrepreneur, as I am an entrepreneur, that is sort
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: of the that's the thing where I'm like, damn, we're friends,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: why are what so you were just gonna give and
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: then but we were just saying, oh, yesterday you did,
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: like damn, diag like support me, not just by saying
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: that you like a comment on an Instagram page. We
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: love that share repost comment like okay, that is important too,
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: And if that's all you got today, I will take it,
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: but there is a step forward for allies, for friends,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: for family. When it's like when you're an entrepreneur, all
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: of that is your livelihood, Like it's how the bills
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: are paid, and you do it for some random corporate
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: or some random person you don't know.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have developed a really strong messle of telling
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: people how to support me because I had to realize
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: people don't know, they don't know, they're not aware. It's unfortunate, right,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: we would like for them to be. But yeah, the
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: simple thing of like go to the store and buy it,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: because the only way I stay in the store is
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: is if there's customers going in to buy it. And
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: it can't be just customers that think I'm cool in
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: our fans. It's got to be your community, your tribe,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: your people. And I've been blessed like I had an
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: art collective group organize a pull up to Costco to
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: buy out the costco to buy I best wines out
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: of Costco. It's like tangible things that you could do,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: but not everybody thinks to do them. And so I'm
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: quick to say, you know, people will call about sponsoring stuff.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I'm like, we're a startup, we don't have we don't
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: have money to sponsor like that. So if you have
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: a budget, great, and then if we meet you with
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: like you buy some, we donate some. But like, I
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: also think that startups have to be really honest about
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: where they are as well. And I think many of
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: us are trying to compete, right we are in this
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: world where you are trying to compete with other brands
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and what do you have to do? But I have
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: been really clear about like we are building this and
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: in order to build it, we need to generate revenue.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: And in order to generate revenue, you got to buy.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: You have to buy it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: And you're buying wine anyway, like you're buying the thing.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: Buy it for gifts even if you don't drink, and
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: you're showing up to someone's house and you're supposed to
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: show up with something. Buy a bottle and bring it
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: as the gift, and then you're introducing it to someone
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: new like that, all of those little things, and it's
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: not just this particular company, Like if you have an
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: entrepreneur in your life that and this is a this
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: is a service, or this is a product that you
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: are going to use, Like you know someone who has
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: a local bakery.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: By your buy your cake from them, exactly exactly.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I have a friend Itica, shout out Itica Oldvine Florals.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I'm if you're.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Bring me flowers and you don't buy them from her,
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I need.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Her information because I want to do some floral stuff
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: with the rest. Oh great, Yeah, connect you. She's the best. Yeah,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: she's all.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: I'm floral's black woman owned floorists in Los Angeles. Like,
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: if I have a company that's buying floor like, I'm
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: going to use her.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Yea.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: And lots of people buy flowers, but I'm like, you
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: need to buy them from her. Yeah, don't bring me
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: flowers unless they're from there.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: I really think again, I think people. I'll go back
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: to my story around like how naive I was around
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: the journey for entrepreneur. I was naive because it's in
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: me to support, It's in me to find the person
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: who's selling the thing and give back and do the
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: like that's in me. So what I what I wasn't
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: thinking about is like, well, how is this person doing?
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Because I know I might do that, but other people
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: may not do that. Right, And what I've learned in
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: this journey is like people really haven't developed the muscle
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: consistent ongoing support and we need it. And I think
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: entrepreneurs need to be more bullish about talking about that,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: being honest about that, which is why when people say
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: to me, you're oh my god, you're doing this with
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: such grace, and I'm like, maybe I should make a
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: T shirt that says graceful. But it's a struggle, you
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, because because I don't want to,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I don't want to paint the picture that this is
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: all figured out.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like a balance you want because you're growing
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: and you're going in the right direction, but there are
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: hard days and then you have great days. But you're
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: also presenting a brand forward, So you don't want to
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: make it seem like you're struggling, but you're not struggling
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: because it's this is the growth process, the process. You
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: don't want to complain, but you still have to ask
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: for help. So it's this constant And then I think
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: as black women also, we're just programs. Like you said,
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: we're built for this. We have to always be resilient.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: We have to always take the whole world and show
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: up and nobody wants to hear our problems. Nobody wants
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: to listen to the SOB story and no one It
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: just feels sometimes like you don't like no one cares,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: and that's not true.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: A lot of people care, but.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: It's this feeling of like, I don't know, like maybe
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: just failure or something that you have to like come.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: To peace with. Yeah. I think many of us are
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: also petrified of the scrutiny that comes when you just
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: tell your truth. Yeah, when you just tell the truth.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I think it's hard for people to understand that we
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: go through things and we're learning, and there's ebbs and flows,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and we tend to be scrutinized much more aggressively than
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: other people. That's just a fact. Yeah, right, And so
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: I think there is this bit of fear that if
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: you share fully and trans apparently what you're going through.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Like if I say to someone, yeah, yesterday I had
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: fifty three cents in the bank, that they're like, see,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: you didn't manage that company good. You're not good at
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you know, and it's like, no, guys, this is actually
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: just the truth. Entrepreneurs aren't walking around cameramen every day
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: and drivers and private end that is not true. And
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: that looks good, but like you see I walked in
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: here with my bag with the wine. Hey girl, it's me, Yes,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: just me, I am. I am the team of Ingrid,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and I think we need to just be more honest
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: about that. But we're oftentimes scared of the scrutiny that
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: we're gonna that we're going to receive, and so I've
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: been trying to as much as possible just be honest. Yes,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I am doing this gracefully. It is a beautiful brand.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: I love building it. I have the chops to do it,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I have the mastery to do it because of twenty
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: years in the industry. Are there days that this is
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: really really, really difficult. Yes, all those things could be
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: true at the same damn.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Time, and they always will be as long as you're
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: an entrepreneur. Like that is the process of building and
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: scaling a company. Yeah, and you learn it sometimes most
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: of the time actually on the fly. Like there's no
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: entrepreneurial school. There's business school, but that's not the same.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: It's teaching you how to be an entrepreneur because nothing
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: to your point, there were things you just didn't know.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: There's some things that you have to learn through experience.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: You just don't know until you know.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Until you know. And I think the other point is
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: for the girls that are still in corporate America, the
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: girls and goals, because we can't put this all the
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: onus on other women. The guys. We need you, okay,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: but those of you who are still sitting in those
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: seats to support us from a corporate standpoint, corporate folks
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: to entrepreneurs, be active, Yeah, do the thing. I think
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: that's also been really eye opening for me. I think
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: because again I was just always someone who was doing
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: the thing. What do you need? How do I set
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: the thing up? What's the budget? That's just how I'm wired.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: It's been really interesting to sit back and watch people
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: in those roles not be wired that way, and you
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: having to remind them you can hire me for that panel. Please,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I'd love to be hired for that panel. I actually
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: need the money.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, don't assume, don't assume it that. Yeah, don't assume that.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: Don't assume the budget too low. You're not gonna insult me.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: The worst thing I'm gonna say is, yeah, I'm not
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: gonna be able to do that. And then you're gonna
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: move on. And I actually probably prefer you to someone
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: else who I know will absolutely do it. Yeah.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Right, But I think that's been eye opening for me.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: And so again when I go back and I think
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: about my lack of awareness in terms of what entrepreneurs
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: the journey was, I think I was not aware because
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: I also was someone who was like, hey girl, I
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: got this budget, what are you working on now? I
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: want to work with you. I was active. Watching folks
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: who are still in those roles maybe not be as
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: active is disappointing. I'll be honest, Yeah, I feel you.
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's a it's a real thing when you're
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: out on your own and you you see how scary
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: some people are at spaces where it's like you know,
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: they don't they don't care about you, and you you
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: are writing these checks for other people who don't have
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: the relationship that we have and don't have the history
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: that we have, and you absolutely know that if you
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: were in this situation, I would be pouring into you.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: And I think you have to kind of navigate that.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: It's it's been it's been interesting for me, Like there's
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: been some relationships that I'm like hmmm, yeah, HI got it,
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: and like, yeah, I have no choice but to take
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: this personally, Yeah, because you you personally know me, Like
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: if I don't know you like Ohan, of course you don't,
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: you know. And it's not about owing someone something like
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: I think fundamentally we are all we got and when
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: you're trying to build something, you need your community to
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: support you. And no one's asking you to empty your
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: bank account, you know, go into debt.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: To do that.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying, when when you walk past the store
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: and you're going to your friend's house instead of buying
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: the other bottle, buy my bottle.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Be intentional, Be intentional, Be intentional, truly, be awake right
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: to the brands and the people and the things. I
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: think the biggest point I want to make is like,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I'm not asking you to buy bad wine.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: No you're not, so you know what I'm saying.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: It's also that I think there is this assumption you're
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: not taking a risk here. No, Like if you're buying
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the hat from your girlfriend's hat company, it's not as
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: good as the hat from the store. Her hats are fantastic,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: That's why I buy her hats. My wine is award winning,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: that's why my wine is selling, and so I think
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: it's that too. It's like, no one's asking for you
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: to do a favor. We're asking you to just be aware,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: and we're asking you to remember what it takes for
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: someone like us to do it versus what it takes
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: a big corporation to do it.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't have the backing, We don't have those budgets,
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: Like we actually need the like boots on the ground.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Support for sure.
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: For sure, How has your your tribe supported you, like
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: emotionally through this process, because I have a notorious group
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: chat of women that I would completely fall apart without,
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: Like it's just a safe space to just dump anything
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: from the day, triumphs, losses, weird stuff, medical stuff, like
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: it's it's just a place of women and sisterhood that
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: has gotten me through the absolute craziest of times. And
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: I'm so pro women relationships and friendships because of them.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: And I've had, you know, friendships that basically span the
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: entirety of my life. But I just think friendship and
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: that kind of safe space is so important, particularly for
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: women in you know, not really in the workspace like
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you know, in motherhood and you know, grief
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: and all those spaces.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: But it's been really important for me yeah, thank God
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: for sisterhood. And I've had a really interesting experience these
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: last five years. I've had people that have just poof gone,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: and it's great because you're like, I know, right, it's
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: clear you weren't supposed to be a part of this
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: part of the journey. And then I've had people that
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: surprisingly and they've been new folks, folks who there are
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: these new relationships. So you're like, wow, you're you were
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: right what I needed at this moment. And so I'm
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: so grateful for a sisterhood, for relationships, whether they be
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: new and old, whether it be they be the ones
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: that the season has come to an end because you
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: learned the lesson you let go. And I have some
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: real I think partners and entrepreneurship that I can call
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: and sob right shout out to Brandis Daniels from Harlan
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: Fashion Row. We got on the phone the other day
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: and I mean I just sabbed. I was like, sobbing
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: would sound, and she gave me the space and by
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: the end of it we were encouraging each other and
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: doing the thing. And I have a number of sisters
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: like that right that we're able to just call and
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: be really vulnerable and have those moments. Vlicia is another one,
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: you know where you know, we'll we'll check in and
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: it's like, ooh, girl, this this is ain't this, ain't
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: this ain't easy? You know, and especially I think for
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: those of us again who were at the top of
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: our game from a corporate standpoint. Yeah, and then we're
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: thrusted into the reality of entrepreneurship and it's and there's
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: a level of shedding your ego. There's a level of
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: shedding like what you thought was going to be. There's
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: a level of like having to develop a patience that
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: you never knew existed, and you're usually that's usually happening
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: for a number of you. So having each other to
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: come to and just be really vulnerable and off honest
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: is really nice. I think, more now than ever, I've
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: never been someone who's been focused on relationship and partner
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: and husband. That's not been my story. I've been married
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: to this like I love to work, I love to grind,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: I love to go get it. But I ain't gonna lie.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: More now than ever, I'm like, damn, it would be
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: nice to have a really great partner right here, partner
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: right here to help me on this fifty three cent day,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: you know, and it's made me think about it more.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: But my sisters have been the one that have filled
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: that gap for me, and I'm grateful. Yeah, and I'm
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: grateful for them. Shout out to Ricky Hughes. She's another
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: one who has just been there. And again for everybody
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: who's like you do it so gracefully, it's like, yeah,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: because I have people that you don't even have to
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: say this is hard, this is feeling really uncomfortable, and
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: there's there for you in ways that you were ones
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: there for people when you had it. And so yeah,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: I couldn't. I couldn't have gotten through this last five
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: years without the sisters that have shown up for me
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and again the relationships that have also shifted, because I
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: think that's equally as important. Not everybody's coming on this
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: thing with you and you want them to, right, but
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the reality is they're not, and you gotta be okay
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: with that. Yeah.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: I think we don't really bring young people up to
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: understand that everyone is not going to be there for
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: your whole life.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: A combination of not wanting to deal with grief of
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: contextualizing grief as one version, as only death and not
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: the grief of a life that you thought you were
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: going to have, the grief of relationships, the grief of friendship,
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: you know, the grief of failure. Like grief is not
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: a monolith of an experience, and we don't it's not
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: obviously the same as losing a person.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: But you have to grieve things. You have to grieve
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: your failures.
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: You have to grieve some friendships like they don't even
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: if it's a fading like that person might have meant
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: something to you at a particular point in your life.
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: But learning that, yeah, everybody is not forever, like some
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: people are for a season, and that doesn't mean that
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: they're bad. Sometimes it does, but it doesn't necessarily mean
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: they're bad. It just means like this, this is the
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: end of your journey together.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: That's it. Yeah, it just ends. It's funny. Another one
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: of my sisters is Angelaee. She's like one of my besties,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: and we've had a lot of those conversations about the
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: people that come and go. How you have to just
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: accept that and know that and be okay with it
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: and keep it moving. And I do think there's a grief, right,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: because if you're not a person that just like falls
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: out with vogues and like that's not your story, that's
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: not mess. So when there is this like this thing
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: has come to an end, it's hard, you know, you
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: feel it, right, But I think especially when you're building
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: great things. We're doing great things. We're on a journey, right,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: We're in our Icon season. We are doing the thing.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: You got to know, everybody ain't for the Icon season. No,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: everybody's not for the great thing. And once you accept that,
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: you accept that, you keep it moving. You do.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: It's a lot of being an entrepreneurs.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: You learn a lot about yourself. Oh my god, I
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: I have gotten so close to me in this journey.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: And I've always been someone. I was a girl that
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: would take the solo trips and I was you know,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: virgos are like that. We can just be reclusive at
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: times and want to just be with ourselves. But what
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: I have learned about myself has been fascinating. And what
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: I've had to develop in this season, you know, the
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: armor of ingrid, the things that I've had to really
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: really figure out has been It's been interesting. Yeah, and yeah,
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: I'm building a business. But I'm building myself too, and
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I'm grateful for that part of the journey because I
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: like who I am. I love that.
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's you have to you have
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: to trust yourself. You have to trust the things that
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: you've asked the universe or asked God for, and yeah,
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: I mean it's I think it's like a daily shifting.
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: Like I am a very like this and I'm very
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: like black and white and I don't do well gray,
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: and this particular season for me has really forced me
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: out of my comfort zone for like things needing to
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: be perfect and people reading my mind. And yeah, like
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm I'm getting to some of the places where
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: you are where I'm like about to be like, hey,
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: you guys need to start sharing my podcast clips.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like all of you.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Like it doesn't cost you anything to repost my
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: podcast club.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: But I want to tell you this. You have to
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: tell people what you need and what you want. And
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: I've had to learn that in this process, and it
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: I know there's a part of us, like the ego
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: says like I shouldn't have to tell you have to
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: reshare my podcast.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely I feel that way.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: I'm like why don't you just understand that because I'm
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: going to repost everyone's shit.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: I'm a reposter baby.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: You know my story is always fifteen per But I
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: promise you we just have to remember everyone is not us.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: We can't take it personal. Why why are we better
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: than everyone? Ingrid, I don't even I don't know, But
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you need more eyes, right, yeah,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: your podcast and what you're building, and so tell us,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Like even you saying it to me, Ron, I'm like, yeah,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: I know you, and I know Blitia, I should have
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: reposted that episode and I didn't do it, and I'm
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: here you now, I'm on it. But I think that's
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: I wasn't saying it because of that, But I appreciately no,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: and I'm not saying you were. But I think one,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: people are busy. There's a lot going on. The world
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: is chaotic, it's burning. You know the story I just
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: told you this morning. It gets crazy, right, So let's
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: let's give folks some grace, but also develop the muscle
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: of telling people what you need. Yeah, I think that.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, like, obviously I give everyone grace because I'm like,
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: I'm one of my key principles is fully understanding that
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: everyone is worried about their own shit, Like you're worried
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: about what you have going on, and you have the
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: space on the right or left for the things immediately
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: in your line of sight. But when your friend is
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: going through something, they have to tell you. You can't just
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: imagine that someone is going through something across the country.
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: They have to tell you. And I think you're right, Like.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: That is a muscle that I definitely need to work
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: on because it is not in me.
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: I will ask for help, but I ask for help
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: in that, Like if I wanted to start a wine company,
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: Just try it, like I would come to you.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I don't recommend you just try.
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would come to the people that are experts
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: are right, or if I had a question about it,
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: like I'm not gonna put it in chat GPT, I'm
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: going to ask the person that I know is an expert,
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: or I'm going to ask people I know if they
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: know an expert. Like that part I don't have any
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: shame about, Like I remember the moment I realized, like
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: I don't know everything right and I will not pretend
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: to and I absolutely would rather get the answer than
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: waste my time trying to find it so that I
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: can feel like I found it.
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: But I definitely need to develop that muscle though.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah No, And I'm only saying because I've had to
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: do it as well. I spend ninety percent of my
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: day asking for things. I've built this business because I
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: had to go and ask for different things in order
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: to do it. Because at the end of the day,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: I knew this is what I wanted to do. And
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: you got to get real bullish when you want to
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: do something right. So I spend my days asking for
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: people to invest in the business. I spend my days
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: asking retailers to take us in. I spend my days
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: asking family members to pray for me. I need stamina.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: I'm tired today. I didn't sleep. Lease pray for me.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: You know, like a good part of my day. I'm
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: just asking for things, and I've had to completely silence
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: my ego to get there. Yeah.
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's a great advice and just perspective because
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: for anyone who's building something, I mean anything like you're
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: building a family, you're building a business, you're going through college,
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: like whatever it is that you're building, you're on your
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: weight loss journey like you need help.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: And you need community.
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: And ego is important because you have to be delusional
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: all the time, but you also have to know when
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: to tell it to shut the fuck up, because it
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: can also destroy everything that you're building.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it can cloud you with feelings of like
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't have to ask. Yeah, well you might not,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: but ask.
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: I mean you have to ask though, Like it's this,
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: things aren't gonna get done. Nobody is walking around asking
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: everybody what do you need today?
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: That's not how it works.
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: You might have had a conversation and at the end like, so,
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: what's going on with you?
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: But that's that you know, that's over a Red Blend.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: I best wine at you know, the.
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: Time that you've made for each other, like you that's
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: that's not an everyday occurrence. So I think that's important. Well,
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: thank you so much for coming in. I know you
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: had a wild morning, so I appreciate you making the
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: time and bringing us some wine which will get drank.
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: I'm very excited for the rose Alred. You know that
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: I love the red Blend. I love your story, I
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: love what you're building and genuinely like I just love
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: the product, and I wanted to chat with you about
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: your your journey and your experience. So thank you for
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: being so honest and vulnerable. And you can follow miss Ingrid,
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: miss I Best, and I Best Wines on social If
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: you see it in the store, pick it up, save it.
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: Maybe you're not drinking tonight, maybe you don't drink at all,
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: but you're gonna have to do to somebody's party at
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: some point and you can regift it. It's a great
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: gift if you don't drink. Where can everybody else find you?
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Support? Get involved? You just shared my social handles, So
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: miss underscore I Best on Instagram, I Best Wines. We
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: are in stores Costco in north southern California, Total Wine
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: in a lot of different states. Online ibestwines dot com
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: you can order the wine and we're in Hollywood Bowl now,
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: which I'm so, oh my god amazing. Go to a
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: show and drink some wine. We are also now at
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: Lax American Airlines flagship brought us in. The White Pline
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: is being poured there. So we're growing, we're building, and
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: but yeah, if you go on ibstwines dot com, that's
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: the easiest place. We also have a subscription. We can
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: deliver right to your door, which people love. And we're
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: just you know, building brick by brick girl.
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: I think the first time I had it was probably
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: a dot dot Oh.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, shout out to Stilo and Alana. Yeah, dot dot crew.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: They've been supporter of supporters of us from day one
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and so you can also see it find us in
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of like art exhibit openings.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: And yeah you were at Butter too, write.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: Butter, Yes we were, but the official partners of Butter.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: The art community is is such an important community to me.
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: I'm a part of it. I love it. I love artists,
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: and they've really been who's kind of been powering I
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: think just the energy behind ibs wines. So I'm really
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: proud of that. Awesome.
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: Well, make sure you go pick it up or I'll
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: come find you and support your entrepreneurial friends.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, we need we need your help.
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: Don't make us always have to ask you, although I'm
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: going to start asking you to start asking as good
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: a lis.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Do need you? And I think again, like I said,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: everyone's like, you're so grateful. Everything looks so great. I
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: need you? Did you hear me? Thank you?
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: Thank you for telling me I look good today. I
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: know I am hanging on by threat.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this might be a fifty three cents in the Yeah,
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: we need your support, and I think we also just
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: have to do a better job at saying like thank you.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you think I have it all together, but
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: the average business that's founded by black and brown women
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: doesn't surpass twenty four months. You know what that means.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: You got to support them in month twenty five, twenty six,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: twenty seven, twenty eight. And we have to do a
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: good job at saying please continue to support me.
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you, Ingrid was so
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: great to hang with you. I'm too personal. Make sure
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: you go support our best wines and follow us on
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: social Too Personal show and make sure you subscribe. Support
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: your entrepreneur a friend.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Love you guys,