Episode 150: How Sailor Guevara Built a Pandemic-Proof Cocktail Experience Company | Founder, Sailor Guevara Cocktail Co
Sailor Guevara went from bartending in fine dining restaurants to becoming an award-winning brand ambassador and then reinvented her career in the middle of the pandemic. Today she runs a virtual event fulfillment company, leading immersive cocktail tastings and shipping curated kits to clients across the country. In this conversation, Sailor shares how her Greek immigrant roots and love of origin stories shaped her passion for food and drink, the life events that built her resilience, and why she believes in designing a business around your values. We talk about adapting to change, the importance of community, and how to collect the right people to fuel your success.
“I stopped following all these social norms and everything started opening up for me. I’m the architect. I’m creating this. I can make a difference.”
-
-
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 – Meet Sailor Guevara
03:15 – From brand ambassador to virtual events
07:10 – Creating immersive experiences in a box
10:45 – Early days in hospitality and the path to bartending
15:40 – Why origin stories matter
19:40 – Getting comfortable with failure and convictions
24:30 – Letting go of social norms and finding your own path
28:15 – The role of community in success
30:35 – Helping the next generation succeed
34:10 – Choosing where to live
38:55 – Balancing risk-taking in business and relationships
43:50 – Staying grounded while growing fast
46:50 – Where to find Sailor Guevara
I also think I have less fear about failing. I'm comfortable with my failures. I know how to learn from my mistakes better. I I'm comfortable in my convictions for sure. And God, if the past two years haven't born that out in everyone. I don't know where you're living.
That's so Guevara and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur. On a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life by showing you anything is possible. People who have mastered freedom, ease, and success, who are living their best and most ridiculous lives. Our often people you've never heard of until now.
Today my special guest is Taylor Guevara cocktails and spirit master leading virtual immersive events, hosting her podcast and running her cocktail club business while her journey hasn't been smooth. It's all led her to a place where she gets to use all of her senses and love for origin stories to give people both an escape and an educational experience.
I'm excited for you to meet this rockstar.
Well, welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Thank you. Excited to be here.
I'm excited to have you. Um, you were recommended, and I am going to read the quote that was included because it's very powerful.
Oh my.
And it says, um, she is the embodiment of bad. Um, her current endeavor into the booze industry has gotten her lots of kudos and is the perfect combination of her lifelong passions.
She has been through the ringer in a lot of ways personally, and has always bounced back and persevered. She's one, she's my most inspirationally resilient friend, and you have to have her on.
Oh my gosh, I'm, I feel very emotional about that.
Well, so there's so much in that, that little quote right from your referral to the podcast.
Um, and before we dive into getting into all of, of those parts of you, let's let everybody listening, um, your name and where you are and what you're up to.
Yeah, sure. So my name is Sailor Guevara and I am currently in Stewart, Florida. Tiny little beach town that I escaped to, um, almost a year ago. And I now own a virtual event fulfillment company.
What does virtual fulfillment for events meet?
Great question. So, um. I think that a lot of people are still trying to figure this out. Frankly, I, I have been told several times that I'm one of the first companies in the world to do what I'm doing, which I didn't really realize was the case 'cause we've just been figuring it out as we went.
But, um, early in the pandemic, um. I, uh, I was a brand ambassador for a spirits brand, and like most people freaked out, oh my God, what am I gonna do? My job is to go to places and talk about this whiskey. How the hell do I do that from my couch? And um, luckily for me, I worked for some other very powerful badass ladies.
Um, and they, when we got shut down, they instantly started dividing everybody up into, um, groups to. Be busy, you know, and said, don't worry, nobody's losing their job. Nobody's gonna get fired. We're just gonna keep going. And they said, sailor, you know, you're, you've been a podcaster for years. We're gonna have you in charge of virtual events.
And I was like, sure. I don't know what that means, but sure, I wanna keep my job. And, uh, spent the first six months of the pandemic really figuring that out. Um, we did virtual broadcasts, which is completely different, um, via Facebook. Then we started doing our own virtual events, and I recognized very quickly, um, if you sent a little something to these people, they were more likely to join and it was going to give them a more immersive experience.
And that was it for me. Yeah. Um, that was, that I, it translated my passion. So my passion is. Um, creating experiences for people, and I did that as a food server. Mm-hmm. When I was very young. I did that as a hostess in restaurants when I was very young. I did that as a bartender. I mean, that's essentially what you're doing right, is you are tending to someone's needs, creating an experience for them and.
I really wanted to find out how to do that in a big way, in a small box,
a big way in a small box.
So I recognized pretty quickly that if you sent someone, uh, something, a little box, a little something, they were more likely to. Attend the event and be engaged because why? Why wouldn't you? And I thought the experience of setting the table at a whiskey tasting or a spirits tasting right, and I'm pouring out the samples and I'm putting all these little things in front of them.
I want them to have an immersive experience. I can find a way to do that in a box. I wasn't the only one doing this, of course, but what. Happen. 'cause I'm a more is more girl. And I just love, I love creating experiences for people was, well I can put this in a box and we could do this and we can do that.
And I just started doing whiskey and chocolate, um, pairings. I started doing cocktail where I then you have to figure out. How to deconstruct everything. Mm-hmm. And then construct it back together. Then you have to figure out what travels well, what doesn't, what breaks, what doesn't break, what is the smallest box I can use to, to help out on the price, but get the most in there.
Then supply chain issues. How do I get around supply chain issues and you know, have consistent glassware and tools. All of the components. And so yeah, that's really what I do now and, um, I, I figure it all out and it's, it's fun.
And how much have people just loved the fact that they're getting this immersive experience when they most need an experience that's gonna take them out of what's happening?
Yeah, so with this new term, zoom fatigue, I think it, it's, I, I think the blame is being placed on Zoom and the. Virtual space, and that's not really where the fatigue is from, right? We know this. The fatigue is from being overworked, having all of this background processing in our brains. We're in a pandemic.
We, we, we saw the most intense social upheaval, um, in a while happen in front of us. You know, we had a failed insurrection, but nonetheless, it was a planned insurrection. This is all happening and we're worried and we're, some of us are grieving, myself included, grieving friends and families that were lost.
Um, lost their lives during the pandemic. We're grieving the loss of other people's family members that were murdered in the streets by police. This is all happening right at the same time that I'm trying to figure out, let's have a fun cocktail event. So how do you balance? How do you balance that? You.
Take people out of their world for a moment. You take people out of the stresses, out of the pain, out of the difficulties. Just for 45 minutes to an hour, I want to take you away. I wanna take you on a journey. I'm gonna put things in your box that we're gonna smell and we're gonna talk about. Of flavors and then we're gonna taste things and we're gonna laugh.
And I am, you know, very good at what I do, but I'm also a klutz. And I'm fumbly and you know, that's just me. I'm the mad scientist. We, we need that desperately. Right? That's why we would go out for drinks after work. That's why we would have Sunday brunch and day drink. And that's why we would, you know, do all the things that we did when it was safe to be out of, out of doors.
And, um, that's the difference, right? Is that I want to love all over you. I want to pamper you. I want to just give you a moment of something else.
What is it about your own experiences that have made you perfect for curating these experiences for people?
Gosh, I dunno. Wow. Um, I think, well, it's kind of a loaded question.
I'm thinking of all these amazing social media posts I've seen in the past two years about the personalities of people in the service industry. We come from this unique trauma in our childhoods, you know, um, because. I mean, it's kind of funny and not funny, you know, it's, it's a bit traumatic being in the restaurant business, you know?
Um mm-hmm. You can start for your, you start your shift and it's nice and quiet, and then all of a sudden you're gonna get slammed with so many bar patrons or, or sat with so many tables and, um, you kind of go through hell for an hour or two and then it's over, and for some reason you go back again the next day and do it.
You do it all over again. Um, there's something, there's something to that for sure. Um, I, I love amazing experiences. I'm definitely the person that tries very hard to look at everything, see everything. I ask the why about everything, which can drive people crazy. How is this made? Why is this made? Where did it come from?
Where, what's the origin? What, who invented that? Who started that? I wonder where that word came from. Um, and I guess that's what I'm trying to, I'm, I'm assuming everyone else is like that, and so I'm trying to make sure that I'm satiating all of those questions and curiosities.
How did you end up in spirits?
So I started off, um, in the service industry because it was the easiest job to get as a kid. I was in high school and I was a dishwasher, and I worked on a cafeteria line, and I was a hostess, and then it was a big deal when I got to wait tables, it was like, whoa, I'm a server now. Um, and then quickly recognized where the real money was and um, kind of the hierarchy, which was the bar.
And, uh, this was in the early nineties and there were not a lot of women behind the bar, um, at all. Uh, certainly not in any of the restaurants. I worked in maybe one or two. And, uh, my first bartending position, I had to fight for it. It was kind of like a coup when I got behind the bar and I faced, you know, a lifetime of most things that women face in the world.
Uh, our industry can be very problematic and, uh, my experience was no different. Um, and I recognized quickly, like I just said, that I'm curious about everything.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, if I learned something about a product, I would tell that guest at the bar. And all of a sudden something interesting started to happen.
Um, they were like, oh, I didn't know that, but I could see they were interested and I started to look for books. You know, people would order these. At the time we called them old timey drinks. Now you would call them prepo prohibition drinks or vintage cocktails. And I started like, oh, did you? This is where the Manhattan came from.
This is where this, this is this wine, this is this beer. Whatever it was. Um, and I was fascinated by it. I'm lucky for me. I worked my way up into some fine dining establishments and I got to interact with sales representatives and brand ambassadors from spirit brands and wine. And, um, they, now I can see myself doing the same thing, snatched me up instantly, like, oh, this is great.
They're, you know, they're, this woman's gonna champion my product. And I was like, how do you get your job? And, uh, they're like. Just ask like, okay. Um, and so I, I really just loved learning about something and then telling other people about it. I mm-hmm loved that. I loved tasting it. I loved the whole experience of were tasting and smelling something and this is why, and this is the where and the how, and that just, it's a deep passion of mine.
That's, it's hard to really explain.
Well, I love when you talk about it, you describe it in all the senses and, and do all parts of your life have all the senses activated in that way? Like is that just how you see the world or is that something that comes out so sp Wow. Specifically in the space of, of cocktails and spirits.
Gosh, no one's ever asked me that. I think. I think I do experience the world like that. I, I am definitely, I'm thinking about it now. So I grew up, um, in a Greek immigrant family, and so food was a big part of my childhood and my life. It, I, I, when I travel, I'm eating my way through a place, right? Yeah. And drinking my waste through a place.
Um, and I think origins have always been important to me. Because perhaps because I'm from an immigrant family, um, but. I don't, yeah, I, I think I do. You know, all of the scents are important and I'm very sensitive. I always say I have a very sensitive palette and I, I have sensitive hearing, like high-pitched noises bother me or I'll hear things.
People won't, I smell things, nobody else smells, and it drives me crazy. My husband drives my husband crazy too. I'll be like, do you smell that? Stand that smell. So, yes.
And you know, your friend who submitted you for the podcast was, had such a glowing review of you and she spoke a lot about this, you know, arc you've been on of getting to this place now where all the things are falling into place for you to be self-expressed in all your talents and skills and interests to collide.
Um, can you tell us about that journey from like, where were you before you got to the place that you are now and you know, what have been the parts that have made you. Once you went through them, made you feel powerful?
Yeah, I've been through some shit as many people go through. Um
mm-hmm.
I have exited my industry several times due to pressure of society and family.
You know, bartending is not a career, you know, what do you, nobody, what do you, what do you do for a li? What is it you do? You talk about whiskey, you get paid for that, like, you know, stuff like that. And so I. I started other businesses and I suffered some pretty serious stuff along the way. I, um, found out I had a giant tumor in my body, and as a woman, couldn't get anyone to listen to me for over a year while it was trying to kill me.
Of course, again, that's
crazy
common story. Um, I had a fire, uh, in my, I used to have a pinup studio and my pinup studio burnt down, uh, days after my father passed away of a stroke. Um, and then went through a divorce and then both of my dogs passed away. And this all happened in one year, actually in a matter of months,
which was my goodness.
Insane. I'm so sorry.
Um, and, you know, I, I just get back up. I think I don't have a choice. Um, I'm very lucky that I don't, you know, I don't suffer from some things that. Make, make it impossible for you to just pick yourself up. I recognize that that is a real thing, so I'm very lucky there, um, that my brain chemicals allow me to pick myself up after I am crushed or fall down.
Um, I'm lucky in so many ways, even though I've suffered some pretty terrible things. Um. Gosh, trauma builds you, you know, it's such a weird thing to say, but it's true. You know, adversity builds you. We shouldn't have to have that build you. It's not a good way to build a person. That's not the way I wanna learn or should have to learn to be a powerful woman.
Mm-hmm. Um, that's not the way any minority person should learn to be powerful and survive at all. But here I am and here we are. Um, I also got to an age. I'm in my late forties now, and I'm very proud of where I am in my late forties where I started to not give a shit what people thought anymore.
Isn't that so awesome?
It's,
I remember my grandmother talking about it. I remember being an embarrassed teenager and I remember her saying, oh, just wait one day. You're not gonna give a shit. And she did not curse. And I just remember being like, here. Right. And then in my twenties going, God, I can't wait till I get there. And in my thirties going, am I there yet?
And in my late forties I'm like, oh, I'm there. So I can't wait to see what it feels like, you know, in fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties. I get it now. Um, I also think I have less fear about failing. I'm comfortable with my failures.
Mm-hmm.
More than I was previously. I don't think anyone's ever think they're foolish shit.
People say they're fully comfortable with their failures. I know how to learn from my mistakes better. Um. I know, I'm, I, I'm comfortable in my convictions for sure. And God, if the past two years haven't borne that out in everyone, I don't know where you're living. Um, I have no problem saying Black Lives matter.
I have no problem saying love is love. I have no problem saying fuck you if you have hate. Get out of my life. Get out of the room. Get out of whatever. I have no problem with that. Now. I don't fear that's gonna harm my business. I don't fear actually that has uplifted my business, those principles. I founded my business on those principles.
Um, I think that also I saw a path. And, and things kind of came together. You know, it's a little bit of luck and it's a lot of hard work and fighting. Mm-hmm. Um, and when I got the job with my last brand, I knew it was gonna be, it's so funny. I knew that was gonna be the last brand I would ever work with.
I didn't know if I would work there for, work with them for the rest of my career and retire with them, or if I would retire from my career, that part of my career while I was with them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and some, a amazing things happened while I was with them. I kind of hit the culmination of being a brand ambassador.
I won a World of Icon Award. Um, you know, I had some amazing things bestowed upon me, learned a whole lot, and then I was ready. I was ready. I knew it. I knew I was ready to move on to something else, and I knew I was ready to do it my way. And after being behind other brands for years, everyone should get that shot, you know?
Um, the women who owned the brand and, and brand the brand were very supportive and have championed me and continue to do so. Um, and I'll tell you, I was involved in. Tech early on, it was actually the first thing I did out of college and I was someone that was constantly telling people, you gotta check out this internet thing, you guys, you have to use it.
I'm, people were so sick of me talking about this internet thing. I mean, no, people just thought I was nuts and my family was like, oh God, you know, there goes this one, she's a lost cause. Um. And now look where we are. And I was saying this, I was like, you don't understand the internet is gonna be everything.
I very much felt like I was in the same position at the beginning of the pandemic. Like virtual events are never gonna go away. The virtual world is never gonna go away. Is can there be bad things about it? Yes. Can there be good things about it? Yes. Social media, there's the bad and the good. Welcome to life.
There's good things about cars and there's bad things about cars, but we don't go fuck cars. Right. We drive our cars. Yeah, we should, we should do a better job with the cars, but nonetheless, we have the cars. So, um, I saw, I just saw the opportunity, I kind of saw where the wind was blowing and I said, I'm gonna go with that, with where that wind is blowing.
I'm just gonna blow with it and we'll just see what happens. And here I am.
Well, and so often we look at successful people and we see them on the mountaintop. And when people look at you, you have these virtual events you're doing. You have the cocktail kits that are going out. You have a podcast, you're writing, you just moved, you have a family.
Like all these things are there and they're like, oh, she must have had all of this all the time. And. I know that's not true as a fellow, you know, entrepreneur and female. Um, but how did you, did you make all of these elements of your life happen yourself? Did, did luck cross your path? Like, how did you become so layered in this space where people wish they were?
And what advice can you give people?
Gosh, you know, I think it's really dependent on your personality as well. You know, it's, uh, it's dependent on your background. I wasn't given a lot of stability when I was younger, so there have been times in my life where I've tried to create this perception of stability, whatever that is, and finally understood that's different for every person, and I stopped fighting all of these social norms.
All of a sudden, all these opportunities started opening up for me. It was like, oh, ding, ding, ding. Don't worry about these social norms. Don't worry about, you know, I don't know. All these such a, such a bizarre gap. Think about the boomers who are, that's my parents. The world that they started their, let's say, you know, graduated college, started families, and nothing like this world.
So unfortunately, all of the advice that I received from my grandparents, my parents' generation, did not apply to my life. By the time really I was graduating high school, don't change jobs. You gotta keep the same job forever. That didn't apply, and so I felt like a failure every time I changed jobs. Um, you know, you should be married at this age and you should buy a house and have a car and a 401k and all this stuff.
It didn't always apply that way. Yes, those things are important. Yes, if you want to do those things, you should do them, but what if you don't? It's not the end of the world. The world isn't gonna drop dead, you know, if I don't have a child. Um, I would say that's a really big part of it. You've gotta find yourself first, and then you're gonna keep finding yourself.
Right. My who I was in my twenties is a very different person than my thirties, than my forties than what I assumed in my fifties. This is gonna continue to happen, and I love it now. I, I welcome it now. Um, but find who you are without all the noise if you can. That's, that sounds so easy and is so not easy.
It's taken my entire life. To be able to even say something like that and be genuine when I say it. Try to envision something different for yourself. And what would be the steps to do that? Do you have the support? I have a very supportive husband. I have a very supportive community. Whoever this friend is that nominated me for this, look at the people that are around me.
I mean, I'm constantly blown away. By the people I've collected. And that's another thing really in my late twenties, early thirties, is when I started being better at collecting people. Mm-hmm. When I started being better at picking community members, creating my own chosen family. That's hard to do as well.
And I have some of the most talented and brilliant and creative and just mind blowing unicorn people around me. And I, when I see one, I'm just like coming to the collection. My ear. I, I just wanna be around you. You're so amazing. And it turns out, if you surround yourself with all these incredible people, you eventually will earn your place with them.
You know, you'll be unicorn enough too, to hang out with the cool people or the, you know, the smart people or the talented people. And I'm just very lucky to be a part of an incredible community because without them, I'm not here. Without them, my successes wouldn't be the same successes. So look at who's around You go after the, the, the,
mm-hmm.
Figure out like this person, oh, I watched them and they're doing such great things. How, why? Ask them, they'll tell you. I mean, who doesn't wanna talk about their successes? Right? Especially women. Let's uplift each other. I will, anytime someone asks me, I try to answer every single question honestly. And I wanna see other women succeed around me because we just make each other better.
And it's more fun that way. You know, there's, there's so many people that I, um, work with as clients. I'm a business coach, and they get so nervous. They're like, who do I ask? Who do I tell? I'm like, everybody, everybody, like, usually everything we need is one degree away. And I love that you've brought up how being part of a community changes everything and being part of the community that you chose.
I almost named this podcast The Awesome and the Up to something, because that's the only people I wanna hang out with. Yes. And it can be selfish, it can be discriminatory, like fine, but like our life is so precious and there's so many incredible opportunities to go after. But like I do not wanna be hanging out with anyone that is not like, let's go do it all.
Yes. 'cause there's. We need that energy and momentum around us to like keep us moving in the direction. It's so easy to, to literally settle and sink to the bottom of, of what your vibrancy in life can be filled with. And then like. I, this podcast is to show people amazing people like you, that they're out here Right,
everywhere.
Right. Everywhere.
Yeah. You, they don't need to have a million followers. They don't need to be celebrities. Like the people doing the coolest shit you've never heard of. Yes and yes. That's, that's what I want people to get and, and. I feel so blessed that I've been able to meet incredible people through this podcast because of that.
Um,
well see that's what you're doing and that's mm-hmm. I mean, look at what you're doing. It's, it's amazing. And I think for me, I'm at a time in my life now where my focus is on. People younger. Mm-hmm. And so that's what I'm focusing on now. Who can I help? Who could I have used when I was their age, who needed?
Um, a door open for them, or I'll, I'll punch that window, I'll punch that door down for you and I'll be like, take my hand and we're gonna walk through this together and I'll take the splinters and the shards of glass because you know what? Been there, done that. And you're gonna walk through without being cut up and beat up.
And that's how it should be. Right? That's what we're supposed to do. So in my, just in my business, you know, now that I recognize I'm the architect of this, I can hire who I want and create whatever culture I want. Um, I just want to help out other people who you can see. They're about to be that super amazing.
They're coming into their butterfly, this, right? Mm-hmm. And I think that's so exciting that it's not about me anymore. Like, it's like, uh, whatever me. That's fine. What about you? What about you? And you? And you? Because you are gonna be where I am soon, and if you need help, mm-hmm. I'm right here for you.
That's what's exciting to me now. That's what gets me up in the morning. That's what gives me joy, is to see other people and other women, especially knowing that I can make a difference, even if it's just a little bit 1, 2, 3 people. Whatever I can do, that's now that gets me pumped.
Yeah, and I, I mean I obviously, we hear it in your voice, but I can see it in you like there's, there's nothing better than, than aligning your ambition and zone of genius and your gifts with like, giving it away, right?
Like, 'cause now you have this magic wand that you can basically just like sprinkle the fairy dust on people. And it's so fun to, as you said, to, to realize that you're the architect. And I think that aligns with what you said about, you know, not giving a shit anymore. When you realize that you're the architect and you're creating it, and none of this other nonsense matters, you're like, move out of the way world.
Like you do not know what's going.
Yeah. Because there's nothing holding you back anymore, you know? Mm-hmm. And I still make mistakes, tons of them. I can still be hotheaded, I can still make assumptions, I still have biases, and I'm working very hard. Uh, to, to work on all of that. It's, I'm never gonna be perfect.
I'm still gonna screw up. I'm still gonna have failures. That's all gonna still, that's still gonna happen. Mm-hmm. The best thing I can do is apologize when I need to own up to my failures and my mistakes. Um, correct things that need to be corrected and just grow. Just pay attention to growing so that I can be a better person for the other women.
That need me to be a better person.
Mm-hmm. There's a lot of people I've been coming in contact with who, you know, because of the pandemic and the fact that it just keeps rolling on, it's now one of our friends that won't leave us alone. Um, people are really considering like, where do I wanna live? Yes.
Because now we don't, the, the restrictions of work and living and all that has changed so much. What was it that had you move to Florida and how has that experience been for you?
So I think it's important to recognize that it is a privilege to be one of the people that does have the ability to work virtually, because doctors and nurses and people who are.
Right now cleaning hospitals. Can you imagine the janitorial staff in hospitals filled with, you know, viruses and, um, you know, people who collect our garbage and people who clean our homes and our offices. People, you know, um, they, they don't have a virtual job. They don't have that opportunity. So I just wanna say that 'cause I am speaking from a certain privilege, um, it took a minute for me to recognize that was a possibility and I have for a long time.
Was kind of pulled to different states and different places in the country because of either who I was married to or my job took me there or my family. And so I just happened to be living in a place that I wasn't from, that I didn't really have much of a connection to. So that made it a lot easier. But my husband and I remember sitting out on our deck, it was the summer of 2020, and I looked at him and said, you know.
We can go anywhere. We should. This is when we wanna change our lives right now.
Mm-hmm.
I can quit my job. He had already left his job to travel with me, so I said, we can sell our house. And he just, I could see the, the like, blah. You know what? He totally freaked out. I was like, just sit with that for a minute.
It's not that easy, of course. But you know, again, I was lucky that he agreed because otherwise I wouldn't be in Florida right now. Um, but it took us a year to figure it out. Did we wanna do that? Could we do that? And then I had to talk to the brand I was working for and they didn't really want me to be location free.
They needed me to be where I was. And that was a part of the re One of the reasons I stepped away is it kind of helped me know I was ready to move on. Mm-hmm. And so for us, you know, we said, well, what do we want? What do we like out of a place? It's a pretty amazing position to be in. Think about it. If you don't, if you set aside the reasons why people stay in certain places, it's usually job one.
And we just kind of said, well, what do we want? And we both agreed that we wanted warmth. Speech and outdoor living all year long.
So, you know, I love this, this idea of like really choosing where you wanna be. And I have many friends that even my parents have been going through this right now. Um, I grew up in a family that moved a lot.
So to me, moving somewhere else isn't weird or strange. It's kind of like that's one of the options. But I do even find myself getting paralyzed about where's the place, because I've never lived in one place. So it's like same. You know, how, how do you choose? There was a great, um, website in the nineties called Find your spot.com, I think it was.
And you could do this quiz and it's like, do what weather do you like? Do you need to be by an airport? Do you wanna be by a university? I wish that website still existed because I need, I need like a really simple step-by-step process to, to choose.
It was pretty easy for us. We both, my husband was born in Ecuador.
We both like warm weather. Um, but having said that, I don't like the summers here, so we're gonna figure that out. Um, but we just, I just wanted to be close to the ocean. I grew up mostly on the east coast. I wanted to be on the ocean again, and a, a place that was affordable. I mean, unfortunately. That really changed a lot of our options, um mm-hmm.
Being affordable. And then I think the pandemic also, I said, you know, I think this is gonna last a lot longer than most people think. Probably. So let's be in a place where we can be outside all of the time. So that, that was really what was important. And, um, we chose a place that we can sell easily or rent out easily.
We bought a condo on the house. Um. Because I said to him, you know, there isn't gonna be a perfect place, I don't think. I don't think Florida's gonna be our forever place. We know this. Let's, and I don't know what the hell's happening in the world or in this country. I still don't trust that in another two years we're gonna be okay in this country.
So I was like, let's be able to get out if we have to. And that's the truth. I am being. Completely transparent here. That is a thought that mm-hmm. Again, I come from an immigrant family. My family had to flee. They didn't.
Mm-hmm.
Some of them chose Flee, but they did flee and so I think maybe part of that's in my DNA that I'm okay if I have, I recognize this country is no different than any other country that's seen upheavals and political turmoil and has been unsafe, and so, mm-hmm.
If we have to go, we can go and if not, we like where we are.
Well, and there, it just makes options, right? If everything works out, you're like, okay, well now I get to have multiple homes. There's one in Florida, there's one here. It's um, that's the dream.
That's the dream. I'll tell you. Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for.
So I'll spring that on him next year.
You know, being, uh, someone who goes after what you want and you. You know, I think we underestimate risk takers, right? Because we think risk takers are like, I'm jumping outta airplanes, and it's like, no real risk takers are those who are willing to be like, this doesn't work for me.
I'm changing it and, or I need this, I'm gonna make it. How, how does that fit in your relationship? Because so often we like does not attract, like often and one of the challenges that I have found in relationships is I am so much like, let's go and everyone else is like, what? How, how have you, you know, worked that dynamic with your husband and.
How do you get to be, you know, the fullest version of you without feeling like you're dragging someone behind you?
That's a great question because that's a real problem. And I have been married before, my husband and I actually have only been married a few years. Um, and in my previous marriage, my husband, who's still one of my best friends, was, is a very stable person.
Right. I thought that was the right thing to do, you know, because I needed to correct my own behavior. I wasn't mm-hmm. Quote, I'm using air quote, stable enough. I wasn't settled down enough. All of these things that I was supposed to be, which turns out it's just not who I am and that's okay. Um, so it didn't work.
I wanted to travel. I wanted to be like, let's do this now, or let's do that now. I wanna try this, I wanna try that. And he was like, no, no, no, no, no. So, um. I definitely know that I found the right person in my husband and, um, we balance each other out really well. We kind of have the same, we, we hesitate, but we're brave enough, but we do hesitate.
Mm-hmm. I don't want it to seem like we're just like, yeah, let's do this. That's not reality. Um,
well, you're sane adults who have responsibilities.
Yes. Yes. And, and sometimes we probably think things through a little too much. And I, we also are both learning. To give ourselves more credit and trust in ourselves a little more.
Uh mm-hmm. The people who follow me and are in my cocktail club, uh, they know now we've moved our business into two buildings already since June. Because the first space that we leased was too small. Yeah. I, and I, we were terrified to sign that lease. And I look at it now and I'm like, that was so cute.
What the hell were we thinking? And we're, our new space is beautiful and wonderful, but now this is probably too small as well. So it is always a, you know, kind of a juggling act that sometimes we're too risk adverse, sometimes not enough. Um, but. I would not be doing any of this without him. There. There's, it's just, it really took two people to make two people mm-hmm.
Like us to make this happen. He is very much. He's the man behind the woman for sure. You know, I can be the one that's like, yeah, I'm sailor. Let's make cocktails talk about this, that and the other thing. If I didn't have that man behind me, making sure that A, I'm fed, I'm not kidding that I drink water. Um.
He makes sure that boxes get shipped out like they're supposed to. He makes sure to keep the team happy when I'm running around like a crazy person from room to room, like, okay, you guys pour those cocktails in that, okay, whatcha guys doing over here? Okay. And they're just like, this lady is crazy. And he's the one that's like, Hey man, hey guys, let's turn on some cool music.
You need both of those people. Right? You know? Um, he is happy though in that role. He doesn't wanna be. Face fronting and, uh, talking, you know, leading experiences and things like that. He likes what he does and I like what I do. And, um, that works really, really well for us. That's having the right partnership, whether it be a business partner, a best friend or your romantic partner will absolutely affect the risks that you can take.
It is not easy when you are a couple running a business. There's, we've had a few. Let's go outside and have this conversation so the employees don't hear mom and dad fighting. Um, that happens a lot. We've been through
mm-hmm.
Tough times. This business has grown so fast. We didn't plan this business. It just kind of was a runaway train and we're just keep trying to keep it on the tracks every day.
So we, we fight, we argue, we disagree. But ultimately we want the same thing. We have the same goals, so then it's always, okay.
Love that. Well, we ask everybody on the podcast where you put yourself on the Powerful Lady scale. If zero is average everyday human, and 10 is the most powerful lady possible, where would you put yourself today and on average?
Gosh, I mean, I would love to one day be and feel like a 10, right. I think I have a long way to go with that, and that's okay because you know, I have a whole second lifetime, um, after next year I'm gonna get to embark on. So let's go to the halfway point. Let's say, you know, I'm almost 50. Let's say I'm at a five and my goal is to be at a 10 and to be comfortable saying that because mm-hmm.
Yeah. I'm still learning as most women will, will have to work hard on their whole lives. To, um, advocate for ourselves and congratulate ourselves and trust in our own power, right? Recognize our own power. Um, yeah, I'm still on that journey.
I love it. Um, well, you are a powerful lady. I am so impressed by what you're creating and your passion behind it and how you get to bring all the senses to people who you get to interact with every day.
Um, and the fact that you get to bring joy and learning to people, which honestly are two of the best gifts, I think, to give people. Um. Where can everybody find you? Where can they connect with you? How can they get part, be a part of your club, tell them all the things.
So you can find me@sailorguevara.com.
Um, and, uh, you can find me on Instagram and Facebook and Sailor Guevara. If you wanna hear me rant about politics or rant along with me, I hope on Twitter, I'm Sailor Geva. Um, yeah, we have a cocktail club that you can join. Um, I'm keeping it small. I think a couple of spots just open, but you can find that out on the website and social media.
And, um, I do tons and tons of really amazing different virtual events, um, with a company called Team. That's like comradery, but team comradery. And I have a whole happy hour page on there now, focusing on diversity and minorities in spirits and, and cocktails and beer and wine. So I hope to see everyone who listens to this podcast, um, at an event or connect on social media and um, yeah, new friends, always welcome.
I love it. Well, I'm so excited that we got connected. I cannot wait to see the magic that you create and that you have to move to a new warehouse again soon. Uh, but thank you so much for being a yes to powerful ladies and a Yes to sharing your story. With everyone listening,
it was an honor. Truly, it's an honor to be here.
Thank you for what you.
All the links to connect with Sailor are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. They're critical for podcast visibility. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com or at kara duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
Related Episodes
Episode 148: Merging Social Justice, Mental Health & Art to Build A Dream Job That Makes An Impact with Anna Olinova
Episode 203: Letting Go Of Who You Were Taught to Be | Parisa Frost | Therapist & Creator of Hiking Healers
Episode 212: Stop Being an Emotional Sherpa | Janet Barrett | Author of Stop the Break & Mental Health Speaker
Instagram: @sailorguevara
Twitter: @SailorRetro
Facebook: Sailor Guevara
Website: sailorguevara.com
LinkedIn: sailor-guevara
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
