Ep 41 - Sober Curiosity, Manifesting in Bali, & One Founder's Journey w/ Aishwarya Balaji

Julie: , , [00:00:00] do you prefer, aye, Shia, or do you go by something else?

Aish: So I go by Ashia or ice. Um, honestly, like half my friends call me ice. People that grew up with me call me Ashia. Like it really just depends.

Julie: Okay, cool, cool. So we're gonna chat about a lot of different things today from sober Curiosity, the company that you started, a fresh sip. I know you do a bunch of other things . So tell us your background.

Like I'd love to hear about, , some of the other companies that you've started and the coaching that you do and things like,

Aish: Yeah, absolutely. So, , I have been in the startup space for, , almost a decade now. And prior to that I was a management consultant working with consumer products and tech. , from there I joined an ed tech startup as their first employee. , and then I got pulled into doing some stuff on the venture capital side and.

And then from there, um, I ended up launching a blockchain innovation lab focused on global development back in like 2017. , and that was really cool. It was like a time where, you know, web three and blockchain was just starting to be in, its like inception. [00:01:00] So building a team out for that and kind of doing a lot of r and d to, , identify things.

, but I would say like my spots really identifying trends before they go mainstream. And, , I kind of think that's like the thread that's kind of continued throughout my career. So, Really, it was early to the ed tech space, similarly to the blockchain web three space. And , I got pretty like burnt out when I was building that.

It was a lot of like noise and bad actors and I kind of got sick as well. And so that kind of prompted this whole health journey of like really aligning my passions and my purpose and took a step back and. Kind of fell into coaching and consulting through that process. Um, we can definitely go into that a little bit further.

But, , with a fresh sip, we noticed me, uh, and my co-founder, we noticed this trend happening in Europe of non-alcoholic beverages being, you know, kind of created and, and people looking for, , options. And we felt that, and usually Europe is a slightly ahead of the states. And so we were just like, you know, I think this is gonna come to the states.

Why don't we test it out? Let's build a small community and see if there, see if [00:02:00] it bites. And so I think again, Kind of looking at what's new, what people are getting excited about, what trends are shaping our community, , and kind of building from there. So that's kind of been my journey now. Um, I obviously run a fresh sip, but I also, , have my coaching and consulting business, which I work with entrepreneurs and content creators mainly.

And I help them kind of not only monetize their business and find product market fit, but do it in a way that's very aligned. So, I've trained in a lot of modalities like EF T tapping, reiki, human design meditation, mindfulness, all the esoteric stuff, matching that with the tangible and kind of putting it together.

So that's my long-winded but short summary of my background.

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Julie: Yeah. I love that. Okay, so a few follow up How long did you work in, you know, the corporate management consulting route before you decided to go into entrepreneurship?

Aish: Yeah. So I was there for about three years. , I. Was really, really fortunate, , because right outta college, the first project I was put on was an international project and I [00:04:00] was splitting my time between the Empire State Building in Manhattan, , Paris, France, and Barcelona, Spain mainly. And, , yeah, as a 21 year old doing that just sounds.

Amazing cuz everything for right? Like, you're like taking business class, you're living in these fancy hotels. And I'm like, oh my God. Like my, like, I'm just so excited to be getting all these perks. But the thing people didn't realize was I was mostly in like a cube in a conference room in the middle of Barcelona where you step out, you see the beach.

But did I ever see the beach Maybe like once or. A week max. , most of the time I was like working 15 hours in this like little conference room. , so I learned a lot. , and I, again, I was fortunate to be able to lead teams when I was super young. , but I was selling my soul and that did not feel good.

And I knew that I had this entrepreneurial spirit. I knew nothing about the startup world, but I knew that was something that I wanted to delve.

Julie: Yeah, that's amazing. So with a [00:05:00] fresh sip, tell us a little bit about the company. , are you guys making your own spirits or is it more like a distributor type?

Aish: Yeah, so great question and I'll tell you kind of why we ended up doing what we're doing today. , so as I said, when this space first started to like come together, we. Wanted to see where there was the biggest need. We saw a couple of products being created, decolonized wines and beers and mixed cocktails.

And we were debating do we wanna create our own product? And when we built a community of folks that were interested in, , you know, basically cocktail alternatives or non-alcoholic alternatives to your typical cocktail, We realized that there were a lot of people that were struggling to get answers.

They were struggling to find the things that already existed. And from a business standpoint, yes, we could have launched our own product, but we wanted to do something that would support the entire vertical. This is a completely new industry that was getting created and we [00:06:00] figured it would be easier for us to not only support the vertical, but also win, , by being.

That overarching support to the industry. So we actually decided against creating our own beverage early on and decided that we would be an aggregator, a curator, and a voice of like authority within this space. So creating that community, um, from that community. The community basically told us what they wanted and what they said was, Hey, look.

It is really hard to not only find non-alcoholic options that are good, but it's difficult to be able to decipher whether they're halal friendly, whether they're gluten free, whether they're pregnant friendly. There's so many specifics within that that were hard to, to for people to find. And so we built our platform to cater to those preferences, um, and health conditions and also be able to say, Hey, I want beer, or I want something that tastes fruity, or this, or that.

So that's kind of what we built our platform with in mind. Um, and from there we started doing pop-up events and, , you know, worked with festivals and worked with like [00:07:00] different like corporations and it's kind of just snowballed from there. So it's, it's been a really amazing.

Julie: Yeah, I love that. We'll definitely delve more into the, you know, the mission and the non-alcoholic space in a second, but with a fresh sip, specifically the company, do you have a team? Do you have co-founders, you know, who's all involved in the behind the scenes and the operations of running the company?

Aish: Yeah, absolutely. So Bile is my co-founder. , bile and I actually went to college together and I know a lot of people say like, Hey, like it's risky to work with a good friend. , and I agree with that to be honest. , but it worked out really well in, , our case. And I'll tell you kind of how we came together.

So both of us had our own health journeys where we had to cut back on drinking or completely eliminate alcohol for a period of time. And. As I said, I've been working, , with different entrepreneurs and companies over the last few years, and one of my clients was a health tech wearable company. It's a pretty large company, and I was helping them expand a market segment [00:08:00] and they really needed some support on the marketing and branding side.

So I called to file cuz I knew that that was her wheelhouse and I said, Hey. It's a really cool opportunity. Do you wanna come on board for this project? And she came on board and over the next six months we worked together and we worked so well together. And it was really cool to see that, you know, not only did our friendship kind of grow, we were able to like really like separate that and use that as an advantage by working together.

And we're like, okay, we work really well together. We should explore doing something. And a fresh sip came from a place. Serving our passions, but also being like, Hey, this is something fun that we can do. It wasn't supposed to be a full-blown startup, to be honest. Um, but I kinda fell into that. So that's kinda how our co-founder ship kind of emerged from us.

You know, back at Boston University we were on my, we were on a bunard team together, so it's like really crazy that like a decade later, , we get the opportunity to build this together.

Julie: Yeah. Well, so did you experience any kind of like growing pains with [00:09:00] starting a business with someone who's your friend?

Aish: Yeah,

Julie: Yeah.

Aish: That's a absolutely. Um, I think it's inevitable that you're going to kind of, it's like it's, it is a relationship, right? Like I'm spending hours a day with, with her. , I think the difference is this isn't, this wasn't my first startup. I've worked with people in the past. , I've also seen what works by supporting other companies, and I knew that we had to have several conversations before we started working together and have those conversations again and again, probably every month, every few months, to make sure that we're on the same page.

The biggest challenge, like, not the biggest challenge, but I'd say like one of the most important conversations we had early on was. What do we want out of this? Are we trying to reach for an I P O? Do we want this to get acquired? And I know those are crazy kind of conversations to think about exit strategy when you're first starting, but it's so important because the amount of work that it requires to do an I P O Ready business is very different from like building it from a small business standpoint.

Do we wanna raise capital? Do [00:10:00] we wanna bootstrap? And also allowing those answers to change, right? As we grow, as the needs change, as we change that can, that can change. And so we have those conversations at the beginning, make sure that we're aligned with how much time we wanna invest in this, how much effort we want, what, what this could look like.

Why are we doing this? Is this coming from a place of ego or is this coming from a place of like passion aligned with like our expertise and, and allowing that to evolve and shift. Um, anytime we have like a major. Like event or a major like launch, we take so much time after that happens to do like a postmortem where we go through everything that we did, right.

Points of contention, points where we argued, break it down, say like, Hey, like I didn't love how we handled this. Um, whether it's working with our team and things that we could have done better or working with us internally. And I think not a lot of people take the time to really reflect on what's not working.

Um, and we're super transparent. , it was. , I [00:11:00] actually spent two hours just talking to her, FaceTiming her this weekend and, , , , and I was talking to, and I think she was talking to her boyfriend. I was talking to my friends and I was just like, yeah, like caught up with bile. And they were like, don't you talk to her every day?

I was like, yeah, but like we were talking as friends, we were just catching up. So it's really funny that like, even after like a 60 hour week or whatever, we still want to like just hang and like talk and catch up.

Julie: , , Yeah, , that's amazing. I think the business relationships that are successful are the ones where there's alignment from the beginning, big picture things, , what you're both trying to get out of it, your working style. So that's, that's really amazing.

, so switching gears a little, One of the reasons that I wanted to have you on was specifically to talk about sober curiosity, and that's kind of, the mission that led you to starting a fresh sip. I think that's some newer terminology, at least for me, but it seems like it's, you know, definitely a concept that's gaining a lot of popularity and traction.

So tell us what sober curiosity is [00:12:00] exactly. How, how would you define it and how does it differ from traditional sob?

Aish: Yeah. , again, hitting me with the great questions. Um, so with sober curiosity, the difference mainly is that it's, you're exploring your relationship with alcohol. You're not necessarily cutting it out from, uh, I cannot, no, I can no longer have alcohol because of health reasons completely, or because it's affecting my mental health or my wellbeing.

But it's really just reevaluating, re-exploring that relationship with alcohol. And that could look very different for many people, right? Sober curiosity could be you having one drink a week. It could be you having one drink a month. It could be you not drinking at all, right? But it's you. Questioning and intentionally, uh, choosing whatever relationship you wanna have with alcohol.

And I think we have spent generations where we are so apt to just autopilot drinking a glass of wine while unwinding or like [00:13:00] going to a bar and grabbing cocktails to catch up with a friend where it's so built into our societal fabric that we don't think about it. , and this is just questioning. Why and what that looks like and not feeling obligated to engaging, um, unless it's something you actively choose to do so, and there's nothing wrong.

Right. It's not about shaming.

Julie: Right. So it sounds like there's not really a ton of rules around it. It's very much just exploring less al like exploring the benefits of less alcohol without necessarily committing to a completely alcohol-free lifestyle.

Aish: Yeah. It's a personal expression.

Julie: Yeah. I think that's more empowering because similar to dieting, you know, like I, I worked in the nutrition and fitness space , for a while.

When you have a very restrictive diet and it's very black and white, all or nothing, that often causes people to like binge and, you know, it leads to disordered eating and things like that. And so I feel like with drinking, when it's your choice [00:14:00] to stop drinking alcohol or drink less, it's a lot more empowering because you.

Feel more in control. And it's not stemming from this like scarcity all or nothing mindset. It's like I, it's not like I have to do this. It's, I get to do this, 

Aish: Yeah, absolutely. And it's, it's one of those things where, , it's giving people permission to explore their relationship with alcohol. And I think that was a big thing missing where unless you had a real reason not to drink, people felt like they didn't have permission not to drink oftentimes, right.

It's, I am pregnant, , I am on medication for religious reasons, whatever that looks.

Julie: Yeah. Was there a specific event in your life that led you to become interested in the sober curious lifestyle? I know you mentioned you experienced a lot of burnout during those earlier years, and that's what led you to kind of exploring, you know, shifting , your , health patterns. But is there anything else that you wanna expound upon that?

And then also, what was your relationship with alcohol?

Aish: Yeah. , [00:15:00] so back in end of 20 18, 20 19, beginning of 2019, I was like in the height of, , building my blockchain company. I was living in sf. I'd moved from New York sf and Yes, I did get burnt out, but a part of that burnout was also, , my health kind of went to shit. And so a part of that process was me having to, , reevaluate and kind of like, I, I've always been more to explore like a holistic.

Way of, you know, fixing myself rather than go into a bunch of medication or some extensive surgeries. So I really was exploring can I remove certain things from my lifestyle? And so what I ended up doing was I cut out alcohol completely for that year. , I stopped drinking coffee, so got rid of caffeine.

I went gluten free. I also switched all my products, makeup and skincare to non-toxic, , products, , just to remove any endocrine disruptors and it made a world of a difference. And so, , yes, it was a very drastic [00:16:00] for me and most people do not do what I did. , but it was, It was really, crazy and super impactful.

So one of the things you kind of have to explore when you stop, at least when you focus on the drinking portion, when you stop drinking, where alcohol was like a very regular part of my life before, is how do I navigate social situations when my friends still. Really love to grab drinks when they go out.

And, , how can I be comfortable being myself? And so you really do have to do a lot of internal work to get comfortable with who you are. So you don't need that liquid courage to, you know, kind of make you be the person that you wanted to be, but you needed that help. And so there was a lot of like internal work to kind of work through that.

, I was really blessed to have friends that were really supportive. Not everybody got it, but I think since I had the guise of being able to say like, this is from a health standpoint, they like were a little bit more off my back. I know that if you're just doing it, , and you don't necessarily have that depending on, , you know, friends, they may or may not be supported, but at the end of the day, nobody asks why you.[00:17:00] 

You know, are drinking water or why you're eating this, or why you're eating that. This is the only thing where they're like, why aren't you doing this? So, , it's kinda getting comfortable with like your own why, but that just takes some time to actually question it.

Right. Um, so that was a big piece of it. And, and as I said, like I would consider, I would definitely consider myself to be sober. Curious. I. Maybe like a couple drinks a year, but it's a very intentional choice. , and it's for the experience of that specific cocktail or of that winery or of that whatever experience?

It's not because I need some liquid courage cuz I'm out with friends. I still go out. I love to dance. I am there, , with my friends, if I do choose to go out, , dancing on the dance floor until the wee hours. I don't need to drink to enjoy myself and you know, I'm gonna tell you I wake up feeling great.

Julie: Yeah. No, I love that because, so for listeners backstory, how Aishwarya and I met [00:18:00] was you had come to my apartment back in December for a dinner and we had met through like a mutual friend and I remember. You and Deka had come over and you were like, I don't really drink, but you know, you were willing to try that cocktail or whatever it is that I made.

Um, and then we had briefly chatted about sober curiosity and a fresh sip and all of that. But that was very refreshing and a very memorable moment for me because I personally don't have that many people in my social circles that are actively exploring. Sober curious lifestyle. Right? So it was really cool to see you just like normalize it because I think subconsciously that made me feel like, oh yeah, if she can normalize not drinking and still be cool as a cucumber, then I can do that too.

 Right after that, I. Did dry January and I don't really even drink that often. So I remember when my boyfriend suggested doing dry January, I was like, I mean, sure, [00:19:00] but it doesn't make that much of a difference to either of our lives because drinking isn't a big part of our lives to begin with.

But I was like, yeah, sure, let's do it. You know, whatever. , I will say that that. Great from a mindset standpoint, because it got me in the habit of seeking out alternatives when a single glass of wine would be so easy to reach for. Right? Like that was a great exercise to kind of kickstart this mind mindset shift from me that I've been exploring the last two or three months.

Um, I feel like meeting you and then immediately after doing the dry January, it, it actually got me very interested in sober curiosity. And I would say now I am actively trying to, you know, be more sober curious, but,

Aish: Well, you are, you're already questioning it, right? So you are super curious. It's not like this goal to become super curious, like question it once and you're already there.

Julie: yes. , so, you know, like some of the shifts that I've seen, , that I've been doing like just in my personal life, For example, when people invite me to their place [00:20:00] for dinner, my go-to is to bring a bottle of wine and. Now I try to bring kombucha or coconut water or something else that I know people would enjoy, you know, or like if I go out to dinner, I noticed that pretty regularly when I'm out at restaurants, I'm ordering a drink because, Everyone at the table is ordering a drink, when in reality I would be a lot more satisfied drinking something else.

I'd be a lot more satisfied just drinking a diet Coke or whatever. And so there's been like a handful of times in the last two months where I'm at a restaurant and I'm actively cho choosing to not order an alcoholic drink because I actually don't want to. And I don't know, it's like a nice feeling, you know?

It's like a small victory in my mind. It, it feels like a good kind of like personal win and, and a personal challenge.

Aish: I love that. , and there's two things that you touched on, ] , that I would love to expand on. So the first one was, You kind of talking about your own subconscious or inherent bias that you might have had towards people that you know are [00:21:00] not drinking. And I will be the first to say, I also had that for my early to mid twenties.

If I met somebody and they said that they don't drink alcohol, I almost automatically thought, am I going to enjoy spending time with them? Are they going to be my people? Right. And I think. Realizing that those are two very separate statements, , was a game changer. And I'll say Gen Z views alcohol as what, , our generation viewed smoking in cigarettes.

So like that's wild that the way that we kind of look at smoking is how the new, the younger generation is viewing alcohol. They would rather, film their content, um, and their morning routines than be hungover and sleeping in bed. Right. So it's, so it's interesting in terms of that shift of what it means to, , kind of question your relationship with alcohol or just, or not drink.

But yeah, I think, being able to be the example or invite examples of [00:22:00] people that are doing a lot of interesting things and might not be indulging in alcohol all the time is a, is a way to kind of break those stigmas.

Um, yeah. And then the other thing that you had said was, , sorry, remind me what you just said.

The second thing that you were talking.

Julie: I mentioned going out to restaurants and actively choosing not to order a drink, and also trying to normalize bringing non-alcoholic drinks like kombucha or coconut water or whatever else when people invite me over to their place as opposed to defaulting to a bottle of wine yeah.

Aish: absolutely. So this is where it gets really fun with a fresh sip and with a lot of the different things in the market right now because, Kombucha and coconut water and all of that's great. Getting a water or a tonic with lemon is fine, but they give it to you in a different glass. You don't get that experience of sipping, um, a complex cocktail.

Right. And so I think the beauty of these, like hundreds of brands that are now in the market, , are actually to give you flavor profiles that are elevated that are. That take that [00:23:00] craftsmanship that the mixologist is making with all of the different notes and being able to give you a cocktail that is either no alcohol or even potentially low abb.

And so that's been a really cool experience, right? To be able to say, here's some deco wine, decolonized beer. But also here's some really incredible, like tequila alternatives, whiskey alternatives, and we can make a bombass margarita. and it doesn't, doesn't have alcohol. And so that's really cool to be able to see a lot of menus in restaurants and bars, have that.

 and for us to be able to like, have those different options to, have something to drink. And so you still have that experience. Half of it when you go to a restaurant is not just for the food, it's for the ambience, it's for that experience, the experiential kind of feeling. , and so that can be really exciting as well.

Julie: Yeah, totally. ] . I definitely resonate to, what you mentioned like being in your twenties and being in environments where everyone is drinking. Like I definitely remember at work, like, you know, before Covid, when we were actually going into offices, geez, it feels like ages [00:24:00] ago, but drinking was.

Such a big part of work culture, at least my work, work culture. Like happy hours every freaking week, going out at night during business trips, drink, oh my gosh, the drinking at business trips was crazy, you know? And you definitely would feel like the oddball out if you weren't drinking. And there'd be this like sense of judgment .

And then you have like the alcohol pushers where they're pushing alcohol on you and they're like, oh, come on. Just have a drink. Have one more drink. It's just one. And honestly, I'm probably guilty of contributing. Some of that myself in those years as well, which now I think about and I just like cringe.

Um, but you know, now it's like cool cuz you can be out at a bar or a restaurant and enjoy these elevated non-alcoholic drinks and they're giving it to you in the same kind of glass that everyone else is. And so you don't feel like, you don't feel like you are the oddball out because you're choosing to like not drink, you know?

So it's really amazing that all of these options are out. , one thing you mentioned was like the liquid courage, and I [00:25:00] definitely think that a lot of people, including myself can, can relate to that, What kind of advice would you have for people who want to drink less but still be able to navigate, social situations?

Aish: So there are so many different ways to approach this, and I'll give you a couple. Um, one is to kind of set the precedent beforehand. And I know people might be like, and I think this is kind of like setting boundaries and upholding them, which is a whole nother topic in and of itself, but being able to say, Hey, like I have a super early morning.

I am not drinking tonight. And, saying it in a way where like you're setting that tone and you're not kind of like, you show that you're not really. Allowing for that wiggle room. Often we're like, ah, I don't, I'm not really like feeling like I wanna drink tonight, but like, when you say it like that, you almost are inviting people to be like, but just one.

Right? So like, being a little bit more firm in how you, how you talk about it. , sharing with your friends, if you're open to it saying, Hey, I'm kind of like reevaluating my relationship with alcohol. I'm really actively trying to cut back, get them to actually like, see that. And [00:26:00] so let them be supportive in that journey.

 But we actually on, , a Fresh SIPS Instagram page, we have a bunch of like specific statements and sayings that you can tell people. , I'm blanking on right now, like off the top of my head, but I would say if you go to take a fresh sip, you can see a bunch of statements that you can actually respond to people or set the tone.

, in case you are kind of getting ready to go to a situation where you know that there might be some pressure or it might be difficult, but you'd want to try to kind of maybe cut back on drinking for that day.

Julie: Yeah. , I know one thing that really helped for me, kind of bringing it back to like the fitness world, but when I started on my personal fitness journey, like I was really trying to cut down on Eating out and going to restaurants because I was just eating out at a ton of restaurants for events, happy hours, dinners, et cetera. And I remember , for fitness reasons, I was like, I wanna cut down on restaurant outings. And , one thing I did that tremendously helped [00:27:00] was being the organizer myself.

So initiating and organizing events that didn't center specifically. Restaurants to kind of, you know, sort of like set the precedence, right? So if, if friends and I were talking about hanging out, I would try to be the one to initiate the plan centered around something that was like, oh, let's go walk around the park.

Do you wanna come to a yoga class with me? And we can get coffee or a smoothie after. And like nine out of 10 times. People were like, oh my gosh, yeah, sure. Like that sounds amazing. Let's do that. It was never really an issue. So I think, that like really went a long way and I think you can apply a similar approach when you're starting to explore, socializing without alcohol.

Aish: Yeah, absolutely. , I think one way, like two ways to do it. One, you can bring non-alcoholic. Anything, right? Like a, a cocktail, wine bottle, whatever. If you're going to a friend's place, so one, you're ex you're kind of like allowing them to experience it. But two, if you need something to drink, you have it.

, and then the other side is if you are organizing a dinner, like in any major city today, there are [00:28:00] definitely restaurants or bars that. A zero proof non-alcoholic menu. So look ahead of time and kind of make sure that they have something so you can just order it.

They all have different names. You don't have to say, Hey, can I get a version this? You can say, Hey, can I get this spicy margarita and named whatever? And they will give you that non-alcoholic person and nobody would even have to know. Right? Sometimes you don't even have to make a big deal out of it cause it's not a big deal.

Um, So it's, yeah, exactly what you said. If you were trying to be healthy or you would choose a place that had healthy options on the menu. If you wanna make it easy for you to have, , non-alcoholic cocktails, find somewhere in find somewhere that has some great options.

Julie: Yeah. How do you think that practicing sober curiosity has influenced your personal, mental, and physical health?

Aish: One, I think I'm very confident and secure in who I am. , I don't feel a difference. Even if it is one of the, handful of occasions that I do [00:29:00] consume alcohol, there is zero difference. Like my friends are not getting two different people, one with a person after I have a drink and one not, you're getting the same version either way.

So for them, there's no incentive to tell me to drink. I am just as loud and. Vivacious, , either way. And, and that's something that like, gives me a lot of pride to be able to say like, I am who I am and I don't need, you know, substances to really affect or change that. The other thing is I have definitely become more of a morning person.

Like I do enjoy going out and, and listening to good music or dancing, but my morning routine has evolved a lot and yeah, I would, I. Say part of that is because of cutting back on alcohol. But I think in general, just like getting in touch with myself and, you know, me meditating more and just kind of having like a more Ayurvedic lifestyle has been a really big part of that too.

Julie: Yeah, i, um, I totally resonate with what you said, like I'm also a morning person and I naturally am an early riser and my [00:30:00] creative brain works best first thing in the morning. After 10:00 AM I can't do anything creative like see you tomorrow, kind of thing.

And so I, I know that about myself and so I schedule my day around that. But you know, I went to a restaurant last Friday night and it was like this Italian artisan pizza place and. That night, I was like, I actually want a glass of wine. And this was my first drink in probably two, close to two months.

And, I had the worst sleep. Like I forgot how much alcohol messes with your sleep, you know? And I had literally had just like one glass of wine, but I woke up in the middle of the night and then I couldn't go back to sleep. And then the whole day, you know, I like planned for this like very productive Saturday.

I was, I wasn't hungover, , I just felt like I was dragging and my eyelids were just heavy , and so I think like, that's like one big thing that I've noticed about alcohol is that , for me, it really messes up the quality of sleep, which then that impacts my next day and things.

Aish: Sleep, gut clarity, brain fog, skin, [00:31:00] like alcohol does affect all those things. Like we've talked about skincare, offline a bunch. , but yeah, like I think it does like allow. Your cells to kind of like heal and have space to breathe, , your gut. Thanks you. And yeah, I could go down a laundry list of things that like are beneficial for not drinking, but also we're human.

And, and if that's something that like, you don't wanna completely eliminate, that's, that's completely fine. And I think the whole point of this is more optionality. It's not saying alcohol bad or alcohol good. It's literally saying, Here are more options for you so you can figure out what relationship you wanna have and what you feel like doing in this moment.

Just do it off of autopilot.

Julie: Yeah. How do you see the future of the non-alcoholic? Industry evolving over the next few years.

Aish: , it is just the beginning. But it's gonna be bigger like than the next gluten-free vegan trend. , the vertical has already exploded. We launched mid 2020. It's 2023, and [00:32:00] over the last three years, it has completely shifted. Landscapes have changed. , there are so many articles. There's so many like news clips.

There are so many people on TikTok and Instagram talking about they're changing in, like their relationship with alcohol. We're seeing bottle shops pop up. , we're seeing non-alcoholic menus, places we're seeing these different new options. At all these different folks. Like we did, um, a partnership with Netflix a few months ago and last year at South By, we had a massive ad after Titos talking about the Super curious movement and having this huge bar serving non-alcoholic like cocktails.

And we had. A full line of people wanting to try them. And so you're like, this is, it's here to stay. And it's really exciting. During the Super Bowl, there was like, we didn't do a commercial cause I couldn't afford that, but I think Heineken had a commercial talking about their non-alcoholic beer. And so like this is here, like if they're promoting that during the Super Bowl, you know that it's [00:33:00] not going anywhere.

And so this is a completely new vertical. This is something that. Are trying to experience, want to experience, but we're seeing it from an industry perspective as well.

Julie: , I wanna shift gears a little , I mean, I think like from what I. See, based on the content that you share online, you know, you're really committed to personal development, personal growth, which we are a hundred percent here for.

you know, I know you've been like a speaker for TEDx, which is so dope. What does a typical day in your life look like if there is such a typical day?

Aish: There is never a typical day, I'll tell you. I think. Because there is never a typical day. I have had to anchor into my morning routine like no other. the days I don't have a solid morning routine. My day like gets thrown off. So like I do everything from like dry brushing to like cold plunging a couple times a week, to like trying to make sure I do me like meditation and yoga.

Um, I actually got trained as a yoga teacher. Uh, last year, and I think all of these different modalities that I've trained in is [00:34:00] really to serve my growth journey. and yeah, like, I think , that's the morning that I like have to set because then once I do that, I have the energy to be able to like show up for my meetings a hundred percent, get the work that I'm done, that I need to do, , and kind of plan, I think when you are running two businesses, right?

So I run a fresh sip and I run my coaching and consulting business. You have to be able to prioritize and be able to wear these different hats and pull from what you need. , and so that has been its own journey and experience, but I think you do need to anchor to be able to do that, , without burning yourself out.

And I have been through burnout and I didn't wanna do that again, which means I need to be building my life in a way that. My internal desires and allow that to shift as I evolve as a human.

Julie: Yeah. As an entrepreneur, how do you create. Structure in your day. You know, like what are the tools or mechanisms that you put in place to stay on course? Cause [00:35:00] when you're doing the corporate guide, you have structure that's created for you. And when you're doing your own thing, you yourself have to stay disciplined and create that yourself.

So , how do you like work through that?

Aish: Yeah. , Trello is my best friend, , which is a project management tool. It's super simple. , it's not, doesn't have all the bells and whistles that a sauna does, but to me that's better. It's basically like a CanBan board, which has a bunch of tasks and I definitely use that a lot to kind of manage my life.

The other thing is, Google calendar. I know there's these two sound really basic, but like, I try to schedule as many meetings as I possibly can because it needs to get out of my head anytime. I have too many things in my brain, it's like too many tabs open. My like brain processor just works too slow and so I need to get things on paper and out there.

Uh, so even with some friends sometimes that I haven't caught up with a while, I was like, we'll schedule it on Google Calendar just because it's easier. And then I'm like, okay, I want, like, this is somebody that means a lot to me. So I'm gonna put it on the calendar so it happens.

 And so [00:36:00] the more we get out of our head, the better it is for everybody involved.

I also know when I'll have a lot of energy and when I won't, so when I know that I'll be lower energy and I know that I won't be as good as doing like, I don't know, writing or like whatever, like by myself work, I will schedule meetings during that time. Because I know that I get energy by talking to people, and so that will force me to like level up and share more energy.

Versus the morning times, I might schedule one meeting just with my, with, you know, usually internal team. But then the rest of the morning is for me to get work done. That's just like heads down, whatever. Thing I need to do. The other thing is I try to keep, days and like periods of times where I'm working on a fresh sip versus other things, uh, apart because if I have to switch back and forth too much, I lose and momentum in that process.

Julie: Yeah, I feel like I always think there's like two types of people in the world, the people who live and die by their Google calendar and the people that don't. So, um, that's funny. I totally resonate with that. So you mentioned you were a [00:37:00] yoga teacher, so where, like what are all the different jobs that you've had and what are all the places that you've lived?

Because I think, I think you told me when, when you were at my place that you were in Bali for a while. So give us a little rundown, like tell us where, where in the world you've.

Aish: So, , end of 2019, let me paint you a picture. , I burnt out sick all the things, but was like healed or it was like healing myself through, you know, all the things that we talked about earlier today. , and I shut my company down and I went on a 10 day silent retreat as people do. , and it was what they call a, a pasta.

, and I did it in Northern California, close to Mendocino. If you're familiar and no talking. No speaking. Uh, well, no. Yeah, obviously no speaking, no talking. , no eye contact, no writing, no reading, no electronics. , and we would wake up at 4:00 AM and we'd go to bed at 9:00 PM And so you would probably think that I was like an avid meditator before then, uh, because I was sitting there meditating for 11 hours a day.

, but no, I probably [00:38:00] meditated like maybe 20. A day for like a week prior and like that was probably about it. , it was one of the hardest experiences of my life, but one of the most rewarding experiences. I learned so much about how my brain works, how I think about things, how many thoughts are so unnecessary that take up so much of my head space.

And it really built a warm. Relationship with myself. And I would recommend anybody that is open to it to do that at some point in their life when it calls to them. , because there were so many things that I got out of it, which I could talk about for days, but for the sake of time, I won't. , and so coming out of that, I had really fallen in love with myself and I thought I was gonna work in like get a job in tech, right?

I. Company down. I was like a living in sf. I was like, all right, lemme go to Bali for a couple weeks and I'll come back and work in tech. And I went to Bali, a friend of mine joined me for the first two weeks and I had an extra week and I was like, you know, let me try [00:39:00] Noma around. And I am sitting, , at this place in Bali.

And , I, I got invited to go to this new moon circle and I had never been to anything like it. I go and I just felt like I was supposed to stay. And, uh, every part of my rational brain was like, no, you need to go home. And there were like five or six things from like, where I was living to my tickets, to money, to job, to like, everything, that I didn't have figured out.

And I just put it out into the universe. I set that intention during that new moon circle. I said, Hey, B Mama, Bali. Like, I feel like I'm supposed to stay here, but my rational brain is telling me to get back to SF and look for a. And she basic, and I, and I gave her, I said like, I have a flight in five days.

If you give me answers to these five things, I'll stay. And within the next two to three days, I had an answer to every single one of those things, which to me, built a trust with the universe, like gave me permission to surrender when control was sun, something that I like had grown up trying [00:40:00] to keep.

 And that process, just like I will say, changed my life ever fourth.

And so I ended up staying in Bali for a few more months and I came back to sf. The day SF went into, this was the beginning of 2020, so the day San Francisco went into lockdown, came back to. Sf. Yeah, it was wild. , but it was crazy because my Bali experience and the Vipasana had given me such a good relationship with myself that I was chilling for the beginning of the pandemic.

I was like, I can be here by myself. It is fine. , . And when I was in Bali, I literally, and this is gonna sound crazy, I manifested a bunch of clients. Like I was sitting at a coffee shop, somebody came over to me and asked if I could help. Like build out his business cuz he heard what I was talking to my friend about and , and I was like, wow.

Like people see value in my business expertise and they want me to support them. And that's actually what started my whole coaching and consulting business. And from there, I ended up getting three or four clients, , at my time, like when I was in [00:41:00] Bali. Brought a couple of them, stayed with me over time, uh, came back, built out that business.

I ended up doing New Moon and full moon circles throughout the pandemic online for people. And it was a great way for people to come together. , I like really drank that Kool-Aid of becoming Super West Coast hippie, if you wanna call it. And yeah, and so I came back and I was like, wow. Like being , like I lived in Boston, New York, sf so highly intense places growing up and going to Bali and realizing that people are building badass things, but they're taking time to step away and watch Sunset gave me permission to reevaluate how I.

Businesses moving forward. , you don't need to burn yourself to the ground to build something that is successful and you don't need to build something that is not aligned with what gives you joy. And I think those two learnings were just like life changing. , But yeah, coming back, , over the next couple years, I [00:42:00] decided that every year I wanted to spend a few months at le, at least a month in a different country.

So I ended up moving to Mexico for four months, , after that. And last year I, , lived in Costa Rica for two months and I wasn't planning to do a yoga teacher training. Such as my life. , I fell into doing a yoga teacher training when I was there, and it was an incredible experience and. , I think yoga is not just about physical, but it's about mental and emotional and spiritual and being able to like learn all of those different things have been really, really beneficial for my personal life.

But also kind of applying that to my coaching. And the last thing and oh, I just kind of jumped back. Reiki, I trained when I was in Bali and in the fall of 2022 I got certified as an EFT tapping professional, which is using somatic. Techniques to help remove, , pattern blocks and, and limiting beliefs. So all of these different mechanisms that [00:43:00] we think of as woo, or that we think of as non-tangible that actually are providing us so much resistance, is actually what we need to move past to see success, um, in the short term and in the long.

So anyway, that's my, that's a little bit of, um, a little dive into my 

Julie: yeah. 

. So across, , all of these different life experiences, what piece of advice do you have for someone who's maybe in an exploratory phase of their life and they're trying to be more mindful about living and figuring out their passion and purpose in life?

Aish: Follow your curiosity, like plain and simple, if something peaks your interest. Double down in it, like tap into it, figure out why that's peaking your interest and allow yourself to change, right? Like I think we often have our identities as very fixed things. Like I am a [00:44:00] dancer, I am an engineer, I am this, I am that.

And we're so. Focused or even I drink, right? Like, we're so focused on living that identity, but we have to realize that we evolve over time. , and that our identities are meant to evolve with who we become. But that only happens if we follow our curiosity and um, yeah.

Julie: Yeah, I love that. Like if you have an inkling in your heart, that is there for a reason. , and then also like. We're allowed to rewrite our narrative, right? Like we don't have to fit into this box that society or our community tells us that we have to be in. Like I was having a, a, a conversation with one of my best friends the other day and, you know, she had left the corporate life and she went into doing her own thing and interior design and she's really really killing it in that space.

And she mentioned to me I kind of wanna do DJing and I. Go do it. Like that's [00:45:00] amazing. Like go do it, girl. Like, just because you already made this huge shift out of corporate and now you're doing this realist, you know, this interior design thing or whatever, like, doesn't mean that , that's what you have to do forever.

Like we are allowed, the beauty of life is being able to evolve and explore different interests and different hobbies and like continue to change. You know, like the best people in life are the people who have stories and stories only come from. Just going for it and exploring your curiosity and just doing things right.

, one last question. I know we're almost outta time, but I'm trying to ask my guests this more regularly is what is one thing that is bringing you a lot of happiness these days?

Aish: Hmm. I lo I like this question. Okay, so I get really happy, when I see the sun. So like, sunrises make me super happy. Sunsets also make me very happy and I actually chose the spot that I live in because I could see sunrise from my bedroom and sunset from my balcony. And , that gives me a lot of joy.

And the other thing is [00:46:00] matcha. I love a good matcha and if I'm ever grumpy, if you, if we're ever hanging out and you notice that I'm hangry or grumpy, get me a matcha and I'll be literally all smiles.

Julie: Yeah. Do you make your match at home?

Aish: I do make matcha at home, but I've also gone to probably every cafe in Austin, um, and tried their matcha.

Julie: Got it. I love it. well thank you so much Irish Foria. I loved our conversation. I seriously love meeting like people who are just doing dope things in the world. And so it was so nice talking to you and I'm so excited for people to hear this conversation and get to know you. Oh, one last thing. tell people where they can find you

Aish: Oh, absolutely.

you.

can, uh, I would say Instagram or TikTok is probably the easiest. So I am at the ice on, Instagram and I am at the ice ferry on TikTok. And if you have any questions about a fresh sip, uh, it's at, take a fresh sip on any social platform.

Julie: Amazing. We will go ahead and link all of that in the show notes. 

Aish: Thank you.