How A Single Mom Built Oklahoma’s First Kombucha Brewery

What if the most painful parts of your past could power a healthier future? Rashel Hudson joins us to share how she grew up inside abuse, survived volatile relationships, and still found the courage to rebuild. First, she rebuilt her mind and body, then a business that’s changing how her community drinks and gathers. It’s raw, steady, and hopeful: therapy and hypnotherapy to rewire thought patterns, a practical look at negative and positive influences, and the small daily choices that reduce inflammation and return the body to balance.

We walk through her kitchen experiments turning into Firefly Kombucha, starting with an elderberry recipe for her kids, learning to ferment, and crafting flavors from organic, whole ingredients rather than concentrates or syrups. Rashel demystifies kombucha: what a SCOBY does, why sugar is transformed during fermentation, and how probiotics, antioxidants, and a touch of caffeine can help you swap soda without feeling deprived. Her philosophy is simple and sustainable: pick one better habit today, let the momentum stack, and watch your life change.

On the entrepreneurial front, Rashel gets specific about bootstrapping during surgeries and single motherhood, testing products at farmers markets, navigating county licensing with data and persistence, and ultimately landing private investors with a clear plan. She explains the vision for a kombucha taproom and kava bar as a welcoming third space for a social, family friendly, and alcohol-free culture. She also shares why giving back to survivors, disadvantaged teens, and local families is non-negotiable, rooted in the help that once kept her afloat.

If you’re a single mom, a survivor, a health-curious skeptic, or a founder starting from zero, this conversation is your permission slip. Break the cycle, trust your instincts, and build something you’re proud of, one choice at a time. If this resonates with you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find these stories.

Transcript

Opening, Mission, And Today’s Guest

SPEAKER_00 0:00

was I was like addicted to diet Pepsi. I was drinking probably like an ungodly amount of Diet Pepsi every day. And I was like, I gotta quit it, you know?

Heather Anne 0:08

And I'm going to tell this is the first one I've ever liked.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Well thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Your next favorite podcast pick starts now. Here's the Professor and Heather Anne.

Joe 0:25

Welcome to the Professor and Heather Ann. Although we don't have all the answers, we hope to encourage and excite you. We're here sharing our lives to inspire you to make the most of the second half of your life cheers.

Heather’s Backstory Of Family Trauma

Heather Anne 0:49

Oh that's very tasty. I like that it's very tasty. In today's episode we sit down with Rachel Hudson, a powerhouse entrepreneur, single mama five, domestic violence survivor, self-made businesswoman who turned her pain into purpose.

Joe 1:11

This episode is a must listen for single moms, survivors, visionaries, and anyone who feels like the cards are stacked against them. Your past does not define your future. You do. So we're going to start by recounting in in you know brief outline form uh your childhood experiences. We've talked about them on previous episodes but not everyone has heard those episodes and it's an important sort of a preface to today's episode. So if you can briefly describe better what what what you went through so I grew up in trauma.

Rashel’s Childhood And Escalating Abuse

Heather Anne 1:54

My dad um was very abusive to my mom was very abusive to us. We um as kids were locked in our rooms it could be for hours it could be for days um a lot of times we weren't given food um the same thing with being able to go to the restroom and it just progressed. We learned at a very early age by the time I was six or seven years old I knew that the police were no longer going to be able to help us. It wasn't something back then that they could be arrested for um even though we were black and blue and my mom was black and blue. So we just learned to hide it live our secrets behind our closed doors until my senior year of high school when um my mom and dad met up they had already separated for a few months she was finally um after 26 years of marriage trying to end it end it and he came after her one last time and so she wound up he was uh pronounced dead at the scene she was arrested and she spent the rest of her life in prison. And it was something that I was really ashamed of for a long time and kept secret even though we were front page news and even made national news it was just something I was um embarrassed and ashamed.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

And when we moved to Oklahoma I thought hey what a perfect opportunity because I wouldn't have to share my secret nobody would have to know until one day I was up at the Capitol and just kind of blurted everything out and that just kind of changed um the trajectory of my life and in my family's life and all of that has brought us here today um to for us being able to do uh this podcast and have the different type of guests that we've been honored to have and I'm very honored to have our guest today we'd like to welcome our guest Rochelle Hudson founder and owner of Firefly Kombucha Oklahoma's first kombucha brewery she has an incredible story overcoming childhood trauma, domestic violence poverty and turning her pain into passion with j with zero outside funding she launched her kombucha company just a few years ago and scaled it into a million dollar company she's passionate about helping people find healthy alternatives to drinking soda and alcohol welcome thank you thanks for having me certainly certainly we're very very pleased to talk with you this morning I wonder if you could start by telling us about your childhood and um the the the the challenges you faced yeah um I I grew up with in a two parent household um my parents were married for 18 long years um my dad was very religious um and strict um and um really focused on um what he thought was like his purpose in life and uh my mom was a very submissive um traditional wife in that sense and kind of let my dad lead the home um and so in our younger years um I don't remember a lot of my younger years trauma is fun that way it has a way of protecting you when you're a child and um so uh my furthest back memory isn't until I'm about seven years old um but uh you know in in the most sense we it was a pretty like normal what we thought was a normal household when we were younger um things didn't really become seen in another light until I hit my preteen years um and you know I was just a very uh driven um uh kid even at like 11 years old you know I had all these interests and things that I really wanted to do and um we weren't really like poured into individually as kids we were just kind of a byproduct of their life um and so a lot of frustration came from that um and uh when you're frustrated and you're 11, 12 13 um you know that can transpire in some not so wonderful ways and behaviors um and my dad had a temper he still you know struggles with a temper that he can't control and I just really brought that out in him more so than my younger siblings did um and he was really abusive um to me and you know verbally and um physically and I think that that I don't think I know that that just created your typical daddy issue situation.

Heather Anne 7:02

So do you think I know for me that was about the time I started having issues more so with my dad my middle sister um by the time she was 12 she was already addicted to drugs running the streets selling and all of that and she took a brunt of a lot of the abuse when she was home but when she was out of the house I took the brunt of a lot of that but did you start paying attention to your friends' households and that it was different than yours and did that start making I know for me hanging out with my friends and stuff it was I had this it started putting things into my head of oh everybody doesn't live the way I live and their parents are loving and it's there's not a lot of yelling and there's no hitting and so I found at that age I started pushing back more at my dad like standing up to him more um trying to get my independence because I knew I wanted something different.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yes I would say for sure especially now looking back maybe I didn't know exactly in that moment where that was that pushback was coming from um but I've definitely you know always just been pre-wired to be the person that's gonna push back when something isn't right or I want something different you know and I I know that I had that even in me as a young child and so for sure I think that that had a lot to do with it.

Heather Anne 8:32

Did you have um did you do sports babies?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

No, I mean you know that takes a lot of parental support.

Heather Anne 8:39

I I know that being a sports mom, you know, that is not something you can just decide you want to be a youth athlete you know um and so uh very athletic but no never played any um actual sports or did anything extracurricular um so we didn't have you know another way so I was fortunate that I had great coaches I was in Bay and I did do all the sports and stuff I just had to figure out how to get to practices and home and you know all of that stuff so I know that was a driving force for me that I was going to have a better life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

What was it in you that just I mean we're gonna talk more about obviously what you've built but of what do you think was your driving force to get you here today I don't really I don't know if I knew really what it was I just knew that like I was supposed to do something you know something way better than where I was at or what I was doing or what I was being offered. And um I don't think I really knew what it was. I just knew that it that it was there. You know I couldn't ignore it. So um I think that's where a lot of the frustration on my end came from because it was like you know why isn't anybody helping me figure this out um and so you know it was me figuring it out and it took a while.

Teen Years, Pregnancy, Loss, And Adoption

Heather Anne 10:02

So and it does it it unfortunately does take us a while especially those of us who've who grew up in that kind of trauma. Yes. So you made it through your peens and you're starting to push back to your dad so what what happens next?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I started living with other friends um and whatnot when I was about 15, you know um just and then when my parents split um every all of my my other two siblings also went to live with some friends and my mom just kind of went off the deep end. And so I stayed in high school and I worked um at 1.2 jobs through high school and was with um my boyfriend at the time and um lived with him when I wasn't living with friends anymore and just kind of hopped around um and uh ended up getting pregnant um in my senior year. It's a whole nother story but not by the boyfriend that I was living with. And so that relationship you know became pretty um abusive after he came back from a tour of Afghanistan to you know a fiance that had cheated on him and pregnant with someone else's child. And then he was dealing with a lot of PTSD which back then was still not really talked about or dealt with and so his mental health and then you know drug use um ultimately really is what um ended up you know becoming the breaking point of um the abuse going so far and then I and then I finally um left. But in that relationship um uh you know he wanted to stay with me even though I was pregnant um and uh my mom was um killed in a DUI accident um just a couple of months before I had him and uh I gave him up for adoption I went through um several adoption agencies and interviewed parents and picked out his parents and let them be a part of the last half of my pregnancy and um and and gave him to them you know at the hospital when I gave birth to him and then went back home and graduated high school two months later. So uh it was I got through those years but it was a lot that happened during that time and I still had never really dealt with you know the childhood trauma and then on top of it had those major events um pile on.

Heather Anne 12:35

And so it was the same with me. It happened uh the accident with my parents happened senior year. Wow and still to this day I'm re I I know a lot of it had to do with the pushback and stuff in me and that I was going to make it but I barely graduated high school too not that I didn't have all my credits and all that stuff I have one lounge class that's for some reason I thought going to government at zero period would make sense with all the trauma I was dealing with that senior year. But um but thank you for sharing that with us that it I fully understand having to make it through that um and did you have anybody that was did you have counselors did you have anybody just encouraging you?

SPEAKER_00 13:26

I had the most you know random people um that you wouldn't have seen coming I had some really great teachers um one I remember one of my teachers her husband was actually the attorney that um took the case for the wrongful death lawsuit for the the guy who um killed my mom and um you know my principals at the time and and I was blessed with some really great friends whose parents were just like phenomenal phenomenal and were really there for me and poured into me and um still to this day you know they were like we always knew we always knew you'd you know do something great and that you had that in you and so it's been really cool but I would say it was strangers you know it was not it was not my blood family uh my grandparents were there for me as much as they could be but they lived in Kansas um but other than that it was just strangers that you know God put my life so what part of what Heather has been alluding to is this it's this um well a theory in in psychology that uh contrasts the effects of ACE's adverse childhood experiences with the the the um ameliorative effects of PACE's protective and compensatory experiences.

Joe 14:39

And there are these questionnaires that you know will measure both things.

Domestic Violence, Leaving, And Legal Fallout

Heather Anne 14:43

And so um and so ACEs is all the adverse things that happen to you and that's everything that you've been through obviously with your ex with your ex-boyfriend and um all of that trauma happening just your senior year. Then the paces I say it's more like the positive things and that's all the people that showed up in your life and people that you did not expect because it was the same thing for me. I didn't have counselors asking me you know we were front page news so it wasn't like I was hiding this from anybody everybody knew what was going on I actually started my senior year in high school with my mom in county jail because we her bond was set too high. And so I didn't have anybody but every once in a while I just have a parent come up to me and just are you okay? Is there nope I'm fine everything's good. That's the one thing that I find when your child growing up in trauma is always I'm fine everything's good even though everything wasn't yeah yeah I really appreciate you sharing that with us so after uh you graduated from high school then how did things progress?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

I went on to um you know work some jobs and then um went to Haskell Indian Nations um for business. I I didn't graduate as all geniuses do that I dropped out um and came I dropped out of college yeah and came back home and um was bartending and um and um ended up um getting with my um ex-husband my two biological kids his dad um and we got pregnant very quickly with Kinley and um got married and um at the time he was in drug court which I mean you know should have been sign number one but he was you know doing well and um uh was clean and sober and following the program and um not long after we got married uh he graduated from drug court and started drinking and using again and became very abusive and dealt with a lot of um schizophrenic um reactions through his uh his his drug use um which uh created some really crazy situations that were very very dangerous and um when uh we had another child Sydney uh and when she was three months old um uh their dad had woken up from a uh drunken sleep and had you know um some thought in his head that he thought was true that I had done something and ultimately ended up he like held me down and and and head butted my face open pretty badly and um I managed to you know wait till he fell back asleep and um get both kids and and left in the middle of the night and I pressed charges and he went back to jail um for a while because he um had had you know prior priors and um so you know uh through that process uh you know he had filed beat me to filing for divorce and um dragged it out for seven years and on purpose and you know would tell me I'm not gonna let you divorce me and um the mental and emotional abuse continued even while he was in jail and then in rehab um even though the physical was you know not a possibility anymore.

Heather Anne 18:16

Um and I often say and even for myself it's the mental that's the hardest because bruises heal. Yeah and you know cuts and all of that broken bones they all heal but it's that mental that just wears you down more than anything.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Sure does it sure does and my next husband ended up being more mentally abusive than he was physically even though it turned physical towards the end. And I think that those were you know he came in right at a very vulnerable time when I was finally breaking free from my first husband and um you know it's it was a slow progression. And then once it got there it was really really bad but it was a different kind of evil than I had known before. And it was way more of a mental and emotional abuse and a very very intense and um and frequently shifting one. He was eventually diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and then he was a raging alcoholic and then a meth user on top of it. And so things got physical when he was using meth but everything else was just a I mean a an everyday everyday um so how did you get out of that situation?

Heather Anne 19:42

What what was the final point and how did you escape that yeah he um the final point was he had already done a stent and rehab um and then came back home and um I had to have a back surgery and I had back surgery

SPEAKER_00 20:00

And I think I was only a couple of days out of back surgery and a back brace, and he had a um a fit, as I would like to call it, you know, over like a hoodie not being in the dryer or something crazy. And he tossed me around while I was in my back brace. Um and then, you know, there was a ginormous explosion that morning. Um while I was, it was time for the kids to go to school. So the kids were all there, and he ended up, you know, throwing a metal cup at one of the kids and it missed the kid, but went through a window, and it was a very huge most of his explosions were huge. Um, but that was the last, that was the last straw for me, and that was in um uh late December of 2019.

Heather Anne 20:43

So um I've been free of all that now for you know going on six years, but and this is obviously something that you've had to work through on your own. Yeah. So you've had counseling, you've had therapy and stuff, but I also know for the kids, and I know for for me, I had when my boys were old enough, I had to be open and honest. One of the reasons why is they could Google and see about their own grandmother. It was, you know, it was out there for the world to see. So, how did you help your kids through this whole process?

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I started with myself. I I really believe in the theory of like heal the parent, hear the heal the child. Um, I don't think it carries it the entire way, but I think it's like an amazing starting point, or maybe the only starting point, because you know, um to try to help them heal something that you refuse to address within yourself is is kind of an oxymoron. And so um I just really dove deep. I started talk therapy and then I did some hypnotherapy. I really worked on um uh learning how to rewire my brain um and just uh you know focus on what I did want the end result to be, not what the result was right now, and how to get there. And I think that um doing some of that work before they started talk therapy really showed them kind of the framework of this is how we're gonna get past this, and we're gonna, you know, live a different life and have a better life and have peace. And um, it's possible, but we have to do a lot of work.

From Elderberry Remedies To A Business Idea

Heather Anne 22:24

So yeah. So how how did we go from healing yourself and everything to being an entrepreneur? What drove you? What decided on the type of business that you wanted?

Quitting Soda And Discovering Kombucha

SPEAKER_00 22:37

And yeah, I've always been a hustler of sorts. Um uh and that's really how I survived my younger years, was just figuring out ways to make ends meet and um always coming up with creative ways to make extra money. Um and uh when I went through that divorce, I was obviously still on a back brace, and I also needed a reconstructive knee surgery that they were trying to put off for a while, but I ended up having three months after my back surgery. So I was pretty limited on what I could do. Um and uh I had already been making um our elderberry potion that we still make today, um, just for my kids and my family. Um, I'd been doing it for a couple of years at that point. Um, and I started making it because I couldn't find anything on the market that I liked or that anybody was making locally the right way. And um when I decided to really dive into something, I really dive into it. So I basically became an herbalist and a scientist and all these things and um studied oxidation and learned how to handle each herb so that way the healing properties stay intact and you know, so it can really do what it was intended to do. And so I started making our own, and it was delicious and it was great, and it's still the same recipe today that um we started with then. Uh, and so I was sitting there one day, not long after um all of this had happened, and I'm just like, what am I gonna do? I have no support. I have um my two biological kids, but I had also gotten custody of um my stepdaughter, uh, who is the same age as Kinley. So they're both 14 now. Um, so I had her as well. And I didn't know what how am I gonna pay my rent, how am I gonna, and I'm very resourceful, which thankfully my life had built me for that. So I pulled some resources, my tribe really helped us a lot. Um, you know, I it kind of helped, even though it was a horrible time that COVID was going on. There was a lot of extra help out there. Um, and I was considered disabled, but that was about a year and a half wait before I received any disability benefits. Um, and same thing with like housing assistance. We were on a waiting list for a long time and finally got section eight housing and didn't have to move. Um but in the meantime, I was just doing everything I could, and I was sitting there and I it was like, I just need to start a business with this product. Um, I was like, I hate to take advantage of a horrible situation, the fact that we're dealing with COVID, but I know that, you know, and we never got it, you know, and my kids still went to public school and I was just dosing them with elderberry all the time. Um, and and any other kid that came over to the house. I'm just like, take a shot. I promise it's not alcohol. Um and so uh, you know, really wanted to share that with my community first. Um and so that's where I did, I posted, um, I made a post on our local chit chat page, and we sold a couple of cases that first weekend. And, you know, it was so rewarding to have people come back and say, oh my gosh, that got me better so quick, or it kept my kids from getting sick when I was already sick. Um, just all the feedback was just like, wow, I can really help people in this way, and that felt good. Um, and so I just ran with it. And then I started making fire cider not long after that, which is our fermented apple cider vinegar elixir. And so then I dove into the science of fermentation and I just got it like right off the bat. It just made sense to me. And um, and then not long after that, I, you know, had been kicking one bad habit at a time. And my next one that I really wanted to kick was I was like addicted to diet Pepsi. I was drinking probably like an ungodly amount of diet Pepsi every day. And I was like, I gotta quit it, you know. And I picked up a kombucha and I thought, oh, I could, I think I could do that, you know. And um so for a while, I mean, I was drinking like six or seven, eight kombuchas a day. I'd call it getting booched out, you know, you'd feel real good. Um, but I kicked my pop habit. And then I uh, you know, the more I started to become obsessed with kombucha and look at all the brands and um ingredients and you know, the science behind the fermentation process of kombucha, I was like, I think I could do this better. And so I got a SCOBY from a lifelong friend of ours and gave it a go. And um, it was really good. Our first, my first go-around, and we still make uh the flavor you're drinking was one of our flagship flavors.

Heather Anne 27:01

I really like this. So this is elderberry, lemon, and ginger.

Kombucha 101: SCOBY, Fermentation, Benefits

Joe 27:06

I really like that. For for listeners who uh know nothing about kombucha, just like describe briefly what it is, like and like what is a scoby?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah, so the scoby is a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria. So it's what actually um takes the sugar. Everything starts off as a sweet tea blend. Um, and the scoby you know eats the sugar and turns it into the probiotic and tangy um raw kombucha. Um so by the time we flavor raw kombucha, there's no sugar left. It's been transformed into billions of cultures of like very pure probiotics. Um and so, you know, uh it's made a lot like uh craft beer, but it's non-alcoholic. So we use a lot of the same equipment. We are technically a brewery. That's what I was gonna say. Because you're called a brewery. Yeah, because we very much are a brewery. Um and when you you know tour and you see our vessels and everything, and uh you'll see that it's no different than a beer brewery setup. We just have different ingredients and slightly different processes, and um, you know, we're making an NA product that's good for your gut health. So it's lightly carbonated, gives you a little bit of caffeine, but um overall will make you feel real good.

Heather Anne 28:23

And I'm actually reading the ingredients here. So I mean, this is all natural ingredients, there's no chemicals or anything that we're all hearing about nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

And it's all organic. We use organic whole ingredients, so we're not using essence of something or or even like a fruit concentrate or a syrup, or when we say there there's ginger in there, there's ground up organic ginger that we did ourselves, you know.

Heather Anne 28:53

And explain a little bit more about even the benefits of it. You were able to get off pop pop yourself, and you have had several surgeries, so recovering from those surgeries and everything. What exactly does it help with your your body?

Inflammation, Recovery, And Daily Habits

SPEAKER_00 29:12

It's packed with antioxidants, which is um great for um inflammation. And inflammation, you already, I mean, if you know anything about what inflammation does to the body, it just wreaks havoc and it is like the root cause of so much. So, you know, my goal was well, if I can get rid of the inflammation that's in my body, then my body can go back to a state of homeostasis and heal itself, which the body wants to heal itself. We just have to get it in the right position to be able to do so. And so, you know, the elderberry also is packed with antioxidants and um also and boosts your immune system. Um, and then the fire cider is packed with every mineral and vitamin you can think of from organic whole foods, and then prebiotics and tons of antioxidants. So between those three, I was feeling real good. And I went and got some like um well, I can't remember the exact term for it, but basically it's where um they put in a um a wave of electricity through your body and it reads the health of your organs and all these other things. What is that called? I can't remember the exact term of it, but um I'll think of it later probably. Um, but I did a scan and she was like, it is insane that you have no inflammation in your body, especially with the surgeries that you've had. And um it was just a a telltale sign to me that like, you know, I had done something right and I was able to heal.

Heather Anne 30:37

And it's not just the surgery. So I've been doing a lot of studying and everything, healing my body and all that stuff. And one of the things I found out growing up in trauma, that automatically increases our cortisol, which automatically increases the inflammation. So for you not to have any inflammation after years of trauma and then surgeries and stuff is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yeah, and not that some hasn't come back at times, because for sure, you know, I've had waves of um having to, you know, address what the next thing. Because as you know, um, when you start to heal, it's like, you know, an onion and you just pull back layers and you think you're good until you realize you have something else to deal with. And you're like, yay, let's go. Yeah. So I think that's why people call it a healing journey, even though that's come to be kind of like a cheesy term. It's not because it is a journey, and everybody's is different. Um, but you have to just be okay with the fact that it's a journey and it may never end, but you know, it's definitely a way better journey than the one lived before.

Heather Anne 31:41

So, how did you come about? I am a mortgage lender, and so I deal with mortgages and loans, and and I work with a lot of self-employed people. So, how did you come about? I mean, this is a fabulous building. You've got this brewery, um, you're opening soon. And how did you come up with the financing and all of this to be able to do this?

SPEAKER_00 32:05

Um, well, uh in the beginning from 2020 to 2024, I bootstrapped it. I literally took like my food stamps and what um assistance I was getting and bought the supplies for the business and then just poured everything back in as much as I could. And when I finally did get my um disability benefits, I was able to take that and like purchase our little food truck that we called our wellness wagon. And um, yeah, it's still out in the lot. I'll have to show you guys. Uh, and so we, you know, took that around to farmers markets and stuff. Um, and then uh in February of 2024, I landed private investors. Um, and I had begun with the end in mind way back in 2020. So I had quite the extravagant plan on how I wanted to expand and what the end goal was. Um, so when I did have the opportunity to pitch to them, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and what to ask for.

Bootstrapping, Markets, And Early Sales

Heather Anne 33:01

So it's your business plan, you had the numbers, you knew exactly this is what I can do.

Licensing Hurdles And Private Investment

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yeah, well, you know, the the fun thing about a new business plan is there's no, you know, exact numbers. Everything is um a guesstimate based off of data. And um, I picked an industry that's a little weird and there's not a lot of data on in the US yet, you know. Um, and so there was, I I had limited data at the time, but with what I had and my best educated guesses, um, you know, I knew what I was gonna do if I, you know, got the money. And so for the longest time the funding was the hard part for me, but I just kept going because I knew it was gonna come. So yeah. I mean, actually, we kind of did. And people, well, it it goes by county, I would say. So there's some counties. Originally we were licensed in Creek County when I was living in Mounds, and I um I uh subleased a kitchen space that was already licensed, and I would go in there and work when they were closed. So that allowed me to, you know, have a licensed commercial space without having my own place. Um and uh that was easy breezy. I felt way too easy, you know. Um, and then what uh when I was told, you know, uh that there had been other kombucha um makers that tried to get commercialized in Tulsa County and they were just told it's impossible. Like you're not gonna get licensed in Tulsa County. And so, you know, I love a good challenge. Uh so I was really prepared for that. We partnered with some experts that had, you know, um uh data already, you know, prepared and reports that we could submit with our licensing that um really just shut down any of those concerns or questions. A lot of it is just um a lack of education, a lack of understanding of what the product actually is, what the processes are, and the market of it, period. So we're still a few years ahead of that, being where we're at right now. And so those challenges have not been unexpected, but um been prepared for, and I feel like we've we've dealt with them pretty well so far. So we got licensed, but it wasn't easy. It was not impossible. I think we got a lot of good feedback when we were doing the farmers markets and stuff. It really allowed me to like A-B test things and do a lot of market research and just really listen to all the feedback we were getting. So that's how I knew we had hit, you know, like product market fit. Um, and then when we were gonna open up a tap room, um, the feedback we got was just like, yeah, we've been waiting for a place that's just in a, you know. Um, and as you as you might know in other parts of the country, you know, there's lots of just strictly in a bars. Um, but there's not anything like that here, let alone a kombucha tap room. Um, and so yeah, the feedback was, and it was kind of cool that like we get to do something that's a first, you know, and um we're really excited to see where that goes and be able to continue to use, you know, our tap room and the kava bar to um get feedback from our customers and test things out before we roll them out to market.

Heather Anne 36:22

That's really neat. And also tell us a little bit about giving back through your sales and facilities.

Product-Market Fit And Taproom Vision

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Yeah, we, you know, uh have given back as much as we can right now, but I can't wait to be able to do so much more. But I knew that, you know, with part of my success, it was really important to be able to take some of that and pour it back into the things that mattered the most to me. So being able to help, you know, um disadvantaged teens that are in situations um or domestic violence survivors and their kids, um, or just those suffering from poverty. So being able to, you know, give back to um our local community Angel Tree. Um, you know, I was like one year my kids were on the Angel Tree list, and the next year we were donating bikes and tricycles and um everything for all the kids on that angel, and there's just nothing that feels better than that. There's not. No. So I can't wait to do a lot more, but we're doing as much as possible.

Heather Anne 37:17

I fully understand that being able to give back and make a difference and knowing that you are changing another kid's life that you will never know them, you will never meet them, but knowing just that one little thing that you've done can make a huge difference.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah, because I know it did for me. Yes. So yeah.

Joe 37:41

Do you do you have any sort of general advice for people in people who want to start a business and are sort of starting from a you know, not a very, what should we say, advantaged or privileged uh situation?

Giving Back To Survivors And Families

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Yeah. I think the best thing I did was I I really blocked out all the noise. I didn't really have much of a choice given the fact that I was like in a back brace and then a knee brace. And like, you know, I I really feel like God was like, you're gonna sit still and and listen for a minute, because I don't sit still very well either. But I think blocking out the noise and just really listening to what you know your gut and your heart is telling you you're supposed to do, and not listening to any other outside sources, not absorbing any of that doubt, um, and just staying very headstrong and know this is what I'm gonna do and block everything else out.

Heather Anne 38:31

Do you feel like some of that came from your childhood? For sure. I know for me when somebody told me you can't do something, I'd be like, okay, watch. Don't tell me I can't do something, I'm going to do it.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Yeah, for sure. I think a lot of that came from that. Yeah.

Heather Anne 38:44

Well, I think this is just your business and and what you're going to be providing, Tulsa.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Yeah.

Heather Anne 38:50

Is remarkable. And a lot of people are going to benefit from your story.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

Yeah.

Heather Anne 38:57

Really appreciate you sharing that with us. And just bringing health. I know that you know, for the last couple of years, that's what everybody's talking about is how can we get ourselves healthy?

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Yeah.

Heather Anne 39:10

What is it that we need to do? And just being able to um drink something that's going to help you with your inflammation, your gut health, is truly remarkable. And I know a lot of people are going to benefit from that.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Yeah, I I love the idea of of making it less complicated and less overwhelming. As someone who didn't always live a healthy lifestyle, when you go to start making those choices, you know, you're like, Do I throw everything in my house away? And, you know, buy all these supplements and do all the things, and it can be really overwhelming, and then people don't stick with it because it's not sustainable.

Heather Anne 39:43

It and it is overwhelming and it's costly, and and you do just stand there going, What do I get rid of?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

What you know, and there's so much like advice out there and so many different types of supplements, and it's like you could really just spiral, you know. So if you can just like start with one supplement. Simple thing, you know, grabbing a kombucha instead of a pop. Um, it becomes an incredible snowball effect because the better you feel, the better you want to feel.

Heather Anne 40:10

The better you want to feel, and the more you want to do to live a healthier lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

So then you pick up that next good habit and put down the next bad one. And before you know it, you know, your whole life is different. So I think that it can just it can be simplified and not have to be so overwhelming and and crazy or even expensive.

Heather Anne 40:29

And will you be having special events here? What is it that you really want to accomplish in this space?

Advice For Founders Starting From Zero

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Yeah, a few different things. With our our space is so big and quirky that we have a few different opportunities. We do have a private event space, and I would love to, you know, be able to host some of our own um events that would be centered around, you know, different um alternative styles of healing, probably. Um, but we'll also be able to sublease that space out to other people that um want to throw private events, and we hope you know a lot of those will align with our mission as well, so we can cross-promote those with our customers. Um, but also creating an environment where um people can come and have a social experience, whether that be one that's more loud and light and um, you know, uh still family friendly over in the kombucha tap room, or one that's a little more relaxed and quiet and um moody in the kava bar, and um have that third space that people are looking for that isn't centered around alcohol. Um, so you can enjoy it and then also not regret your time that you spent there.

Heather Anne 41:41

I like that. Yeah, I definitely like that. So go ahead.

Joe 41:46

Is well I was gonna ask if there's anything else you'd like to say that we we haven't we haven't covered yet that you'd like our listeners to know.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

I don't think I don't think so. Um any encouraging words for some single moms out there that yeah, just I know that like so much of the time um when you're in it is spent thinking that there's no way you could do it on your own, or like what am I gonna do? Uh how? Yeah. And and it and it sucks that it has to get to the point to I remember literally saying, I will have nothing and live under a bridge before I live like this for one more day. And it sucks that it has to get to that point for you to be like, I don't know how I'm gonna make it, but I can't do this anymore. And so to know that you don't have to you you can do it on your own. And and everybody's is gonna look a little bit different on how you end up being able to do it. But if you're determined to get out of it and do it, you you you will. There'll be a way.

Simplifying Health And Building A Third Space

Heather Anne 42:47

Well, you were truly an inspiration for those of us that grew up in trauma for single moms. I was a single mom myself for a few years, so I know that feeling of just feel like you have to do it all yourself. And you're going to make it no matter what. And your story is truly inspirational.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Well, thank you. And us as well.

Heather Anne 43:09

Really appreciate you coming and join and joining us and sharing your story with us.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Joe 43:16

We hope you've enjoyed this episode in which we've talked about how childhood trauma can impact us for years, how we can take control of our own thoughts, trust our instincts, and rewrite our stories. Remember, you're allowed to break the cycle and rebuild. So join us here each week, my friend. You're sure to get a smile from lessons learned to mishaps, the adventures go on for miles. Here on The Professor and Heather Anne.