Striking the right balance: Reflecting on the art of mixology with Ami Shroff

Challenging her own boundaries and entering a profession usually unheard of, especially for women, freelance flair bartender and renowned mixologist Ami Shroff talks about breaking stereotypes and takes us through her unconventional journey.

Join us as we peek into this stirring journey in the life of freelance flair bartender Ami Shroff.

Transcript

Go-Beyond Podcast – Ami Shroff Transcript

Speakers:

AK: Akshay Kapur

AS: Ami Shroff

AK: 

Welcome to the Sony Pictures Networks Go Beyond podcast where we go beyond the surface and uncover the extraordinary. I am your host Akshay Kapoor. 

Today's guest isn't one to conform to society's rules and expectations just because… she lives an offbeat life or perhaps it would be more accurate to say she lives life to her own beat. She exemplifies amazing courage and grit in breaking down stereotypes. She's a freelance professional in an unconventional career.

She also is an entrepreneur with her own label of non-alcoholic gourmet cocktail mixers.

She's mastered the art of mixology, and she can perform captivating feats of physical dexterity in ways that seem effortless. In her own words, she's a rebel of many causes, but one could argue that she's also an icon for those who are looking to color outside the lines. It's a great pleasure to welcome freelance flair bartender Ami Shroff.

Ami, How are you feeling today and very glad to have you on the show.

AS: 

Wow, Thanks Akshay, It was a super introduction. I'm so happy to be here..

AK: 

Absolutely. It's a pleasure for us, I get the sense that you're someone who loves to challenge the boundaries of your comfort zone contrary to conventional idiomatic wisdom, there are times where your job literally has you playing with fire, have you always been fearless?

AS: 

Fire doesn't scare me. There are many things that do scare me and fearless I think is also something like to go beyond your fears. It's not about, not being afraid, but I think there's a slight sense of nervousness that comes even before a performance. And maybe that's a sense of fear but I think it's required, like these emotions that we experience, including fear is important and it prepares us a little better or a little more focused, so I won't say I'm fearless, but I think, sometimes the fears are not as important as what we want to do.

AK: 

Yeah, that's interesting and I like that you said go beyond the fear. Is there any example from something you've done where you had to challenge yourself to like really get up there and face your fears and overcome them?

AS: 

Yeah, multiple small things. Probably like I had a slight fear of heights, initially more than I do now, but I think in the process of rock climbing and learning some mountaineering and trekking in high spaces were challenging, and I think they did get me more confident about being around heights or being around on top of the mountain and yeah, I think just practicing it makes these fears go away.

AK: 

Interesting. And not to sound too esoteric, but can you tell us about the vintage of Ami Shroff?

AS: 

I think our childhood molds us in so many ways that it forms our personalities as adults. As a kid I was extremely playful, so in school I would get into trouble often, like my parents would get stressed about many things or I wasn't as interested in studying and reading books unless I really had to and there were exams.

But now I think I'm more fascinated with education or learning new things and just about anything more than I was as a child. I just feel like it wasn't introduced to me in the right manner and I'm more of an experiential learner, which is why sports really, I found fascinating. One of the earliest sports were karate, which also introduced me to like playing with different objects such as the stick or the nunchaku and controlling it. It brought self confidence in me, it made me test my own abilities and challenge myself.

AK:

Were you also always like an independent thinker and were very sure of what your interests were and what they weren’t or is that something you had to develop over a sense of time and learning?

AS: 

Um… I'm not sure about it. I think I was quite independent a thinker, or I was unique in my thoughts and many things were not mainstream for me. I like unique things that stood out in fact. But I also think I was a very indecisive person because maybe I want a bit of both.

Or maybe there isn't. It's not just black and white in many situations where we have to make these choices of either this or that. So, in such moments sometimes I just wait till the last minute to make a call and then I kind of just know what I want but yeah, I think I can be a very indecisive person at the same time. (Laughs)

AK: 

(Laughs) Fair enough, I guess you have sort of best of both worlds in that regard.

AS: 

I hope so, yeah.

(Both laugh)

AK: 

But then if that's the case, I know you developed an interest for juggling, but then how did you get pulled into the world of bartending and then even more so, flair bartending. Was It gut instinct, or was it one of these last-minute decisions like spur of the moment kind of things?

AS: 

No, I think it was always gut to a large extent, I think it was attraction. I just get attracted towards certain things.

In flair bartending, flair is what attracted me towards the profession. I mean the whole object manipulation fascinated me. I saw it as a sport along with it being an art of sorts and I wanted to know more about it. It was just a curiosity that pulled me towards the profession, and I think, it’s been a very strong force in my life. Curiosity has popped up and I have gone towards it. Mountaineering just popped up and I was curious about it. I wanted to challenge myself in that manner.

Similarly, if I tried some other areas like surfing or skateboarding or slacklining, it was all because of curiosity I think that pulled me into that space and at some point, I think when you do something often enough and you become a little good at it, you can make money from it and make it a profession at some point as well.

So that's kind of how my journey started with flair bartending also. I got pulled because of flair, and even bartending was quite fun, like playing with ingredients you know being behind the bar in control of that one little space in your area. I really liked that feeling and specially as an 18-year-old it was very fascinating cause, just going to bars was fun and I mean it was new for me back then. 

AK:

(laughs) I can imagine where did you first encounter flair bartending?

AS: 

It was my first time I saw bartender live who was flaring behind the bar in an event that me and two of my buddies had gone for. In one of those events we met this bartender, and I already knew a couple of moves which I'd learned in flare from this movie called Cocktails where Tom Cruise flips around some bottles and that's really basic flair what you see him doing, I knew like these three simple moves with a plastic bottle filled with water is what I tried, and yeah it's pretty much, back then when I was 13-years old.

And then when I met the bartender, Ankit Negandhi and I showed him these 3-4 moves he found it interesting that I already knew, these two three basic simple moves and he asked us to join at an event in Goa that time, and we were just assisting them behind the bar. We met another bartender, Shaun and pretty much both of them taught us, what we needed to know in the beginning, some basic cocktails. What is alcohol? What is vodka and whiskey? Why is it different? Why does it taste different? I was completely clueless about everything. So, I kind of just learned on the job and then lil’ bit through the Internet and watching videos and stuff but now you have many bartending schools also who introduce you in a more planned out, a better way I would say. 

AK: 

Did you take to it like a fish to water or was there a learning curve?

AS: 

(laughs) I think it luckily came my way, but there was always an interest in me to enter the profession or to know more actually. It was just like a hobby when I initially started, and it was along with college that we were doing it. Then we worked in Marriotts for a few months we learnt a lot over there. This was during a summer break and then again we went back to freelance, so I was always more or less a freelancer, especially 'cause I was doing it along with college then I realized freelance also gives you a lot more free time, a little more money and it allowed me to travel to try these other different things which pulled my interest as well... yeah and that's how it kind of started and then just became a profession at some point.

AK: 

Fair enough. I guess it just happened. Serendipity is the word correct.

AS: 

I think yeah, that's how many things have happened for me in my life. Like there's a certain interest that someone sparks, or somebody inspires you with and then it's lingering at the back of your head. So, there are multiple different aspects or multiple different skills and things which have interested me and at some point, it helps me in my profession as well in some way or the other

AK: 

We know that when it comes to you, there's no beating around the bush that you in fact do go beyond stereotypes in many ways, and you've been quoted as describing yourself as a rebel of many causes. May I ask you to share with us what these causes are and how you came to champion them in your life?

AS: 

So I think right from the start, especially because I was in an all-girls school, there were multiple different rules that were assigned just based on gender per se and I think there are a lot more rules that girls have to go through than boys do, or they both suck either ways you know, because if it's gender oriented, it just doesn't make sense. And we sort of raise our children from an early start just based on the sex that they are born with or, rather than the gender that they identify with. Like we presume everyone is cisgendered, we presume everyone is heterosexual. We lay so much of an importance on aspects, the concepts like marriage and these kinds of things, and like sex is such a taboo to talk about.

Also, seem like genders don't know how to interact with each other, and sometimes I mean most girls would play with girls. Boys would play with boys and as a child I didn't have many of these rules imposed by my parents, at least, and especially my mum like she put me into karate. She would be okay with me playing with whoever I wanted to or get hurt and it's not a problem, whereas I think otherwise, if you're playful and you're getting bruised all over as a girl, many parents get very worried like they'll tell you don't play with all the boys and these kinds of rules were not there for me, at least from their side, but maybe from school it was kind of there. Probably like how I had to wear my hair or how I needed to comb it because it was curly and all over the place or how long our skirts need to be socks need  to be rolled up and few other things you know, but it's not like I challenged them or I rebelled against them at that age, but it's just that I didn’t remember to follow them because it made no sense to me or I didn't find the importance of it.

And yeah, I think so that's how it sort of started at a very young age, but at a later stage I also understood that how sexuality should not be something that we take for granted, and we shouldn't presume everyone is heterosexual from the start and yeah, it's when I was open about, it made me freer and brought out these different sides in me as well. Ummm. I think these things were not there in my development and not of my interest also, at a very young age, and that's kind of how I ended up becoming a rebel without much effort in the right way. 

AK: 

Definitely, is there any particular, rule, or confinement that society has that you especially found that this doesn't make sense, and this is something that I don't need to you know listen to.

AS: 

Yeah, so there's not that one major one, but there are so many tiny ones I think just in the aspect of how we define the two genders to be, how boys should not cry or they need to not show their emotions and they need to be the ones who are the protectors or take care of the family and make sure they're financially independent, whereas we don't give that kind of importance to girls or to women even now. And even today I think one of the major reasons for that is, that the one of the most common professions of India, which is the house maker, is still an unpaid profession and it's still assigned to most often the woman of the house. So that itself like financial independence, I think is something that, is a ridiculous expectation that is there on men but not on women.

And I think that creates such a major imbalance in so many other ways and also along with that like to presume that everyone is cisgendered or heterosexual is something we can stop because we need to understand and be a little more accepting towards diversity. Be more inclusive towards all kinds of people, irrespective of not just gender and their sexual orientation but from where they come, what their profession is, what their background is, whatever these castes and religions and other things that divide us and all of these things make no sense, so I think I pretty much don't follow these preconceived notions or things that define humans and put them into boxes at the start itself and I think we should just break those boxes as much as we can, and that itself is quite rebellious in its own way. 

AK :

Certainly, I think the idea of inclusiveness that we talked about can also be linked very closely to mixology because as a mixologist, you're no doubt aware that there's a number of ingredients that go into creating that perfect mix, right?

AS: 

Absolutely, that's how it is so awesome. it's not about having too much of anything, but in that right balance. Things taste delicious. Uh, when it's mixed up with a variety of flavours. And yeah, you can't do that one way like it can't just be too sweet or too sour, too spicy. It has to have that balance of other flavours that's there in a hint or somewhere to make a great cocktail.

AK: 

Also I can't help but say that I notice from your Instagram stories you did talk about the fact that your parents gave you a lot of space and that gave you freedom to choose to do things your own way. Is that correct?

AS: 

Yeah, I never heard my parents speak about like this profession is not good, whereas this is the profession you should be entering, all these, aspects were like the freedom I realised now that I received, because I've seen that many girls especially or even boys, have not received that freedom when they were younger. Or they had lots of these expectations and rules, and I think the only expectation that was majorly put on me was to clear the year to pass or to study. I think they gave me so much freedom to make my mistakes, to make these choices and they always guided me also alongside.

AK: 

Was there any moment in all these years of parenting that you thought was like a really important turning point for me and it gave me the strength or the opportunity to, pursue what I want to do, or explore.

AS:

Many such moments, for example, even when I first traveled to the mountains and I was doing mountaineering, my dad was quite worried about like me being up there alone by myself.  I mean, there were lots of people, there were trainers, there were other students. But like alone, just me going there myself, even when I used to travel by myself or my sister traveled by herself, my dad would get extremely worried or he would want to know where we are, what we're doing., we need to speak to him on a daily basis as much as possible. So, my dad was quite protective, and he was really looking out and my mom was like you know you just go do what you want, explore, make your mistakes and you're going to learn it this way and it's a better way to learn. It was a nice mix that I had from them also of protection as well as freedom right from the start. Even when I started bartending, I didn't initially tell my parents about it, and, uh, I think a month  

AS: 

After they found out somehow and I told him that I was just basically at the gate, stamping people when they're entering or whatever, like a Hostess at the gate and they were fine with that, but I think back then being around alcohol, around drunk people. All these aspects was something that my dad was very worried about. But once he found out that I'm doing this, he just wanted to know like where am I doing it? Who's the manager? Give me their contact details. How are you getting dropped back home? Are they taking care of all that and that was nice to kind of make sure that you know these are little things that we should look out for ourselves which I might have neglected initially if it wasn't for my father. So, in a certain way it was nice for him to like just be looking out for me and as a freelancer also I would just inform him about where am I going, what's the contact number, where am I staying and yeah, there was someone always there to look out for me for that.

AK:

When you're performing, you know juggling bottles and flipping cups, there's so much you have to be in control of. You work in an unconventional profession and even unconventional hours at times. So how do you manage the balancing act in your personal life?

AS: 

Umm, I don't know. It just manages. Sometimes I'm not able to manage it sometimes I'm like, oh, this is getting too much or as a freelancer sometimes you have patches of having a lot of free time and to find ways to make that free time productive for yourself in a way of being motivated enough to do other things, even if it's not getting you money and train yourself to get better at what you already do, so that sometimes can be challenging and there are days when I would say it's not such a productive day or I'm just busy or like watching a bunch of movies or just not doing muchbut I think that's fine, it's the next day that I realise like, OK, I need to like get out or do something 'cause I'm craving for it, you know.  So sometimes I let myself just whatever if you call it waste away, uh, take a break, but it only makes me crave to do something exciting and productive after.

And I think I'm still on a path of self-discovery or self-improvement and I think maybe we never end that journey in a certain aspect, but as long as we are on that journey, we just make a better version of ourselves. That's what I think is important.

AK : 

Which is absolutely fair and fantastic. But do you find that it's easy to motivate yourself? Are you inherently a motivated person?

AS: 

Uhmm, (laughs) sometimes I think it’s a little tricky there are moments where I feel like I wish I was disciplined or dedicated enough to be practicing my flair and my juggling arts in a very disciplined manner and I do feel like I can improve in certain aspects like that. But yeah, I otherwise wait to feel inspired enough to get on with like ok, it's been a while I've not practiced. Let me practice some, and then I'm practicing for a couple of hours. And then there's something that motivates me, like a competition motivates us. So, before a gig also, I get motivated to practice a little and touch up my skills or plan out how am I going to perform or what is the sequence. ,But yeah, I think I would really like to improve my discipline to be motivated enough to be doing it on an everyday, so yeah, I heard somebody say once that like screw motivation, all you need is discipline and I think that makes sense also. 

AK: 

Fair, I mean. Having trained in the martial arts, I'm sure that that isn't far away for you.

AS: 

Martial arts were really cool to teach you aspects of discipline and endurance and a lot more areas of like self-development. But it gave me so much confidence I think to just go for it. It made me feel like size does not matter. It doesn't matter like how small or tiny I might be. I can bring down a person twice my size if it's all about technique and it's about how you use your power and skill in the right way. So yeah, I think that was a big starting point for me, that framed me as a person I am today.

AK : 

Right, that makes sense.

AK :

Moving on to something slightly different, there's the age-old movie cliche that people open up to bartenders. 

AS :

Yeah

AK :

Is there any truth to it? In your experience and if so, then what amusing anecdotes have you gathered while tending the bar?

AS: 

Uh So, sometimes if the music is not too loud you can have a conversation with a guest, and especially if a guest has come by themselves. Yeah, but I think it depends again on multiple factors, like from if the bar is busy, I might not be able to have these long conversations but just listening to your guests and having a ear out there when you want have a conversation about something and sure, sharing what thoughts pop up in your mind. Also and it's happened on very few moments, because as a freelancer I'm not meeting the same guest again and again, whereas this situation would happen when you are working in one particular bar and you have regulars. Sometimes small, silly mistakes like my first time I might have dropped a bottle and it fell on this rack or like uh a bunch of glasses that were piled on top of each other and the bottle slipped out of my hand and it went crashing into those glasses and I think around that time is when the music had a pause and everyone heard that sound as well. 

AK : 

(Laughs)

AS :

And it brought all this attention, so it was kind of embarrassing in that moment to be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons and usually when glass breaks in a bar, you know everyone goes oooh cheers or something, but it was. a mix of finding it funny as well as being embarrassed in that moment and it was all good

AK: 

Certainly since we spoke of flaming shots, but any shots of wisdom for youngsters or people of any age who are looking to start a new, and, , forge their own path in life.

AS: 

The world is opening up to so many new things now like they'll come a point when bartending and maybe being a podcast host will be a conventional profession and then there will be these new unconventional professions which are going to pop up, which we've never heard about, and I think the more unique one can be, it might be like an industry that's not formed yet, but you will be one of the few in that industry and it's so awesome. We can just focus on what we enjoy doing and becoming better versions of ourselves. And the people who are truly excited about the conventional professions I think then don't get a chance because maybe they think that we define like these five or ten professions to be the best professions or the good professions that one should get into. Whereas one should just enter the space that they get excited about. That creates a tingly feeling, inside them like its attraction. Like you should just feel like you're attracted towards it and it's pulling you, 

AK: 

Lovely, I think that's a fantastic note to end our conversation on. So, Ami, thank you so much for your time and for your patience as well. 

AS: 

I enjoyed speaking with you a lot. And yeah, thank you for having me it was fun.

AK : 

Absolutely, hopefully we'll get to meet in person soon.

AS: 

Yeah, I hope things open up and hope to see you. Maybe when I'm behind the bar and making you a cocktail or something.

AK:

(Laughs) Yeah, sounds good.