Karen (second from right) with members of the Women’s Distillery Guild (now a subgroup of Women of the Vine & Spirits).
The Power of Female Mentoring
Author: Montanya Distillers
When our Founder and Owner, Karen Hoskin, started Montanya Distillers, she was often one of the only women in the room. It came with a lot of misguided assumptions—most people assumed she was anyone but the owner and founder—and required that she spend a lot of time proving her expertise before she could get down to business.
It had another impact as well: when it came to finding qualified mentors who believed in her, especially female mentors, options were slim to none. While there’s no doubt certain distillers proved invaluable with their expertise and time, few of them were women. Those who were didn’t have experience as owners and therefore hadn’t dealt with the same set of challenges. Karen mostly had to find her own way.
It’s one of the main reasons she now dedicates as much time as she can to supporting women in the distilling world, including distillers and distillery owners—she would have loved the same support. Karen also knows that many women come to distilling from other fields, and are less likely to grow up hearing about business and how to run one. And in the distilling business in particular, there are so many ways the industry breaks from business norms. Finding your way is not a linear path.
We asked fellow female distillers and business owners for their take on what makes female mentorship invaluable. While they’ve all mentored with Karen, perhaps the greatest part about these relationships is that they have a ripple effect. Mentoring, it seems, begets more mentoring and that means more successful women in the distilling business. It is also never a one way street, Karen learns so much from these colleagues too.
(We also share tips at the end for finding mentors.)
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Debbie Word of Chemist Spirits
Chemist Spirits
Founder and Distiller Debbie Word perfected Chemist Gin with her daughter, through many hours of moonshining. She believes that mentorship has been crucial to the craft distilling world as a whole. “Without mentorship within the craft distilling world, the entire industry would suffer. It is my belief that one of the reasons that the craft segment has been able to grow dramatically over the last decade has been the willingness within the community of craft distillers to share knowledge and advice, rather than sit back and watch the uninitiated slowly drown in poor decisions while reinventing the proverbial wheel.”
In 2015, she “stole” some of Karen’s time at Montanya’s Crested Butte distillery—a meeting that propelled Debbie on her own journey and inspired her to pay it forward.
“I still have the notes I took, sitting in her tasting room, while asking her a myriad of questions about her experience. And her answers and advice were invaluable. It was this time with her that gave me the confidence that I could in fact do this, but also opened my eyes to the struggles ahead. And because of this, now that I have built a growing, successful business, I feel compelled to ‘pay it forward’ whenever possible. I get great satisfaction out of spending time with hopeful new distillers and entrepreneurs, giving them insight into what they are about to take on, helping them avoid some of the pitfalls, and watching the excitement of a new adventure.”
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Karen and craft distilling colleagues listen to author Katherine Wilkinson of Drawdown speak about reducing carbon emissions around the world.
Finding Mentors
Fortunately, the number of women in leadership positions in the craft distilling industry is growing. Finding mentors isn’t as challenging as it was even ten years ago. Here are a few tips of Karen’s for finding mentors:
Professional organizations are a great way to meet other women in the industry. Montanya Distillers is a corporate member of Women of the Vine & Spirits, which hosts a number of in-person and virtual events.
Conferences have also been a great way for Karen to make new connections and build lasting friendships. Some of her favorites include the UK Rum Fest, Tales of the Cocktail, and the Miami Rum Congress. She also regularly attends the American Distilling Institute and the American Craft Spirits Association conference.
Ask your network for input. Have a specific area of interest? Ask your existing friends and colleagues for recommendations.
Don’t be afraid to just ask but do your homework ahead of time. By nature and necessity, distillery owners are busy—you can demonstrate an awareness of that by being respectful of their time and having clear questions that relate to their expertise.
Don’t be discouraged by the word no. If one person passes on the opportunity, that doesn’t mean everyone else will too.