Monday Motivation: Drink Pink Beer – I’ll Tell You Why!

Monday Motivation, Buy from Women Entrepreneurs, Women’s History Month

It all began with Cocoa Puffs Stout and ended with Pink Boots Bingo. Where was I? Another clue, it took place in Prison City among vats of hops, tables of women dressed in shades of pink, cheese pairings, and luncheon options created by a Beeroness, who produced a cookbook of foods made from beer.

As the supporter of women-owned companies, sometimes my job is more serious like speaking to Labor Commissioners about equal pay, marching arm-in-arm with my sisters in DC for women’s rights, or even running a 3K to bring attention to women in Afghanistan who don’t have the right to run freely. Then there are joyful days when supporting a woman-owned brewery, networking with other women who started their own breweries in a male-dominated industry, make my career choice an easy, slam-dunk.

Sitting to the left of me at a large wooden table was Laura Day, the female CEO of BBL – Better Beverage Leaders, based in Maryland – a distributor of Belgium beers – along with her marketing director Brian Walsh, who traveled to Auburn, New York, to promote their brands of beer and participate as a woman-owned company in the brew industry. I tasted their pink elephant branded beer brand called Delirium, well-known by my sons. It was pretty good especially at 10:30 a.m. to kick off Women’s History Month.

After meeting Laura Dierks, Founder & CEO of Interboro,, the first Brooklyn brewery-distillery, located about ten minutes from my son’s apartment, I excitedly texted him the news and told him we were visiting it next time I was in the Big Apple. He was familiar with the brewery and their great tasting beers like their SuperHero Sidekicks beer.  “You’ll see me at your place Laura and I’ll have my sons and their friends in tow, don’t worry,” I said truthfully explaining how I love putting money in the hands of other woman-owned companies first and foremost.

Framed in front of large silver shining vats of beer at Prison City Brewing, was Dawn Schultz, the co-owner of the establishment and event hostess, who spoke every time a new beer was introduced to our tables, sometimes paired with cheese or chocolates or other delicious bites. The event she declared was to raise money for the Pink Boots Society Scholarship to send women interested in the brewing industry somewhere to learn more about the career. My friends from Better Beverage Leaders in fact use the scholarship money to send a woman from their area to Belgium for training. It makes you want to get involved, right?

So, today’s Monday Motivation blog post is three-fold, and could be read with “pink” beer:

* Remember there are still industries dominated by men, with women rising in their ranks. These are women other women must support to keep the momentum going. We must change the world with our actions – especially where we place our money.

* Look on labels, websites, bar menus, and more to find products made by, or distributed, by women and commit to buy them more often while sharing their business with other consumers.

* Don’t say no to an opportunity to network with other women to open up your connections to women in diverse fields. There are some really amazing women among us.

Next time I pick up a beer to cheer with, I can guarantee you it will be from a woman-owned brewery, winery, or distributor where I know my green money turns into pink money for other women.