In recognition of Women’s History month, the March issue is highlighting a local female business owner, Jennifer Stiefel, Co-owner & President of Heritage Distillery which recently went through a public offering.  Stiefel, a former educator, turned business owner shares advice and insight from her experiences working with her husband to launch, grow and prosper in their local award-winning distillery business. At Heritage Stiefel oversees many aspects of the company including the Tribal Beverage Network (TBN) which brings economic opportunities to tribal partners throughout the United States. She also takes the lead in interacting with staff, specifically the directors of each department, to ensure things run smoothly.

We hope you enjoy this question-and-answer presentation with Jennifer Stiefel.

What gets you out of bed every morning?

My first action item is to get in a workout at my local gym. I need to move my body every day.  I’ll be celebrating my 50^th birthday this year I’m finding that the simple things in life are the motivating factors to show up each day and to do the very best I can.  Some days my best could be better, but I guess that’s what tomorrow is for.

What is the best part of your day?

I really have a few notable parts of my day that bring me joy.  The start of my day is always greeted with a fresh cup of coffee lovingly given to me by my husband of 27 years, Justin.  It doesn’t matter where I am in the house, he finds me and delivers the coffee often with a kiss.

Throughout the day I will receive at least one call, sometimes more, and I love it, from each of our children. Our house has become a bit quieter as the years pass, but I can always count on picking up the phone to a sweet voice on the other end saying, “Hi Mom, what are you doing?”

My day will typically end with Justin and I sitting on the couch talking about our day, what the kids had to say, and then we might open a bottle of Italian wine or have a whiskey on the rocks.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Over the years I’ve been asked what advice I would give to aspiring entrepreneurs, and I think my answer has evolved into a piece of advice that not only serves well in business, but also in life.  Choose your life partner wisely.  Kids will be born, grow and then adventure off into the world. Employees and board members will move on. Parents will pass away. Business will evolve with or without you.  Your partner- well, they need to be “all in” no matter what life gives you.

Second, before you pull the trigger to start your new venture, have a solid idea of what you want the end of it to look like so you can build toward that goal – whether its to run a small solo-person firm, you want to become a regional name, or you want to go big. If you know where you want to go, you can more easily create the path to get there.

Heritage recently went public.  What was the most challenging part of that process?

Like anything in business, access to capital is the number one challenge. Second is access to time.  Time is a concept that can be confusing to people within an organization.  I often get pressed for answers on various topics, but the timing of decisions and answers are not always in leadership’s control and that can be frustrating.  Time can be a help or a hindrance and being comfortable without knowing when you might find the answer to the most pressing challenges you face is what leaders have to feel comfortable carrying each day.

Has becoming a publicly owned company changed your everyday work life?

Our schedule and the cadence of meetings and reporting has changed because we now have quarterly targets and public reporting, and we now have an entirely new set of owners (public stockholders) that we need to be aware of as we make business decisions. We also have a large layer of new rules on regulations we need to follow, which adds another layer of complexity, but we believe this move will be worth it for our consumers and stockholders and we are proud to be able to show other local companies that going public and working to “go-big” is possible. The evolution of a company is impactful on all parts of everyday work life. What has not changed is the focus on good quality spirits, excellent customer service and commitment to our stockholders.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

I love astrology! I find it fascinating to learn about astrological signs as they can provide a sense of meaning, guidance and understanding of people’s personalities and life events.