Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jan Livingston-Mokhtari, Co-Founder of Gray Whale Gin, located in Manhattan Beach, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Gray Whale Gin is a unique gin that tastes like California in a glass. It is perfected with six sustainably sourced botanicals — juniper, kombu, almonds, lime, fir, and mint — harvested along the 12,000-mile path of the California gray whale, the longest annual migration known to mankind. Every bottle supports ocean conservation through contributions to Oceana and 1% for the Planet. It's conservation through cocktails. Gray Whale Gin is the No. 2 premium gin in California and No. 5 in the country. It has made a big impact on the ocean conservation community.

More than ever, consumers are gravitating toward brands that align with their values; they want to support products they feel good about consuming. The combination of this new conscious consumer and a fresh generation of purpose-driven entrepreneurs has the power to ensure that profits and purpose can thrive together.

Tell us about yourself

In 2016, while on a camping trip in Big Sur, California, with my two daughters and my husband, Marsh Mokhtari, Marsh and I gazed across the turquoise ocean to admire the beauty of the California coast and spotted a gray whale and her calf on their northern migration. At that very moment, the idea for Gray Whale Gin was born.

Sitting on the cliff's edge, we had deep conversations — the type that happens only when you're on vacation, away from your nine-to-five job and daily to-do list. Despite our career success, we felt something was missing: a meaningful legacy to leave our daughters. Together, we decided to create a product we could be proud of, and that would actively give back to ocean conservation and the majestic Pacific gray whale.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is affecting real legislative change that protects the gray whales and helps to make the oceans a safer place for large marine animals. We didn't just want to make a monetary donation to Oceana; we wanted to put Gray Whale Gin's purpose into practice. Marsh and I met with Oceana scientists to identify one of the biggest threats to gray whales and asked how we could help in addition to funding. The threat was drift-gillnet fishing, sometimes referred to as "walls of death," and my background in the storytelling world would help lead to a solution.

Over the past year, through our partnership with Oceana, Gray Whale Gin has successfully effected legislative change to ban mile-wide drift gillnets in California. This is a critical win for marine wildlife, including the California gray whale, as this change encourages fishermen to transition to cleaner fishing gear, making the oceans a safer place for its inhabitants.

California is the final U.S. state to implement a ban on mile-long drift gillnets used to catch swordfish off the coast. These nets entangle, injure and kill large ocean animals, including whales, dolphins, seals, sea turtles, sharks, and other ecologically important fish. However, there is a cleaner option: deep-set buoy gear catches swordfish without entangling so many other marine species.

We created a compelling 60-second film to create awareness about the threat, introduce Oceana's proposed solution, and raise funds to help implement it. The spot assisted in raising more than $1 million to match funds from the state of California, which in turn triggered California's four-year phase-out period for all remaining drift-gillnet permits by Jan. 31, 2024.

Gray Whale Gin and Oceana are now fighting for legislation to be passed that will ban drift gill nets on a federal level. Once the federal bill passes Congress and is signed into law, large-scale drift gillnets will be permanently phased out nationwide.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of my biggest challenges is knowing when to ask for help. As an entrepreneur, you're very comfortable wearing many hats and exercising muscles and skills you didn't even know you had. Sometimes you become too comfortable with taking on everything, and when you don't have the experience and expertise in a certain area, you can quickly spiral trying to do it on your own. That spiral takes precious time and energy away from what you really need to focus on in order to get your business off the ground. Figure out what you're good at and what is better to outsource.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Remember, it doesn't happen overnight. A business's success journey is won through many small meaningful steps, not a few big leaps.
  2. Write down your company mission and start every day with the simple act of reading that intention. Mine is on a wall in my office. It will help you see the forest through the trees.
  3. Always be in beta. When your mindset is in beta, meaning you embrace change every day – you will anticipate change and even celebrate change. You will be ready to learn from your failures, pivot to new solutions, and grow faster and smarter.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Celebrate and define a new definition of success for yourself, not just money, but money complemented by meaning. Consider how your business can be purpose-driven- to be a force for good in the world. By pretty much every measure of brand success, consumers are more likely to try, stay loyal, pay more, and advocate for companies that genuinely do good. This means doing good is good for business.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://graywhalegin.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graywhalegin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/graywhalegin

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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