Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Houston.
Hi Stephanie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My involvement at the distillery was actually born from a complete and total failure. I had done really well in Dallas, starting a nationwide staffing company in 2001 that served all 50 states. When my partners and I sold the business in 2008, we had 700+ employees. I was so excited. I was semi-retired and looking for the next professional project I could really be passionate about. Then the stock market crashed and I got sued three times in a year. I went into a complete panic spiral, scrambling to find how I would make up that money. I had grown up with nothing and I wasn’t going back there. There’s something visceral about fear that can really distort your decision making.
My parents divorced when I was in 6th grade. My mom supported the two of us on $6k a year. No one knew, including our extended family, that we literally had no food in the house. I ate at friends’ houses all the way through high school while my mom went to school during the day and worked at night. I was raising myself in her absence and just figuring out how to survive until I could graduate by the skin of my teeth. There’s something you learn there about figuring out ways to survive no matter what.
I had always been a great student, but in high school, I realized my eyesight was pretty terrible. I need glasses and well, my mom just couldn’t get them for me so I just faked my way through school. It didn’t matter, I still made it into UT.
With the help of a ton of student loans I put myself through five years of college. Five years of switching majors and figuring out the hard way how to navigate school. It’s not easy to feel your way through college. I desperately wanted to go to medical school but just didn’t have the grades to cut it. It’s silly, but I literally just couldn’t see in class and glasses were just something I had to do without. Plus, I had no guidance and didn’t even know where to get it.
I started working in retail stores and some bars on 6th street and just naturally had a knack for sales and talking with people. I worked my way through the last 2 years at UT and moved back to Dallas.
Flash forward to 2008 – One of my most memorable moments… writing a check for my student loan balance after selling the company. Even though I never wanted to relive those survival days, I lived in constant fear money was running out which inevitably produces the same result. Naturally, a series of events – the stock market crashing, lawsuits etc. put me into complete panic mode. For some reason it never actually occurred to me that maybe I could take all my experience and go get a job. I had this weird concept that once you are in business for yourself, no one will hire you.
I was sitting on some cash and sort of thought I was invincible in a way. I had programmed in a limiting belief that there was no way to go back to work for someone after having your own success. I really thought no one would hire me and couldn’t even list my skills in a resume. This started a six month depression where I really struggled to even get out of bed. It took everything I had to scrape myself up and be present for my kids. I had completely lost my identity – going from someone who launched a successful business to no one overnight in my mind. I felt attacked from all angles. I was basically broken for the next nine years.
Through all that, there was one thing that always lifted my spirits – being really great at my work. Back in my college days here at UT, I worked at one of the reiterations of La Zona Rosa and had always loved the live music scene.
My son had been playing music for a couple years around the Deep Ellum area. For me, he’s still the best musician that’s ever lived. It was 2009 and I randomly had this idea to start a music venue.
There were rumors a few of the clubs around the Deep Ellum area were on the verge of closing permanently. I drove by one day and pulled up just past one of the spots I’d heard about and saw a giant for lease banner. I called the number; the property manager was right across the street and walked over to show it to me on the spot. I signed on the spot and I suddenly had a purpose again. The rest is a three year dive into the music scene at a venue I opened called LaGrange.
LaGrange was so well thought out. I brought in friends that were absolute craftsmen and artists to complete the finish outs. LaGrange opened on December 30, 2009 to a packed house. I had great reviews and won lots of awards. I was featured in the New York Times and won Best Bar two years in a row – but I could never get it above water, which meant I was pouring money into it while not making a dime. I was meeting amazing people from all over the country and running big events for the City of Dallas, partnering with exciting new concepts and so much more.
One of my partnerships was with Ben Calais – who I knew was one of the best winemakers in Texas. His winery was just around the corner from LaGrange and we were one of the first spots to carry his wines for our visitors. My concept of build something great then sell it mindset started to kick in and I started looking for a buyer to basically bail me out before I went through all the money I had. One day a friend came up to me and said, “Well as a successful businesswoman, you know better than anyone, that you can’t just throw money at something and expect it to work”. Only I hadn’t actually ever considered that, and I was once again in panic mindset thinking I was running out of money.
While I was lost in my own turmoil, I was completely unaware of the turmoil happening in my own home. One of my kids was having a terrible time in school and I was so consumed with trying to survive I was completely oblivious to what was going on under my own nose. A small window appeared, and I moved to Austin to get closer to family support. I dropped everything I had to get out of that situation. In just three days, I sold or gave away everything I had and moved to– including a house I had just purchased.
One day, I was feeling particularly lost – I had remarried along the way and that relationship was also ending. I sat at the Central Market on N. Lamar, with a glass of wine – because day drinking at a grocery store sounded like the best idea I’d had in a good while. A couple weeks earlier, I had gone out to the wine country for the first time ever. On our drive, I was stricken by the beauty of the hill country, wondering how I could open up a winery or something with the money I had left and basically zero experience. It was a pipe dream for sure.
I grab my glass of wine and a salad – grab a copy of Edible Austin and sit at one of the tables in the cafe. Mindlessly flipping through, I see a picture and article of Ben Calais – he’s moved his winery to Hye. I message him on Facebook. We reconnect a couple weeks later after he posts asking for some help at his winery. We spend some time catching up discussing a variety of things including this rum project he’s been working on.
What he doesn’t know – is that rum is my absolute favorite spirit, speaking to me in a way that has some sort of deep cathartic meaning – a symbol to me of escaping the real world to vacation land. I had done that a lot over the previous years. Burn out? Nothing a drink with an umbrella and a beach can’t fix. Getting sued? Oh! A nice Pina Colada will take care of that. I told him I wanted to be a part. He said he already had a partner and I pushed again – “if you ever need a partner or investor, just keep me in mind” Over the next few month, Ben would call here and there. I’d always ask if it was rum time. He’d say, “No just wondering if you could watch my dog”, or “help in the tasting room this weekend”.
One time I didn’t ask. He said “It’s rum time. Do you want the spot”.
So Ruminate Distilling wouldn’t have happened without the trials and tribulations LaGrange and LaGrange wouldn’t have happened without the success of the staffing agency. Ultimately, I couldn’t have done any of it without any of my experiences just trying to survive.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I reflect over my life, I notice a pattern of running through walls. I’ve basically done whatever it takes, no matter how hard and made something happen. I’m not sure I really recommend this method, but there’s some beauty in appreciating the journey and where you are each day.
Where we are today as a distillery has been a five year lesson in refinement and really understanding the wants of the end consumer. It’s also been a journey in the evolution of my relationship with my business partner James. I signed our partnership agreement though I had never actually met James in person. But I was sure that this was the right road for me then and we’ve hit our stride as friends and business partners. James is someone who’s always open to new ideas and is willing to take big risks – it’s something I have mad respect for.
We started the distillery with $60k and let me say we were on our last dollars after a completely bootstrap startup and reworking the property as best we could. We opened to a comedy of errors. Our first rum was released 30 minutes before our first event. A whole set of bottles fell and shattered and the corks were too small after we realized the bottle company sent and printed the wrong bottles. The first rum, a big bold Silver Jamaican style rum – was so delicious to sip but was terrible in our fruity drinks and we didn’t know this until after we served them – remember, we finished the rum the same day we opened.
The location is a challenge in itself. Though a charming town, Hye is in the middle of a desert, with no real supplies within 45 minutes or so of the location. It’s an hour and fifteen minute commute for me each way. Our tasting room is a residence and the production room an old fruit stand. We trim our own trees, spread our own gravel, weed our own wild grass, paint our own buildings and since the pandemic, build up and tear down our gift shop every day we open. We have extension cords hanging out of every window and no running water in places. We do everything by hand, with nothing automated. We’ve proven that we can run through a wall each day, even in a pandemic and still survive.
Late 2018 we bought Ben’s shares back and now I run the distillery with James and a group of close friends who invested in our future.
We’ve realigned our vision to build this thing into an empire. Now we have 3 brands: HYE Rum(craft line), Island Getaway Rum (flavored rums) and Djinn (craft gin). Trust me, I know exactly how many bottles we have to sell to make $1 billion dollars and we are going to do it, even if we have to run through many, many walls and pass a legacy on to our kids.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have 30 years in a variety of sales and marketing and am a self-taught graphic and web designer. I’m fluent in accounting and human resources– have to wear all the hats you know!
It took me a really long time to appreciate the skillset I’ve developed over the last 30 years. I thrive in sales, strategy and start-ups. I’m a futurist, so I can see patterns and a variety of outside the box ways to solve a problem. Give me an endpoint and I’ll give you a variety of routes to get there. I’m also a maximizer, so crunching numbers to get the best result or understanding how to make something really great drives me.
I’ve started some really fun business concepts including the first trailer park eatery in Dallas , one of the first yoga studios in Dallas and a paleo business. I’m really great at consulting, though I don’t always follow my own advice. I love to create excellence – in the product, in the experience, or in a work environment.
What makes you happy?
I love being great at my job. It’s really what feeds my soul. it took me a long time to realize that. No matter where I am, no matter what I’m doing, if I’m doing it well I’m happy. A change in perspective helped me get there after several years of feeling lost and like only certain avenues were acceptable.
I’ve shifted my mindset to see the happiness that already exists in my life rather than chase outside things to “be happy”. Happiness is within me and I know it when I am in alignment with my purpose – which could really be anything I’m doing and doing well. I think this finally stuck for me now at 47.
Pricing:
- $22-28 per bottle
Contact Info:
- Email: info@hyerum.com
- Website: www.hyerum.com
- Instagram:@hyetxrum, @islandgetawayrum, djinncraft
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyetxrum
Image Credits
Leo Aguirre, Amanda Levy and Oscar Valdez
