Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom

EP 133 | From Shame To Cheers: Deb’s Journey To Alcohol-Free Joy And Community

• Deb, Mocktail Mom • Season 2 • Episode 133

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What if a single dry January became the spark for five years of clear mornings, real connection, and a thriving community? Deb—aka Mocktail Mom—opens up about the quiet shame that trailed her wine habit, the small rituals that helped her step away, and the surprising joy she found in crafting non-alcoholic drinks that actually satisfy. Sarah Kate from Some Good Clean Fun flips the script and interviews Deb about the moments that changed everything: the first receipt for NA wine, the spicy margarita tweak that delivered the “bite” she missed, and the viral video that led to her mocktail recipe book.

We walk through the upcoming Mocktail Summit with a behind-the-scenes look at the presenters across three days—Mocktails 101, functional sips and day-drinking without alcohol, and a deep dive into non-alcoholic wines with experts from Geisen, Prima Pavé, Noughty, and more. Along the way, Deb tackles common worries with practical answers: what to drink at weddings, how to replace the 5 p.m. ritual, and why presence beats champagne every time. You’ll hear about building habits that last, finding the right NA wine or spirit for your palate, and using community to turn a private goal into a sustainable lifestyle.

This is a candid, warm conversation about choosing yourself, one glass at a time. If you’re sober-curious, doing Dry January, or years into an alcohol-free life, you’ll leave with simple swaps, fresh inspiration, and a reminder that the fun’s not over—and there are still good things to drink. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Cheers to your clearest year yet.

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Click HERE for a free ticket to the Mocktail Summit. After you register, you will have the option to upgrade.

Click HERE to download the FREE 12 Days of Menopause Mocktails

You are loved. Big Time Cheers!

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome up friends and welcome to the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast. I'm your host, Deb, otherwise known as Mocktail Mom, a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on life's broken record called Detox to Retox. Let this podcast be an encouragement to you. If alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you, or you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass. I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover. It is an honor to serve as your sober fun guide. So sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing. This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky. Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers. Hey friends, it's Deb. Welcome back to Thriving Alcohol Free. How are you guys? Happy 2026. I haven't chatted with you guys since last year. Have you missed me? I've missed you guys. Happy 2026. Uh, wanted to just share with you, today is a very unique episode. Actually, uh the Mocktail Summit is coming up on January 28th, 29th, and 30th. This is my third year hosting the Mocktail Summit. Um, it's a virtual event. So this year, one of the presenters, this is actually her third year presenting. Her name is Sarah Kate. A lot of you guys know her of some good, clean fun. And we were recording together, she said, Deb, let's do a recording um of just kind of hearing your story. And um just kind of she wanted me to share a little bit. So this uh podcast episode I'm releasing for you guys is a little sneak peek into something that's gonna come out at the Mocktail Summit. And it's just a chat that I had with Sarah Kate. I'm a little embarrassed actually, because the tables got turned. The tables were turned and I was being asked the questions. So if you're doing dry January, I am just cheering you on. It was a dry January in 2021 that really changed my life. I just wanted to take a break. I wanted to be able to moderate, and lo and behold, I ended up loving it. And here I am now. I just celebrated my five-year sober versary, which is beyond belief. I can't even believe it. So to all the uh all my friends who I've known all along the way, I am so grateful for your support. And I just love being of encouragement to those who are, who are, who are on this journey as well, who are, you know, so if you're sober curious or just, you know, sober-ish or you're just doing dry January, so happy that you're here. Um, we've had a lot of changes in my house. My daughter Lily, a lot of you guys know Lil from uh Instagram. She does videos with me sometimes. She moved back home. She was a student um, well, in state, but kind of in the furthest corner of the state from you as you could get from home last semester. It was her first semester at college. And so she just moved back home. She's gonna go to community college here. Reason I'm telling you is because it's it's that's why I haven't talked to you guys in a few weeks. We've had a lot of a lot of changes going on here at the house. Um, I have been hosting happy half hours every week with my membership. So if you're not a part of that, we'd love to have you mocktailsocialclub.com. We get together once a week. We have a happy half hour, make a mock tail, and just connect and just are just encourage each other that the fun's not over and there are still good things to drink. So um anyway, we are ready to roll. I want to share this episode with you guys. It's Sarah Kate interviewing me. Uh, and this is for the Mocktail Summit. So make sure you're registered for it. Day one, Mocktails 101. Let me tell you, let me tell you who the presenters are. Derek Brown is one of the presenters for uh day one. Lily uh Bogis, she's amazing. Her drinks are so beautiful on Instagram. Sorry, I shouldn't talk about each person out. This will take too long. So I'm just gonna read the names. Okay, Torius Dabinski is Mocktail Girly. She's day one. Felicia Marshall is presenting her Instagram is Mocktailing Around. Derek Santiago, he's back for year three, and uh, he's mocktail whiz. That's day one. And then we have a happy, a happy hour that night. Rich Loud is my co-host on day one of the Mocktail Summit. We were gonna do a happy hour together last year, and um, he was diagnosed with breast cancer. And so this year he's he fought breast cancer last year, and he's gonna come on and do a happy hour with me for all of those who are on the all access pass for the Mocktail Summit. So the Mocktail Summit is free, but if you upgrade, um, you'll get a year's access to all the videos, you'll get downloadables, some PDFs, special things for you, and then as well, you'll get to an invitation to the live happy hours. And Rich Loud is hosting Happy Hour with Me, the very first night of the Mocktail Summit. So I'm super excited to do the mocktail uh happy hour with Rich. We're gonna talk about sour. So make sure you sign up. Uh, and then day two is Nat of Mindful Mocktail. You guys know her. I think she's uh close to a million followers on Instagram. Insane, so wonderful. And then Katie of Soberish Mom, we'll be talking about Kava, Kava Haven. Kendall, uh, who's a member of the Mocktail Social Club. Her Instagram is Libations Library. She joins me. Ian Blessing of all the bitter. We're gonna be making a drink together. And he and I all actually be doing a happy hour, a day drinking happy hour on day two. So day two is a live day drinking happy hour because you know what? When you are not drinking alcohol, you can day drink all day long. We're actually gonna have, we're gonna make some breakfast drinks, we're gonna have a good time. And then uh Stephanie of Seraphim, which I absolutely love, Seraphim Social Blend. I tried uh Seraphim, maybe it was right at the beginning of December, and I just fell in love with maybe it's ended, maybe it was November. It must have been before Thanksgiving, yeah, because I had it at Thanksgiving. Uh, but it's phenomenal. So she joins me to make a functional mocktail. And then day three is all about non-alcoholic wines. And so Geesen, uh the general manager of Geesen down in New Zealand, he joins us to talk about like how non-alcoholic wines are made and share a little bit about Geesen, which you guys know I talk about Geesen all the time. They're my favorite. Uh, Prima Pave, uh, they join me to make a mocktail using a 0.0 uh non-alcoholic wine. Sarah Kate, who's gonna be doing the interview here that you're gonna listen to in a second. If you keep listening, uh, Sarah Kate of Some Good Clean Fun shares kind of a uh non-alcoholic wine lover's guide uh to getting started with non-alcoholic wines. Amanda of Naughty, Naughty Wines uh from the UK, she joins me. She is the most delightful. I had so much fun chatting with her. It was so great to hear her story and um talk about hosting. We kind of talked about hosting with non-alcoholic wines. And the last one is Katya of Zoronamo, which Zoronamo made a lot of waves uh here in the U.S. last year when they came, kind of jumped into the scene of non-alcoholic wines and made a huge difference because they have one of the best non-alcoholic reds, uh, their Leonis blend. So Katya shares uh, you guys are not gonna believe the story of how Zoronamo came to America. It is so crazy how they ended up being sold here in the United States. And so I cannot wait for you to meet her. Katya of Zoronamo is one of the presenters for day three, all about nautical quines. So anyway, sign up. I'll put a little link below. And then if you want to sign up for the all access, then you get to come to the happy hours with Rich and I, Ian Blessing and I. And then day three, several of the presenters will be doing the happy hour with me just to share all the fun, all the fun, because the fun's not over. So love you guys. I missed you. I'm so happy to um connect with you. Hope you're doing great. If you need anything, just reach out, deb at mocktailmom.com. I am cheering you on. And here we go. Sarah Kate is going to be interviewing me. I hope you guys enjoy it. Talk to you guys soon.

SPEAKER_01:

The tables are turned today. I'm Sarah Kate from Some Good Clean Fun. Welcome to the Mocktail Summit. This is a very special interview because today the tables are turned. And I'm interviewing our fearless leader, the aka Mocktail Bomb. Very embarrassed. I wanted to take this opportunity because we have seen you on the screen throughout the years, on Instagram, uh at the Mocktail Summit. And nobody's ever really gotten under the hood of what you're all about. And I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce you as um, you know, introduce you and share a little bit about who you are and what led you to this place and, you know, how how you feel, you know, just how you kind of kind of were inspired to start the mocktail summit, but also, you know, you've been sober now for almost six years. So this is uh, or is it five years? Is it five years? We're just past five for the summit. Yep. So this is a big deal. And there's people watching who might have been in other mocktail summits, they might follow you on Instagram. Um, but there might be people here who are new who have never heard of you before. And I thought this would be a great opportunity to get to know Deb a little bit better. And before we start, I think we talked about this the first time we ever met.

SPEAKER_00:

Has anybody ever called you Debbie? Yeah, that's I grew up, I'm Debbie. So my parents, my parents have passed away, but they called me Debbie. My sisters call me Debbie, my husband calls me Deb. The reason I started saying Deb on Instagram was because, you know, you got to be quick. So I was just like, Deb was Deb was faster.

SPEAKER_01:

So it just kind of stuck in my videos. So I think like that actually opens up a really good um spot for us to start, which is sort of where where did you grow up and where like, you know, I don't think you you've you haven't always lived in Kentucky, is that right?

SPEAKER_00:

Correct. I grew up outside Philly, city of Brotherly Shove.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Um grew up there.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what it is. Wait, so are you an Eagles fan?

SPEAKER_00:

I I guess I am. My parents really were were. So like now I'm not really into football so much. Now I am more because my husband's a Buckeye fan. But when I see the Eagles, especially like when they're playing the Cowboys, I cheer for them mostly for my parents.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so you grew up outside of Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you have any brothers or sisters? Two sisters. I'm the middle of three girls. We're very close in age. My older sister lives about 45 minutes from me. She lives just across the river in Indiana. So it's great. So we get together at least like once a week. We'll meet up for coffee to sit and work on our laptops together or just go shopping at Costco. Yeah, hang out.

SPEAKER_01:

You need to show more of this on your Instagram because I love that part of your story that you like are close with your family because it's yeah, um, you know, it's rare when siblings get older to be close like that. So that's great. That's very true.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for my birthday, we just went and rotted in a hotel. We were like, just want to oh my god, we literally went to hotels. We could just like rot together, went out for pizza, hung out, and did nothing. It was great.

SPEAKER_01:

I want to know how did you get to this place? Um, not the mocktail sober side. We'll get to that in a little while. But I I find it so fascinating that, you know, you've landed here. You're a you were able to like immediately, as soon as you decided to, you know, and this question was gonna be further on, but I think this is a good place for this to start. It's like, wait, what did you do before this? Were you always on an entrepreneurial? What was your career before this? I know you've done a lot of other entrepreneurial ventures, but did you think ever, when you were in your 20s, that you were gonna be dancing around on camera making mocktails, making fun of Don Lemon?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, no, like I was actually thinking about this morning because this month is kind of we're filming this right now in December. I know this comes out for the Mocktail Summit at the end of January, but when we're filming this, um five years ago, right now, like right now, I was waking up with a hangover most mornings. And so I'm coming up on my five-year sober versory, which is December 31st. My first day Alt Walfrey was 2020. Yep. So no, even just five, yeah, even five years ago, no, I couldn't even imagine talking about. I was so ashamed of how much I had been drinking. You know, I just I went from like just having a glass of wine at night to relax when I was going through my divorce, two glasses of wine to get through my, you know, a bottle and all that. You know, I kind of ended up drinking a lot more than I intended to, but never in a million years did I think I would, you know, be sharing on Instagram, let alone sharing the one thing that I was most ashamed of. I was so ashamed. Yeah, I felt like I dragged around a U-Haul every day of shame because I woke up and I would be like, I did it again. Like I said I was gonna have a glass of wine and I had more. No, entrepreneurial, yes. I grew up like if we had a snow day in Philadelphia, if I woke up and I was in, you know, fifth grade, sixth grade, and there'd be snow outside and school was canceled, I was like, sweet, I'm gonna make a hundred bucks. And I would take oh, I would take my dad's shovel. And then when he got a snow cloud snowblower, I took the snowblower to the neighbors, I would knock on the doors and I would pay, I think I charge$25 if it was their driveway and their walkway. I think it was like$10, it was just their walkway. But um, yeah, I'd be like, I'd be so excited. So yeah, since an early age, I've loved entrepreneurial. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

You have that drive to be independent. Okay, that really comes across and that sort of explains um a little bit just about how you've sort of unfolded the mock-tail mom platform because um, you know, this is not just uh, okay, I'm gonna make some silly drinks on Instagram, like you've built this into a brand. And that makes total sense. It all started with the snow shovels. So then leading up, you know, obviously there's a there's a time in your life between shoveling driveways and starting mocktail mom. You had your sticker and merch business. You were doing the the custom teas and things like that.

SPEAKER_00:

And so in high school, actually, my my older sister um went to prom with this guy and we were over at his house one night. They were just good friends or whatever. We were over at his house and I was chit chatting with his mom and she had like these this back in the 80s. So I'm a Gen Xer. Um, she had these buttons and she had like little little tchotchkis and things. And I was like asking her questions about like, what is this? You know, and she's a she was a social worker, but she had this little business she did from home. This was before fax machines, you know, she would like she printed t-shirts and and made buttons for different companies. And I was so fascinated by it. And she's like, and I literally at this time I worked at the mall at a store called Marianne's for$3.35 an hour. And she said to me, Well, if you can sell something, I'll give you half the profit. And I was like, What? So I went home and I got out my phone book and you know, the phone on the wall. I picked it up, dialed all the numbers of the people with the big ads. So, like the plumbers, you know, the landscapers, people who had like paid money for the big ads in the news in the yellow pages. Oh smarter. And um, I started getting orders. I mean, I couldn't even drive a car, I was 15 years old. She would drive me to like go meet these companies and talk to them. And I started getting orders and I was like, I love this business. And I always thought, like, when I grow up one day, I want to have this kind of business where I can be a mom, be home, and do that. So I had experience in corporate America before, like I kind of did that for a while. Yeah, that during college. And then I did work corporate America doing outside sales and stuff. But then um, once I got divorced and worked corporate America again, I came back to doing this. So I still I still have clients that I do logo stuff for, like chapsticks with your logo on it, pens and mugs. I have just several clients I still work with. I just love that's so good. Okay, okay, merch. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and I've I you've mentioned your divorce a few times, and I know that you have a current husband.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Um is it Larry? Larry, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00:

My best husband ever. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, he seems like a gem, just the things that Larry does for you. But I also need to mention that there's an icon in your house, and you haven't brought her on screen yet. I'm talking about Coco. I was gonna say, are you meaning co she's under here, he's she's here under the table sleeping.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you want me to bring her on camera?

SPEAKER_01:

She has her Costco hoodie on. Hang on, please. Oh my god, we gotta see Coco, the icon in her Costco hoodie.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean Kim your baby. She's sound just like I'm sorry, I just woke her up. She's oh baby, say hi. She's got her Costco hoodie. Coco! Smile for the camera, you icon.

SPEAKER_01:

Coco say hi. She's like, leave me alone.

SPEAKER_00:

It even has a pocket on it. So cu Coco likes to shop at Costco too. We both go to Costco. Do you put little doggy treats in there? Yeah, I need to put like a little heater. Like, you know, this little hand heater, that's what I need to put in there.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god, keep her warm. That's okay. Well, I mean Hannah's moved to Hannah's moved out on her own now. Like she's married, she has her own household, but like Lily is back. She's also an icon. And if anybody who has not watched Deb on Instagram um you know, over the past two years, you have we've all seen Lily grow up from like a you know, a a freshman in high school to now a freshman in in college. And now coming back home. And uh, I mean she's not done college, but like it's yeah, it's the nice, nice to have to see her. It'll be nice to see her back on the screen. It felt like she was really a part of your brand. And very much so. And the story you've shared, and we don't have to get into it, but I think it's such a beautiful story about how Lily came into your life. And um, you know, I just I I didn't write a note down here. Did they get along?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, Hannah and Lily? Yeah. They're very close. So I have two girls. So Hannah um is biological. Lily's adapted from China. They're both 100% mine. Hannah was just about to turn, let's see, she had just turned seven. No, she was just about to turn seven when Lily came home from China. And Lily was one year old. So they're about six years apart. Um, and uh trying to think. No, they get along great. I mean, like they're very, very close. And that's just been my heart's desire for them to be their only sisters they have, and they're they're very, very close, which and actually Hannah Lily's even close with Hannah's husband. I mean, they're they're pretty tight. So it's really it's really sweet to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and I think that, you know, I I know, and this is I don't want to apply my own experience, but I do feel like my kids are, you know, when I was in the thick of drinking too much, not being present. Yeah, I do can look back now, and the only good thing that came out of that is that it brought my kids closer together, I think, because they were going through something together. Yeah. Um, I'm not saying that that happened with Hannah and Lily necessarily, but it's you know, sibling closeness is important, especially when as women, we have to manage our journey of sobriety and continue managing our growth, our your girls were teenagers when this was we were going through this, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And um, you know, just being able to have, I'm glad that, you know, Lily and Hannah have each other and my kids were able to have each other while I was, you know, it's not easy at the beginning. You want to just go and you want to go for four hour walks by yourself because you you're just wanting to have wine and you're so into it. You gotta surf the stuff. So you're out walking for two, three hours by yourself and you're kids. A lot of steps.

SPEAKER_00:

You get a lot of steps in in the beginning, right? You get a lot of yeah, you have a lot of time.

SPEAKER_01:

I just remember, yeah. Yeah, I just remember how that summer it was the first summer of COVID. It was so hot that summer, and I just remember, you know, s walking like slowly through the heat, like with my podcasts, trying to just put one foot in front of the other, you know, and literally, yeah, you know, and um but my kids anyway, my kids had each other, they were playing outside during COVID with each other, and thank God for that. And thank God the eat of your girls and um that they get along.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so grateful. Yeah, I'm so grateful. Yeah, yeah, they get along really well.

SPEAKER_01:

And you experienced Hannah's wedding without drinking, which is like that's actually epic because it's such a ingrained thing that like you've got to toast the bride with champagne and you've got to have you've gotta drink at weddings and stuff. And so, you know, I know I saw your pictures, and for anybody who hadn't seen them, it's just the joy. Like, can you imagine if you would still be drinking?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and that no, that's the thing. I think a lot of times when we when people are when especially I think a lot of us, we we think like, if I don't drink, what am I gonna drink at my children's wedding? Right, that goes through our mind. What am I gonna drink if I go to Italy? Like, I feel like those are the two things we all kind of we all kind of jump to like instantly, like if I stop drinking, what will I drink at the wedding and what will I drink in Italy? And you know what? Like, I went to my daughter, we had our daughter's wedding and it was so beautiful. And I, there was not one minute during that time where I was like, oh, I'm missing out, or I wish I had a drink. There was not one second. I wasn't missing anything, and I was fully present. I didn't wake up with a hangover. I got to enjoy all of it. I remember all of it, and we had the best time. Like we were dancing, and actually, her her friends, some of them follow me on Instagram or whatever. They were so cute. They're like, we were dancing, they're like, mocktail mom. Like they were so cute. They were so cute. It was so fun. We just had to do it.

SPEAKER_01:

You're iconic to every generation. I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. Tell me that you went to Italy. I was like, wait, I didn't I need to catch up. Why are you went to Italy?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, but maybe. But if I do one day, I'm not worried about it now. You know what I mean? But like in the beginning, I just want people to know like, just take it one day at a time. Like, just you don't have to, you don't have to future fear. You may never go to Italy, though.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the thing. People are like, what am I gonna drink in Italy? I'm like, do you have tickets?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, your your kids may never get married. It's all okay. Yeah, it will all be okay. Cross that we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm drinking a non-alcoholic beer, by the way. Cheers, cheers, cheers. Big time cheers to you. Big time cheers. Yes, I'll take a step. You had you told me earlier that you were sort of walking through this with some shame, like you were walking through life with shame. Had you ever tried any non alcoholic or mocktail options before you made this choice? Like, was this anything, did it ever cross your mind that this was gonna be a possibility? No.

SPEAKER_00:

No, when I stopped drinking that very first day, well, actually, the very first day, here I have the receipt. I don't keep receipts. Like I go at a Costco when I walk out, I throw the receipt in the trash can. I don't bring it even home. But I literally have the receipt, which I know I don't know why I even kept this. But this is the receipt from the very first non-alcoholic wine that I bought the first day I was alcohol free. This is from December 31st, 2020. Was it Stella, Rosa, or was it? This was B Well. This I bought a B Well Chardonnay. That was the very first non-alcoholic wine that I bought. Yeah. And um, but it just no, I didn't know of any non-alcoholic options. I went to the store. I remember when I bought this, and I remember thinking, what is the point? This is such a waste. But I realized I needed to figure out something to drink. Like I needed, for me, I needed something in my hand to replace the ritual, to replace, you know, what I was drinking every night. So that was, it was kind of like first thing I started doing was trying to find options. I was trying to find people online making drinks, and there weren't a lot of people. And then 10 days in is when I started my mocktail mom Instagram account. Just because I was, yeah, I was finding drinks, you know, and I was trying to like Lily and I were making mocktails. Literally, we were making, I bought a margarita mix, I bought a ritual tequila um alternative at Total Wine. And we made a uh margarita. I'd never made a margarita before in my life. Made one. And so I thought, well, if I'm looking for this, like other people are probably looking for this. And that was the whole reason I started. And I wanted to share how difficult it was because in the beginning I was really struggling. Like, what do you drink if you're not drinking? And I feel I was still feeling like I want, I still really wanted to go back to my wine ways. So I wanted to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

What was the most satisfying? So you you bought the wine, you bought the, you started making margaritas. What was the most satisfying for you? Like at the beginning, what was the thing? Because it changes over time, right? Things that are you know that I didn't love before, I love now, and et cetera, but vice versa.

SPEAKER_00:

That's true. I honestly, you know, I think because I had so much time now in the evening, I mean at the same amount of time, but like my time wasn't, I wasn't zoned out. So making mock tails and making videos, like that was very satisfying taking the time to make drinks because it was like a little hobby. Like some people when they first stop drinking, they do like puzzles or you know, they join a club or they do something or they do like, you know, adulting books. They start running, whatever. I don't want to do any of those things. So I was like, well, I enjoy kind of like figuring out these drinks. And even like with the margarita that we made, it was just a mix. Um, my husband was like, Oh, well, if you add some jalapeno brine, you know, that'll kick it up, make it spicy.

SPEAKER_01:

And I loved it.

SPEAKER_00:

It made it saved the day. He saved the day and it made give me that bite that I kind of missed from the alcohol, like that that bite, you know, you get in a sharp crisp Chardonnay or whatever. So I was like, why would I go back? Like I kept if I can have good things to drink, why would I go back to drinking that? So it kind of helped me keep going, but also gave me a really fun hobby that um that I really enjoyed, besides, you know, coloring books and puzzles.

SPEAKER_01:

Wasn't my this was actually really a good point. I never thought about this, but that it filled the space and kept your hands and your brain busy so that you go back to totally.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was just fun. It was just fun. I had no idea. I didn't have a logo, I didn't have a website domain. I mean, none of that was it was just I just had Instagram. I said Instagram, I mocktail.mom was my Instagram that I started. Well, say my my Instagram now, and I hadn't told anybody I was taking a break from alcohol. I hadn't even told my husband at that time. I didn't tell him until about three or four weeks into my journey that I was taking a break. I just, it was like, you know what you want to do. Yeah, I just needed to like focus on it myself. I didn't want to make any announcements. I didn't want anybody to be like, oh, we knew you were gonna go back to your wine. I thought by the first weekend, there's for sure I'll be back at Total Wine. I'll be buying my, you know, Kim Crawford. I'll be back. So I didn't want to tell anybody. So um, oh, but I didn't know anything about Instagram. So silly me, I tagged our town when I posted one of my first videos. I tagged the town that I live in. So next thing I know, one of my neighbors starts following me. I mean, I had no followers. So it was like, I don't know, if it was like 22 followers or whatever. And next it was like 23. And I was like, who's that? That's Jennifer Nash. And I'm like, what? How does she know? She's gonna think I have a problem. Like, she's gonna think I am an alcoholic. Like all those things that went through my head why I was ashamed to even tell people I was evaluating my relationship with alcohol. I was so nervous. So I blocked her. I didn't want anybody to know. Seriously. Did you apologize later? Later, yeah. But I mean, literally, that's how that's how like at the beginning I just wanted to talk to strangers on the internet. It wasn't like I wanted to talk to anybody on mute. And now now everybody knows who you are.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you always have a bit of a like yearning to tell, to share stories? Like you're a very good, like you literally started making videos because you came on right when Reels was taking off. Like you kind of came onto Instagram. It wasn't just it was photos at the beginning.

SPEAKER_00:

But then I think I don't think it was called Reels right then. I think it was like it was just videos, right? It was like IG TV. IGTV. Mm-hmm. I was on when it was IGTV. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

And because I didn't get deep, yeah, and I did see a lot of you did do a lot of videos, or you did do videos, but I mean, you've had to learn how to become a a producer, a video editor. Seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the word. I use Capcut. Yes, I have ring lights now. Like I've had to like figure figure all that out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And there was like obviously there's a you know a deep-seated like desire of like passion for you to tell stories because sure you're making a mock tail and talking about things, but there's still stories involved and storytelling involved in that. And you've turned out to be a really good storyteller. Like the way that you tell your you share your videos, it first of all comes across with so much joy and authenticity that I don't think anybody else can match that. I really think that that's the thing that has, you know, it keeps you it, it it positions you way high. What am I trying to say here? I definitely feel it's elevated you to where you are right now because you're so you show up authentically and joyfully. And there's no thank you. Um, you know, you're not trying to fake it. You're not trying to like be somebody you're not, you're just you are who you are. And that comes across very much so. But you've also you also do a really good job of telling a story within that authenticity and joy at at your journey, it really, you know, comes across. And did you ever like were you were you that person that sat around and told stories, you know, at bars or like at family gatherings?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, but I did like like I did scrapbooking, you know, like I liked to do scrapbooking like for my girls when they were little and stuff like that. But um honestly, really the story I want people to know in and and in anything that I share is that the fun's not over and there are still good things to drink. Like I just feel like that I've like distilled the message down to like what have I been trying to say? Right people for people to know. It's like yeah, it's not over. There's still good things to drink, like good times are still ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

And yeah, and that's that was sort of my next question, actually. But you sort of answered it, and so you can keep going on this, but like, why is it so important to share this message? And that's I, you know, I think that that's what it is. And so, you know, you've you sort of have figured out that this is the best way to if you can, you know, change one life through making videos. And it it um, you know, I think I do feel like I mean you know it, but I just have to reiterate, I think you've made such an impact, especially amongst women over 40. Um with the way that you've just sort of showed up and said, like, just make this drink, just make this moptail.

SPEAKER_00:

And um, it's if you don't like it, try another one. If you buy a non-alcoholic wine and you don't love it, like try another one. You're gonna find you are gonna find what you love. You're gonna find, you know, the non-alcoholic options that you love. There's something for everybody, especially now. Now there's everything. We have everything. There's everything.

SPEAKER_01:

There's everything. What are your what are your plans for the future now? Like you've you've built this whole, this sort of, I want to say empire. It's really an empire around it's a lovely call. I like that you call it an empire. Well, it is because you're you're leading this conversation. You've been the leader of the conversation for a long time. And I don't think you get enough credit for that, Deb. Like you really don't. And I um you've built this this narrative that like there's still good things to drink, the fun isn't over. Um, what was the other one? Uh muddle like a mother. Muddle like a mother. You come up with all these cute ways to tell the story, which is like fun, enlightening, enjoying you, life isn't over, fun isn't over. And so, you know, what do you what do you see on the horizon for yourself and for mocktail mom? Like, what are your next goals? You've written a book, you've got a podcast, you've got the mocktail summit. Um, you know, now that Lily's home, she can be your assistant again.

SPEAKER_00:

Honestly, I really want to lean more into community. I find like I have a membership. Um, and I even like this summit, my favorite part is like the happy hours that we have, seeing people on screen, seeing their posts, the comments that I get or DMs just saying, like, I tried this, or thank you so much. Like this really resonates with me. I, you know, you get messages, right? Like, I'm three months alcohol free. Thank you so much for sharing your story. That is like the fuel that keeps me going. But I I want my life to make a difference. Like at some point, like we're all gonna die, you know, not to be like Debbie Downer, but like it's just reality, right? We're all gonna die. I want my life to make a difference. I want my life to count for eternity. And I just, I'm so grateful. I feel like I've been rescued really from what was such had such a stronghold on me. And that I just was not created to be a hungover mom. I wasn't. It's not who I was created to be. And so to be able to encourage others is what I want to do more. And then in 2026, I really want to lean more into my community, my membership, um, and just get togethers, whether it's just like on Zooms, just kind of even even live and in person, I will leave my house. Usually I just go to Costco and come home. But I'm gonna leave my house a little more this year. That's the goal.

SPEAKER_01:

You're gonna leave your house. Okay. That's a great goal to have. Leave your house, Dab. I have one more question and then I have a lightning, a quick lightning round for you. Okay, and then and then we're gonna sign off. Okay. So my my last question is please tell us that Clubhouse Spices is going to give you a massive brand deal. Pumpkin pumpkin spice? Tell me, please tell us that some sort of spice crack is gonna give you a brand deal.

SPEAKER_00:

That's I think it's Kroger, right? I think it was Kroger.

SPEAKER_01:

I couldn't remember. I thought it was Clubhouse because that's like another brand book.

SPEAKER_00:

It's my my pumpkin pie. Okay, so like, like many people my age, or your parents maybe that you go to when you go to their house, you go in their pantry and it's like, this is from 2010, mom. Well, that's my house. Like, my husband doesn't like to throw anything away. And I don't really, not as much as him, but like, you know, is there any flavor left in that spice though? Like fine, yes, the pumpkin pie spice from 2007 is just fine. It's absolutely fine. It works fine. Oh my god. Well, okay. But I did I did buy some new stuff. No, no deals or something.

SPEAKER_01:

I want somebody to like, I was hoping you were gonna say that yes, like Kroger or Plowhouse or whatever, like McCormick's is giving you like a space. No brand deal. No brand deal on the sending you some new pumpkins.

SPEAKER_00:

They did actually, Kroger did send me a package. I think the first year I posted that, they did send me a package with some some non-expired pumpkin pie spice. Yeah, they were like, uh, we can do better than this. Oh my god. I've probably been a big disappointment to them because I keep posting the old video every year. Because we all have, I mean, come on, everybody has something expired in their kitchen. Or like some there's some family member that pulls something out and they go, It's not that old. It's not that old. I can eat it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, nothing growing on this. Um, okay, so I have a I'm a quick lightning round for you, okay? So you gotta answer just like one uh one.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, there's a few funny ones if you're not okay. Lightning round, and it can't just be somebody that's sponsoring, okay, Mobbtail Summit. It has to be like a true, like what is your absolute favorite drink?

SPEAKER_00:

The only ones who are sponsoring are my favorites. Those are the only people I've talked to.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, favorite, favorite non-alcoholic drink, hands down, your like favorite in the whole world.

SPEAKER_00:

Non-alcoholic drink or not like I mean, probably my go-to at this point because I'm not in that stage of like wanting to make mocktails every night. I don't it's geese and Sauvignon Blanc, I know. Thank you. You know me. That's what I reach for all the time. So, yes, they are the sponsor of day three, the non-alcoholic wines, because they're my favorite. I'm not talking I'm not working with companies that I don't actually love. Love you, geese. You guys are great. Thank you for sponsoring.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for sponsoring mocktails on the city.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you're amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, okay, so what is your uh dream destination?

SPEAKER_00:

Honestly, Larry and I would love to go to Italy. Um, ironically, we wouldn't do we would love to go to Italy. I've only been to Italy for one day once, and he and I have never been, we've never traveled overseas. So um it would be really nice to do that together. So that was drink destination, favorite daughter. Both.

SPEAKER_01:

I know you're trying to say that.

SPEAKER_00:

Coco. Coco. Coco. They know she, they know, they know she's the favorite child. They literally know. Yeah. My son-in-law, they got me a shirt that said my favorite child. It's for like my my son-in-law's my favorite child. So I do have that.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they're all my favorite. I really, I have such great relationships with both of my daughters. I'm so grateful.

SPEAKER_01:

I was gonna ask you for what your favorite moment in your sober in the last like five or six years, growing my tell mom, what's what was your favorite, like most like a memory that if you it stopped tomorrow, what is the the memory that is the thing that's like, wow, I can't believe that happened to me.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, when I posted the video about Don Lemon and how my account blew up and how a book publisher slid into my DMs, and that's how the happiest hour, my mocktail recipe book, came to be. I mean, that's amazing. Yeah, we could just like close it right now. That's we're done. That's amazing. I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't actually realize that that's how it happened.

SPEAKER_00:

So it was crazy town. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And it went from this, it went from like Don Lemon's book in like eight months.

SPEAKER_00:

It was crazy. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So I think that's, I mean, it's I have I clear a book out all the time and look at stuff just because it's like I need inspiration for something, like a recipe or whatever. Yeah, yeah. That's just fun of you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It's been really fun. I was, you know, I wasn't a good student in school. I was terrible. I I literally held up like the bottom of the class, like there was the top of the class, and then there was like Deb. So that's fine. But so all that to say, when the book came out, I was like so nervous, like I didn't think anybody was gonna like it. So I didn't really, it's terrible. I didn't do a ton of promoting in the beginning. I was like, I was like, I don't know if anybody really wants, I don't know. And people, I've had such great response. And so like now I feel a lot more comfortable a year later promoting it, talking about it.

SPEAKER_01:

So, you know, we're all growing, we're all, I'm still learning and also being being a being a good student has nothing to do with your ability to create a beautiful mocktail book. Like, really, there's no connection there. Like being a good student.

SPEAKER_00:

I do agree, but it's like in your head where you're like, oh, I'm like a C student, you know, and like no nobody's gonna want to read my paper, so to speak.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, fine. You can't do algorithms and algebra, like who cares?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. But I can figure out a discount in the store very quickly. That is the math I can do. 30% off, 40% off. I have no problem. I don't need a calculator for that. That's that's kind of iconic also, because I'm like, I need a calculator. No, that's the only kind of math I know. Like I can do that.

SPEAKER_01:

I love you.

unknown:

This is the best kind of math.

SPEAKER_00:

You can figure out a discount. No problem.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh. Well, this was um, thank you so much for uh answering all of our questions and being here for an interview and letting us get to know you a little bit more. And happy that you're building what you're building. And you know, you don't get enough credit for the thought leadership you've had. So congratulations on the Mocktail Summit.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you, thank you. Year three, I can't even believe it. I'm so grateful. The Mocktail Summit was something I couldn't get out of my head. I this this is why it all started. I just was like, I want to do something where we can just like gather everybody together and do something online. So thank you for being a part of it. You've been a part of it every year. So thank you. And just for what a great friend you've been to me and a supporter of me in every way. So thank you, my friend. I love you so much. Yeah, love you. Love you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00:

Big time cheers to you for tuning in to the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast. I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social, send up a flare, or leave a rating and a review. I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom. See you in the next episode.