I like craft beer. I like most things associated with the craft beer. I often volunteer my time to help at beer events and festivals. Last summer I was slinging craft beer at an outdoor beer festival when I noticed a local celebrity approach me (yes, ME!) for a yummy beverage. I know, he was after the beer, but I couldn’t help myself from gushing about Dayton’s very own late-night TV show. Yes, we have one of those. And yes, this was the host talking to me about the amazing beer scene here in Dayton, Ohio. I strategically gave him my card. In turn, I was quasi-offered an interview slot on his show, Gem City Tonight, to talk about one of my favorite things: Girls Pint Out! 

The next few weeks were spent emailing the show’s producer and settling on a date for the interview. I began preparing for the interview. It became apparent that if I could just trust myself, I already had the knowledge I needed. For four years, I have been talking to people about how wonderful GPO is, and the creative, supportive community that we have built. We span the entire country, and everyone is invited. 

I ended up talking about the cicerone program with Andrew. We talked about my favorite style of beer, which I got wrong! I told him West Coast IPA and everyone that knows me knows I heart Black IPAs more than anything! He kept trying to get me to commit to a favorite brewery (which I avoided answering!) I did throw out a few of my most supportive venues when talking about events. I also got to play sports trivia with the hosts of the Hateful 8 podcast (I knew one of the answers and did not do a very good job of keeping my cool.) 

Lessons Learned

This was my television debut and I was more than a little nervous. Here are a few tips I have since come up with:

  1. Know your roots: How, when, and where did GPO start? How many active chapters are there? How many chapters are in your state?
  2. Brush up on your past events: How often do you schedule events? Who is invited to events? Do they cost money? Have you done any fundraising?
  3. Make sure you have future events scheduled: Be able to talk about where people can go to meet you.
  4. Know your social media handles!
  5. Forget all of the above advice and have a little fun!

I encourage everyone to be an advocate for women in craft beer in any way you can! Whether it be to work in the industry, volunteer for events, or support other women in craft beer, get out there and remind people that we are here!

Next up: Live interview on Living Dayton to talk about our upcoming 2020 events!