Zero Proof Insights with Susie Streelman: Redefining Social Life / Ep. 030

Today, your hosts Ruby Williams and Susan Larkin are thrilled to sit down with the trailblazing Susie Streelman, the visionary behind Zero Proof Experiences. 🌟

Ever wondered how the alcohol-free movement is reshaping social norms and creating vibrant, inclusive communities? Susie takes us behind the scenes of her dynamic pop-up events and shares the secrets to their success. From the buzz of “Sober in the City” gatherings to the rise of mocktails on restaurant menus, discover how one woman’s mission is sparking a revolution.

What drives people to embrace an alcohol-free lifestyle? How are these changes influencing our social landscapes? And most importantly, how can you join this empowering movement?

Tune in as we delve into the heart of the alcohol-free community, exploring the joys, challenges, and transformative power of living alcohol-free. Get ready for inspiring stories, practical tips, and a fresh perspective on enjoying life to the fullest without alcohol.

Are you ready to feel empowered, break free from alcohol, and become part of this exciting movement? Hit play and join us on this journey toward a healthier, happier you! 🌱✨

Connect with Zero Proof Experiences
Sober in the City Seattle September 6-8 2024 (Mention Feel Lit Pod!)
Susan & Ruby will be in Seattle so let us know if you are coming!!

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and ask us any questions you have about breaking free from wine or living an alcohol-free lifestyle. Your question could be the highlight of a future episode!

Grab our Feel Lit Weekend Guide! https://feellitpodcast.com/Guide

Join our Feel Lit AF Facebook Community for amazing support and connection!

Watch Episode on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@FeelLitAlcoholFreePodcast/videos

Websites:
Susan Larkin Coaching https://www.susanlarkincoaching.com/
Ruby Williams at Freedom Renegade Coaching https://www.freedomrenegadecoaching.com/

Follow Susan: @drinklesswithsusan
Follow Ruby: @rubywilliamscoaching

It is strongly recommended that you seek professional advice regarding your health before attempting to take a break from alcohol. The creators, hosts, and producers of the The Feel Lit Alcohol Free podcast are not healthcare practitioners and therefore do not give medical, or psychological advice nor do they intend for the podcast, any resource or communication on behalf of the podcast or otherwise to be a substitute for such.

Transcript

Sick and tired of your love-hate relationship with wine?
Welcome to the feel it alcohol free podcast. Hi. I'm coach Ruby Williams. And I'm coach Susan Larkin. We are 2 former wine lovers turned alcohol freedom coaches exposing the lies about alcohol and giving you, our listeners, the tools to break free so you can feel lit. And when you're lit, you'll feel healthier, freer, and more in control of your life. So relax, kick back, and get ready to feel lit alcohol free. And don't forget, grab a copy of our wine free weekend guide after the show.


Susan [00:00:38]:
Hey, everybody. Welcome. Welcome. We are so excited to be here, and I am super super super, duper excited that we have a special guest today, Susie Streelman from Zero Proof Experiences. I am so excited to talk to Susie and to be able to have her share her story. I met Susie a while back, and I've attended two and now upcoming three of the Zero Proof Experiences. I wanted to do four, but a funeral got in my way of one of them which was a real bummer.

Susan [00:01:13]:
So super excited to have Susie Streelman with us today.

Ruby [00:01:18]:
Welcome, Susie. Yay.

Susie Streelman [00:01:21]:
Thanks for having me.

Susan [00:01:23]:
Oh, so excited. So Susie is the founder of Zero Proof Experiences, the host of Sober in the City events all over the US and Bali. Susie is the passionate founder of zero proof experiences, an innovative venture creating memorable, sober in the city weekends, which redefine the concept of fun without alcohol, which we are all here for. Yay. So while Susie was a former imbiber of Chardonnay, red blends, and sauvignon blanc. Oh, my favorite. She has moved from feeling reliant on alcoholic beverages for socializing vacations and special events to feeling empowerment in her newfound path. Susie resides in Long Beach with her husband of over 30 years, close to her 2 adult sons.

Susan [00:02:09]:
And during her leisure time, she enjoys playing golf, practicing yoga, or unwinding in the jacuzzi while planning her next adventure. With her unique perspective, Susie is dedicated to helping others discover the joy and freedom that come with an alcohol free lifestyle. Through zero proof experiences, she curates immersive events that celebrate life, connection, and personal growth without the need for alcohol. So amazing, Susie. So welcome. And you are a celebrity. Here you are on the front in this gorgeous picture in pink, which was the color for the Tampa Zero Proof Experiences event. She's on the cover of After Magazine.

Susan [00:02:52]:
And, actually, I'm gonna put the links to After Magazine in the show notes as well because it's such an awesome resource for us people who are alcohol free. And, but there's a great interview in here. But, boy, you look gorgeous on this cover. I'm holding up the cover of the magazine. I get the paper version because I'm old school. I like to have magazines and

Ruby [00:03:12]:
you look beautiful. Exciting. Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:03:15]:
Hey. Thanks, Susan. That's I mean, you know, as soon as that magazine came out, I actually subscribed right away before the first issue. Now never did I think I would be on the cover or even have an interview there. But, you know, it is such Nicole does such a great job with just putting out a positive vibe, alcohol free lifestyle in nice paper. Right? So that I think has always been something special about it. Like, you can just put it on your coffee table kind of proudly.

Susan [00:03:54]:
It's like a legit magazine. Like, it's got it's legit. It looks and feels like any other magazine. So what I love too is that in our alcohol free world, we are legit. Right? We are valid, legit, like, special.

Susie Streelman [00:04:14]:
Your choice is valid. 100%.

Susan [00:04:18]:
Yes. So tell me a little bit about your choice and how you became alcohol free and choose this lifestyle.

Susie Streelman [00:04:28]:
Awesome. Thank you. I'll check-in with the short version. Right?

Susan [00:04:31]:
Okay.

Susie Streelman [00:04:32]:
Sure. You know, don't maybe some of your friends or not, maybe they think, oh, well, she just doesn't drink alcohol now. Well, you know, there's a little more to the story. Right? But for myself personally, I, like many others, probably took over a decade, maybe a little more if I'm honest to come to that decision. And for, you know, around a decade, I would consider myself the expert at taking breaks from alcohol. I could, you know, take a week off. I could take a dry January off. I could do a lent season and then just jump right in at Easter while celebrating with champagne.

Susie Streelman [00:05:14]:
Oh, yeah. Because that's what we did. I didn't really believe that a full life was possible without alcohol at that time.

Ruby [00:05:24]:
I relate.

Susie Streelman [00:05:26]:
Right? Yeah. Such such a common thing. So somewhere during COVID, I decided to take a longer break, and so I signed up with the group. I actually did the sober cis community and met a lot of lovely women there. I had also done a little bit of training with James Swanwick earlier too. So and that was, like, really the beginning of what changed my perception of alcohol and my relationship there. But when I took a longer break, this is probably, I don't know, late in 2020, something like that, I realized that I was starting to like the break. I was starting to like the alcohol free life better than drinking wine.

Susie Streelman [00:06:16]:
And for me, that took around 6 months. Right. So, you know, like those 21 day breaks, we weren't getting that perception for me. Weren't getting that awareness of the things that I liked better in the alcohol free lifestyle. So around, around 6 months, I'm like, maybe maybe I'm gonna stick with this at least a little longer, a little longer, and a little longer. And yeah. So now it's been a few years. Yay.

Susie Streelman [00:06:46]:
Congratulations.

Susan [00:06:48]:
A few years in a whole empire that you've created. So it's like, oh, yeah. So tell us about how Zero Proof Events and Sober in the City came to be.

Susie Streelman [00:07:00]:
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. So for me, at around 6 months, I was starting to, you know, kind of fall for this lifestyle. Like, in other words, I could get up any morning of the week now that I wanted to instead of, you know, just certain mornings and do a big workout. You know, that's just one thing. Health and fitness has always been like a pretty high priority to me. I've actually run 5 marathons in the past. I'm now a resting marathon runner.

Susie Streelman [00:07:30]:
But around that 6 month point, for me, a harder part of the decision was that the socializing was getting back out there. One of my very favorite things to do is go out to dinner with friends, with family and wine was always a big part of that. So now at this point, I'm showing up and it's pretty stressful as you probably both understand in the beginning. Right?

Ruby [00:08:01]:
Yes.

Susie Streelman [00:08:02]:
And you're out to dinner and the orders are going around and it's, you know, I'll have the lemon drop martini, I'll have Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet, and you're like, club soda, please. Or maybe could you make me a mocktail? And I got some really horrible answers from servers in the beginning too. Like, you know? It was pretty uncomfortable. Like, are you sure you would want that? Or that won't really taste like anything? Or that one's premixed. We can't do that. And, like, now that doesn't hit me so hard. Right? I'm still a bit annoyed.

Ruby [00:08:44]:
And it's getting better. I think it's getting better. Yeah.

Susan [00:08:47]:
Yeah. But I do get annoyed too, to be honest with you. Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:08:51]:
And hugely, it is getting better, Ruby. Maybe I'm getting down a rabbit hole, but compared to 2 years ago, Now when I go out and ask for an alcohol free margarita, I get answers like, sure, I'll bring that right out. Yes. I'll have your mocktail ready coming to you. Most people know what I'm talking about. It might still be a fairly marginal, not great drink yet.

Susan [00:09:19]:
Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:09:19]:
But you know what? That's a great start. People know what you're talking about. You can get a drink in your hands that's not, you know, very obviously a kid's drink, for example. But again, back to where I was, you know, at the 6 month mark, getting ready to go out to dinner and thinking, okay, I'm not gonna get anything special. And that was part of the experience for me, like going, going out to dinner, getting, getting a nice beverage, getting, you know, special, special food and just enjoying the fact that you're not cooking. You're, you're, you're experiencing hospitality. The alcohol free beverage industry was starting to turn up then as well, which has, you know, I know this is not 100% for everybody for me and many of my friends. It is an absolute game changer.

Susie Streelman [00:10:19]:
Absolutely. So I I have said before, you know, in all honesty, I'm not sure if I would be here on this side of living alcohol free without, you know, a couple of things without improvements in the alcohol free beverage industry and without other people that have gone, you know, before me, like chris marshall, like Annie Grace, like William porter, just getting that word out there and it's actually you know, there's some kind of cool reasons and and some normalcy to it. So we, based on that, got together with a few people and just hosted a grassroots dinner here in downtown Long Beach in January of 2022, meant to be kind of a celebratory finish of dry January. And we called it sober in the city. We had about 45 women come here.

Susan [00:11:15]:
Fun. That's pretty amazing for a first time. That's awesome.

Susie Streelman [00:11:21]:
Yeah. We partnered with Liars at that time, and, you know, they helped us create some alcohol free cocktails. And, you know, we had multiple choices. It felt like the alcohol free lifestyle was being catered to just for that one night.

Susan [00:11:39]:
Well, that's what I experienced in Maine. That was the 1st Sarah proof experience event that I went to and that was a beautiful experience. The restaurant was on this private island. It was gorgeous overlooking the water with the sunset. People came out with trays of drinks to serve you. They were all non-alcoholic drinks. And then when we went up to the bar, the bar was only stocked with non alcoholic beverages and wines and then we sat down to a multi course meal. I mean, that was amazing.

Susan [00:12:10]:
We were all dressed up. It just felt so fun. And, yeah, it was amazing. So thank you for providing these opportunities and these experiences.

Susie Streelman [00:12:22]:
Yeah. Thanks. So it sounds like what I'm hearing and this is what I'm hoping for is that you're experiencing an elevated alcohol free, you know, whether it's a dinner out or a travel experience. Right?

Susan [00:12:36]:
Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:12:37]:
So that experience is more, not less. Yes.

Ruby [00:12:42]:
And the food tastes so much better. Let's just say that I think it's true. I used to think you needed to have red wine with a steak, for example. And, I think food just tastes so much better and you're saving calories for maybe a dessert.

Susie Streelman [00:12:56]:
That's funny. But if you want to have an alcohol free red wine with your meal, you absolutely can now.

Ruby [00:13:05]:
True. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yes.

Ruby [00:13:08]:
If you want to numb your taste buds. The alcohol is what numbs your taste buds. Yeah. Right.

Susie Streelman [00:13:13]:
Right. And some of the higher end alcohol free wines, I know you ladies know this, but isn't it interesting that they're like 15 calories of glass? Some of them compared to, you know, around a100 or a little more in a typical glass of regular typical alcoholic wine.

Susan [00:13:33]:
Right. Yeah. And they're starting to taste better. The wine was tough. Like, beer tasted athletic brewing, you know, has really done a great job and other breweries as well of making some really good tasting alcohol free beer. And wine was a little behind, but it's getting better.

Susan [00:13:53]:
It's getting better. Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:13:55]:
Right. It is. It is getting better, a lot more choices. And you mentioned athletic brewing. You know, somebody just sent me an article a couple of weeks ago about the non-alcoholic beer industry that's projected to double in size. I can't remember if it is in the millions or billions over the next 10 years. And it's already grown so much. Athletic is the top selling beer of Whole Foods markets.

Susie Streelman [00:14:25]:
Wow. Not alcohol free beer. Beer.

Susan [00:14:28]:
Just the top beer. Wow. I love that.

Susie Streelman [00:14:31]:
You know, that's a more kind of health centric crowd, perhaps.

Ruby [00:14:36]:
Mhmm. Right.

Susie Streelman [00:14:37]:
So that is definitely one thing I didn't see coming. Right? When I when we kind of started out on this endeavor, you know, all of us really, did you ever think we would be so trendy?

Susan [00:14:54]:
That we'd be so cool?

Ruby [00:14:56]:
I did think so. I thought so. The health you know, people want to feel lit. They want to feel good. And I did think so. I'm so happy that this is happening in the world. 

Susan [00:15:07]:
Yeah. So you started out in Long Beach, then I know the second one was Sacramento.

Susie Streelman [00:15:13]:
Right. Yeah. We started out in Long Beach, and that's where I met my partner, Peggy Cooney, who is the author of This Side of Alcohol, has a really large private Facebook group. So some of the people thought, oh, we'll do one with Peggy the next time. And, you know, so we went to Sacramento, and that kind of grew a little bit more. And we also had, like, kind of a little meetup on Friday in Peggy's hotel suite. From there, we got some feedback that maybe people said, we might like to have a little more of a destination. No offense to Sacramento.

Ruby [00:15:55]:
I think that's why I didn't go because I was like, well, I've been to Sacramento. You know?

Susie Streelman [00:15:59]:
Yeah. There's you kinda walking downtown and maybe see the Capitol building and then, you know, that's that's about it. So we went to Austin late in 2022 and Awesome. You know, Austin was a lot of fun. We got to partner with Chris Marshall who I believe is the reason why there's a pretty big alcohol free community there. So that was a lot of fun, and that's really kind of when it grew into a whole weekend of events. So, you know, if you think about traveling, I I know for me, I can remember when my first real opportunity to kind of go back on a girls' trip, and it was maybe around the 6 or 8 months mark. And I almost said no.

Susan [00:16:51]:
Mhmm.

Susie Streelman [00:16:52]:
No? Yeah. Just because I mean, I got the invitation. I wanted to go, and I didn't wanna go. Yeah. I relate. But I said yes. It was mostly great, you know, but the girls actually were very supportive. I did share with them right away, which I would say was a big help and a big reason why that went a little bit better.

Susie Streelman [00:17:20]:
But I I did get home feeling okay. There's a long way to go with people providing us a full experience. Because while I did go, and I did hang out with the girls, I didn't feel fully included. You know, I got something subpar fairly often, and while they were drinking out of sexy cocktail glasses, I sometimes had a large water glass. Yeah. I know. It sucks. Right.

Susie Streelman [00:17:56]:
Right.

Susan [00:17:57]:
Yeah. Well, you've done such a great job on social media to promote that where it's like we deserve what we do, what do you say? We deserve a seat at the table and to drink out of a fancy glass. Like, nobody said anywhere, hey, bring me a mocktail in a kitty cup with a straw. Thanks. Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:18:14]:
No. Not not at all. Like, I still drink. We just drink differently. Right? Yes. We do deserve a seat at the table with a pretty glass. Pretty pretty glass is still very important to me.

Ruby [00:18:30]:
Yes. Can I say though, for me, it felt triggering to drink out of a fancy, sexy wine glass or cocktail glass. It took me a while. I needed that water glass. So that's just me. I'm now able to do it, but it was such a ritual for me. There was a like, my brain, the glass and the ritual and all of that was very connected. So I think people are different on that.

Susie Streelman [00:19:02]:
Absolutely. Bring that up. Yeah. Because I'm sure there's people listening that certainly relate to that. And when I hear you say that, you know, it's funny because we are all different, so I'll just interject my opinion and experience. It's when I'm hearing you say that, it almost sounds like my affinity with the word sober. Right? Like, I hated the word sober.

Ruby [00:19:28]:
Oh, yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:19:29]:
And then the only time you would hear me using it was like in sober in the city because that actually sounded kind of fun and it explains sort of what it is. But like you with the glasses, over time, I'm just like, okay. Whatever. It's not the first thing that I relate to. I describe myself as alcohol free, but if it doesn't it doesn't really bother me so much anymore. Yeah.

Ruby [00:20:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. I am the same kind of thing with different words. Words I mean, sober to me is like a frowny face. Right? Like, meh. And being alcohol free is like a happy face. So now I just know, yeah, you can change. You can change and evolve and just like with the glassware.

Ruby [00:20:20]:
Now I can have wine glasses with a mocktail and feel comfortable.

Susie Streelman [00:20:25]:
Mhmm. Right. But, you know, speaking of the obstacle, one of the reasons, like, we're creating this is to make this an easy travel experience. Like if you're kind of considering travel, but you're like me and you're like, I wanna go and I don't wanna go. I'm really nervous about going. Being sober in the city is like a way to experience a typical American city, and we're just kind of cutting out all the obstacles for you. We're gonna make it super easy. We're gonna have a lot of different ways to connect.

Susie Streelman [00:21:06]:
So, you know, you can go full in or you can meet in some of our smaller breakout sessions that we have. You know, we usually have a couple of authors, like in Seattle. We get to have Todd Kenny back to share about his book, and we're having an alcohol free beverage panel for the first time this year. So, we have some founders. We have Jessica Sealander, the founder of Drink Joyous, and she is really our keynote speaker of the weekend and they're up there local in the Seattle area. So they're just really excited to be a part of this event. And also, we're gonna get to try some of all of her pretty much all of her great wines at our celebrities. So excited. Saturday night dinner.

Susan [00:21:55]:
That's gonna be so fun. That's good. Well, so we've just for full transparency, Ruby and I I don't know why I said transparency, but Ruby and I are gonna be at the Seattle event. We're super excited about that. And that's why I'm wearing blue inside of Arizona. Like, the colors are blue. The colors in Tampa were pink, which, of course, is perfect for our podcast, the hot pink, and that was really fun. So Tampa was the last one.

Susan [00:22:22]:
But between that one, you had Palm Springs, which was the one I couldn't go to because of the funeral, and I was really mad about that. And then you had Maine. And Maine is right in my backyard because I'm on the East Coast. So I was so excited to go to the Maine one. And then I was able to do a workshop at the Tampa one, which was really exciting. And that was the flamingo themed one which was really fun. That that flamingo theme really really

Susie Streelman [00:22:49]:
I know. We had so much fun with that. I could not, you know, I still can't stop seeing flamingos whenever I'm out and about. Because it I mean, also, you know, full disclosure, we're this we're welcome. We welcome men, but it's gonna be 90 plus percent women that attend here. And yeah. You know, just so so kind of people know what's what's what. So men are welcome, but they should be pretty comfortable in a room full of estrogen of women.

Susie Streelman [00:23:25]:
Yeah.

Susan [00:23:26]:
Yeah. And the women you meet are just amazing. Like, just because, you know, we are amazing. Alcohol free living is amazing and we are overcomers. You know, we have identified maybe that we had a problem with alcohol, and we were able to do the work to get to the other side of that. And usually when people have done that kind of work, they're just just elevated people. I don't know. I mean, and everyone you meet is just so open and friendly, and you really do make friends.

Susan [00:23:56]:
It is such a welcoming, high energy, really fun experience in my opinion, and you and Peggy do such a great job with that.

Susie Streelman [00:24:08]:
Yeah. Thanks. It is a great opportunity. So in Seattle, what is it? Our mascot, it's not really our mascot. It is the sasquatch. And it was taking us a minute to kind of, you know, tune into that, but actually, we're starting to have more and more fun with it. So you might see in our graphics that that sasquatch and, you know, so we'll see how that shows up in real life in Seattle. We have some ideas.

Susie Streelman [00:24:39]:
We'll see.

Susan [00:24:40]:
Oh, that'll be fun. That'll be well, Seattle is a fun destination city. I've never been to Seattle, so I'm excited to go there. So

Ruby [00:24:48]:
Yeah. Oh, there's so much there. There's the public market. I love it. I'm so excited to go back. So who is this for? Like, if you were to say, is it for people that are already alcohol free or sober curious?

Susie Streelman [00:25:01]:
Or who should come? Yeah. So one thing that we didn't expect when we first started was how many, honestly, leaders that we were going to attract. So while we always get a few kinds of newer alcohol free people, it's mostly people that are pretty serious and involved and pretty motivated. Maybe motivated would be a better word than serious. But, you know, typically, we have almost, you know, a half a dozen alcohol free coaches or/or people that are really motivated. They might be thinking about how they want to start something, an alcohol free business or not necessarily a business, but just becoming more involved in their community. 1, I I know that you 2 are about this. It's about alcohol free empowerment.

Susie Streelman [00:25:59]:
Right? And there is nothing like having an in person alcohol free experience where you're connecting with other people and you're meeting new friends. You're with other people that are excited about that alcohol free lifestyle, that in a vibe life. So I think when you get home I mean, I know for me, and I'm, you know, we're all we're pretty out there. So a lot of days we feel pretty empowered and pretty comfortable. But when I come home from something like that, it's like, dang. We're we're we have made it.

Ruby [00:26:44]:
We're on fire. Right?

Susan [00:26:46]:
Yeah. Feel lit. Feel lit. All about that. Yeah. You feel lit.

Ruby [00:26:51]:
You feel lit.

Susan [00:26:52]:
Yeah. Well, I I think it's great that you've attracted so many leaders in the alcohol free community, but I would also say that it's a great place if you are sober, curious, or especially if you struggle in your alcohol freedom with socializing alcohol free or the social events. Because I think when you can go and experience a weekend like this alcohol free and also encounter so many amazing people who are choosing this alcohol free lifestyle. Because a lot of times people feel really isolated. They're like, all my friends drink. I go out, I don't have any friends that are alcohol free, and this will up level that. You will come home, like you said, super inspired.

Susie Streelman [00:27:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. Totally. I understand. It's important to connect with other people. Yeah. I know quite a few people that have been alcohol free for quite a while, and they don't have anybody within 25 miles of their house that they can connect with personally, but they can call up and have a coffee. And, you know, even for me, this has taken a few years where now it's really just within this past year that I feel like I have that local community.

Susie Streelman [00:28:16]:
And, yes, you can actually survive without it. But I really do feel like this is what I'm leaning into in 2024 that, you know, you need connection and you probably need to connect online. That's where most of us first started, which was great, right? You need to connect online, you need to connect locally and you probably, if this is part of your life before, need to connect in a travel experience of some kind moving forward.

Susan [00:28:54]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Ruby [00:28:55]:
We did. 

Susan [00:28:56]:
A safe place.

Susie Streelman [00:28:58]:
Right. And that's where I think you're really gonna come into that full circle. Like, I am empowered alcohol free. My choice is valid. This is absolutely a positive choice for me and in this world. And maybe I'm even going to get more comfortable sharing that in my local community, in my friend group. Not all of us are called to have a podcast like you, but you might just be influencing your extended family. You don't have to preach to them about it.

Susie Streelman [00:29:34]:
You can simply provide a nice alternative and change the drinking culture in your own family.

Susan [00:29:44]:
That's amazing. Yeah. And I tell people when you bring your own alcohol free option, bring a lot because other people may wanna drink it. And you don't wanna be stuck with it running out. People have said that, like, well, I brought my own alcohol free stuff, but then everybody drank it and then I didn't have any for me. So it's like that because that's what happens. People are like, oh, that lavender lemonade is really good. I'm gonna have some of that.

Susan [00:30:06]:
And you're like, well, that's mine. So yeah. And I know some of the stuff that you've started doing is planning these pop up events in different cities. And I wanna do one. I happen to not be in if I'm traveling actually myself on the next one, which I think is October 1st. But I do wanna plan 1 in Connecticut because I value that so much. And then it brings people in your community together, and then it's like, oh you live here, you live here, where do you live? Oh my gosh, we can get together for coffee. You meet in person.

Susan [00:30:39]:
It's so I know that that's one of the things that you've done. And also, as far as the the travel, you guys went to Bali.

Susie Streelman [00:30:49]:
We went to Bali, Susan. Oh

Susan [00:30:52]:
my gosh.

Ruby [00:30:53]:
I'm so jealous. Envious. Yes.

Susie Streelman [00:30:57]:
Yeah. We did. And if that's if that's not on your bucket list, you know, throw it on there.

Ruby [00:31:03]:
It is. It is. Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:31:06]:
Yeah. That's I mean, it's such a special place, and we had a great great partner, Soulless Journeys, who helped us arrange. They do love to work with alcohol free groups. That's their heart. But they'll work with other people too as well. But Yeah. So such a special week with 10 women just, you know, experiencing that elevated alcohol free travel experience. One thing that's interesting, I'll just share real quick about Bali.

Susie Streelman [00:31:41]:
The town of Ubud, for example, that's considered the spiritual center of Bali and, you know, it was really heavily featured in the Eat, Pray, Love movie. I think that's where it grew exponentially, plus Instagram. All of Bali is like an Instagram picture. Yeah. If you live in Ubud, which many people do, it's very health centric. It's very normal not to drink alcohol.

Susan [00:32:10]:
Okay.

Susie Streelman [00:32:11]:
Yeah. And that's one thing. I was there 5 years ago. I got to connect a little more with “sober yoga girl” who does live in Bali. You probably know her. And she said, yeah. I get invited to parties. It's rare that it includes alcohol.

Susie Streelman [00:32:27]:
Now if you're so when I was there 5 years ago, I knew that there was lots of alcohol free options. They're different than the ones we have here. It's more like local, fresh, you know, made with turmeric and all all of their beautiful local flavors done very well. It's not the alcohol free beverage brands. So I knew that there were options. I didn't know that it was really a part of their culture until, you know, spending a little more time there and connecting with Alex. So isn't that interesting for the tourists? There's plenty of alcohol, and that's, I think, you know, one of the main reasons why they have it. I think, you know, that kind of experience is coming to the US.

Susie Streelman [00:33:13]:
I think it's coming where, you know, it might not be as a high volume, but I think it is, I mean, it's already like we said earlier, it's becoming much more normal.

Susan [00:33:27]:
I don't know.

Susie Streelman [00:33:27]:
How long do you think it's going to take?

Susan [00:33:29]:
I don't know. I know. You still get the weird stares sometimes or the premix. Sorry. That's premix. Although, when I was just in the Bahamas, she said that. I go, can I get a mojito? She goes, oh, I think that's already premixed. Then she came back and she had the mojito.

Susan [00:33:45]:
She said, he made it from scratch for you. And that was so sweet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I I noticed on Instagram too, and I just wanted to highlight this, You posted that there's a restaurant that you go to regularly and you'd been dropping little hints and you've this and that. And then now they have mocktails on their menu so you can influence your environment and your regular restaurants.

Susan [00:34:09]:
Tell us about that a little bit.

Susie Streelman [00:34:11]:
Right. Thank you, Susan. Yeah. It's one of our go to places. It's on the water in Long Beach. They have great food, and I've been, you know, dropping, like, little cards there and asking for my alcohol free margaritas for a few years now. Right? And, yeah, I do think it is regional too. I'm gonna make this point.

Susie Streelman [00:34:35]:
Southern California, you would think, you know, we're on the quote, unquote cutting edge of many things leading in culturally. For the alcohol free world, I feel like we're, again, just coming around this year. So we have not been ahead. My theory is I don't know. We like our kale, but we like our wine too. So we've been a little slower on the uptake, maybe with that beach vacation vibe that we do kind of have going here, but it is coming now. So, yeah, that's been, you know, one of our favorites, and it was just, I'm not sure when they did it, but it was in the last 2 or 3 months.

Ruby [00:35:14]:
Awesome.

Susie Streelman [00:35:15]:
They went there.

Ruby [00:35:15]:
I love to hear that.

Susie Streelman [00:35:18]:
Yeah. And there is a dedicated mocktail menu. Now, you know, they're not all amazing, but one of them was really enjoyable. Of course, sweet always. Now that I've been, you know, going around and hosting some events, I do get a little spoiled, I have to admit, with some great alcohol free beverages. So I I would love to see on these menus adding an alcohol free spirit, whether that's ritual ritual or a cut above alcohol free tequila. You know, there's there's several great choices.

Susan [00:35:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. Liars has some good ones. Seedlip. I have Seedlip in some places. And then I'm like, okay. That's okay. But there are better ones too.

Susan [00:36:07]:
Yeah.

Susie Streelman [00:36:09]:
Right.

Susan [00:36:10]:
Yeah. New York has some places with mocktails which I found and they're like my go to place. And anytime I find mocktails on the menu, I always post a story and I tag them and, like, thank you so much. And I like a little picture of the menu. And I try to just say thank you to them for that and promote them to my audience anyway because I'm so appreciative. But, it is starting to change. There are more options, but that was like a real personal thing for you where you probably had a real hand in. So that's pretty neat.

Susie Streelman [00:36:41]:
Yeah. It's exciting to know that we are changing the Yeah. Lifestyle because I think once we all once we start doing some of the things that we have been doing, like, you know, meeting up locally, traveling locally, traveling not so locally, and nothing online.

Susan [00:37:04]:
Yeah.  And what I say to my clients is that when you do your first alcohol free vacation or trip or even concert or big thing that you think is gonna be so hard, afterwards you feel so empowered. You feel kinda like you can go anywhere and do anything alcohol free. And that's really the goal, right, is to get to that place of empowerment. And it's not to say that every now and then you don't have that twinge or have a weird awkward encounter with a waiter or another person. Like my newsletter this week was all about, I said, the raised eyebrows. What? You're not drinking? And that was awkward, you know, and that's okay, you know.

Susan [00:37:44]:
But you still experience that because it's still not normal. Normalized enough in our culture. It is normal. We're normal. We're the cool kids but it's not normalized in our culture. It's getting there and that's what's so exciting. And I feel like these kinds of events help to normalize it even more and I'm just so excited to see them happening.

Susie Streelman [00:38:05]:
We are normal. You know, a lot of times, the alcohol free person will be the one that ends up picking the restaurant, right, based on having something on the menu. So that is one thing I don't think people are realizing. There's getting to be more of us, and we may be deciding where, like, 4 people go or maybe it's a group of 8 or 10 even. That's a lot of business that they could potentially be losing by just not offering. You know, not all of us may be participating in the alcohol free menu, but all of us are gonna go there and order alcohol free beverages and beverages with alcohol.

Susan [00:38:44]:
Yes. And I don't mind if the cocktail price is the same as an alcoholic beverage. I mean, it seems a little bit cheesy. You know, it should be a little less. But not necessarily. If they use some good ingredients and if they are using an alcohol free spirit because those, you know, have a cost to them. And so, I'm perfectly happy to pay whatever the price, especially for a good mocktail. Well, this is the time in our podcast where we ask our guests and we share our tips and tricks for how we stay feeling lit.

Susan [00:39:19]:
And so, Susie, I wanna pose that question to you. How do you feel lit alcohol free just in your daily life?

Susie Streelman [00:39:27]:
Okay. Well, you segue this perfectly for me because what I've been thinking the last few minutes is, you know what's empowering? I do love to go out to dinner. I love to have that full experience. Most restaurants honestly do not have a nice alcohol free wine menu, something I enjoyed before, something I still enjoy. I love to show up with a great bottle of wine. Ask them to cork it for me and get that beautiful experience with the nice glasses and share with my friends, alcohol free or not.

Susan [00:40:03]:
Love it. I love that. And I have a few bottles here, and I have to remember to bring my own. Yeah. And just pay the corkage fee and Yeah. And be able to have it with dinner because that's usually what I'm missing is like I'm like They You know, I get my alcohol free mule or mojito, but what I really want is an alcohol free wine. You're right. Right? Good idea.

Ruby [00:40:27]:
That's a great idea. Mhmm.

Susie Streelman [00:40:29]:
And I always offer to pay the corkage, and sometimes I do pay it. A lot of times, I'll mention that I hope to be able to order it off their menu one day. And I think that's possibly why they don't always, you know, charge me. But, you know, if they do and they do that good job, it is worth some money with them, you know, pouring it into a nice glass. I think it's completely fair. So

Susan [00:40:51]:
Yeah. That's so awesome. Well, thank you so much. We're gonna put all of your connection information in the show notes. You can find Susie at zeroproofexperiences.com and we're gonna have links to everything. We'd love to see you in Seattle. Ruby and I will be there, and that would be so awesome to see some of our listeners there. So please reach out and let us know if you decide to go because that would be so amazing.

Susan [00:41:18]:
Yes. And I just love the work that you do. Love that you were featured in After Magazine. And I continue to want to attend all of your events because they are truly up level and amazing and really first class. So

Ruby [00:41:33]:
It's been such a pleasure to meet you, Susie. Thank you, Susie.

Susie Streelman [00:41:37]:
Yay. 100 percent. Can't wait to meet you guys.

Susan [00:41:40]:
Yay. I know. Give me a big hug and Peggy too. I'm so glad I got to meet you both and, and I just love the work you're doing. So we'll see you in Seattle.

Ruby [00:41:51]:
See you in Seattle. Bye. 
Thanks so much for listening to the Feel Lit Alcohol Free Podcast. Do you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show? All you need to do is head over to Apple Podcasts and do 2 simple things. Leave a rating and review telling us what you think of the show. And in that review, ask us any questions you have about breaking free from wine or living an alcohol free lifestyle. That's it. Then tune in to hear your question answered live. Don't forget to grab your copy of a wine free weekend at www.feellitpodcast.com
And remember, do something today that will help you feel lit. See you next time!