I co-founded Detroit City Distillery over 10 years ago. From start-up to scale, from broke to profitable, from idea to exit, it was an incredible entrepreneurial journey.

I co-founded Detroit City Distillery with the goal of producing exceptional craft whiskies, gins and vodkas in the heart of Detroit’s historic Eastern Market. Today, DCD is the third largest distillery in Michigan and is celebrated as one of the leading urban craft spirits producers in the nation.

If it didn’t involve producing the booze, I was the one leading the charge the distillery. Raising and spending money, building a brand identity and designing labels, starting and scaling distro sales, marketing and storytelling, launching an event space, acquiring real estate, building a team, and everything in between. And there was plenty of nitty gritty hands-on work along the way too, from bar management, to event production to chief tour guide to bar back. Everyday for ten years, I worked tirelessly to grow the business from nothing to a $5M enterprise with a $1M EBITDA, an exceedingly rare feat of both scale and profitability in a crowded craft distillery scene. In 2024, once the business had scaled, I left the day-to-day operations to the team. In 2025, I sold my stake in the business, and somehow managed to beat the S&P 500 by 3X. Damn was it a lot of work.

So was the grind worth it? I am still processing this question and I am still recovering from my 10 year hangover of running a booze biz. I do know this for sure. I learned many incredible lessons along the way that make me a better entrepreneur, a better a consultant and a better person.

• For private sector clients: From manufacturing to marketing, wholesale distribution to retail sales, client hospitability to day-to-day staff management, I have a wealth of experience in all of it. I love nothing more than leveraging my entrepreneurial experience to help you achieve your vision, avoid mistakes, solve problems and capitalize on opportunities.

• For public sector, non-profit and philanthropic clients: Starting a successful business has made me an exponentially better an economic development professional. It helps me design more effective small business programs based on the lived experiences of entrepreneurs. It helps me create more diversified, more sustainable funding strategies for non-profits. It helps me bring a tactical implementation and scalability mindset to advise philanthropic investments that work.