# Brand Building: Her Medase Cocktails journey is a masterclass example of entrepreneurship driven by vision, preparation, and authenticity.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 26 Mar 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/2fbf0b32-74e1-4e49-a559-b4180172121e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Monica Cornitcher. Entrepreneurial journey, the inspiration behind Medase Cocktails, and the realities of launching, funding, and scaling a premium nonalcoholic spirits brand in a highly competitive market. Purpose of the Conversation The purpose of the episode is to: • Educate aspiring entrepreneurs on how to build a differentiated consumer brand • Demonstrate the importance of storytelling, market clarity, and operational discipline • Highlight the growth of the nonalcoholic / zero‑proof beverage movement • Inspire founders—especially founders of color—to own their niche, seek capital strategically, and scale intentionally. Key Takeaways 1. Business Built from Personal Need and Purpose Medase Cocktails was co‑founded by Monica and her lifelong friend during her friend’s battle with breast cancer, a time when alcohol was no longer an option—but celebration still mattered. • The brand was created to allow people to celebrate authentically without alcohol • It carries emotional depth rooted in friendship, gratitude, and loss • Monica continues the mission after her co‑founder passed away in 2024 Lesson: Purpose-driven businesses create deeper emotional connection and long-term brand equity. 2. Differentiation Is Everything Monica deliberately rejected the “sparkling water with flavor” model common in nonalcoholic drinks. Her differentiators include: • Authentic cocktail taste (Old Fashioned, Margarita, Moscow Mule) • Organic juices, not artificial flavors • Bold packaging that stands out on shelves • Drinks designed to smell, taste, and feel like real cocktails Lesson: Competing on authenticity—not cost—is how you carve out market share in crowded spaces. 3. Brand Names and Stories Matter The name “Medase” means “thank you” and reflects gratitude, friendship, and emotional support. Monica emphasizes: • Every flavor name, color, and product decision has a story • A strong brand narrative creates curiosity, loyalty, and investor interest Lesson: People invest in brands they feel—emotionally, not just intellectually. 4. Venture Capital Is Not Just About Numbers While financials matter, Monica stresses that VCs also invest in founders and stories. What helped her secure venture capital: • A compelling personal story • Relevant founder skill sets (M&A, law, operations) • Clear understanding of the market opportunity Lesson: Early-stage funding often depends on who you are and why you’re building, not just revenue. 5. Research, Planning, and Discipline Before Launch Unlike many food startups, Medase did not begin in a kitchen. They: • Conducted a feasibility study • Built a formal business plan • Worked with a Black female food scientist • Set strict personal funding limits before seeking capital Lesson: Preparation reduces risk and builds long-term sustainability. 6. Scaling Requires Operational Maturity As sales increased—especially on Amazon—Monica emphasized the need to move from “hustle mode” to operational excellence. Key scaling principles: • Understand unit economics • Track ROI for events and activations • Adjust pricing as volume increases • Build strategy across marketing, operations, and distribution Lesson: Hustle starts the business; operations grow it. 7. Niche First, Expansion Later Medase does not try to be “everything to everyone.” Core customers include: • People seeking a break…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:04] Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
[0:07] Speaker 2: stories and start planning your own. Now, you don't want
[0:10] Speaker 2: to miss an episode, so please take a moment right
[0:12] Speaker 2: now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[0:16] Speaker 1: It's free.
[0:17] Speaker 2: You can follow me on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[0:21] Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your podcast. New money Making
[0:24] Speaker 2: Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
[0:28] Speaker 2: on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
[0:30] Speaker 2: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
[0:34] Speaker 2: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
[0:38] Speaker 2: get this podcast started. My guest is the visionary co
[0:41] Speaker 2: founder of Madossie Cocktails, a leading non alcoholic spirits brand
[0:46] Speaker 2: redefining how we celebrate. Under her leadership, Madossie is a
[0:50] Speaker 2: merchant as a trailblazer in the beverage industry, crafted elevated
[0:54] Speaker 2: alcohol free cocktails made with premium ingredients, including organic juices,
[0:59] Speaker 2: that deliver the full cocktail experience without compromise. Please welcome
[1:04] Speaker 2: to the Money Making Conversations with master class Monica Cornerture.
[1:08] Speaker 1: How you doing, Monica?
[1:09] Speaker 3: Hi? How are you? Thank you for having me today?
[1:11] Speaker 2: The first one I got to ask this to jump
[1:14] Speaker 2: or do you drink or you're a person who samples
[1:17] Speaker 2: alcoholic beverages, or you just reject the whole concept.
[1:22] Speaker 3: I do not.
[1:22] Speaker 4: Reject the whole concept from the standpoint. I let people
[1:25] Speaker 4: do what they want to do, but I do not drink.
[1:28] Speaker 4: So I have not, you know, drinking alcohol for about
[1:30] Speaker 4: the past four years.
[1:32] Speaker 1: Now I don't.
[1:32] Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you so I have'm drinking a drunker
[1:34] Speaker 2: and alcoholic beverage since I was twenty three and I
[1:39] Speaker 2: was pledging and they made us drink alcohol before we
[1:43] Speaker 2: went over the burning sands, as they say. And before that,
[1:47] Speaker 2: I remember I was seventeen. I snuck into a nightclub
[1:51] Speaker 2: and this guy knew I was under age, and the
[1:53] Speaker 2: only drink I knew, Monica.
[1:55] Speaker 1: Was jack black. Give me a Jack Black.
[2:01] Speaker 2: He gave me that drink and that was the strongest
[2:03] Speaker 2: drink I ever had my life, and I never had
[2:04] Speaker 2: an also even wanted to consider alcohol after that. So
[2:08] Speaker 2: I know that alcohol is favored by a lot of people,
[2:12] Speaker 2: but it what excites me and why I wanted to
[2:14] Speaker 2: bring you on the show was the non alcoholic beverage
[2:18] Speaker 2: line you're creating.
[2:19] Speaker 1: Why did you feel there was a need for that?
[2:21] Speaker 3: Monica, absolutely so.
[2:23] Speaker 4: In this industry, there are lots of people doing non
[2:26] Speaker 4: alcoholic brands, but I wanted minds to be different. So
[2:29] Speaker 4: my drinks taste like an authentic cocktail. So when you
[2:32] Speaker 4: taste my drink like my old fashion, it is gonna
[2:36] Speaker 4: smell taste.
[2:38] Speaker 3: Just like an old fashion.
[2:39] Speaker 4: If you drink a my scummiule, it's gonna taste and
[2:42] Speaker 4: smell just like a my scummyle I wanted to curate
[2:45] Speaker 4: something that was very similar to the real alcoholic taste.
[2:49] Speaker 4: And the reason being, I'll tell you, why don't I
[2:52] Speaker 4: tell people if you drink, you drink, that's perfectly fine.
[2:54] Speaker 4: I used to drink to killer all day. Every day.
[2:57] Speaker 4: I was to kill a girl. I'm not lying to you.
[3:00] Speaker 4: So Margarita was my thing, was my favorite drink. And
[3:04] Speaker 4: during the time when I created this brand, it was
[3:08] Speaker 4: at a time with my co founder, Inger Dyer, who
[3:11] Speaker 4: was actually going and battling breast cancer and at the
[3:14] Speaker 4: time she couldn't drink right. But in sitting with each
[3:18] Speaker 4: other and just kind of being friends. We were like,
[3:21] Speaker 4: remember those times. So we used to have a drink.
[3:23] Speaker 4: We used to you know, drink out Takilo, We used
[3:25] Speaker 4: to drink a Margarita's. There was nothing out in the
[3:28] Speaker 4: market to kind of allow us to celebrate that same way.
[3:31] Speaker 4: So we wanted to curate something that really was authentic
[3:34] Speaker 4: to the true flavor. So Inga passed away in twenty
[3:37] Speaker 4: twenty four for breast cancer, but I am kind of
[3:40] Speaker 4: continuing that journey.
[3:42] Speaker 1: Midassie. What did that name come from? Madossie?
[3:46] Speaker 3: It means thank you.
[3:47] Speaker 4: So our word for our friendship when we ended every
[3:50] Speaker 4: call was thank you. Thank you for being my friend,
[3:52] Speaker 4: thank you for not judging, thank you for just sitting
[3:55] Speaker 4: with me and not saying anything today as I kind
[3:58] Speaker 4: of go through the things that I'm going through life,
[4:00] Speaker 4: you know, it was it was a hard time.
[4:02] Speaker 3: So our word was thank you.
[4:03] Speaker 4: So we were looking for a word that meant thank you,
[4:06] Speaker 4: and when we hurt Madossi, it was just that word
[4:10] Speaker 4: that just felt good to both of us, and we
[4:12] Speaker 4: were like, that's the name of our brand. We're going
[4:13] Speaker 4: to build our brand around that name and really build
[4:16] Speaker 4: our brand.
[4:17] Speaker 3: Around thank you.
[4:18] Speaker 4: Gratitude, you know, supporting each other, you know, through whatever
[4:22] Speaker 4: journey that you're you know, going through.
[4:24] Speaker 2: You know, it's really important that the reason I bring
[4:26] Speaker 2: that up because people don't under need to understand that
[4:30] Speaker 2: put some research in your name or your business or
[4:32] Speaker 2: your product. Because my name of my company is thirty
[4:35] Speaker 2: and fifteen Media, people always ask me what does that mean?
[4:38] Speaker 1: Why did you name your company thirty and fifteen Media?
[4:40] Speaker 2: And if you have a motivational, vertivational story, like you
[4:44] Speaker 2: just have a great story as to why you name
[4:47] Speaker 2: your company Madossie, and it compels people to do more
[4:52] Speaker 2: research or become more engaged with your brand, Is that
[4:55] Speaker 2: true or not?
[4:56] Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's your name, of your brand, the product that
[4:59] Speaker 4: you deliver, the story that you tell. You know, everything
[5:03] Speaker 4: has to kind of build up right to be able
[5:05] Speaker 4: to tell that compelling story for you know, anything that
[5:08] Speaker 4: you're looking to do in the industry.
[5:09] Speaker 3: I'm in. I knew that, you know, venture.
[5:11] Speaker 4: Capital dollars was important, you know, for us to build
[5:14] Speaker 4: a brand, right, and so I need to make sure
[5:16] Speaker 4: that there was a compelling story that make people emotional,
[5:19] Speaker 4: a compelling story to kind of grab people to understand
[5:23] Speaker 4: the why behind my brand, right, And that's exactly.
[5:26] Speaker 3: What I did.
[5:27] Speaker 4: Everything has a story behind it, the name of it,
[5:30] Speaker 4: why we did it, the taste of the flavors, why
[5:33] Speaker 4: our drinks are called. You know, our marguerite is called
[5:35] Speaker 4: Hello Sunshine because that was our word.
[5:37] Speaker 3: It was Hello Sunshine. How you doing today?
[5:40] Speaker 1: Right?
[5:40] Speaker 4: So our brand has everything and a story behind everything
[5:44] Speaker 4: that we do.
[5:45] Speaker 1: Okay, cool?
[5:45] Speaker 2: Now, you said earlier the rise of the zero proof
[5:48] Speaker 2: of movement is out there and it's competitive. You said
[5:52] Speaker 2: that to the top of the conversation. How does Monica
[5:56] Speaker 2: knowing is competitive? About there? Knowing? A lot more people
[6:00] Speaker 2: have media dollars you may not have. How do you
[6:02] Speaker 2: feel you're gonna, you know, cut your piece of the
[6:05] Speaker 2: pie and then grow that pie at the piece that
[6:08] Speaker 2: you carve out.
[6:10] Speaker 3: So one, it was the drink offering that I offered. Right.
[6:13] Speaker 4: When you look in the market, there's a lot of
[6:15] Speaker 4: non alcoholic drinks where they use carbonated water. They splash
[6:19] Speaker 4: them limb in it and they call it a social tonic.
[6:22] Speaker 3: Right.
[6:22] Speaker 4: Right, we go to a bar, you don't order that
[6:24] Speaker 4: watermelon drink that has the carbonated water. You order a
[6:28] Speaker 4: lemon drop, You order a margarita, You order an old fashion,
[6:31] Speaker 4: and so that's how I'm different, right, So I wanted
[6:33] Speaker 4: to be different in the market. I wanted that authentic taste.
[6:36] Speaker 4: I wanted bolt flavors. We use bold colors on our packaging,
[6:40] Speaker 4: which is another big thing that I do. When you
[6:42] Speaker 4: go down the shelf and you see my brand, you
[6:46] Speaker 4: can't miss it because we got the bold oranges, the
[6:48] Speaker 4: boat yellows, the boat reds. That's just gonna kind of
[6:51] Speaker 4: just make you stop and say what is that? And
[6:54] Speaker 4: then again you're gonna look at the name, right, Madosi,
[6:57] Speaker 4: what does that mean? So everything that you do has
[7:00] Speaker 4: to tell a story. So that's how I'm different. So
[7:02] Speaker 4: everything I wanted to do was being different in the market.
[7:04] Speaker 4: I didn't want to be the whole carbonated because it
[7:06] Speaker 4: was cheaper to make. Right, It's cheaper to make carbonated
[7:10] Speaker 4: water and throw a splash if some flavors in it.
[7:13] Speaker 4: My drink has organic seals on every one of the cans,
[7:17] Speaker 4: meaning I use organic juices. I don't use flavors. So
[7:20] Speaker 4: I have barrels and barrels of lime juice, pineapple juice,
[7:24] Speaker 4: cherry juice. So you're gonna get all the good stuff
[7:26] Speaker 4: out of my drink also right, And consumers are looking
[7:28] Speaker 4: for those drinks that are healthy for you also right.
[7:33] Speaker 4: So I did not skimp on the flavors, the taste,
[7:37] Speaker 4: the profiles across the board.
[7:40] Speaker 3: The other thing is, let's be.
[7:41] Speaker 4: Honest in this space, there's not too many black and
[7:44] Speaker 4: brown individuals like competing at this level, and I wanted
[7:48] Speaker 4: to be that one person that competes at this level, right,
[7:51] Speaker 4: which kind of let me into finding a venture capital
[7:55] Speaker 4: company that would support us, will allow us to take
[7:59] Speaker 4: it to the next level.
[8:00] Speaker 2: You said a couple of finding a venture capitalist because
[8:03] Speaker 2: I hear vcs for sure, that's what they call them.
[8:07] Speaker 2: What type of presentation of what type of model financial
[8:11] Speaker 2: models do you have to put in front of this
[8:13] Speaker 2: VC to let them say we can win with this
[8:16] Speaker 2: or I'm going to invest in you.
[8:20] Speaker 4: You know what, sometimes I tell people all the time,
[8:24] Speaker 4: and because this show is all about kind of giving
[8:27] Speaker 4: information out to people that they can use. Sometimes it's
[8:31] Speaker 4: not about the financial piece that you put put in
[8:33] Speaker 4: front of them. Sometimes it's about the story and the founder.
[8:37] Speaker 4: Those are the two things I let with. My story
[8:40] Speaker 4: was a strong story as to why I built this
[8:42] Speaker 4: brand as a founder, my background as the murders and acquisitions,
[8:47] Speaker 4: so all operations. And then my co founder, her background
[8:50] Speaker 4: was she was a lawyer, right, she was an entertainment lawyer.
[8:53] Speaker 4: So putting strong founders together with a great story was
[8:58] Speaker 4: the one thing that I led with to find my
[9:00] Speaker 4: v s right. So it's not always about all I
[9:03] Speaker 4: got to do ten million dollars in sales before you
[9:06] Speaker 4: get money, right, sometimes you need to know how to
[9:08] Speaker 4: talk the talk and walk the walk, as my mom
[9:10] Speaker 4: and dad would say. And that's exactly what I left with.
[9:13] Speaker 4: I left with my story in my background, and I still.
[9:16] Speaker 2: Sat, Monica, you could talk. I love that you. You
[9:19] Speaker 2: are a communicater. Okay, where did you get that from?
[9:22] Speaker 1: Mom? And dad?
[9:24] Speaker 3: Kind of from mom? I did it for mom. My
[9:26] Speaker 3: mom was a communicator. She was she was. She was
[9:29] Speaker 3: a hustler in her in her own right right.
[9:31] Speaker 2: So well, you know how I love the word hustler
[9:34] Speaker 2: because back in the day when you said hustler, you know,
[9:37] Speaker 2: it was like today, a hustler is a person who
[9:40] Speaker 2: lives in a multiple streams of income.
[9:42] Speaker 1: World.
[9:43] Speaker 2: That's a hustler nowadays because they've just renamed it. But
[9:47] Speaker 2: if you got multiple streets of income, you hustling, you hustling,
[9:50] Speaker 2: and then and also if you had four or five jobs,
[9:52] Speaker 2: they say you're part time Jamaican so and all kinds
[9:55] Speaker 2: of slang for people out there who basically today that's
[9:58] Speaker 2: what you are told to do. Not to sit on
[10:01] Speaker 2: one paycheck, not to sit on one opportunity. So is
[10:05] Speaker 2: this what you're doing full time?
[10:07] Speaker 1: Monica?
[10:07] Speaker 3: This is what I do full time. So this is
[10:09] Speaker 3: all I do.
[10:10] Speaker 4: Medossie is my number one thing and it's the last
[10:12] Speaker 4: thing I do when I go to sleep. You know,
[10:14] Speaker 4: I always say, you know, with any company, you have
[10:19] Speaker 4: to invest the time right, and I know sometimes you
[10:22] Speaker 4: got to work and you got to balance out trying
[10:25] Speaker 4: to be a you know, a founder or entrepreneur. I
[10:28] Speaker 4: just say, find that balance right so that you can
[10:30] Speaker 4: get to a point where you are able to do
[10:32] Speaker 4: it full time so they can put all your energy
[10:34] Speaker 4: into it.
[10:34] Speaker 3: So this is what I'm doing full time. This is
[10:37] Speaker 3: what I'm talking to.
[10:37] Speaker 2: The divisionary co founder of Medossie Cocktails, a leading non
[10:42] Speaker 2: alcoholic spirits brand redefining how we celebrate. On her leadership,
[10:47] Speaker 2: Madossie is emerging as a trail blazer in the beverage industry.
[10:51] Speaker 2: Industry crafting elevated alcohol free cocktails. And like you said,
[10:57] Speaker 2: we're not just splashing carbonated water and MEDOSSI. We got
[11:01] Speaker 2: some premium brands in there. So that was important for
[11:04] Speaker 2: you to separate yourself from your competition.
[11:06] Speaker 4: Correctly, Absolutely, I mean, and on the shelves. It's going
[11:10] Speaker 4: to separate me also. Right when people look me up
[11:12] Speaker 4: one Instagram or Amazon, they're gonna see that I have
[11:16] Speaker 4: taken the time to, you know, put premium ingredients into
[11:19] Speaker 4: these drinks, you know, and the authentic taste also is
[11:23] Speaker 4: the number one thing that people buy us for right
[11:25] Speaker 4: when people buy us on Amazon. Right now, we're on
[11:28] Speaker 4: Amazon and we're doing extremely well. It was on Amazon
[11:31] Speaker 4: since June of twenty twenty five. I want to say
[11:33] Speaker 4: that we were probably two thousand or cell number one
[11:37] Speaker 4: drink when Amazon. Now we're in the teens. Right, We're
[11:39] Speaker 4: fourteen in some areas with some drinks. We're twelve in
[11:42] Speaker 4: other areas and other drinks. So we're moving fast. And
[11:45] Speaker 4: I get people who rap me a one, and when
[11:48] Speaker 4: they rate me a one, guess what they say, Oh
[11:50] Speaker 4: my god, this tastes too much like alcohol.
[11:53] Speaker 3: I can't do it. I love that, right, so I
[11:55] Speaker 3: just kind of reverse that because that's exactly what I am.
[11:58] Speaker 4: If you don't want that authentic taste, don't buy me,
[12:00] Speaker 4: right if you want that author taste.
[12:02] Speaker 2: So you said a one is good for you because
[12:05] Speaker 2: they want five, you're chasing that one because I taste
[12:09] Speaker 2: just like alcohol. If you give me a one, thank you,
[12:13] Speaker 2: because I'm representing what you're selling.
[12:15] Speaker 1: What you take it to the table.
[12:17] Speaker 2: You know, it tastes like a turkey, look like a turkey,
[12:20] Speaker 2: but they're a turkey because it's your brand and turkey flavor,
[12:24] Speaker 2: as they say back in the day.
[12:26] Speaker 1: But let's let's talk about.
[12:27] Speaker 2: You a little bit here and putting together this brand
[12:30] Speaker 2: scaling because like you said us in the two thousands,
[12:34] Speaker 2: in the summer of twenty twenty five, now sometimes you're
[12:37] Speaker 2: in the high teens. When I say that, I should
[12:39] Speaker 2: say low teens because you're talking about twelve and fourteen
[12:44] Speaker 2: in certain brands that you have. How do you handle
[12:47] Speaker 2: the scaling? Because I'm gonna tell you something as a
[12:50] Speaker 2: black person that always scares us. Are we ready to scale?
[12:56] Speaker 4: I tell people, any founder, any entrepreneur, we know it's
[13:00] Speaker 4: a hustle when you first start your everything right, you're
[13:03] Speaker 4: doing market and you're doing this. You're doing that right,
[13:06] Speaker 4: but sometimes you got to pause and now you got
[13:08] Speaker 4: to operationalize yourself. That's where you're going to get the win.
[13:12] Speaker 1: Right.
[13:12] Speaker 3: You need to know how many units am I bringing in?
[13:16] Speaker 3: How much does that unit cause?
[13:18] Speaker 4: You got to kind of really understand, like why am
[13:20] Speaker 4: I doing this event, why am I acting this activating
[13:23] Speaker 4: at this event?
[13:24] Speaker 3: What's my ROI?
[13:25] Speaker 4: You got to start thinking about all of those things
[13:27] Speaker 4: and really operationalize yourself.
[13:29] Speaker 3: Right, That's the only way you're going to get the scale.
[13:31] Speaker 4: So if I am ordering ten thousand products, I know
[13:35] Speaker 4: how much it costs per can right.
[13:37] Speaker 3: If I sell it, I know exactly what I need
[13:40] Speaker 3: to sell it for.
[13:41] Speaker 4: Some ofttimes we you know, we order more product, but
[13:44] Speaker 4: we don't adjust our prices, right, we don't get that
[13:47] Speaker 4: scale that we're looking for.
[13:49] Speaker 3: So all of those things you got to begin to do.
[13:51] Speaker 4: The hustle's great, but take the time to operationalize your
[13:54] Speaker 4: business and everything in marketing, you know, in the strategy
[13:59] Speaker 4: area and operations area and communications in pr in all
[14:04] Speaker 4: the areas that touch your business. There needs to be
[14:07] Speaker 4: some type of strategic in the way you operate.
[14:09] Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere.
[14:11] Speaker 2: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass. Now,
[14:14] Speaker 2: I need for you to do me a favor right
[14:17] Speaker 2: now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's
[14:21] Speaker 2: free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
[14:25] Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
[14:29] Speaker 2: me that favor, follow or subscribe money Making Conversations. Welcome
[14:37] Speaker 2: back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me Rashaun McDonald.
[14:41] Speaker 2: She's the one and only Monica Cornerture. She's from Philly
[14:47] Speaker 2: by way of Atlanta. Now she's in La doing her thing,
[14:51] Speaker 2: and her thing is Medisa Medossin Madossi. A's a cocktail
[14:57] Speaker 2: that's non alcoholic. It's a speed brand is redefined and
[15:01] Speaker 2: how we celebrate. I always look at the products like
[15:04] Speaker 2: this and I go, it's an idea.
[15:06] Speaker 1: How did the idea move forward? I've had people.
[15:09] Speaker 2: Come on my show say they thought it out there
[15:12] Speaker 2: in their kitchen and now it's it's own store shelves.
[15:15] Speaker 2: You know a lot of things happened in the kitchen
[15:18] Speaker 2: and a lot of people take that and then translate
[15:21] Speaker 2: into successful business plans. Let's talk about when this idea
[15:25] Speaker 2: came to you, Monica, and that then then who you
[15:29] Speaker 2: had to convince and then you had to bring on board.
[15:32] Speaker 2: Did you bring in a food scientist into your game
[15:36] Speaker 2: to get this rolling?
[15:37] Speaker 1: Talk to us?
[15:39] Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, that's a great question.
[15:40] Speaker 4: So, like I was talking about a little earlier, I
[15:44] Speaker 4: started the business with a really good friend of mine.
[15:46] Speaker 3: We were friends for thirty years, We went.
[15:47] Speaker 4: To college together, we pledged together, and as she was
[15:50] Speaker 4: bad only breast cancer, we were just looking for authentic
[15:53] Speaker 4: ways to celebrate, and you know, those celebrations came with
[15:57] Speaker 4: let's take a walk, we had water, let's meet that
[15:59] Speaker 4: you know at the grocery store and get a you.
[16:01] Speaker 3: Know, drink.
[16:02] Speaker 4: Everything was over a drink, right, And even when you're
[16:04] Speaker 4: hanging out with your friends, you're celebrating with something in
[16:07] Speaker 4: your hand. And we was looking to feel something in
[16:11] Speaker 4: the market, something that we were looking for. We were
[16:13] Speaker 4: looking for a non alcoholic, authentic cocktail and there was
[16:17] Speaker 4: a lot on the market, but it did not meet
[16:19] Speaker 4: what we wanted to meet, right, So we said, well,
[16:23] Speaker 4: let's look at this and let's think about creating our
[16:27] Speaker 4: own brand. I mean, we were both entrepreneurs, you know,
[16:29] Speaker 4: doing the work that we were doing before. And you're right,
[16:34] Speaker 4: it didn't start out in my kitchen. I could have
[16:36] Speaker 4: started mixing some stuff in the kitchen, but for me,
[16:40] Speaker 4: research was super important for me to start any business. Right,
[16:44] Speaker 4: having a business plan is important to start any business.
[16:47] Speaker 3: So we did that first, right.
[16:49] Speaker 4: We said, well, let's see the feasibility of this, right,
[16:51] Speaker 4: so we did a whole feasibility study to see if
[16:54] Speaker 4: we were even able.
[16:55] Speaker 3: To do this, you know, can it happen?
[16:57] Speaker 4: And instead of working on our kitchen mixing some stuff up,
[17:00] Speaker 4: we knew that we had to find a food scientist.
[17:02] Speaker 4: So we failed a black female food scientist run in
[17:05] Speaker 4: La who helped us around the table create the.
[17:10] Speaker 3: Flavors that we were looking for.
[17:12] Speaker 4: We went through multiple different ingredients house and flavorhouses to
[17:15] Speaker 4: find exactly what we're looking for. So it took time
[17:19] Speaker 4: to do the research. We didn't just jump out there, right.
[17:22] Speaker 4: We spent at least six months trying to strategize plan,
[17:27] Speaker 4: figure out you know, is this a good you know
[17:29] Speaker 4: plan to invest money in. And we used our own
[17:31] Speaker 4: dollars up front, right, and we knew how much the
[17:35] Speaker 4: maximum number we could use at of our own dollars
[17:37] Speaker 4: to get to where we wanted to be right. We
[17:40] Speaker 4: didn't want to start this process and realize, oh my god,
[17:42] Speaker 4: we don't have the money to do this, Oh my god,
[17:45] Speaker 4: we need more money of our own money to do it.
[17:47] Speaker 4: We said, this is the limit, this is how we're
[17:49] Speaker 4: going to do it, and we strategized and we made
[17:50] Speaker 4: sure we executed.
[17:51] Speaker 3: It that way.
[17:53] Speaker 4: So that food scientist, she was phenomenal. She helped us
[17:56] Speaker 4: create the flavors that we have today. But we knew
[18:00] Speaker 4: that to grow in this business you need more capital.
[18:04] Speaker 4: This is not like a lip gloss that's like thirty cents, right.
[18:07] Speaker 3: This is a heavy product.
[18:09] Speaker 4: This is a can of drink and it costs money
[18:12] Speaker 4: to produce that can of drink. Inga passed away before
[18:15] Speaker 4: we could get to this point, but we signed a
[18:18] Speaker 4: VC at that time. But it was all about planning
[18:22] Speaker 4: and strategizing. And even today, when I'm doing things, I
[18:26] Speaker 4: go back to my original plan and say, wasn't on
[18:29] Speaker 4: the roadmap to do this? And if I'm changing the
[18:31] Speaker 4: road map, I need to go back and change my
[18:33] Speaker 4: plan and think through it.
[18:34] Speaker 3: From when we get into end.
[18:36] Speaker 2: Now, if we talk about stigmas all the time, when
[18:38] Speaker 2: stigmas usual to pop up when you're doing something.
[18:40] Speaker 1: Then people say.
[18:42] Speaker 2: I like it, but it don't taste right, or it
[18:44] Speaker 2: don't taste like we're alcohol, So why should I waste
[18:46] Speaker 2: my time drinking fake stuff? So what stigmas do exist
[18:52] Speaker 2: in the non alcoholic beverage world? Like you kind of
[18:55] Speaker 2: said a little bit when you said, people just dropping,
[18:57] Speaker 2: you know, buzzword fuzzy water and then put a little
[19:03] Speaker 2: flavor of lemon or flavor of orange, a flavor of
[19:06] Speaker 2: strawberry and say, ka, oh, that's the stigmas you're talking
[19:10] Speaker 2: about or what are they? So we can my audience
[19:13] Speaker 2: could be more informed than edge.
[19:14] Speaker 3: I think.
[19:15] Speaker 4: I think there's two stigmas out there for me right
[19:17] Speaker 4: in my space. So there's the one stigma of the
[19:20] Speaker 4: people who drink alcohol and they say, well, this is
[19:22] Speaker 4: not really alcohol. I guess not for me, And I
[19:25] Speaker 4: say that's perfectly fine.
[19:27] Speaker 3: But when you're.
[19:28] Speaker 4: Drinking alcohol every day all day and you just need
[19:31] Speaker 4: to break but you still want that taste of flavor,
[19:34] Speaker 4: then call me up right. Then there's the opposite one,
[19:39] Speaker 4: the drink doesn't you know it's not for me? I mean,
[19:41] Speaker 4: I'm a non alcoholic person, but it's just not for me.
[19:44] Speaker 4: And I tell those folks that's perfectly fine because I
[19:47] Speaker 4: tell people minds have an authentic taste, right. But my market,
[19:51] Speaker 4: I know exactly who they are. I know they're looking
[19:54] Speaker 4: for my drink. They're looking for an authentic cocktail without
[19:58] Speaker 4: the hangover. I know they're looking for an authentic cocktail
[20:02] Speaker 4: that's healthier for them, so they're not drinking all day
[20:06] Speaker 4: every day. I would say the one market that is
[20:08] Speaker 4: popping up for me, they're black males who are looking
[20:13] Speaker 4: for replacement drinks for when they don't want to drink
[20:16] Speaker 4: all the alcohol every day. They're buying the old fashion
[20:20] Speaker 4: and it tastes like an old fashion and they want
[20:24] Speaker 4: to compliment. And they was like, they want to do
[20:26] Speaker 4: the alcohol and they want to check through a Madossie.
[20:28] Speaker 4: They want to do the alcohol. They want to do
[20:30] Speaker 4: a Medossie. And that's perfectly fine for me. And I
[20:32] Speaker 4: always say, don't be everything to everybody, right, find your
[20:37] Speaker 4: market and stick with your market, right, And that's what
[20:41] Speaker 4: I and even even the people who love alcohol, they
[20:45] Speaker 4: buy it to be a mixer. My my drink is
[20:48] Speaker 4: a is the mixer to start from, and then they
[20:52] Speaker 4: can add alcohol and that's perfectly fine with me as
[20:55] Speaker 4: long as they bought Madossie.
[20:57] Speaker 2: I don't care what you do with it, because what
[20:59] Speaker 2: thing but Donsa's not going to get you drunk.
[21:02] Speaker 4: Okay, everything to everybody, and I don't want to be everything.
[21:06] Speaker 3: To everybody, right.
[21:07] Speaker 1: I love that.
[21:08] Speaker 3: I love that in the market that I'm in.
[21:10] Speaker 1: Because I hear that from a lot of people.
[21:12] Speaker 2: I love figures my whole thing that I hear a
[21:14] Speaker 2: lot of people they want to diverse their market share,
[21:17] Speaker 2: which sometimes cold. They want more white people buying their
[21:20] Speaker 2: product instead of finding it. Find your niche, find out
[21:23] Speaker 2: who buys your product for you start trying to get
[21:25] Speaker 2: somebody else to buy your product when you don't even
[21:28] Speaker 2: have a base buying your product.
[21:29] Speaker 1: That's what you just said.
[21:31] Speaker 2: Find your niche, grow your niche, then you can expand.
[21:35] Speaker 2: But if you're not expanding, if you're still expanding on
[21:37] Speaker 2: a theory, then your whole brand is going to collapse
[21:40] Speaker 2: because you never establish an audience that wants your brand,
[21:44] Speaker 2: that will recommend your brand, they will follow your brand
[21:47] Speaker 2: or promote your brand. Like she said, out of the blue,
[21:50] Speaker 2: she didn't know men were going to be attracted Black men,
[21:54] Speaker 2: especially so Chris what that's a niche she can now attack,
[21:58] Speaker 2: she can now grow, she can build relationships off of.
[22:02] Speaker 2: Because that's an audience that's speaking very loud, and that's
[22:05] Speaker 2: very important because you seem to be very very savvy
[22:08] Speaker 2: Monica when it comes to marketing.
[22:11] Speaker 4: Yeah, and if you go on my socials, you'll start
[22:13] Speaker 4: to see I'm starting to do content with this young
[22:16] Speaker 4: man and his grandfather, right, and they're telling stories about
[22:19] Speaker 4: drinking Manossi, right, because that's I know, that's my niche,
[22:22] Speaker 4: like you know, so you know you'll see that I
[22:24] Speaker 4: do a lot of storytelling on my you know, Instagram
[22:27] Speaker 4: and social media sites for my market, right, Like I said,
[22:31] Speaker 4: for my market, You'll see tons of images and imagery
[22:35] Speaker 4: for my market out there.
[22:36] Speaker 1: Let's talk about that.
[22:37] Speaker 2: Because of the fact that marketing is so important and
[22:42] Speaker 2: when you make apprecientation and you're asking people for money
[22:46] Speaker 2: a BC, you have to have a plan.
[22:50] Speaker 1: How are you going to get to how you going
[22:52] Speaker 1: to distribute your products? Now?
[22:54] Speaker 2: Right now, you say Amazon is would you say Amazon
[22:56] Speaker 2: is your leading distributor?
[22:58] Speaker 4: Of your body is my leading distributed So we started
[23:01] Speaker 4: in this market and tell people think about your strategy.
[23:04] Speaker 4: People think, oh, my God, and they what retail stores
[23:07] Speaker 4: are you in? And I say none?
[23:09] Speaker 3: Right now? No?
[23:11] Speaker 4: You know why because it costs too much money to
[23:13] Speaker 4: be in those retail stores. Right, So direct to consumer
[23:16] Speaker 4: was my first place that I wanted to be.
[23:18] Speaker 3: I wanted to really focus on.
[23:21] Speaker 4: Amazon, my website, TikTok shop, all those places are kind
[23:26] Speaker 4: of like online stores, and that is exactly what I attacked, right.
[23:29] Speaker 3: I attack those markets and I go strong in. Right.
[23:33] Speaker 4: Amazon is my number one. We ship product out to
[23:36] Speaker 4: Amazon pretty much probably every other week. We're shipping pilots
[23:40] Speaker 4: of product out to Amazon for Amazon buyers to find us.
[23:44] Speaker 4: Then I exactly did our website and then we do
[23:49] Speaker 4: you know, TikTok shop.
[23:50] Speaker 3: Right, And that's what I wanted to do.
[23:52] Speaker 4: We did that for about six or seven months, and
[23:56] Speaker 4: now just recently am I ready for retail stores?
[23:59] Speaker 3: Right?
[24:00] Speaker 2: Let's talk about that, because Monica, because of the fact
[24:03] Speaker 2: that you know your brand is growing, Now, how did
[24:07] Speaker 2: you convince how what is the procedure to get Amazon
[24:12] Speaker 2: to consider your product and then also to consider you
[24:16] Speaker 2: can meet the demands? Because this is Amazon worldwide, you
[24:19] Speaker 2: know somebody can tap you and say I won't four.
[24:22] Speaker 1: Palettes instead of one palate or just a case. What
[24:27] Speaker 1: does Amazon do?
[24:28] Speaker 2: What is the vetting process that Amazon does for a
[24:32] Speaker 2: business like yours?
[24:33] Speaker 4: Well, I was gonna say for any business. Amazon is
[24:36] Speaker 4: a great opportunity for anyone. Amazon is really easy to
[24:39] Speaker 4: be able to apply to get on them. And the
[24:41] Speaker 4: one thing you gotta do is you got to make
[24:43] Speaker 4: sure that you meet all the requirements. Your imagees have
[24:46] Speaker 4: to be a certain way. You got to use all
[24:48] Speaker 4: the right word choices. You can't use words that will
[24:51] Speaker 4: kind of get you out of the algorithm.
[24:53] Speaker 3: So Amazon is a really good.
[24:54] Speaker 4: Marketplace, right, but again you do have to follow their
[24:58] Speaker 4: strict rules around image image sizes. You know what you
[25:02] Speaker 4: can say, what you can't say, So you've got to
[25:04] Speaker 4: follow all of those things completely. But the one thing
[25:07] Speaker 4: people do is they get on Amazon and they don't
[25:10] Speaker 4: do anything right.
[25:12] Speaker 3: Amazon also has tools where.
[25:13] Speaker 4: You can market right, you can purchase keywords so that
[25:17] Speaker 4: people can find you, right, you can put videos up
[25:21] Speaker 4: on Amazon. I would say, leverage those opportunities on Amazon.
[25:25] Speaker 4: That's how exactly how we went from where we were
[25:27] Speaker 4: before six or seven months ago to where we are today. Right,
[25:31] Speaker 4: So people are now finding us, people are now searching Madosie.
[25:35] Speaker 4: For instance, my word Madossie cocktails.
[25:39] Speaker 3: Because we're moving up.
[25:41] Speaker 4: I have other brands who are my competitors buying my words,
[25:44] Speaker 4: So that when you type in dossie, who knows, I mean.
[25:47] Speaker 3: That's just a generic word type cocktails.
[25:50] Speaker 4: You get all these other brands and be like, how
[25:52] Speaker 4: are they even associated with Madossi cocktails? Right, So it's
[25:57] Speaker 4: not like a general like you're not typing in like
[25:59] Speaker 4: mocktails or anything. You're specifically typing in Madossi cocktails. But
[26:03] Speaker 4: that's the great thing. Because they buy my words. I
[26:05] Speaker 4: buy their words, So I'm I am pulling customers from
[26:09] Speaker 4: my competitors, right because I push authentic tastes awesome.
[26:14] Speaker 2: Well, her name is Monica Cornacher a drink. Madossi is
[26:19] Speaker 2: a non alcoholic beverage. I want to say, man and
[26:23] Speaker 2: when Amazon has been in two thousand, nine, twelve and
[26:26] Speaker 2: fourteen on certain flavors. So all it upward, upward and
[26:30] Speaker 2: up and up in a way is what I can
[26:32] Speaker 2: say about your brand. And closing, tell us how to
[26:34] Speaker 2: reach a U if they want to go online, but
[26:37] Speaker 2: also if they want to buy from your website, but
[26:40] Speaker 2: also other outlets that are selling your Madozzie brand, so we.
[26:44] Speaker 3: Sell on Amazon.
[26:46] Speaker 4: Just just go type in Madossi Cocktails you'll find us.
[26:49] Speaker 1: Spell that for them, spell that form Madossie M.
[26:51] Speaker 3: E d A S.
[26:55] Speaker 4: And then you'll find all six of our flavors on Amazon.
[26:59] Speaker 4: You can also go to our website which is Madossi Cocktails.
[27:02] Speaker 4: That's M E d A S E c O c
[27:06] Speaker 4: K t a I l S. Make sure you put
[27:09] Speaker 4: the S on there. You'll see our beautiful website where
[27:12] Speaker 4: you can also purchase all of our products there. And
[27:15] Speaker 4: then if you're on TikTok, just check us out at
[27:17] Speaker 4: at Madossi Cocktails and we sell on TikTok shop. We're
[27:20] Speaker 4: on Instagram and Facebook. If you want to reach me,
[27:24] Speaker 4: just kind of DM me on Instagram and I usually
[27:28] Speaker 4: will be the one replying to you. You can also
[27:30] Speaker 4: reach out to support at Medossi coocktails dot com.
[27:33] Speaker 1: Also, my friend, thank you for coming on this show.
[27:36] Speaker 2: You have you are the true visionary and speaker and
[27:41] Speaker 2: spokesperson for this brand and don't stop because you are
[27:44] Speaker 2: something special.
[27:45] Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Compings. It's a masterclass.
[27:48] Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me.
[27:50] Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode. Now, I need
[27:53] Speaker 2: for you to do me a favor right now to
[27:55] Speaker 2: follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation.
[27:58] Speaker 1: It's free.
[28:00] Speaker 2: You can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[28:04] Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor,
[28:08] Speaker 2: follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations.
[28:11] Speaker 1: Keep winning.

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