Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Darell Bester. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Darell, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience came from my up-bringing in the Roseland community on the southside of Chicago. In the 80’s and 90’s, I witnessed a lot of what was wrong with my community, due to not having an equal playing field as far as economical development. Having to make a way out of no way was just the norm from where I was from. You didn’t have time to lick your wounds every time something went wrong. You had to learn how to adjust day to day to ensure you could make it out of whatever situation you found yourself in.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am Darell Bester aka Dee Best the owner and founder of Cōpajn Vodka. Cōpajn means to “To share with friends” which the name is derived from the french word Copain meaning buddy. I dropped the i and added a j and this was for all my regular “joe’s and Josephines’ from around the way that represent the Chi. I am a brand visionary and in this case I create different spirits that are apart of my catalog of brands. Once we figure out what spirit will be distilled, it’s then prepared for wholesale to enter the spirits market.
Our first release is a premium vodka that comes in a traditional clear vodka that we call silver. Then we also created our sleek upscale Black vodka and thats exactly what it is BLACK! You can find out all things about the brand at www.copajnvodka.com. We are also on most social media platforms.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three things that stand out for me as far as important qualities would be patience, faith and consistency. For those who are early in their journey the qualities that I laid out will keep you grounded. Doing your own thing takes courage first and foremost. You wii find yourself becoming impatient during the process. This could lead to you becoming discouraged and to even start you to lose faith in what you are doing. As long as you ride the waves and stay consistent you will find yourself right where you want to be. Hard work trumps talent as long as you believe in you.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
In the spirits space the hardest thing to do is to change the minds of a hypnotized customer base. As a black spirit maker, I have to 1, show we exist. 2. We have to prove we can compete by having a great product. 3, We have to fight 10 times harder to earn the customers trust because as usual we are late to the party. In this space we have to come up with strategies that will get our product directly to our customer. In most cases just like any business venture that we attempt to enter, we struggle with not having the capital needed to scale and grow. We shave a long way to go before we see a true equity stake in this industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.copajnvodka.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/copajn_vodka
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/dee_best_copajn_vodka
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darell-bester
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/copajn
Image Credits
Calvin Coleman
Jasper Moore
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