Meet Rachna Hukmani

 

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachna Hukmani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachna, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is an interesting value and concept. I have often asked myself that same question over the course of the past 11 years since I started Whiskey Stories®. Where does the drive come from when it’s 3am there’s work to be done and you realize you’ve been working for 48 hours without sleep. Where does that sudden adrenaline rush come from that keeps us going and keeps us wanting to deliver?

I have decided it comes from stepping into one’s legacy. While some opportunities may pass us by if we don’t act on it, I don’t believe our legacy passes us by. I believe our legacy waits for us until we become the person who is ready to leave that legacy. I believe that once we know what this is, there is an energetic alignment that comes with us, bringing us strength, opportunities, people and more who help us evolve. Once we are on this journey, there is an unspoken energetic pull that keeps us going.

I also don’t believe it happens in silo. I am of the mindset, “If you don’t need help, your vision isn’t big enough.” Surrounding ourselves with the right people who not only believe in us but help us become more of what is needed brings in a collective force of wanting to succeed.

In turn, I believe those who underestimate us also have a purpose and role in that resilience. They have a way of shedding light on what we really want to do and giving us clarity of who we want to be. As we embrace that more and more, there is a mentality of “The Show Must Go On Resilience” that emerges.

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?

Whiskey Stories® is a seasoned Michelin Guide recommended truly cohesive immersive multisensory whiskey experience company that I started in 2014.

While on the surface we are a whiskey experience company, there is so much more to Whiskey Stories®. We are also a community, seeped in innovation and collaboration. Everything has been carefully fine tuned over the past 11 years to create something truly cohesive where guests rediscover their own palates and gain a deeper understanding of whiskey in a unique way. It is also a place for storytelling, culinary arts and more multisensory twists and turns.

I have been working in the whiskey industry for the past 15+ years. The intricate art form of whiskey, its versatile flavor profile, its history, how women were the first distillers and alchemists has intrigued me from the start. My path and passion took to me different cities in the US and work opportunities. I worked with Diageo, for Pernod Ricard, Edrington and with several whiskey makers to help market existing whiskeys and design new ones. I was fortunate enough to start working in whiskey/whisky innovation early on in my career and be part of the team that helped design and launch whiskies such as The Macallan 12 Double Cask, Highland Park Magnus, Noble Oak Bourbon, Relativity and others. One my favorite “whiskey stories” is my week long immersion at the Highland Park Distillery in Orkney (in November in 80mph winds no less!) where I not only got to partake in various components of their process, but also take a journey into their legacy.

As my experience evolved in innovation and whiskey/whisky liquid prototyping, I felt the intense pull to create something beyond the theoretical knowledge of whiskey & distilleries. I wanted to create a way that could help people dig deeper into understanding the versatility and deeper flavors of a whiskey/whisky in an immersive way where all their senses are engaged. At the end of the day what people really want is to be able to enjoy their whiskey in a way that is authentic and memorable as well as get a deeper understanding of their own palate.

I wanted to create something where people gain confidence in their palate and are able to dig deeper into the nuances of whiskey without being overly reliant on a flavor wheel or feeling the pressure of what “they ought to taste.” Not all palates are created equal and I was fortunate enough to live in multiple countries across Europe and Asia because of my family which allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of flavors, textures, fragrances and memories associated with these across cultures.

In 2014, I started Whiskey Stories®, an immersive multisensory whiskey experience that included whiskey flights but also a carefully curated global culinary journey, fragrance and sensory science techniques built in. I also wanted it to be fun, engaging and a coming together of a community.

Incorporated also with my love of storytelling, background in theater/acting, stand up comedy, satire writing as well as sensory science Whiskey Stories® is an experience that not only combines all my passions, it is designed to be cohesive with a deeper flavor voyage into the world of whiskey in an elevated way.

Lately “immersive experiences” have become bit of a trendy term where experience with multiple touch points are referred to as immersive. However, each element is disjointed and ends up diving guests attention and preventing them from truly focusing. At our experience every multisensory element has a purpose so that collectively it helps gets be fully present and rediscover their own palates.

Over the past 11 years, I have fine-tuned this technique to be truly cohesive. Overall, the star ofnthe show is always whiskey experienced in a new light. One of my favorite parts of the evening is when guests starts to really dig deep into their flavor journey and discover nuances of each whisky before I even reveal what they are trying. The look of pride on their faces is priceless. Even those who are whiskey aficionados feel they discover new components and to us that is extremely rewarding. We are also always adding new sensory technology to our experiences many of which will be revealed this year.

We like to create many themes designed to help guests at different points in their whiskey
journey (e.g. Flavors of Asia, Japanese vs. Scotch Saga,) part of which is Whiskey In the Dark®, one of our most popular themes attracting people from all over the world. Whiskey In the Dark® is a standalone experience as well as sensory technique that is embedded into all our experiences. Guests are not blindfolded the entire time but it is designed with techniques that enhances their senses and allow them to focus on their own palate.

The added bonus is that people also feel a shared connection with others and as a result it is delightful to see people choose to celebrate their special milestones and occasions with us. In turn, we also use our techniques to train whiskey/whisky brand ambassadors and use it as part of whiskey innovation and ideation as part of our B2B services.

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?

Three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge:

1. Wanting to create something deeper with whiskey after working in whiskey innovation for the past 15+ years. Most whiskey tastings run the same way with techniques telling guests what they “ought” to taste and when. Not all palates are created equal and setting out to create something that helps guests gain confidence in their own palate in a fun, immersive way has been the key to fine tuning our experiences and also introducing innovation via our products and services (our whiskey based unisex luxury colognes, our sensory techniques and more).

2. Have a background in food because of my family roots. I come from a family of amazing culinary artists which has led to my passion of creating a method of using food, flavor, fragrance as a way to decipher whiskey. In turn, I was lucky to live in many countries which gave me a deeper understanding of how people experience flavor, food and the sensory memories they create with it. This has helped set up apart with our experience.

3. A passion for storytelling. I love telling stories. When I was child, I would sit on my grandfather’s lap and tell him stories. I loved it and he felt his job as a granddad was easier! I believe when stories are embedded into experiences in a way where they enhance people’s journey without distracting them from it, it can create lasting memories. I have used this technique as part of creating sensory memories for guests when they are experiencing our ways. I’m proud to say everyday guests reach out to us and tell us they felt our experiences are some of the best they have ever attended and that they are looking at whiskey in a newer, deeper way.

Advice for others early in their journey:

In order to create something that is truly authentic and unique to you, sometimes you have to just do it and let people experience your vision rather than just describing it to them.

Taika Waititi is one of my favorite movie makers and he has often said, of his creations, “If I had described my vision to people. they would have found it too out there and not been on board. I just had to create it.” I believe if I had just described my vision for Whiskey Stories®, what I wanted to do would not have been clear. So I set out to create it, fine tuning it for more than a decade.

How would you describe your ideal client?

I am very lucky to have amazing private and corporate clients. It is such a honor to see them fully embrace Whiskey Stories® as a unique experience often traveling from all over the world to experience our ways with some people waiting as much as 2 years to get our tickets at our ticketed experiences

In turn, our corporate clients, look at us as partners which allows me to travel across the US and bring our experiences to all their customers. We. now have dedicated partner locations across multiple cities in the US and can pretty much bring our trademarked format and ways anywhere.

Our ideal client is one who fully lets go and allows our experiences to unfold. We find that once they do they love seeing their customers connect with each other in a very unique way. As a result of this, we are proud to say we are the go to choice for our clients when they want their customers to have an unparalleled experience. For this we are truly humbled, grateful and lucky.

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