We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Savanna Beaulac a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Savanna, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
In the world of titles, the best title I’ve found to fit my current self is a creative. It’s a word that leaves interpretational imprints and has deeply made me feel connected to what I could and am capable of. Now, with that being said, being a creative isn’t necessarily an “easy” or no-name descriptor. It comes with creative blocks, it comes with unwanted yet expected judgements, it comes with joy, and it can come by nature. In keeping my creativity alive, my biggest mind exploration this far is boredom. Boredom sounds so… boring. Why would anyone want to feel bored? The feeling of boredom has never been in the equation for me, and where that may sound like the dream life for some, it feels quite the opposite for others. On my journey, I’ve realized the best creatives have to spend a majority of their time being bored in order to spark new ideas. Think about it: If we are tangled up in productivity, there is no given time for our brain to develop new thoughts, ideas, or inspiration in a creative outlook. So, keeping my creativity alive with my current schedule is a challenge, but carving out the time of day for a sense of boredom and peace is the priority for me as a creative.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Well, I’m Savanna Beaulac, the creative behind my growing lifestyle brand “Sips With Sav.” I got my start in all things hospitality back in 2017 in the wedding/catering industry as a youngin’. I’ve continued on that path with a few sidestreets along the way involving health and wellness related jobs. I worked my way from server to head server to Vip Server to wedding ceremony attendant. Essentially saying I went from butlering appetizers on a silver platter to instructing staff on how to serve the silver platters to building and curating silver platters for VIP parties to escorting Vip parties through all things wedding ceremony and communicating live with vendors. I know, big stuff. Currently, I am a server/bartender and partner of Vaughan Cheese Counter & Bar’s beverage program. I’ve gained lifelong knowledge of food, beverage, hospitality, and title of opening team member through this establishment. It is here that I got the courage to make something of myself and pursue what I’m good at. Serving people. To serve is not and never will be an insult to me. What a pleasure it is to meet new faces, see returning faces, build relationships, create connections, and overall be hospitable to those who are your equals.
Sips With Sav is currently an online presence i’ve created for all things drink recipes. 20 somethings. and cowgirl boots. you may be wondering, cowgirl boots? A few years back I started to become recognized as the girl in the boots and i never looked back. Maybe they’re more recognizable for the courage to actually wear them to work on your feet for that long, but the symbol behind them is not just courage and strength. They represent my morals I hold through my career and my lifetime of true southern hospitality. We are all put here to serve. Everyone’s serving is different, but it should always be kind, humble, and honorable.
I had the ideas for Sips With Sav in 2022 and have kept it alive since then. What started as a few photos of cocktails/mocktails has developed into a niche lifestyle/entertainment podcast for people in their 20’s. The podcast launched February 14th, 2024 and is now finishing its second season. New episodes upload every Wednesday and start with a quick chat on what we’re going to be drinking for the duration of our lil chat. I do a wide array of classic drinks to twists and riffs off drinks as well. There is a guided recipe of the drink that then flows into what we’re talking about in that epsiode. Topics change every week, but they all circle back to the mind of being in your 20’s. This was what I chose because I realized the 20’s era is the first truly confusing stage of life we go through. Everyone is at a different phase, the world seems to be our oyster yet we don’t know where to begin or how to decifer what’s right and wrong. Right now i’m focused on finding myself and what makes me feel alive yet peaceful. That will be the key in accessing success in my career. If I can’t learn who I am and what I enjoy and how i function, then how would I ever have advice for others or a clear space for a creative career base. I want Sips With Sav to continuosly grow through phases the same way we do in life. Nothing should stay the same and goals change all of the time. If I put a strict guideline on something so personal and freeing, then it will never have the room to blossom into what it’s meant to.
Right now Sips With Sav is not only the podcast, but it has been a social media platform for stylistic drink cinematography, it has brought me to local businesses for teaching drink making classes, and it’s gotten me a lot of street cred for being invited to drink related events. The brand may go mobile bar, it may stay a social media brand, it may launch onto merchandise, it may become a hangout, it may become a shelf stable product, i do not know and my joy comes from not knowing. welcome to the wonders of being in your 20’s.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
finding the courage to ask for help. It’s easy to latch onto the feeling that we’re capable of everything. i mean not to kill your dreams, but we are only capable of anything and everything a portion at a time. it is much more efficient to tackle everything with others than to tackle everything alone. It will hurt everything in the long run. In analogy to a restaurant or bar, is it going to be more satisfying to serve 50 people at once for your own ego, but at the cost of every guest needing to wait, lessening their overall experience. Or is it going to be more satisfying to see all 50 people joyed in the service and experience they’re having after you asked for help but were still a big part of it. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, there’s room for all of us.
I took a color theory class in school that actually inspired me in many ways i never imagined. My instructor’s name was Yikiu Gu and he 100% has no idea how much I looked foward to just showing up and having the space to be a creative. You didn’t need to be good at something. Honestly, it just opened my eyes to how much we need that kind of time and also how colors are perceived and executed all around us from nature to advertisements and product to food. It’s benefited me a lot in my beverage curation career as I now have an eye for what colors can stand out next to one another. It also inspires me to think of what colors would work best, and then think of ingredients of those colors, which then leads to new unimagineable pairings.
Don’t beg to eat then complain about what’s on your plate. You can take that in a literal sense, sure, but i encourage you to dive deeper. If you crave freedom, or a career, or a dream, or goal, or anything at all, you feel it in your soul. It’s like you know something is destined for you at some point and you’re hungry to get there. But a lot of times it stops right there. Not intentionally, but we tend to beg for this goal or lifestyle or whatever it may be and its dream ending. We don’t remember to concider all the hard things that get us there as our true testaments of strength. So don’t beg to eat and then complain about what’s on your plate. You wanted it and you said at any cost, so eat it until you’re done.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
If you’re on the search for literally just a friend. Someone to fill your quiet space. Another person in their 20’s to relate to. Confidence in knowing what to order and drink when you’re going out. You’re starting in a new city and finding friends. Any of these descriptors, I am your friend. My true intentions behind Sips With Sav is simply…community. I want to create a space of likeminded people just trying to find their way. I’ve found that all of the greatest connections seem to happen over a drink. Every coffee date, every gathering, every business meeting, every catch up with an old friend, no matter the occasion, it’s always been done with a drink in hand. That is why I do what I do. I want the libation to hit the spot, but i want the connections to hit harder. So every Wednesday you should listen to Sips With Sav on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so that you have the opportunity to create. chat. cheers!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bio.site/SipsWithSav
- Instagram: sips.with.sav
Image Credits
For professional photos, thank you to Haley, owner of ‘Blissful Bee Photography’
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
