Kerianne Krause Goes Beyond The Typical DEI in Distilling
When it comes to creating a more inclusive environment in the distilling industry, it requires changing behavior. Who better to handle that than a board-certified behavior analyst?
Typically, a master’s degree in behavior analysis doesn’t lead to a career in the distilling industry. However, Kerianne Krause’s path took her from studying human behavior to co-founding Beyond Distilling in Charleston, South Carolina – but her aim goes beyond just making fine spirits.
The distillery produces whiskey, rum and gin but it has another function: it provides a space for adults with disabilities to work and play.
Kerianne essentially wrote the book on employing and entertaining this often-overlooked segment of individuals. It all started when she realized she could continue supporting children she worked with through another business: a distillery.
Professional Behavior
In 2016, Kerianne founded Build Independence Together, a company designed to provide applied behavior analysis therapy to children with disabilities. Over time, she had a realization about her work. Once her clients became adults, they got left high and dry.
“The minute you leave high school and you have all the security of all these supports in place, and then all of a sudden you're [thrown] into this adult world and there's not very much support,” Kerianne explains. “Why don't we just come up with a business [where] adults can work?”
To add to the dream of creating a business that employed adults with disabilities, Kerianne also learned that many of these same adults experience discrimination just going out for a drink.
“How do we shut down the stereotype that anyone with any form of disability doesn't drink?” Kerianne asked. “And also what do we do with all of these kids that are going to become adults and need support in the workplace?”
At the time, Kerianne’s co-founders, Tyler LaCorata and Ryan Sadis, were working at distilleries in New York. Coincidentally, they wanted to team up and start their own business.
“Tyler is my oldest son's godfather,” Kerianne notes. “So he and my husband grew up together.”
The three of them plotted a business that met all of their needs. Then the distillery where Tyler worked closed in the midst of Covid, with 800 barrels no one wanted to buy. When a backer of that distillery learned of the plans for Beyond Distilling, he donated the remaining barrels and helped them get up and running down in Charleston.
Building Behaviors
After years of planning, the distillery became a reality and Kerianne was now the founder of a second – very different – business.
“I had to learn how to run a distillery,” Kerianne admits.
Navigating training and developing strategies for putting people with disabilities to work was an important piece of launching Beyond Distilling. But all the other parts of opening a business needed to be addressed too. For instance, the distillery needed insurance – and that was just one of the first areas where the team faced discrimination.
“There were people that wouldn't give us liability insurance once they found out the mission,” Kerianne recalls. “It's discrimination on paper – not providing business liability insurance because [of who we hired] is, in-and-of itself, discriminatory.”
Lawyers got involved and they settled that hurdle. Then it was time to start hiring. Kerianne originally planned to create a program book that would allow any individual with a disability to thrive as an employee at Beyond Distilling.
“[I] quickly threw that out the window because that won't be able to exist,” Kerianne confessed. “But what I did come up with was a program book for the model of distillery we have. Essentially, there were a lot of things that I realized I had to prepare a managerial staff to be able to handle.”
Beyond Distilling focused on preparing all of its employees for a work environment many of them might not have experience with.
“I realized this program book has to be more [about] our priorities as a company and how you change behavior,” Kerianne continues. “So if we have an employee [who] might not be able to read, what prompts do you give them? We're going to teach. We're going to provide accommodations.”
As Kerianne tells it, the production at Beyond Distilling moves a little slower. But it’s still focused on crafting a high-quality product.
“We do move in a way to make sure every single part of the bottling line [works correctly] and when the product gets back to the end, everything is perfect,” Kerianne says.
Today, Beyond Distilling employs a staff of ten with at least 40 more people on a waiting list who could have jobs as soon as the business can support them.
“The people that we have right now were considered unhireable through vocational rehab,” Kerianne acknowledges. “Parents are even surprised at things that their children can do. Most adults with disabilities have spent their whole lives or their parents have heard all the things that they're bad at. And I barely have to monitor everyone. Everyone's just working and proud of working and happy.”
Behaving in Public
Behind the scenes, Beyond Distilling has been a welcoming space for people with disabilities. The same is true in the tasting room. Kerianne aimed to make the entire distillery accessible for a group of individuals not always considered when it comes to designing bars and restaurants.
As a way to invite people with disabilities into the distillery, the staff participates in marketing efforts, like social media posts, to showcase who is running the show. Employees also bring in their own friends and family – and people they meet through the community.
One of the individuals on staff also works at a coffee shop that employs adults with disabilities and they’ve attracted clientele from that business as well.
Additionally, Beyond Distilling partners with non-profit organizations and other groups that build community for adults with disabilities. Karaoke nights with HEART, an inclusive arts community that provides visual arts, music, and performing arts mentorships for adults with special needs, and events with other organizations for adults with disabilities, like Be the Change Charleston, have opened the doors to an underserved audience.
Behavior Modification
In many ways, the distilling industry is very different from the behavioral therapy space. But Kerianne divulges that she’s experienced misogyny and discrimination in both roles.
“At my other company, sexism still exists,” Kerianne reveals. “Even though it's a female-dominated industry, men are still the leaders. There was physical harassment, verbal harassment before I opened my own company. That was something that I was used to.”
Luckily, at Beyond Distilling, Kerianne’s not alone in calling out the sexism she sees. Her co-founders, Tyler and Ryan, have taken notice and are quick to back her up or squash any questions about her authority as an owner.
Over time, Kerianne grew to really own her role and face any questions about her authority with confidence. If someone questions how much she knows about bourbon or whether she can pick up a pallet, she handles it. It’s just another way she’s making the industry a little more diverse – by showing a male-dominated industry that women can lead the way.
“I just think it's hard for men who only workaround other men to realize that some of the things that they find normal in a workplace are not,” Kerianne says. “But if you have an inclusive workforce, you have to make sure everybody feels comfortable. You're going to have more people vying for that type of environment. If it's 12 white men and one minority in any capacity, you're going to feel ostracized because those people can't relate to your experience.”
For any other women looking to take on leadership roles in the distilling industry, Kerianne has an important message: “Just because people are talking at you with confidence doesn't mean what they're saying is correct.”
Basically, don’t be afraid to learn and grow into your role. Some people’s behavior may never change but you can become an authority and create a space where everyone is welcome.