Daily Inspiration: Meet Julie Renee Hennelly

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Renee Hennelly.

Hi Julie Renee, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I actually have two small businesses. Shindig, the hospitality company and The Moon Puppy Project, my artistic outlet.

I have always been and artistic extrovert. I grew up on stage, my grandmother was a drama teacher and seamstress. After university I was gravitated to New York City and the endless instant gratification it provided. I began designing lingerie by day and bartending at night. I always worked multiple jobs and made sure I had a spiritual and artistic work woven into my career goals. In my years in NYC, I worked at 30+ bars restaurants and lived abroad seven times (escaping the winters!). I was always working for other people and having a blast circling the drain full of glitter….point being, I was distracted from investing in my own business and was stuck in Never-Neverland.

My partner and I decided to turn the music down a few notches and moved to Los Angeles, where in the first week we adopted a poodle and I started working for Beyonce and Jay-Z. I started sewing sequin dog bandanas for our Little Tootsie Loofa under the name The Moon Puppy Project and continued running hospitality for the Carters household under Shindig. The gig worked suited me. I could decide my own schedule and accept — work that fits into my week. Orders would come in from my website and Etsy and I would sew at home and prep cocktails for events.

My Husband Austin is a big part of Shindig. He works from a scientific technical angle and I from the creative social side. It has been a great balance for us. We were in a fortunate position when covid came along because I was sewing sequin masks all day while conducting virtual cocktail classes for Tech companies. I would create cocktails kits, send them out to their clients and organize virtual events where we would make drinks and have an entertaining educational experience. We started branding much heavier — and I created an Instagram and a website for Shindig.

Business is now simmering and I am always looking for more people to work with, whether it is throwing a party or selling sequins. Our queer community here in LA has been a big support and I am looking forward to nurturing that connection.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I mean, Covid. We had to do a complete pivot and we are so grateful we were successful. Making masks was a no-brainer, but I wanted to make sure I was still available to budget time to make masks for essential workers. I had to close down my Etsy and website cause I just couldn’t keep up with orders. I was grateful to be busy and be able to utilize my home as my workshop and office.

My partner and I have always worked in restaurants/bars while running these two businesses. Restaurants help us stay connected to flavor trends and our audience. We love working in hospitality directly with people, so when covid hit we were unable to have the normal human contact we were used to. Restaurant work gives us a steady stream of income that 1099 and gig work doesn’t provide. — Now we are both working in restaurants again, consulting on some bar programs and planning small events. We are interested in broadening our reach locally and making genuine connections professionally.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have always been an outgoing performer. It makes. — sense to me that I work in sales and hospitality. As a child, I was in roughly handfulls of plays. — I got an agent and was in acting classes constantly. I booked a few commercials, one aired in the superbowl and that really help to financially contribute to my education, specifically studing abroad. — Bartending is a performative skill that involves scripts, improv and choreography. I was also in the Young Americans, an education youth outreach program — for schools that don’t have performing arts programs. I loved working in Children’s Theatre and I became a leader and a teacher when I was still myself a child. I have always loved anything that sparkles and finding ways to make people feel comfortable. Sharing joy and providing comfort have been the main influential forces in my professional pursuits.

Contact Info:

• Email: julie@shindigcocktails.com
• Website: www.shindigcocktails.com www.themoonpuppyproject.com
• Instagram: @themoonpuppyproject @shindigcocktails