Check Out Shana Atwood’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shana Atwood.

Hi Shana, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Moon Bloom was founded by my friend and business partner Ruriko Yamada. I met her when we were running a coffee shop and tee-shirt company together – Multeepurpose (at 269 S. San Pedro). Multeepurpose was a concept in casual-contemporary clothing, built to harness the power of design and infuse it with a purpose. Every design related to a cause, and every sale, benefited that cause. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but our effortless activism campaign helped to connect consumers to a wide range of non-profit and human rights organizations. After Multeepurpose – Our paths took us in different directions – but crossed again with Moon Bloom. Ruriko had discovered an amazing woman (Mami Wakabayashi) brewing craft sake in Nagano Japan and wanted to create a private label to distribute it to markets outside of Japan. A personal driver of mine is to create more opportunities for women in business, especially so in places traditionally held by men. So when Ruriko came to me with the idea of Moon Bloom, I was in. Founded in 1896, Wakabayashi Brewing has been family-run for over 120 years, but Mami Wakabayashi is their first female Toji. Her story is a powerful one. Prior to taking up the helm at Wakabayashi Jozo, Mami Wakabayashi majored in English Literature.

During the course of her education, she was able to participate in a study abroad program that took her to Seattle and introduced her to American culture. As she began to share her story and that of her family’s brewery, she realized the importance of the brewery and the importance of protecting sake culture. At that time, she didn’t see herself managing operations at the brewery. It wasn’t until years later that Wakabayashi, then working in the fashion industry, overheard her family discussing shutting down the brewery. With such a long and rich history, she did not want to see this happen. So, she quit her job and moved home. When she decided to return to Nagano in 2013 to learn the brewer’s craft and join her family brewery, she spent three years at Shinshumeijo Brewery. There she apprenticed with an experienced Toji, Masaru Nishizawa, an award-winning Toji who began brewing when he was only 15. When Nishizawa died suddenly at aged 75, less than a year into her apprenticeship, Mami Wakabayashi was thrust into the role of toji, and she’s been making amazing sake since then. Ruriko and I created the vision for moon bloom, we employed my husband to design the website and logo. I manage the socials and PR (all outside of my 9-5 job). We’ve been blessed to have found a great importer and two amazing distributors and just got on the menu at Yamashiro!! We also just got approved by the ABC to sell sake online in California… so expect to see an online store coming soon.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Smooth, ha! Covid came and completely upended our business. Not only was our first shipment pushed back due to shipping delays (followed by more delays at the port), but restaurants were shuttered for most of the year. For an alcohol brand, restaurants are an important revenue driver. Sake isn’t well known enough that it sold by major retailers; not to mention the competition within Japanese markets is fierce. We also wanted to sell our product D2C, but after applying (and getting approved) by the ABC for an online retail license – our landlord changed his mind and would not allow us to post the ABC notice of intent to sell. We scrambled for a new location, finally finding one, but by then the world had started to open back up, meaning that resubmitting the application would take another few months. Luckily we were finally approved just the other week and are ready to set up our storefront. Now we must figure out all of the logistics, but it’s really exciting knowing we will be able to sell online.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve always leaned into my passions, and one thing has led to another. Because I’m so curious and love learning about the world, I’ve had a really eclectic background of experiences. If I don’t know how to do something, I find someone that does that I can learn from, or I teach myself (I get that from my mom). I started off working for Marciano, and while it was fun, it always felt as though something was missing – that lead me to Multeepurpose (and Ruriko) and to work that really felt like it mattered. That we were doing something good for people. And loving people led me to hospitality and sales, which ultimately brought me to marketing and advertising.

Currently, 9-5, I am the Sr. Director of Strategic Planning for Causal iQ, a programmatic media company. We place many of the ads that consumers see on a daily basis. We work with brands and agencies to make sure that the right ad gets in front of the right person. Leading a team of planners, I specialize in marketing strategy, and I love it. But I think it was my work in hospitality, working my way up from hostess, to expediter, to server, to manager, that shaped a lot of who I am today. I learned about sake from my time at Toranoko, a Japanese izakaya in DTLA. Japanese culture has always been something that I’ve gravitated to – so Moon Bloom is really a combination of all the things I love.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ve always leaned into situations that made me uncomfortable. And I have been thoroughly uncomfortable every time, but for whatever reason… it’s hard to say why – I did it anyway. I think perhaps, women and girls are often socialized to follow the rules – but my parents… my mother especially really did make me feel as though I could do anything. So I did. It’s not that we had a ton of money growing up, but she made sure my sister and I had a lot of opportunity. And because of that, I was able to take more risks. I moved across the country from NY to CA to go to college. I changed majors from Marine Biology to something completely different (economics) a year in. I started my professional career in fashion, did a 180 to land in hospitality, then another 180 applying for a corporate position in advertising.

I think I have a bit of a “jump in and learn to swim” mentality. It’s scary as hell, but sometimes you just have to jump. I’ve read that “men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them” and I’m so glad that Sheryl Sandberg called that out because it was like I was being given an invitation to jump.

I’m not sure how I’m different or if this would apply to anyone else, but as scared as I’ve been to try new things or put myself out there, I’ve always risen to the challenge. Some things I’ve done better than others. I’ve failed a lot of things too. I quit a job/ was let go for refusing to be taken advantage of – twice. I’ve worked in jobs that barely paid me enough to live on, that I loved. I’d do it again. They wouldn’t have been sustainable in the long run, but each was valuable and ultimately brought me to the place I’m at today.

Pricing:

• $44/$45 – Retail (720ml)

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.moonbloomsake.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/moonbloomsake
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoonBloomSake/