Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Alldritt.
Hi Sarah, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started drinking in high school, and by the time I was working in restaurants, it was just part of the culture. During COVID I started getting sober curious, mostly because drinking felt like the only thing there was to do, and I began asking myself if I actually wanted it or was just going along with everyone else. My drinking slowed down, but the question stuck with me for years until my father-in-law passed away from alcoholism, and that was the moment I knew I wanted to quit for good. I wanted to show my husband, Bob, that we could build a full, meaningful life without alcohol, especially in an industry where it’s everywhere.
What I didn’t expect was that getting sober would turn into a business. I started Why We Mocktail just to share mocktail recipes, but I quickly realized I wanted it to be about more than what’s in the glass… the mundane moments, the funny ones, the hard ones, the awkward ones, all the little situations where you realize alcohol used to be your crutch just to feel like you fit in. About a year later, Bob ended up quitting too, so this became something we built together: the kind of sober space we felt was missing online, less clinical wellness brand, more like a friend in your back pocket at happy hour or on a random Tuesday night.
From there it’s grown into a real business that we do for content creation and advertisements for brands that feature their products in a mocktail and then we started our free weekly newsletter Glass Half Full, our free ebook Liquid Courage, and a community that’s let us turn a personal decision into something with actual staying power. We don’t think sobriety makes life perfect, but we do think it changes how you see life, and for us it’s become something bigger than either of us: a legacy we hope carries into our relationship and our future family.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, especially on the business side. When I started Why We Mocktail, I genuinely had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know how to edit a video, how to film a recipe, what angles worked, how to tell a story in 30 seconds, or even how to make something look good on camera. I still joke that I “study film” because I spend an embarrassing amount of time watching reels and analyzing everything from the camera angle to the lighting to the way someone pours a drink. I’ve learned so much simply by doing it over and over again.
There’s also a very real element of creating everything yourself. I’m constantly chasing natural sunlight, which in the Midwest is basically a full-time job because the weather can change in five minutes. I’ve learned where the light hits in my house at different times of day, how to make a drink look good on camera, and how to work around a cloudy day when I had a whole shoot planned. I shoot in my guest bedroom and not in the kitchen so it always makes for a messy clean up too. Then there’s the business side—pitching brands, negotiating, creating content, figuring out what my audience actually wants, and trying to grow something that started as a little creative outlet into a real business.
I think the hardest and most rewarding part has been accepting that I’m never going to feel like I’ve “figured it out.” There’s always another skill to learn, another reel to study, another idea to try. Why We Mocktail has grown completely organically, and I’ve grown with it. I’m still learning every single day, but I think that’s part of what makes it feel so personal.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m the creator and founder of Why We Mocktail, where I combine beautiful, approachable mocktail recipes with the real-life stories that surround not drinking. I’m known for making non-alcoholic living feel less like something you have to give up and more like a lifestyle you can genuinely enjoy, even when it feels different.
What I’m most proud of is that I built Why We Mocktail organically from essentially nothing into a real business and community. I’ve taught myself everything along the way, and it’s become so much bigger than I initially imagined.
I think what sets us apart is that we don’t try to make sobriety look clinical, overly focused on recovery, or perfectly curated. I’m not an expert in sobriety and I don’t claim to be. We talk about what it actually looks like in everyday adult life—the good, the boring, the funny, and the uncomfortable. I want someone to come to our page for a beautiful drink and stay because they feel like they’ve found people who understand how they’re living.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Hmmm, I’ve never had much luck in this honestly. The crazy part is that the year I deleted my LinkedIn was the most successful year I’ve ever had in my career.
I think being apart of the restaurant industry for so long, it was a path I chose because it allowed me the flexibility to make good money to put myself through college and even though by the time I graduated college I had a Bachelor’s degree and also being fluent in Spanish, the first thing companies saw were that I had no “real” work experience and they would write me off completely. This was a constant cycle for years of me trying to find a job outside of the hospitality world.
After years of rejection and knowing I always had something special and more to give, I let that chip on my shoulder fuel me and wanted to become my own boss. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I just knew I would get it done. I became my own mentor and my own inspiration. I really think the first step is truly believing in yourself, working hard at it every single day and everything will come when you’re ready.
Another tip is listening to podcasts about entrepreneurship and branding. – there are many free resources out there nowadays and those helped me out a ton when I was first getting started. You can find a mentor you like and admire this way as well.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @whywemocktail
