Innovating the Non-Alcoholic Beverage Industry by going a Cut Above - Andrew Solis

Andrew Solis is the rare combination of a strategic thought leader and an efficient executive who matches talent with opportunity to deliver tangible business results. He is known for bridging the gap between ideas and results. His keen sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness, combined with an innate aptitude, has led him to become a self-taught visual artist and work for years in banking and consulting and now set out on a journey to create the world’s best Zero Proof Spirits.  Focused on giving anyone, no matter their reason for wanting to consume less alcohol, a unique zero alcohol spirit that mixes seamlessly in their favorite cocktails to reduce or replace the alcohol without sacrificing taste. 

With a love of spirits and appreciation for the craftsmanship in making a proper cocktail, Andrew spent nearly two years designing and developing a true zero proof spirit that fools the mind and a brand built on choice, inclusion, celebration, and connection, bringing his work meaning both for himself and his future customers.  From the nose, the taste, the mouthfeel, through to the finish, Andrew and his team created everything about a premium spirit, including using all natural ingredients, simply without the alcohol.

Cut Above represents Andrew’s philosophy on most things in life - No matter what the task, strive to make it a “cut above” everything else. Every day he sets out to live this philosophy by example and to build a brand and product line that not only does go a cut above, but also sets the stage for an overall societal greater good is a pretty terrific start.

Both Andrew and Cut Above are based in Houston Texas, where he lives with his family. Andrew’s artwork has been exhibited at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, while his sculpture is archived at the University of Texas. His latest work however will be displayed on store shelves throughout the United States, as well as forward-thinking bars and restaurants.
 
https://drinkcutabove.com/

Summary:

Have you ever met someone whose brain runs like a Ferrari? One who has harnessed the power of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to keep the engine roaring, to keep innovating, and to keep creating? In this episode, we sit down with Andrew, a self-taught visual artist from Houston, who navigated through the professional world with an undiagnosed ADHD condition. His story is a testament of resilience and adaptability, revealing how he turned his unique way of thinking into an advantage.

Andrew candidly shares his journey of self-discovery, how he balanced analytical and creative problem-solving using art as an outlet and the role of therapy in his life. He then takes us through his career growth, venturing into the banking world, and navigating through it without the necessary mentorship or networking opportunities. A striking part of our conversation is Andrew's philosophy of striving to make everything a 'cut above' and how this ethos played a key role in developing his business. 

We also delve into the world of non-alcoholic spirits as we discuss Andrew

Transcript

Raul Lopez: 0:04

This is Raul Lopez and you're listening to. How Do you Say Success in Spanglish? The path to success isn't easy For minorities and people of color. Many attempt to journey with little to no guidance. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories of perseverance so th at together we can learn how to say success in Spanish. What's good mi gente, its your boy Raul. Welcome back! On today's episode I have a very good friend of mine. Andrew Raul Solis founder and CEO of Cut Above Zero Proof Spirits. how's it going Andrew? I appreciate you taking the time to talking to me today . I'm really excited to get into your journey. So just kind of talk a little bit about Andrew.

Raul Lopez: 0:52

Andrew Solis is the rare combination of a strategic thought leader and an efficient executive who matches talent with opportunity to deliver tangible business results. He is known for bridging the gap between ideas and results. His keen sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness, combined with an innate aptitude, has led him to become a self-taught visual artist and work for years in banking and consulting, and now set on a journey to create the world's best zero-proof spirits, focused on giving anyone, no matter the reasons for wanting to consume less alcohol, a unique zero-alcohol spirit that mixes seamlessly in their favorite cocktails to reduce or replace the alcohol without sacrificing taste. Cut above represents Andrew's philosophy on most things in life no matter what the task, strive to make it a cut above everything else.

Raul Lopez: 1:35

Andrew, that's awesome man and, like I said for someone who's been going through my health stuff. You kind of came out a good time for me in my life as I was quitting alcohol because of my health and you came around with a zero-propagal which is really hard to kind of start off with to get to at this point in time. But to start off, tell me a little bit about yourself. Who is Andrew?

Andrew Solis: 1:58

But lead off with the biggest, deepest question, of course man. So who is Andrew? First of all, I'll say I'm a father and husband. Family takes first priority for me, so those are the first two titles that I'll claim. Behind that, I'm someone that looks to create a better world and, more specifically, a world that is inclusive when it comes to alcohol consumption. So whether someone is consuming alcohol, consuming a little bit less or none at all, my current drive and mission in life is to provide them with the best non-alcoholic spirits to be able to do that. So happens that the product that does that, but inclusiveness has always just been a motivator for me in something I think the world can use a little bit more of right now.

Raul Lopez: 2:45

Yeah, no, definitely. And, like I said, it's as someone who does not drink alcohol finding any type of. Everybody always keeps telling you oh, why don't you try some of these non-alcoholic stuff and almost every non-alcoholic stuff has a little bit of alcohol and it's just like finding something that's actually zero proof is pretty amazing. And so you're from Houston originally. I believe you're still in Houston, yeah, so, yeah. So tell me a little bit about growing up in Houston and what life was like with that.

Andrew Solis: 3:12

Yeah, so grew up here in Houston, on the north side of Houston. For those Houstonians who say, what part of Houston? That's the first question. So the north side of Houston and growing up here was great. I had a fantastic childhood and Houston back then was as it is now, which is like a hustle town, an inclusive space for the most part, where if you worked hard you could carve out a good living for yourself and your family. So in the north part of Houston there's my dad, my mom, myself and a younger brother minus four years on me. We grew up in suburbs, as I would describe it, and when shopping went to the mall, right, everyone went there and I would say for the most part it felt like a fairly normal, normal childhood and there was anything that I thought was different about, a better experience than those that I would go to school with.

Raul Lopez: 4:06

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I'm also. I lived in the north side in a Tascacita as well, so I love that part of Houston and it's a unique place and so I know. When I talk to you and you filled out some of your pre interview questions you did mention that you were undiagnosed ADHD, which I think it's something that a lot of us, a lot of people, were probably undiagnosed back in the 80s and stuff like that. Nobody really cared, nobody really knew you mostly a bad kid, you just bad, you weren't you hurt, there was no issue with you. Did you ever think, looking back and stuff like that, see that, oh, this kind of were signs that maybe could have been picked up and how it might have affected you as you were kind of going through stuff as a kid?

Andrew Solis: 4:50

You know. Yes, but first I'll say I love the fact that that one I was willing to to share this, but more so that you're willing to bring this up as a topic. If I think back to, ADHD wasn't necessarily even a word, right.

Andrew Solis: 5:05

When I was experiencing it right in school. More and more became talked about, became understood, became studied. Now somehow Instagram knows I have ADHD, so I get all these like video feeds, but they're amazing because they talk about how they deal with kids, or kids who are in primary school with with that, which is different than when I was there. So I wasn't fully diagnosed with ADHD until my late 20s. So I went through college, I went through primary school with this unique way my brain works. I like to describe it.

Andrew Solis: 5:39

I forever thought everybody's brain work like mine. I just was doing a really crappy or shitty job. You can beat me of managing life that the brain would jump from one thing to another all the time. There was always like a recording playing in the back of my head, forgetting things really easily. Immediately after you told me them all these things that are common traits of ADHD I just thought that's how everybody's brain worked, because no one right ever told me, told me different.

Andrew Solis: 6:09

And so in school I would say one of the things that is a gift of ADHD for some is that you, you adapt.

Andrew Solis: 6:19

You have to adapt right, because sometimes it feels like you're drowning, and so one of the ways I adapted was to really almost like mimic and become a good observer of people and what others were doing and helping.

Andrew Solis: 6:36

Let that help inform sort of what I should be doing as well. So there wasn't even anything in primary school that was only to take notes a certain way or need to go home right, because I didn't know like I needed to have this different kind of structure in my life. But I did know that in order to feel like I was functioning like others, I had to be able to understand others more, and so why did they choose to play sports? Why did they place an importance on grades? Why are they socially able to have a conversation when that's difficult for me with others? Why are they not shy and why am I shy? So it built this very early on trait of curiosity in me that I'm so thankful it did, because being different in that particular way for me, because it bore that that curiosity has served me probably out of anything else in my life, sort of in a trait, better than anything else.

Andrew Solis: 7:36

So it wasn't necessarily that there was things that I would say would like if.

Andrew Solis: 7:39

I would compare to others were harder. They were, but at the time I didn't compare. What I look back on now and remember was I felt different now and I just don't know why. And because I felt different and didn't want to feel different, it led me to sort of develop these, these coping mechanisms, if you will, to be able to have to build a function right To go to function as a, as a teenager, as a preteen, you know, as a young adult, as a college student. All those things required adaptation because of the ADHD that I am.

Raul Lopez: 8:11

Yeah it's amazing, because it's amazing when you have something that you don't know you have and you figure out a way to overcome it. You know, I look back now and like I probably had some, some levels of like this, like the NHD ADHD, as a kid as well, and I grew up with my very immigrant parents, where it was you were just bad, I'd get beat a lot, and so I kind of had to like overcome and work a little harder. And now, as a parent, I'm more, you know, focused on trying to find the right way of learning when I deal with my daughter and stuff, as opposed to just, you know, being all upset about everything. And so when you're going through life as a kid and you're going through these type of struggles and you're learning, I think one of the things you put is that you're very self taught and you're very good at being able to learn.

Raul Lopez: 8:58

You've learned how to teach yourself, you know. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Andrew Solis: 9:03

And so one of the traits I've learned that's very common for ADHD is something described like. The brain of an ADHD person is like a Ferrari engine, but it's in a car with bad brakes. So I'm able to pick up things very fast. Like I'm a very fast study so I can become average at anything, whether it's like a sport, learning something, a language, anything like I'm able to pick it up very, very fast. The challenge is that with that comes like this hyper focus, which is pretty close.

Andrew Solis: 9:35

I think there's a really thin line for me between like focus and obsession.

Andrew Solis: 9:40

The example I give, which you know I'm 43 years old is video games. So if I started a video game, I had time to play them and I would become obsessed with that game. I have to finish it all the way through. I'm going to give up sleep, I'm going to give up quality of life for that. If they learn how to do it very well, they're going to set all these like milestones and find these eggs and get this and at the time that like my brain would just latch onto that and pour and pour and pour over it, so that like that's a hard thing because in certain instances that's really beneficial, like you know, running my own company in an industry I didn't have experience in before. Yes, I need to learn things really really fast, right? So avoid mistakes or to minimize the effect of mistakes. But if I don't keep that in check and notice when I'm becoming obsessive about something, or notice when I'm overly focusing on something that isn't necessarily the most, productive thing to be focusing on.

Andrew Solis: 10:38

That. That's the challenge part. I'm going to have that for the rest of my life, like I know that and I'm going to have right to cook oldies with it. But that knowledge of it, at least, like that self-awareness piece, I think is the is the cool part of it, because I make up. There are people out there right here still right undiagnosed with this, and it's this challenge of okay, my brain works this way. I don't know why I can't focus or I'm distracted easily, but there is this really beneficial component to it, which is when we, when we set our mind to things, when I set my mind to things, like I can really pick stuff up fast and I'm thankful for that as a trait.

Raul Lopez: 11:18

That's awesome and did that help you at all, like when you were? I know you ended up going to Baylor. Baylor is really impressive school try to get into. Did that help you out in school and stuff like that when you were trying to get in prepared in high school for college?

Andrew Solis: 11:30

It did. It did because. So one of the things and I'll kind of breach this as a as a separate topic so right ahead, adhd, which was, I would say, call that right the defining mental characteristic of Andrew, but also in my life, like I lost my father very early at the age of 10. And so those two things together really set a course for my life until I really found therapy much later in on my life. Those things were right.

Andrew Solis: 12:02

My brain works different. How do I figure out how to function like others? Plus, okay, now I don't necessarily have a male role model as a father. So how do I, how do I act as a boy, as a teen, what I do with feelings, my emotions, like all those sort of different things. So those two things really at the age of 10 kind of set who Andrew was for a really long, long time, all the way in into college. So the by the time I started Baylor, I pretty much knew how to adapt academically, what I needed to do in order to get good grades or the grades that I wanted.

Andrew Solis: 12:36

But I still didn't figure out by the time I went to Baylor was how, what do I sort of stand for? What does Andrew, as a man, look like? I'm looking back on around 21 to call myself a man, but at the point, what does a man look like? How do I behave? How do I treat women? How do I treat men? How do I have male relationships? And sort of figuring that out was difficult for me going into Baylor.

Andrew Solis: 13:04

I think at Baylor the really fortunate thing was that I found a good group of men who were like me. We were from Latin backgrounds, we had different family makeups, we had difficulties getting to where we were, right in the doorstep of Baylor, but we all had this yearning to create a home for ourselves but, more importantly, to create a home for those that would come behind us. So that kind of looking beyond ourselves. And when I found that group I really felt a sense of belonging in a place that it didn't feel right day to day. And so finding those was my spring semester of my freshman years when I found these guys stayed with them, they reported for fraternity together, still know them to this day. They're my best friends. Finding that group, I think, was really important. Going into college and then navigating college, and what we all do right, who we are, what do we want to be right, what do we think of the world, what are our beliefs? That's one thing.

Raul Lopez: 14:16

Yeah, I think it's a common trait, especially with all my interviews as I interview more people, that the whole concept of going to college and feeling out of place and trying to find that comfort zone that makes you feel like you belong and once you find that that's helped you succeed is, with everything that you've dealt with, have you kind of felt out of place lots of times. Is that something you have to struggle with?

Andrew Solis: 14:43

Yeah, I would say it didn't stop at Baylor. So one thing I was fortunate enough is I was able to get an internship with the company this summer to my freshman and sophomore years, and I interned with them each summer and then eventually took a job with them as a consultant.

Andrew Solis: 15:01

So there was the world of high school. You know you go to college. I'm different, I'm in a predominantly Caucasian and white school. I found my people, if you will, there. And then after that there was this other adjustment, which is into the professional world, and there are a couple of stories that I remember. One was was entering one summer and it was this dinner there were like partners there. The client was there and it was this kind of buffet laid out and we're going through serving our plates and I go to the chafing dish and I'm like, oh look, this looks great, this little kind of pieces of chocolate.

Andrew Solis: 15:41

They're warm, and the part behind me is like, no, those are truffles, with the F as a truffle. And then we go to a couple other ones and there was this other food that I didn't record and I said something and he was like, no, that's that. And me talking about like just that feeling of embarrassment where it changes your body temperature, like that's what I had in that moment and I realized, okay, there's a whole other world out here and that was just like cuisine and a corporate setting. Right, this was the whole of the world I hear that I need to figure out. So each of those kind of junctures figured out high school and then, okay, now you're in college, throughout college, okay, now you got to figure out this next thing, with not a lot of role models per se, people always were rooting for me.

Andrew Solis: 16:23

Like I said, I was always alone and that minute, like I had people behind me and it would kind of steer me in the right way. But being right, alone in those situations without anyone saying, hey, here's how you figure out how to be alone, right, and figure out how to navigate on your own and stand up for yourself and talk for yourself. That I don't necessarily think I had, and so I remember it in that moment, like right now, like I'm the chef of the house and the cook at the house I love cooking. I set out after that, that big experience. I was like I'm going to learn as much as I can about food and the world and how to cook it and where it's made and the origins behind it, and it set me off on this thing. I love it now. But those little kind of defining moments where I felt different you know someone's laughing at me because I'm different in a professional setting that really is kind of burned in my memory and sparked this okay, I don't want to feel this, let me figure it out.

Andrew Solis: 17:18

So that's one thing that I think is a really good example of for anyone who's feeling different in the moment is we can teach ourselves that we can go find and build that curiosity or use that curiosity to drive finding out something, whether me in that case. Right it was food. But it's how any sort of environment works the communication, the way people are with each other.

Raul Lopez: 17:46

Yeah, it's. I have a funny story too when it comes to food. My first time I got my first job, my boss took me out for lunch. You know, a lot of boss take care of lunch or first day of work and he's this Scottish guy and we go to go. I forget where we went to go eat, but we get hamburgers. And I was always kind of taught you know, don't eat first. You know, take a second and watch. And then the hamburgers come and he sets up and he pulls out a fork and knife and starts cutting the hamburger and eating the hamburger with a fork and knife. So I'm like, okay, I guess I got to eat this hamburger with a fork and knife.

Raul Lopez: 18:18

I don't want to look like an asshole in front of this guy eating a big ass hamburger and so, yeah, it's kind of these little things where you're not used to it, you're not, you're not experienced with it and you kind of have to learn by doing and find your way of being able to fit in. And I think we do that, we do that real well, you know, with team code switching and being able to jump in there and get you know, adapt to things. But other things that I think you mentioned in the pre-interview too is something where a lot of us aren't really good with is networking and mentoring, finding mentors and stuff. You mentioned that, that kind of something you missed out on a little bit. Can you elaborate on that?

Andrew Solis: 18:56

Yeah, I think I said in my career in banking before I started to cut above, I didn't place looking back on the right value on networking, mentoring, spending time with others outside of the work setting, with your professional peers outside of the work setting. Part of that, I think, was just myself telling myself one you can figure it out on your own, your smarts will get you through your work. Product is enough. It's good reputation. But the amount of bonding and consideration that one gets in a professional setting based on the time spent outside of the professional setting, I think is really big. And I talked about you hear the phrase deals made on the golf course. I think that's true statement. That has to do with I make up, getting to know other people, being vulnerable, finding what you have in common, finding what you don't. I just didn't think that in professional we're together. I think those were one thing. I thought I could have my friends separate and have my work life. I think I missed out on finding someone who I could hitch my wagon to who would guide me.

Andrew Solis: 20:13

Throughout most of my career I've had mentors. They were mostly short-lived relationships, a year at max, I would say. I know there's a mentee responsibility to feed those. I just I didn't. I think that was a mistake on my part. I think if I were to go back, I would spend more time being in situations that I wasn't necessarily comfortable in. An example of that is college sports. So I wasn't in college sports. I'm still barely in the college sports now. So just out of college, that's a big deal. Everybody's going to the games on Saturday. You're going to the bars that are showing the games on Saturday.

Andrew Solis: 20:52

Well, I didn't care to do that, so I would find something else to do or I would go and sit separate from others. I wasn't inquisitive about what it was like to go to a top 25 football college those sort of things. I really wish I would have been, because I think I would have. I would have learned what it feels like to put myself out there. I would have really had. People may remember me more in those instances, which again can pay off in a business setting, but just in like a personal friendship setting. So I think that was one thing that I missed that I think would have would have helped in my career.

Raul Lopez: 21:36

Yeah, and do you think that you've gotten better with stuff like Neverking now? Do you think that you've gotten better with your current job? Your current company at Neverking is really important.

Andrew Solis: 21:46

Yeah, absolutely I think so. So part of it was and I'll kind of tie this back in right so I didn't have my ADHD diagnosis. I didn't really deal with some of my family of origin stuff my father passing in at a very young age until I was already married, and those things were jeopardizing my marriage. So I've gone to therapy. I'm a huge proponent of therapy. I believe it saved my life in multiple ways. But at that point in time I learned that this trait that had served me well which is figured out on your own, Andrew, you can do it on your own and write the results for me.

Andrew Solis: 22:21

Thinking like that, it wasn't going to serve me well to function as a husband, to function as a father, to function as a good life friend for my best friends, and so I needed to be able to share things that I didn't know, ask questions that revealed I didn't know something, and just put myself out there more and drop the fear of how I'm going to be perceived. That was a real big one. My art, Producing art, really helped with that. So by the time we got around to starting Cut above, even though I'm an introvert by nature.

Andrew Solis: 22:59

So social settings drain my battery and they don't fill it up In those settings. I always go into them charged, so I have enough battery to talk, to engage people, to be inquisitive, to hold a conversation, to share things about myself. Another family of words and things is, I remember, like don't really boist yourself up, don't talk good about yourself. It looks like you're arrogant or you're bragging, but that's not necessarily true, right? So I talk about the things I've accomplished and realize people do want to know more about me. So by the time I started the company I figured out those things and looking back, yeah, those things would have been really nice to have figured out earlier, to have that confidence at a younger age. I think it would have been helpful.

Raul Lopez: 23:45

Yeah, definitely, and I know you mentioned that helped out with your career a little bit once you started getting more involved with banking and financing. Come on, everybody, what working in banking and finance was like.

Andrew Solis: 24:00

Yeah, it was a great experience. It fit me really well. I'm working for it. It was a large bank and the fact that it was a very organized culture. Right, there's this hierarchy of change of command there's deadlines, there's work, there's check-ins, there's milestones, and so my life, I'm part of how my brain, how I needed a function, was. I needed to be very organized, like things need to be in a certain spot Physically, things need to happen at certain times of the day.

Andrew Solis: 24:31

So, going into that, it felt right, natural, because it was organized in the way it felt unnatural for a couple of reasons. One, just my skin color, my background, how I would talk with my family, that code switching you talked about, but I couldn't do that. So I had to learn how to speak in a different way. I understood all those things as a if I want the success. I think this is going to give me the quality of life. I think this is going to give me these things I need to do. It wasn't a like I hate doing this to get here. Like I understood. That was the environment, and so I enjoyed corporate America, with this one sort of caveat, which was I didn't ever before have an example of what it looked like for someone to do something on their own and the positives and negatives of that. So all I knew was corporate and so everything about it had its negatives but it was the most part of good. You know, my bank kept me employed for 19 years. That was how many years I've been with it before I left to start Cut above. I would say they kept me happy enough to keep me from sort of looking elsewhere. For the most part, I mean it was a good company. They did a lot of forward looking things worked from home, great paternal leave, maternal leave, care, health care for their employees. It was a lot of really good things. I feel like the company had someone who was looking out for beyond right, the bottom line. But I think the part that either I wish I had exposure on or had done maybe a side hustle was OK.

Andrew Solis: 26:02

What does it look like when the effort you put out is like immediately tied to the reward or the consequence? So I could give right 100% at work and get the work product out. You know the deadlines. I could give 30% and get the work product out of that same same quality. So there was no necessarily motivation to work harder because the output right.

Andrew Solis: 26:29

I'm on a salary, you know, with a yearly bonus. The output that I'm going to receive back at the income is sort of the same and I really enjoy that about my life. Now, if I have a day where I'm just like cranking it out, I'm going to feel that the effort of that. A day where I'm just like slacking off, I'm going to feel that just as acutely. And there's something I think to be said for that and people experiencing that, because it gives you a real sense, or gives me a real sense of Of what I did with those hours of the day had a consequence and I didn't necessarily feel that in the professional world, what I did with those hours someone else could have come in and done it.

Andrew Solis: 27:12

If it missed a deadline, the world wasn't going to burn down, the company wasn't going to fall apart. If I skip enough days here for cut above, the company's going to fall apart, you know. And so there's this. It's a different, it's a different nearness to results that I don't know. Just it's very motivating to me, it's very attractive to me and I think, one of the motivators. I'm just really, really happy with what I met right now.

Raul Lopez: 27:35

Yeah, it's. I mean, I've been there as well where you feel you're putting in all this extra effort but and you're always like for what I'm. So you know there's other assholes doing half the work and getting promoted before I do. Why am I going to work twice as hard to get, to get and stay where I'm at my job now that they they're very have an entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial spirit at work too, so you can kind of guide and lead your position. So even with this is one of the first jobs where I kind of felt like my manager was like what do you want to do with this now? You know, how do you want to handle this? Move forward, and I'm literally getting able to plan out my career as opposed to being told where I'm going with it, and so it feels like you actually have it and I agree that makes me want to go and work harder and make sure I don't miss deadlines and actually finish the project early.

Raul Lopez: 28:24

I know you, you were happy with your career and you were kind of going through it and, like you mentioned, you didn't feel quite. You know, I feel like quite like putting that extra effort because you weren't getting that sensation that you get now, but sometimes within that career, you started looking at art and started doing art. What kind of job. You just started doing that.

Andrew Solis: 28:42

Yes, I would say, if you went back and looked at any of my notes the few that I took there were just drawings, it was this abstract stuff or it was a scene, I don't know. It was just more visual than anything else. If I think back the way I would memorize things. I still memorize things. I memorize I'm not sure the content, but I memorize where it is on the page and then I can remember what it was.

Andrew Solis: 29:05

So I've always been like a visual person and the way I say it is like my energy throughout the day isn't fully exercised through the keyboard, like my fingers typing. I still have this, something inside me that needs to be expressed or come out. And so I was like wait, let me just try. Like you know art, so you know, bought some supplies and started to make these paintings and you know, kind of figuring out like what it was, like, how does this work. And I would do them and I knew how I wanted what I was doing to come out and it never would come out the way I thought it should or the way I wanted it to, let me say it that way. So I said we know, if I really want to do this like I really enjoyed it. I would find myself in that that alpha brainwave, where I got, would get started and then would felt like two seconds later it's five hours later, like my brain just go into this, into this space.

Andrew Solis: 30:02

Like, let me figure out the technical aspects of art. So I went to classes at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. You know, learned about composition, color theory, the different materials, art history. All these things I didn't have for formal education and to be able to create the types of things that I wanted.

Andrew Solis: 30:21

So it started a lot with, you know, color and emotions. It moved into right, creating objects that we would, you know, like and see, so still life. Then it went into painting, you know, people setting scenes, letting the art Not to be like an exhibition of okay, andrew can do this now, but more have it say something, an opinion of the world. And so when I found that I really found this, this balance between my day my analytical brain is working and I'm in Excel and I'm calculating and I'm forecasting and I'm predicting risk and I'm assessing values that risk to I can turn off that full side of my brain and part that activates. Is this still problem solving? But it's. It's creative problem solving in that there's not necessarily an answer like. The answer is going to show itself as I'm working through it.

Andrew Solis: 31:20

And so that just was a really healthy thing for me to sort of find myself balanced, to expend that, that energy that really I felt was sort of sitting inside myself since I was a kid. That really right. I created art and you know I've sold pieces of pieces and shows and I always do it for me. If people like, like get invited. That's great. I'll do it until the day I can't produce anymore, but it is a. It is a component of how I express myself.

Raul Lopez: 31:55

Nice, yeah, it's also.

Raul Lopez: 31:56

I mean it's nice to have an outlet and sometimes it feels you know it feels avoid that you don't always feel that you can get. You know it's hard for a lot of people to. A lot of people say if you work the job you love, you never work a day alive. But most of us don't end up working a job we love and we forget that. You know sometimes we can do something we love that helps us feel that way outside of work, that the balance us off, and so it's great that you know that's really different, that you say that.

Andrew Solis: 32:22

So you know, I've heard that before, I've heard that before and what I say now is right. So I'm doing something I love. I've never worked harder in my life. I've never worked harder in the both the effort like the mental effort, the physical effort, the emotional effort, or just at their all time eyes. The difference is that what I do, I created and I believe in and I'm set to create like an outcome that I think makes the world a better place. And so, yes, if I'm doing something I love doesn't feel like I'm working, I don't believe that I believe it. It should feel like you are working super, super hard, because it's worth it.

Andrew Solis: 33:06

Right, it's me. It's worth it to put all this in because I know what I'm going at.

Raul Lopez: 33:12

I feel that, I feel that, and so so let's, let's talk about kind of both. You know, ultimately, what motivated you to start a zero alcohol company.

Andrew Solis: 33:22

Yeah, say the story starts kind of early pandemic and I was 40 years old at the time. I was looking to consume a little bit less alcohol. Alcohol has been part of my life legally should have been part of my life, and great ups and downs and everything said alcohol part of their life for for decades. But I wanted to cut back a little bit less and in my mind that felt like it was going to be something really hard to do. I've seen alcoholism in my family. Take, take family members. I see people who have healthy relationships with alcohol. So everything in between.

Raul Lopez: 33:56

So in my mind.

Andrew Solis: 33:56

I was right pondering these things. About the same time my oldest son was asking more questions about what I did at work, like he was at the age where he wanted to understand that, and I noticed at the dining table I was defucking those questions, I was redirecting, not answering really, because I wasn't happy with what I was doing. I wouldn't feel fulfilled and feel like I was creating something that was going to be better for him in the future. So two things right were happening at the same time and crossing paths, and one Saturday morning I woke up with a hangover and fully responsible for my friend, something to do I've got the kids take care of, and it's a terrible, shitty, shitty feeling. I'm hungover and have a kid to take care of and I had this thought that there had been a better way we were out with with celebrating a friend. I wasn't going to see what we thought was going to be like six months co. We made it three years and stay out that woman, and so I had to go back to the first three months that felt like they were care, carefully created. They took four thoughts. You know the names were there. They were garnished the same that I was able to order rounds of drinks like we consume alcohol. You get around, I get around, but just being like a non alcohol, like a particular ethnic component of the cocktail. So that way, maybe I wanted back at the time, like it was an old fashioned. Maybe I wanted that first old fashioned full strength. Then maybe I wanted one that had everything else by an old fashioned, but it was half as strong. I didn't have any alcohol. Maybe I wanted to go back to the full strength. It could let me be in control of that. And that was a novel idea because the way the world of operating for non alcoholic existed was, whatever the bartender slid across the bar, whatever strength, that, that's what you're drinking, right, you know if you want another going to get the exact same string.

Andrew Solis: 35:40

And so that that was the thought. You know I don't believe it's true. What I say is my phone was listening. So the next day I get an Instagram ad for non alcohol whiskey. Holy shit, didn't know this existed. Cool I'm. So I get ordered this on a hot whiskey to my house, make me old fashioned, and it just it didn't deliver like the brand promised it would. It was close, it had some elements, but like there were a lot missing and there were some things there that didn't necessarily belong.

Andrew Solis: 36:06

Okay, one thing that tells you a lot about my personality is the next thing I did, which is I wrote myself an 80 page research paper. No one's ever seen this, it's only for me. It is 80 pages and it was my attempt to understand, if I wanted to think about this as a business, this work. How are spirits created? Was the history of them? Were the economics out of the go, from creation to distribution to sales, to on premise, to bars and restaurants, to creating a brand and we're like reading a brand.

Andrew Solis: 36:37

What do people drink? How did they drink? Why did they drink? So it was this big study I did for myself really understand. Is this something worth worth pursuing?

Andrew Solis: 36:45

It turns out right I took a educated guess right that it was, and it's only become more and more of a product that's in demand, that it is something people, people want. People want to be able to enjoy the social occasion, whether it's celebratory or consolidatory or whatever it may be, to be out with others, to be in the social setting, to have a drink in hand, to not feel I'm the one with water and everyone else has this really cool cocktail that just sell this bartender do a little show to produce and let that feeling we'd be called inclusive hospitality, like let that feeling of inclusiveness sort of overwhelm the fact that I'm consuming or not consuming alcohol, that we all are okay together and I've got this drink in my hand and that's really what what started cut above. It took us twice as long to develop the juice, as I call it, inside the bottles and I wanted it to really be something that was a one for one replacement, meaning bartenders didn't have to change their technique or volumes when they're making cocktails. I wanted to get as possibly close as I could on the earth to the actual taste of traditional spirits, again without the alcohol. I wanted it to be right. I was going to do it wasn't create something, not just be like a competitor.

Andrew Solis: 38:11

Another bottle on the shelf.

Andrew Solis: 38:13

I wanted to wrap it in something that was long lasting. I will always say I'm creating a brand, not a non upholstered, and so the name, like the cut above name, part of that is a homage, a tribute to those in my life that had gone and cut and above to allow me to be where I'm at.

Andrew Solis: 38:35

The first person is my mother, right? So my father died the age 10. She raised both me and my brother, you know, by herself. Push us into college, got us out of college, motivate us, has been like our number one. Cheerleader is the wrong word because you so much more than that. I saw what it took and I didn't appreciate it I was an adult that personal sacrifices she took in order to make that happen for us. Prime example, and what is now husband of one of my cousins who was in the University of Houston when I was in high school, say, andrew, like yeah, I know your mom told you got to go to college, but you really do, and here's what college is like.

Andrew Solis: 39:14

Come walk the campus with me Right, my first foot on a college campus and like this looks like a pretty cool place. Didn't have to do that, didn't have to take an interest in me, but did that.

Andrew Solis: 39:25

And so there's different people throughout my life that I say when a cut and above a cut above to place me In places where I can make decisions to get to where I'm at now, and I think that's something worth we're celebrating. So we just finished our first year in business. Our second year one of our big objectives is is bringing that part of the brand out. So we're going to do recognition for those in the in the beverage industry and the hospitality industry that do that where there appears.

Andrew Solis: 39:53

And so that's important to me, that that the mission of the company, which is built on allowing anyone to consume a delicious cocktail with a amount of alcohol on their terms, so that we all have this, this feeling that when, whenever, we go into a bar. Your thought about it beforehand.

Andrew Solis: 40:14

Whether you're not consuming alcohol. And you've got this cool drink and it does the funny name, like they all do, and it's got these complex ingredient lists, like they all do, and it's not this little mocktail, tiny font, corner, separate menu type of type of thing, and so kind of. Back to this kind of right origin of me right in high school. It was not feeling included and knowing that that feeling and not liking that feeling.

Andrew Solis: 40:41

And this is a way to create an inclusive feeling in the specific instances, right when we're consuming a drink together, whether it's out and about right A bar, restaurant, or whether it's, you know, in in my home. So when anyone steps foot in my threshold, you know I want you to feel like you're welcome.

Andrew Solis: 41:01

I want you to leave with a full belly. I want you to leave with a drink and I'm not a alcoholic and feeling that you felt a bit of respite when you were there, you were taken care of and you left just with good energy.

Andrew Solis: 41:16

There's a there's a sign that hangs over my, my dining table before kind of was even a thought and it says you are my kind and so anyone who sits at my table sees the sign and I couldn't think of it was just an R piece that there was Any other sort of statement that made someone feel Like they belong Right. I'm directly saying you you're my kind, You're going to have the same like political beliefs, family makeup, story of origin, whatever the case may be.

Andrew Solis: 41:49

But man there's always common ground between two people. I just really, really believe that, and it's just finding that and making it as easy as we can. And in this instance of a cut above, you know, the common ground is we like cocktails, we like a good drink in our hand. I say a good cocktail in our hand. That's a really good feeling, and so it was just find a way to do that, regardless of your consuming alcohol.

Raul Lopez: 42:09

Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, it's um, I can imagine how difficult it is, not just starting a business but starting a business in a industry that's Huge when it comes to alcohol and being kind of a Outlier or everything, and you're doing zero alcohol, or some of the challenges you have to deal with when you were starting your, your company.

Andrew Solis: 42:32

Yeah, so the biggest challenge was right. I don't have a background in the industry, so it's finding others I could surround myself with that.

Andrew Solis: 42:39

That did and I could help write steer, steer, where I wanted things to go. And so I found those people early on. They're still with the company and I'm thankful. I'm thankful for them. The other thing was that balance of, you know, my, my personal sort of sort of vision versus the Right Needs of run a business, which comes down right to numbers, to profit and loss. So, as much as I want to bring all these things about the brand right, they all cost money and so the record doesn't make money unless I sell a bottle.

Andrew Solis: 43:12

So how do I you know, take myself as a natural introvert Turn myself into the head of a company, which means I'm the face of the brand, which means I'm talking about it and being proud of it, which means I'm sharing, I'm open, I'm handing out cards and, you know, at a dinner talking with someone who buys the liquor for the restaurant and finding that person.

Andrew Solis: 43:34

So those things that aren't necessarily innate to my personality, I think we're some of the earliest challenge I've. You know it's been a year, so I think I've done a good job of adapting and being that person. The cool thing is, like I'm not adapting to be someone I'm not. I'm kind of growing into this person that it has kind of been there that is needed to accomplish what I want to do for the company. So so that's been the biggest challenge, right, kind of those personal ways of being that are now different. And then I would say, behind that, being able to stay in the moment. I know people talk about that all the time. Just being the moment, don't live in that, and I think there's a lot of truth to that. There are days where it feels like this is the worst decision I've ever made in my life, where like I've let my family down.

Andrew Solis: 44:32

I've jeopardized so much for this and it was a mistake.

Andrew Solis: 44:36

There are days where this is going to be fucking amazing. It's going to be even bigger than I thought it was going to be. It's going to be incredible. And I try to, in that day, right, sit in that that higher, the lower, whatever feeling is in between. And then when I wake up the next day, like reset, because for me those are such strong feelings that if I kind of carry them day over day it's what clouds what I need to do right and that, given that next day, so those are the things that have been, I'd say, the hardest, but the things that have made the most impact.

Raul Lopez: 45:14

Yeah, I love that last part of you know where you're talking about how excited you are and how sometimes you feel like you're making a thing. And I think one of the big things is I don't know if you've read the book the Start With why, where you know the how and the what makes no difference as long as you have a solid why. And even from the get go you didn't start off with what you were doing, you were telling me why you wanted to do this and I think yet solid why is was kind of hopefully kept you motivated and kept you going, even when you run the lows. So I commend you for that. I mean that's awesome and I really appreciate that. And obviously, coming up with flavors that match the flavors of alcohol can be difficult. If anybody who's ever had banana flavored anything, you know flavors don't always match right exactly what you're expecting. What is that process like for trying to figure out the flavors?

Andrew Solis: 46:07

Yeah, so we enlisted flavor specialists who understand how to take natural flavors. When we built kind of above, we didn't want I didn't want to say we, I didn't want to remove alcohol and put a bunch of bad stuff in. So the flavors are natural and actually derived and the challenge was like mistake, jen, which London drives down, jen is juniper, forward behind that has like cardamom, a sweet, botanicals and usually the cassitra is finished. So how do we find?

Andrew Solis: 46:38

a way to take all those flavors from a natural state. So we have right general oil in our Jen and the challenge was how do we combine them in the right way that they stay bonded together without the ethanol molecule sitting in between them which grabs on to a lot of those flavors, and so that was the hard part. So, anyway, if you're just selling a traditional Jen, it's how do I mix a little bit of this and that and that and make the flavor I want and bottle it. So the same thing is on the non-alcoholic side. The difference is that we have we don't have ethanol, which does a shit ton of work keeping flavors together and bringing things out of flavors, so that twice as long was going through iteration after iteration after iteration and we're developing, for at a time we're doing to say we're going to do a gin, and then we were doing gin, we're doing miscal, we're doing a gallon of lanc which is tequila expression.

Andrew Solis: 47:25

We're doing whiskey all the same time, and so, the way it works, we would get these. We would say, hey, we want it like this. We would get created. We would get the sample for each one of those. We'd have three bottles. We would taste all those meat, we would make cocktails with them, we would taste them against traditional spirits, would taste them against other non-alcoholic spirits, and we would. There were three of us. We kind of came together and said this is what I like, don't like. We should do this, we should do that. We would wait a month, get another iteration and then do it over and over, and so it was almost two years of that, over and over and over again.

Andrew Solis: 47:57

So we got to the point where one thing I noticed about some of the other products on the market was they were really watery so they would taste okay. I would make a cocktail that first it would be okay, but then, after dilution occurs, it just became like a almost like a flavor of water kind of version of a cocktail, and so we had to make sure like it held up, so we would let a cocktail sit and let the ice melt and then taste it and see what happened. So all that work was the hard part of how we make. Cut above when people ask me oh, like you know, how is it made? It must be really hard. Like we take our flavors that we own, right, we have the tri-hyretate formula, we blend it together with some really high-efficiency water and we bottle it in the same day, right, there's no aging, there's no putting in barrels, there's no distilling or moving alcohol and that part is fast because the part ahead of it was really long and tea.

Raul Lopez: 48:51

And you talked about bottling. Is it? You have a factory that does it, or you outsource that, or how's that process?

Andrew Solis: 49:02

Yeah, we have partners. We have two partners that bottle it for us and produce it. We picked partners that had experience both in spirits, creating spirits, bottling spirits, and also not on a call it. We're going to go and bar two different governing bodies and there is a lot of these right in entering the market. As you know, right there is there's demand for this, both beager wine and spirits, and so we wanted partners who understood why we created it in the way we did and then, of course, willing to do their part of the manufacturing process.

Raul Lopez: 49:40

Yeah, I know, when I looked at other bottles of alcohol, one of the things I like of non-alcoholic beer one thing that I liked about your company was that I felt like you're actually buying a bottle of liquor as opposed to buying a bottle of alcohol, a non-alcoholic beer. Because you go to other places or tiny little bottles, mason jars, fancy little boxes or something crazy and you're like it doesn't feel like I'm buying alcohol. Now I can, I have your liquor on my bar, I have my bottles there, people can come and say oh look.

Raul Lopez: 50:10

I have my non-alcoholic liquor. It looks like a real liquor in the house, and so I really love that about that. And so what do you feel is for your company? You talked about being able to give back and recognize people, but what other things you're expecting to be able to accomplish in the next year? So what's good about that?

Andrew Solis: 50:31

Yeah, so our next year, a couple of things Like we want to grow, obviously right, I didn't say that probably would be a good responder for a company.

Andrew Solis: 50:41

But in specific ways. So I'm big on growing sustainably. So there are ways we could have grown slightly faster, but it would have damaged the brand. An example of that is like we would have run out of supply and had to put you know sold-out signs on stuff, or a distributor wants stuff and we can't produce it. So growing in a sustainable way, finding distributors so that we're distributed across the United States and all the different states, and then bringing in our initial sales force or what can be called brand ambassadors or initial salespeople.

Andrew Solis: 51:22

That is going to be hard for me, in particular because of the care I have for the brand. So when we talk about Cut Above, we talk differently than other non-alcohol experience. The cut part of Cut above is part of that choice that I talked about earlier.

Andrew Solis: 51:39

So, we actually on a trademark, what we call the zero cut classic system. So the zero is you're gonna make a gin and tonic and we're gonna use Cut above gin. The cut you're gonna make a gin and tonic instead of two ounces of traditional for me was Tangarae gin I'm gonna use one ounce. I'm gonna serve the other ounce in for Cut above, so it's a low ABB cocktail. The flavor and everything stays there and it's just as strong.

Andrew Solis: 52:03

And then you have your classic, which is your two ounce Tangarae gin and tonic that we've had forever. So when we go out and we talk about Cut above, we're never anti-alcohol. We believe in the autonomy of the person, that for the most part, people know what's best for them in that time, in that moment, and we are here to provide the best product to allow you to make that choice. So the job over the next year is to take that message in a very simple form and deliver it to the consumer so that it's never been about. We created a non-Alcohol spirit. If you don't drink, this is for you, and if you drink, you've already got your stuff. We don't care about you.

Andrew Solis: 52:39

My approach has been non-agulant. Spirits are for everybody, so some of us are no alcohol with whoever.

Andrew Solis: 52:45

some of us are one of the reduce a little bit all the time. Some of us I want to reduce to zero for a given month and then some of us are whatever else on the spectrum. Cut above is to fit in all of those. That's the value proposition we talk about when it comes to the business side of things, and so finding the right people and additions right here and you're telling this story message that can talk about it in that way is going to be important for us.

Andrew Solis: 53:10

And then the third thing, like you talked about bringing that recognition piece out to it, which is a whole different sort of personality of the brand and I would say even probably even more core to what we are. Right, the product and inclusivity is another initial thing and then beyond, that is okay, and I was talking about how we get back and how we celebrate those in the industry, because that's part of what's really exciting to me. Like I love hearing stories of how someone affecting someone else's life in a positive manner and being able to have the brand behind that is what I'm really excited to get to that point.

Raul Lopez: 53:41

Nice, awesome. Yeah, it's funny the way you talk about it where you could create the three different versions of the gin and tonic. And I think a lot of us, when we go out with buddies and we always have that one buddy that had too much to drink wish we could have give them the rum and coke that tastes like rum and coke, but had no alcohol. I was like no, I keep drinking, it's okay. And they were like oh, I can't believe I didn't get a hearing, or everything I drank last night, you know so is your bottles now available at different bars? I'm swimming in Houston.

Andrew Solis: 54:14

Yeah, so we're available nationwide at drinkcudabubcom. Ups shows up at your doorstep three days later with the bottle. We're sold at HomeGoods nationwide. You can find our four expressions there and then we grow right into bars and restaurants. So, depending on where you're at, we go after places that have strong cocktail programs and appreciation for cocktails and retailers that you understand. Like we are a crafted product, I would say we're not like premium, like top top shelf, ridiculously premium, but we believe we're better than other things on the market and so people that understand that storytelling and why we think that is important for us. We grow every month in terms of our retail presence, in terms of our bar and restaurant presence both here in.

Andrew Solis: 55:01

Houston, but then across the US.

Raul Lopez: 55:04

Nice, awesome, what's it called? I really appreciate you taking the time to be here, but I always like to end my interviews with one question, just kind of we started with a big question. I like to end with a big question too, if you could go back in time and talk to yourself as a younger person and give yourself some advice. What's something you tell yourself?

Andrew Solis: 55:27

I would tell myself that everything is gonna be okay and whatever you're feeling, whether it's sadness, anger, happiness, joy, everything in between it will pass. I think I would have really liked to have someone tell me that. Multiple points in my life Nice, awesome, well, andrew, thank you so much for being here.

Raul Lopez: 55:55

I appreciate you taking the time. I really wish you guys all the best. I know it's difficult running any business, and so you have a lot of challenges, and I'm just glad to see that it's making you happy as well. So congrats to you on that. Of course, no, thank you.

Andrew Solis: 56:11

Thank you very much If we have a few minutes. So one thing I feel like I didn't necessarily touch on, which, in the spirit of your podcast, is Sure, what does it mean for all these things? I've talked about being of Mexican-American descent, and so I want to, if we have some time.

Raul Lopez: 56:27

Yeah, no, this is on you. Don't think I have to cut us off.

Andrew Solis: 56:31

Go on if you have more you want to talk with us.

Andrew Solis: 56:33

Yeah, so a lot of what I said is kind of true, regardless of someone's background. So if I could kind of go back to the Andrew in high school right for anything for anything's out. Right skin color is the most evident way I felt different. But there were cultural things as well the way our families would celebrate together, right, certain holidays, speaking Spanish right, when most things are in English by. I have a broken vocabulary in Spanish. At best I try to know enough to keep up with my kids.

Andrew Solis: 57:12

I regret that I didn't take a passion early on for wanting to know more Spanish. I realize how useful it is in business and in life, but at the time in high school, wanting to assimilate, wanting to be like my friends who were white and who were American in any definition of that, I didn't place an importance on Spanish as a language, and I wish I would have. So that's one thing. I want to make sure I say that Spanish is a beautiful, beautiful language and all variations and dialects of it. It is spoken widely in Houston and Texas and in the United States and in the world. So I want to make sure that I state the importance of Spanish as a language.

Andrew Solis: 58:02

My kids learn Spanish as their first language.

Raul Lopez: 58:04

Oh nice.

Andrew Solis: 58:06

The second thing is I didn't place an importance until I got to college on understanding what it meant to be Mexican American as a whole, beyond my family and origin story. So understanding the way the border between the US and Mexico worked and why is there border and why is it treated the way it is now. Migrant work, how that functioned originally versus how it is now. The struggles of everyone from Central and South America coming into the US, retaining their cultural identity while also finding success. I studied that in college and I found an appreciation for it, and so I want to say that I think that's an important thing to be able to know not only one's family history, but your people's history and what you want to take and write and pass on, and then in business as well.

Andrew Solis: 59:09

When I started the bank, I was one of the founding members. It was called. It was Ola for short, hispanic I can remember what the other slurs stand for at the moment, but it was a group that brought together all different Latin backgrounds and so that I really enjoyed because it was an understanding of the differences between countries in Latin America and from dialect to food, to families and all those different things. In earlier ages I did high school. It was, I remember it being like if you were brown skin, you were Mexican, like you could have been from Guatemala, like you were Mexican. And so having that understanding of what it meant to be from these different countries and all the things that they bring to the table, I think is really important, so that for me I could speak out when it says no, that that's a different culture you're talking about.

Andrew Solis: 1:00:07

Yeah, we both speak Spanish as countries of origin, but it's really different and here's why. And Tex-Mex food is not Mexican food and all these different things. So understanding, I think, the different components that make up the beautiful geography that is Latin America, I think is important. And then doing things like this, like what I think you're doing is amazing, which is bringing examples of those who have had success, who are from Latin American descent, and putting it out there so that others can see make a reflection of themselves. And, like I said, most Latinos in my head right speak Spanish. I don't, but I know there's a lot of Latinos who don't speak Spanish and so, or like I said, I get back into a corner really quickly and then not know how to say something, and so just knowing that that's okay, like not every Latin American is the same. They don't all speak the same level of Spanish. They don't have the same family, board and story.

Andrew Solis: 1:01:10

They come from a different country that has a different culture, and so seeing anytime in my life where I wish I would have seen someone like me that's why I really love what you're doing, because I think, hopefully, like in my mind, it does that for someone with all the gifts that you've had, all the gifts that you will have. So I just wanted to make sure that I kind of circled back at the end and talked about what I think is the importance of of me being a Mexican American heritage, how that played out in my life and why I think it's important to be talked about, to be celebrated, to never be made as a minor trait of who I am. It is a trait of who I am In addition to all the other things about my personality, and so it's important and I wanted to make sure I closed on that message.

Raul Lopez: 1:01:56

No, I appreciate that and it's you touch a nerve with me on that as well, because when I was, I think for a lot of us, we feel sometimes we try to fit in to the point that we ignore some of who we are and what we are. I was, I think, the same exact way as you were. You know, when I was in high school I didn't go to a white school. It was predominantly black, but, you know, I wanted to be more black than I was Hispanic or Latino. I didn't listen to Spanish music. My mom played salsa merengue. I didn't want to listen to it.

Raul Lopez: 1:02:23

And I have the story of this Spanish lady who Kolemi, lady that lived downstairs and I was talking to her. My Spanish was broken, my Spanish was broken and she was like to tell me in Spanish you should be ashamed of yourself that you were born to prove and you can't speak Spanish, you know. And after that I stopped speaking Spanish. Like somebody would talk to me in Spanish, I'd respond in English and I would not respond in Spanish for years. And, like you, it wasn't until I got to college that I started to learn to appreciate who I was, to appreciate my language, to appreciate my culture and now I feel more like me and I can be proud of who I am and where I'm at, and I'm not afraid of it. And the same thing I'm proving.

Raul Lopez: 1:03:02

Everybody in Texas thought I was Mexican, you know, and I'm like, I'm proud, proving I do. Proving parties I have proven independence day parties in Texas and I invite Mexican friends and send them recipes, proving recipes, here. Learn to cook some proving food and bring it to the party. You know, and so it's just. I totally agree with you on all of that, man, and I really appreciate you bringing that up. So, but once again, thank you so much for being here and I wish you all the success and hopefully I can get you back on in a future time for more stuff as well.

Andrew Solis: 1:03:31

Yeah, I love it. Thank you for having me, Ro.

Raul Lopez: 1:03:33

Oh, thank you. And for everyone else listening, thank you again for all the support. I appreciate all the positive words I've been getting and I hope you'll join me again next time as we continue to learn how to stay. Success in Spangles.