Her Story
About Cassie
Cassie Halley serves as Chief Executive Officer of Company Distilling. She joined the company a year and a half ago to lead retail operations and marketing, and after about a year was promoted to CEO, a role she has held for the past ten months. Prior to entering the alcohol industry, she spent ten years in hospitality and marketing. She earned her degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia, graduating in 2014. She maintains an OHI certification in outdoor hospitality and participates in the Women in Whiskey group, which supports women in the male-dominated field. Halley attributes her success to curiosity, active listening, a focus on doing the next right thing, building strong culture and processes, organization, and a love for working with people.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cassie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I like to think it's because I am very curious, I love to listen, I want to do the right thing. That's what it's all about for me, is just doing the next right thing. It's easy to try to think ahead and plan and do all that, but you can get caught up in sometimes doing the wrong thing. But if I can just focus on doing the next right thing and what's best for the people and really listening to what the team wants and hearing their voice, I think that's kind of what it's all about. And just having a good culture and good processes. I'm very organized. I love to be around people.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think that it's probably just not trying to do everything at once, or to please everybody. I've been told, too, you have to go slow in order to go fast.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid. Like, you can do it. Just don't doubt yourself. If more young women really believed in the things that they were confident in, or were good at, and just dove in headfirst, they would be surprised at how much they could accomplish. Speak up. It was hard for me to come into this industry because I work with all men that are much, much older than me. I've got to hold my ground, I've got to let my voice be heard, and you can do that in a kind and curious way. Kindness, clarity is kindness.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now is alcohol is down right now. It's even harder for craft spirits. It's difficult, but it's also fun. I like the challenge. Having new eyes in this industry is something that's fun for me. A lot of people that have been in this industry a long time see this as a big challenge of just overcoming the dips of how people view alcohol right now, in the world, and where the economy is. How can we drive that to be maybe more of an experience, or storytelling, or the value of the product.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Company values are to create hospitality, claim responsibility, champion curiosity and cultivate kindness. For me too, it's very similar to those. The kindness, the curiosity, the hospitality, those are big things to me. If you can build a culture of all of those things, if you can treat people with care, if you can communicate openly, if you can understand before you react, you just create a great community. Being a good person and treating people as you would want to be treated.
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